Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K48 — The hero's singing bird, ATU 550.
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
OverviewThe antagonist orders the wonderful bird captured by the hero to sing or talk, but it remains silent or cries out inappropriately. The bird begins to sing (talk) after the hero has triumphed over his opponents.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
K48 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedK48. The antagonist orders the wonderful bird captured by the hero to sing or talk, but it remains silent or cries out inappropriately. The bird begins to sing (talk) after the hero has triumphed over his opponents.
K48a. The hero's costume and/or headdress are decorated with live birds or animals. Usually, the antagonist steals the clothes and pretends to be the hero, but the birds and animals on his headdress remain silent or cry out differently. See motif K48.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K130A | 98.04% | Several young men (brothers) live far away from other people. A girl comes to them, or she is miraculously born in their house, and they treat her like a sister. After some time, the girl finds herself in danger, but is ultimately saved. |
| M13 | 98.03% | A person appeals to higher powers with a request, without considering that his words may have a different meaning than he intended. Either a person accidentally utters the wrong word or accidentally and hastily expresses an empty or absurd desire. As a result, something happens that he did not want at all. Cf. motifs I58B and M13A.Most of the references in ATU 775 (Midas' short-sighted wish) are either incorrect or impossible to verify. In connection with this plot, the reference to Uther 2000 is taken into account only for the Lithuanian variant, since there is a summary of the Latvian one, and for the Greek one, since the motif exists in Ancient Greece and among the neighbouring South Slavs. For ATU 750A, the reference to Bäcker 1988 in connection with the "Chinese" is incorrect; these are Manchus, not Chinese, and the stated motif is not present in the text. |
| K38F6 | 96.21% | A creature consisting of fire is mentioned. |
| I103 | 96.08% | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf. |
| K49 | 96.07% | A woman who has been transformed into an animal or found herself outside the human world returns to her child to feed and care for it. Cf. motif K33. |
| B42Q | 94.97% | Ursa Major – chariot, cart. |
| K38E3 | 94.92% | Among three (less often two or four) loci or objects associated with materials of high but varying degrees of value, the highest belongs to precious stones (usually diamonds, but also glass and crystal). |
| L129 | 94.90% | The character is asked why his body parts, organs, and tools are the way they are. He answers (or the questioner gives explanations for him). In the end, one kills or maims the other. |
| L23C | 94.90% | Trying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is a small wooden object (usually a spindle). When this object is broken in half, the character permanently regains his human form. |
| I138 | 94.89% | The glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as an unusual (inaccessible) locus. |
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
63 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 63 traditions: Saudi Arabia, Arabs of Levant (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan); Bedouins of Sinai, Arabs of Iraq, Iraqi, Arabs of Egypt, Western Sahara and Mauritania Arabs; Berbers of Mauritania (Zenaga), Roti, Shan, Ahom, Khampti, Bengali, Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Ireland, England, British, Bretons, Portuguese, Portugal, Basques, Maltese, Sicily, Sicilians, Sardinia, Corsica, Sardinians, Corsicans, France, 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, Poles, Czech, Czechs, Slovakians, Slovaks, Hungarians, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Croatians, Croats; Italians of Dalmatia (if the motif is absent among other Italians), Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Latvians, Karelians, Western Sami, Eastern Sami (including Skolts), Norwegians, Danes, Danish, Western Ukrainians, Uzbek, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Tats, Georgians, Armenians, Anatolia Turks, Uyghur, Turkmen, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Eastern Cree, Menominee, Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Cheyenne, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Pawnee, Kiowa, Plains Cree, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Northern Shoshone, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Eastern Shoshone, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Wallons, Picardie, Galicians, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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