Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
C10 — The Flood: Wet Tails, A2211.1.
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
OverviewDuring the flood, some birds or animals escape to a mountain, a tree, a boat, or by clinging to the sky; their tails or other parts of their bodies remain in the water and as a result acquire their current colour or shape. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour").
Berezkin category: Disasters
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.
C10 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedC10. During the flood, some birds or animals escape to a mountain, a tree, a boat, or by clinging to the sky; their tails or other parts of their bodies remain in the water and as a result acquire their current colour or shape. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour").
C10a. During the flood, some birds save themselves by clinging to the sky with their beaks. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour").
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J34 | 98.13% | After killing a dangerous enemy, the heroes make a scarecrow out of him to frighten the household. |
| H24B | 97.87% | The character must open the vessel containing the soul of the deceased when he reaches the place or after a certain time has passed; if he opens it before the time is up, the soul flies away. See motif H24. |
| K1H | 97.25% | The character finds himself inside a tree trunk or inside a rock; someone frees him by making a hole from the outside. |
| H24A | 97.10% | Opening the bag, the character releases stars that rush chaotically into the sky. |
| A40 | 97.00% | The Toad or Frog is the wife (or one of the wives) of the Sun or Moon. Traditions in which the frog jumps onto the face (chest, back) of the Moon and remains there are highlighted in italics; those in which the frog is visible on the lunar disc are marked with an asterisk; traditions in which the frog or toad is the wife of the Sun are marked with a hash (#). |
| L98 | 96.81% | The demon that carries off children and threatens heroes, people, etc., is the eagle owl; there is a race of owls that is hostile to humans. |
| I9A | 96.28% | Zenith and/or nadir are considered together with the four cardinal directions as one (or two) more main directions. |
| K21A | 95.99% | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. |
| K27O | 95.67% | The confrontation between heroes and antagonists unfolds in the form of a ball game. |
| J13 | 95.60% | Not one woman or girl, but two sisters (or more than two, but only two play an important role in the narrative) wander and meet an unwanted deceiver instead of a desired husband or fiancé, or encounter dangerous creatures. See motif J12. |
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
27 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Eastern Cree, Plains Cree, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Tunica, Chitimacha, Alabama, Koasati, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Navajo, Chiricahua, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Eastern Keres (Cochiti, Sia, San Felipe, Santo Domingo, Santa Ana, Paguate, Seama), Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Yuma proper (Quechan), Mohave, Maricopa, Pima, Papago, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Lacandon, Chimila (Ette), Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Biloxi
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