Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B89 — The eagle owl – king of birds.
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 eagle owl (owl) was the chief among birds, claimed this position or behaved badly when choosing the head of the birds; now he avoids other birds and/or other birds chase him.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L19B2 | 98.64% | A creature with nine heads is mentioned – either singly or at the end of a series of creatures with fewer heads. |
| I107 | 98.32% | Stars are nails or stakes driven into the sky, or stars are nailed down. |
| M106 | 97.64% | The character calls himself by a fictitious name, which others understand not as a proper name, but as a common noun with a specific meaning. |
| K103A | 97.41% | A suddenly grown plant (tree, vine, lotus) bends (raises its branches, etc.), allowing only the hero or heroine to climb it or pick its fruits (flowers). |
| L37B1 | 97.21% | To cure a sick person or rid a house of other misfortunes, one must kill (catch, expel) a toad, frog or snake hiding in the house (in the garden, under the roots). |
| M185 | 97.21% | A fast-footed animal (a flightless bird) and a slow character agree to compete in running or jumping. The slow character secretly clings to the fast-footed one (or to a vehicle) and at the finish line pretends that he has run at the same time as him (jumped just as far) or before him. |
| K60B | 96.53% | The character is invited to find out whether the box or pit is the right size for him, whether he can crawl through the opening, climb into the bag, etc., after which he is locked in a coffin, box, barrel, buried, etc. Cf. motif M56D. |
| M185A | 96.51% | Birds, animals and fish compete to see which of them can run or swim fastest or climb highest. A weak character secretly clings to the winner and wins. There are 3 key versions: A. Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely, ATU 221A. See motif A23C.B. A fast and a slow animal (insect) agree to compete in speed or long jump. The slow one secretly clings to the fast one, ATU 275B. See motif M185.C. Two fish (fish and whale, dolphin, squid and dolphin, etc.) agree to race each other. The weaker one secretly clings to the tail (fin) of the stronger one and wins, ATU 250. See motif M186A. |
| K37 | 96.43% | In order to return or obtain a wife, son or husband (in Africa also a domestic animal or object), a person must identify her or him among several identical people or animals (objects). |
| H49 | 96.41% | A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it. |
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
27 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Malagasy, Rwanda (incl Hutu, Tutsi, Kiga), Rundi, (Ma)Shi, Banyabungu; Rega, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Khmer, Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Indian literary tradition (Vedic, Brahman, Purana, Indian Buddhism, Hinduism, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Panchtantra, Jatakas); iconography of Hindu temples, Poles, Serbs, Monte Negro, Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Lithuanians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Armenians, Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Mongols (Khalkha), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Chechens, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Early Russian written sources, Germans: South (Upper German dialects): Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Bawaria, Swabia, Switzerland, Bohemia, Sudeten, Austria, Russian Federation
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