Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K22AA — Birds in the north – people in the south.
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
OverviewThere is a country whose inhabitants are migratory birds that live with us in the summer and turn into people when they fly away to their own country.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K22 has 4 other sub-motifs
RelatedK22. The inhabitants of a distant land, who differ from (ordinary) people, occasionally fight off enemies of a non-human nature who attack them.
K22a. Birds or other creatures that are harmless to ordinary people attack dwarves living in another world. See motif K22.
K22aa. There is a country whose inhabitants are migratory birds that live with us in the summer and turn into people when they fly away to their own country.
K22b. The inhabitants of another world are attacked by certain enemies. A human helps them to defeat these enemies, because these creatures are not dangerous to humans. See motif K22.
K22c. Inhabitants of another world who are birds (bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals that are not dangerous to ordinary people, but which regularly attack them.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M170A | 99.34% | The predator accuses the herbivore of sin and eats it. |
| K56AB | 98.47% | A girl marries a monster. On their wedding night, he orders her to take off her shirt, and she orders him to take off his skin. The girl survives, and the monster becomes handsome – usually because she has more shirts (or skins worn in advance) than he does. |
| K72A | 98.22% | The king notices that his prohibition on lighting fires at night has been violated. |
| I100C | 98.20% | God turned the husband into a cuckoo, and the wife and children into the Pleiades. |
| L72I | 97.74% | Fleeing for his life, the character throws soap behind him, which turns into an obstacle for his pursuer (a slippery mountain, river, etc.). |
| H7C | 97.66% | Death promises to take a man after he finishes his prayer or song (formerly ATU 1199B). The man breaks off his prayer (song) in the middle, and Death cannot take him. |
| K120A5 | 97.30% | To obtain a woman, a man lures her onto a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and takes her away. |
| M180 | 96.95% | A zoomorphic character invites another to visit, but serves food in such a way that the other cannot take it in his mouth. The other, inviting the first to visit, puts him in a similar position. |
| K33A7 | 96.91% | After the death of a woman, her daughter or son advises her father to marry a neighbour, teacher, etc., who usually persuades the teenager to give such advice. After marrying the widower, the new wife begins to tyrannise her stepdaughter or stepson. |
| M191B | 96.89% | A man does good (does no harm) to a snake (fish, lion) and benefits from it. His son (less often someone else or himself) wounds the snake (usually cuts off its tail) and, if it is his son, dies from the bite. The snake refuses to continue its relationship with the man, and neither of them will forget their loss. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Kashubians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Macedonians, Balkarians, Georgians, Armenians
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