Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B106 — The heavenly rooster.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewFirst, the heavenly rooster crows (or the underground roosters crow), and only then do the earthly roosters crow.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K35A6 | 100.00% | The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found. |
| M182A | 99.76% | A person smears resin on a bull, a horse (usually making a figure that comes to life), or some object; wild animals or demons stick to it. Cf. motif K133. |
| J32B | 99.72% | In order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends. |
| M39A2D | 99.72% | Fools plant meat, horns, or bones in the hope of raising animals. |
| K56F | 99.28% | A man divides a roasted rooster (goose) according to the social ranks of those present (the head to the host, the wings to the daughters, etc.), usually taking the least prestigious but meatiest part for himself. |
| A19C | 99.22% | The sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a carriage drawn by horses (equidae). |
| K162 | 99.09% | The antagonist (robber, sorcerer, witch) sneaks into the house of a girl or young woman, hiding inside a statue, in a wardrobe, etc., and/or putting her husband (guard, etc.) to sleep, but is destroyed at the last moment. |
| M39I | 99.06% | After going broke, a person decides to hang himself, but finds gold (specially put by the father where his son hangs). |
| M191B | 99.03% | A man does good (does no harm) to a snake (fish, lion) and benefits from it. His son (less often someone else or himself) wounds the snake (usually cuts off its tail) and, if it is his son, dies from the bite. The snake refuses to continue its relationship with the man, and neither of them will forget their loss. |
| K134 | 98.97% | A guest is planted with treasure in order to accuse him of theft. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Koreans, Spain, Spaniards, Poles, Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Persians, Armenians, Udmurt, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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