Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K42 — Bird woman kills men.
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 young bird woman energetically searches among a group of men for one she likes, takes him by force and makes him her husband; she turns into a monster, pursues and kills men, but is ultimately killed herself.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| F21 | 99.01% | While the character copulates with a woman, she turns into a tree or a rock. His penis gets stuck in her. |
| J53A1 | 98.75% | The children of the murdered man kill the murderer's children, luring them to a place where they perish from heat or smoke. |
| F51A | 98.47% | After incest is discovered, the sister openly demands her brother as her husband, turns into a monster, and kills people. |
| K58A | 98.43% | The character brings water for irrigation or a fish river to the place where the girl agrees to meet him, and does not bring water if she refuses. (The parallel between the myths of Peru and Oregon was first noted in Lehmann-Nitsche 1935a; 1936). |
| M103 | 98.43% | One character asks another how her (his) children acquired valuable qualities (became beautiful, obedient, etc.). The other replies that children must be baked in ashes, kept in fire, burned, etc. The first character does so, and her or his children die or are maimed. |
| K18B | 98.32% | Men or women approach the little boy one after another or take him in their arms. The person who makes the boy stop crying is recognised as his parent. See motif K18. |
| F52 | 98.28% | The first ancestor bird puts pubic hair or part of a woman's genitals on its head; since then, birds of this species have had a crest. |
| J22A | 97.86% | Two men or a brother and sister emerge from a single body or embryo cut in half, or the second emerges from a part of the body or from the secretions of the first. Cf. motif M37. |
| K11A | 97.81% | Plucked feathers of a (huge) bird turn into actual birds (or their plumage) or humans emerge from them. |
| F82 | 97.54% | The son-in-law resorts to trickery to sleep with his mother-in-law, or the mother-in-law with her son-in-law. Usually, the son-in-law insists that his mother-in-law, rather than his wife, accompany him on a hunt. |
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: Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Assiniboine, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Shasta; Chimariko, Karok, Klamath, Modoc, Wintu, Patwin, Nomlaki, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Atsugewi, Achomavi, Yana, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Ayoreo, Northeastern Yakuts (Sakha): Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma Basins
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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