Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B79A — A bird laid an egg.
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
OverviewAt the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them.
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.
B79 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedB79. In the world ocean or in the world abyss, from an egg (eggs) or egg-like sphere, shell, etc., the earth, sky, luminaries, and creator gods arise.
B79a. At the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them.
B79a1. At the beginning of time, a bird flies and drops pieces of solid ground onto the water, from which land or an island emerges. Sometimes the substrate onto which the piece of solid ground falls is not precisely defined.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K73A | 97.46% | Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. |
| I52 | 97.03% | The world rests on a fish or fish-like creature, or the earth itself is such a creature or originated from a fish. See motif I8B. |
| M91C7 | 96.21% | When enemies come to kill a person, he pretends to be dead. |
| K73 | 96.15% | A young wife (promises to give birth and) gives birth to wonderful children (or one son). In the absence of her husband, attempts are made to kill the wife or her child (usually by slandering them to the husband), but they remain alive. (For medieval European variants, see Newell 1906). |
| K119 | 96.05% | An animal promises to make a poor man rich (usually by marrying him to a rich bride; or by marrying a poor girl to a prince) and, resorting to deception, fulfils its promise. |
| K106 | 95.47% | The hero (a miraculous infant, a magical rooster) is thrown at the feet of animals, but they do not trample him. |
| N36 | 95.35% | is said about the horse that it jumps above trees (grass, the surface of the earth) and below the sky (clouds, clouds). |
| K76 | 95.33% | A boy who is born or found has a strange or ugly appearance (ball, nut, sack, half-human, dwarf, animal), but then demonstrates magical powers and turns out to be handsome (usually getting a bride of high status). The princess's magical spouse initially has a non-human or ugly appearance. |
| L81 | 95.30% | A man who goes in search of fire finds it with a demon. The demon pursues the man, harms him, and kills him. Traditions in which there is only a story about men who are promised fire for a fairy tale (a tall tale) are marked with an asterisk*. |
| B43A | 95.26% | The character is created from many materials or objects, or from materials brought from different places. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands), Hawaii, Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Nogai, Tats, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Tofa (Karagas), Nivkh, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Ingrians, Egypt
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