Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K23A — Feathers – birds' weapons.
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
OverviewBirds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K23 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedK23. Birds attack inhabitants of another world or a person who has entered another world. See motif K22.
K23a. Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M46A | 97.43% | The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). |
| M42C | 97.18% | Falling off a cliff and breaking his leg, the character eats his bone marrow. |
| H36J | 96.90% | The lark is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
| I49 | 96.90% | Earthquake – an anthropomorphic character (or category of characters) that moves around, shaking the earth. |
| J53C | 96.74% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| A42A | 96.67% | 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. |
| M29Y | 95.71% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| J52A | 95.70% | A she-bear or bear treacherously kills his companion, neighbour, etc., who is associated with a herbivorous animal or a weaker predator. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children or flee. See motifs J52, J54. |
| B92 | 95.44% | 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). |
| F60 | 95.34% | A girl or woman falls ill. A character comes to heal her. The treatment consists of him copulating with her or attempting to do so. |
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
8 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 8 traditions: Ancient Greece, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Chukchi, Tsimshian, Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla)
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