Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
C10A — Birds clinging to the sky, A2211.1.
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
OverviewDuring 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").
Berezkin category: Disasters
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.
C10 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedC10. During the flood, some birds or animals escape to a mountain, a tree, a boat, or by clinging to the sky; their tails or other parts of their bodies remain in the water and as a result acquire their current colour or shape. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour").
C10a. 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").
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K43C | 99.94% | The bound children (a young man and his sister) are left alone in an empty camp, and the animal frees them. |
| J20 | 99.59% | While the husband or brother is hunting, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister; he kills or maims her or her brother after she breaks the taboo of opening the door to the guest, looking at him or talking to him. See motif J19. |
| E6A | 99.01% | People walk across a (frozen) body of water to reach their current place of residence, while some remain on the other side or drown. |
| M82 | 98.86% | The character sees that something is tied to the other's tail. He also wants such a tail for himself, and as a result he suffers damage. |
| M48 | 98.72% | Trickster asks another zoomorphic character to turn him into a creature of his kind, but if he breaks the condition for transformation, he becomes himself again. Usually, a trickster asks a bison or elk to turn it into a bison or elk. The bison (elk) rushes to the trickster, which bounces off in fear. The next time the trickster stays in place, metamorphoses, but regains its former appearance after trying to turn another trickster into a bison, etc. |
| J59B | 98.61% | To revive the dead, the character shoots an arrow into the sky or throws an object. It is assumed that the dead, fearing the falling object, will come back to life and run away. |
| M67 | 98.61% | By stupidity or carelessness, the character causes a wind that blows him away. See the M66 motif (The Trickster emits a stream of intestinal gases). |
| K25B | 98.02% | A woman climbs a tree trying to catch a porcupine and ends up in the sky. |
| M79 | 98.02% | A person joins the dancers; it turns out that the dancers are reeds or trees in the wind. |
| J19A | 97.50% | 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). |
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
14 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 14 traditions: Inland Tlingit, Tlingit, Eastern Cree, Kiowa Apache, Plains Cree, Chitimacha, Alabama, Koasati, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Cherokee, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Pima, Papago, Biloxi
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