Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

F42A — Men turn into birds.

21 Myths, legends and folktales

21 Unique narratives for motif F42A

8 Cultures & traditions where F42A is told

1 Sub-motifs of motif F42A

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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

Overview

In the community of the first ancestors, young men or boys turn into birds or bats and fly away.

Berezkin category: Gender and sex

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 5, Origin of human beings, ethnic groups, etiology of human anatomy, strange body configuration, ways of behavior, marriages before the establishment of the present norms.

F42 has 1 other sub-motifs

F42. Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters.
F42a. In the community of the first ancestors, young men or boys turn into birds or bats and fly away.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of F42’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
F95	98.60%	Two companions or brothers live together. One has a wife, whom he hides. The other suspects her existence, destroys her, or tries to get a wife for himself.
F48	98.15%	Individual women differ physically because the pieces of flesh divided from the first woman were not identical, or because the males who copulated with the first woman were animals of different species.
M18A	97.47%	The character becomes the object of fishing or hunting, presenting himself as a target for enemies. Numerous arrows, darts, and harpoons stick into his body without causing harm, and he carries them away. See motif M18.
I30	96.82%	In the world of the dead, its master or mistress copulates with all new arrivals.
M14A	96.21%	To take revenge on his wife or her relatives for (allegedly) causing him offence, the husband roasts his wife alive. See motif M14.
F42	95.87%	Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters.
F43A	95.67%	In the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men.
H24F	95.15%	The character has the ability to put a large amount of meat or fish into a bag or container that is easy to carry.
G28	95.08%	The tree contains a fish in its trunk.
B34	94.78%	After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal.

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Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

8 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Trans-New Guinea and unclassified Papuan groups of Irian Jaya: Mejprat, Arandai-Bintuni, Inanwatan-Berau, Papua of Gelvink (Cenderawasih) Bay, Kamoró, Marind Anim, Sawi, Mafore; Korowai; Kwerba; Momina, Eipo, Yale, Awyu, Melanesians and Papuans of Northern Solomons: Buka, Bougainville (Siuai, Buin), Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Trumai, Bororo, Cayapo (incl. Kubenkranken, Pau d’Arco, Shikrin or Xikrin), Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay)

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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com

0009-0006-1672-4451
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