Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B52A — The vulture creates dry land.
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
OverviewFlying over the world, a bird (usually a vulture) dries the earth after a flood with its wings or otherwise gives it its present appearance.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature.
B52 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedB52. The floodwaters formed a rugged landscape.
B52a. Flying over the world, a bird (usually a vulture) dries the earth after a flood with its wings or otherwise gives it its present appearance.
B52b. The character regurgitates the earth hidden (usually in his mouth), thereby creating mountains, swamps, and other inconveniences. See motif B52.
B52c. When the earth and sky were created, they turned out to be different sizes. The earth was compressed, and mountains appeared. See motif B52.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J19 | 95.42% | While her husband or brother is hunting, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister; he kills her or takes her away. Her sons, who were torn from her womb or born at that time, are saved. |
| M24A | 95.19% | turtle man goes to war, kills people (usually a woman). He gets caught or killed. In his animal form, he continues to live on. See M24 motif. |
| C10A | 94.97% | 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"). |
| J19A | 94.97% | When a woman is left alone, a demonic character comes to her. He says that in order to perform certain actions, she must give him a certain part of her body, even though this contradicts logic and custom. After that, the character kills her (cuts open her stomach; tears out her tongue). |
| K43C | 94.97% | The bound children (a young man and his sister) are left alone in an empty camp, and the animal frees them. |
| J18 | 94.72% | A pregnant woman or a woman with a child falls from the sky. She or her newborn daughter dies or undergoes a metamorphosis. Her son or her daughter's son survives and grows up. Cf. motif K9. |
| M29Q | 94.71% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| M65B | 94.49% | Having resorted to deception, the character kills the game, but the thieves take the loot. See M53 motif. |
| J12J | 94.44% | A girl or sisters end up with a false groom who plays the role of a jester in the chief's house. See motif J12. |
| K25B | 94.37% | A woman climbs a tree trying to catch a porcupine and ends up in the sky. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Old and New Testament, Temne (Timne), Northern Luzon: Apayao, Bontoc, Nabaloi (Ibaloi), Ifugao, Igorot (highland people, not specified), Ilocan, Ilongot, Isneg, Kalinga, Kankanay, Tingian (Tinggian, Bilongan Itneg); Ibanag, Kasiguran Agta, Keley-i Kallahan, Meo (Hmong) of Thailand, Laos and Northern Vietnam, Chukchi, Tanana, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Alabama, Koasati, Cherokee, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Southern Paiute, Hopi, Pima, Papago, Popoloca; Tlapanec
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