Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B91A — Eyes: took and did not return.
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
OverviewA blind character asks another to lend him his eyes or to swap eyes, keeping his own eyes.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks 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.
B91 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedB91. The snail had (the most keen-eyed) eyes. Another character borrows them and does not return them.
B91a. A blind character asks another to lend him his eyes or to swap eyes, keeping his own eyes.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| H36J | 98.06% | The lark is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
| K93B5 | 97.66% | The character infiltrates the enemy camp disguised as a kitten or puppy. Usually, one of the enemies suspects deception, but the others believe that the cute animal is harmless. |
| L51 | 95.20% | A cannibal, spirit, or predatory beast regularly throws its victims down, where they are devoured by aquatic or chthonic creatures. |
| A42 | 93.98% | The character comes to the Sun, tries to fulfil its role, but deliberately or through incompetence breaks the rules, usually causing disasters on earth. |
| K23A | 93.55% | Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims. |
| A42A | 92.97% | Having risen into the sky, the character unsuccessfully performs the role of the sun and as a result falls or is thrown down to earth. |
| B75B | 92.87% | The creaking or crackling of trees is the voice of a transformed character. |
| I49 | 92.83% | Earthquake â an anthropomorphic character (or category of characters) that moves around, shaking the earth. |
| M29Y | 92.05% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| B92 | 90.95% | A character whose body is hard and has broken into small pieces, or (rarely) a small object, turns into flint or other hard stones (the origin of flint). |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Estonians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Chukchi, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Quileute, Chemakum (Hoh), Quinault, Tillamook, Kalapuya, Coos, Bakairi, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Russian Federation
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