Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B73B — In search of a family member.
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
OverviewTwo teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call.
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.
B73 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedB73. The character turns into a cuckoo. This happens so quickly that one foot remains unshod or one braid remains unbraided. Therefore, it is believed that the cuckoo's legs or wings are different. See motif A43A.
B73a. A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call.
B73b. Two teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L64 | 93.03% | A certain character removes, takes out a part of his body (head, scalp, lungs), takes it in his hands, puts it back. |
| K145A | 92.31% | A person is predicted to die at the hands of an animal. He is killed (or attempted to be killed) by a living image of an animal or a statue in the form of an animal that falls on him. |
| K95 | 92.23% | Two people who love each other (usually a man and a woman) die prematurely and are buried in the same grave or nearby. After or during the burial, something unusual happens that is connected with the story (special plants grow in that place, the smoke from the two funeral pyres joins together, the dead turn into two birds, two stars, etc.). |
| K80 | 92.10% | The character transforms into objects or creatures, which another character systematically destroys. However, the character (usually a young woman) is reborn each time in a new form and eventually in her original form. |
| L44 | 91.95% | A demon or powerful beast demands that a person or weak animal show certain parts of their body. The person shows parts of a large animal's body or certain objects. The opponent decides that the hero is more frightening and powerful than them. |
| K56D | 91.77% | One man treats a bird, which brings a seed, and something valuable grows. Another deliberately cripples a bird, then treats it, and it brings a seed, and something harmful and terrible grows. |
| B116 | 91.75% | The first book (writing, important document) is eaten by an animal or a person. (In some European traditions, the eating of the book is not described, but is implied from the context). Cf. ATU 200. Cf. Thompson 1955-1958. †A2219.2. Cow swallows book; cause of maniplies in stomach. |
| K27X3 | 91.73% | The ruler seeks to take possession of the wife or bride of a man of lower social status and, in order to get rid of him, gives him impossible tasks or secretly kills him. {Both ATU and some regional indexes (e.g., Cardigos 2006: 110) list texts that do not meet the definition of plot 465: the king's desire to take possession of the hero's wife is not explicitly stated as the reason why the king seeks to get rid of the hero}. |
| M152 | 91.34% | Seeing a predator (a giant, etc.) approaching, the weak character pretends to thank the one who is leading the predator for his promise to bring prey, or his wife and children (rarely: he himself) begin to talk aloud about how they are going to eat the predator or how they have eaten his companions before. |
| M145 | 91.16% | One character (usually zoomorphic) shows another his reflection in a body of water. The latter believes that a beast resembling him is challenging his seniority, invites him to visit, etc.; usually throws himself into the water and perishes. |
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
28 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 28 traditions: Bali, Lombok, Viet, Muong, Lepcha, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Czech, Czechs, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Rutul, Tsakhur, Kumyk, Terekemen, Georgians, Armenians, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Khakas, Shor, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Zaparo, Kechua-speaking communities of Apurimac, Cuzco, Arequipa, Puno departments; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Callawaya (Kechua with Pukina substratum), Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, China
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