Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K35A6 — Glowing feather.
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
OverviewThe character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K35 has 13 other sub-motifs
RelatedK35. The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3).
K35a. In exchange for improving his current situation, the character agrees to have his body injured or branded.
K35a1. Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks.
K35a2. A man kills an animal with glowing fur. Upon learning of this, an authoritative figure gives him difficult tasks.
K35a3. In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him.
K35a4. In order to get rid of the hero and take his place, the deceiver pushes him into the sea or leaves him on a distant island. The hero survives and returns.
K35a5. An authoritative character leaves an object (a letter) for a little boy, by which he will be able to recognise him when he grows up and comes to him.
K35a6. The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found.
K35a7. A character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty.
K35b. The hero gives his rivals the food that the king sent them all to get, but what the rivals got turns out to be poisonous, useless, or tasteless, while what the hero brought, regardless of how it looks, gets praised.
K35c. The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly.
K35c1. The young man is not killed, but rewarded, because he answered correctly (evasively) the question of a powerful character â which of the two women he should marry, which is more beautiful, which object or material is more valuable, etc.
K35c2. When the ship unexpectedly stops, the hero descends to the bottom of the sea, behaves correctly with the local inhabitants, and returns to the ship.
K35c3. For reasons that are not immediately clear, the ship stops in the middle of the sea (rarely: a horse stops in the middle of the road).
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B106 | 100.00% | First, the heavenly rooster crows (or the underground roosters crow), and only then do the earthly roosters crow. |
| 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
9 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, England, British, Bretons, France, Poles, Slovakians, Slovaks, Danes, Danish, Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Bashkirs
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