Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L20A — The parrot devourer.
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 man climbs a tree, takes chicks (usually parrots) from a nest and throws them to a woman. She eats them raw, then kills or tries to kill the man.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L20 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedL20. Two characters hunt or fish. One turns out to be or becomes a cannibal, which is revealed when he/she begins to eat the prey raw.
L20a. A man climbs a tree, takes chicks (usually parrots) from a nest and throws them to a woman. She eats them raw, then kills or tries to kill the man.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| A22D | 100.00% | The burned character turns into a constellation or a dark spot on the Milky Way. |
| B114 | 100.00% | A woman or a man (usually old people) turn into anteaters (the origin of anteaters). |
| B24A | 100.00% | After a character surrounds a group of people with a circle of feathers or throws feathers into their dwellings, the people turn into wild pigs or peccaries. |
| B36B | 100.00% | Birds find their voices by pecking at a large reptile and smearing themselves with the fluids that flow out of its body. |
| C17 | 100.00% | The men of the community of the first ancestors destroy most of the people and/or themselves on a pyre or in a fire pit. |
| C2A | 100.00% | Two characters meet a woodpecker and receive an object from it, which causes the ground to catch fire upon contact. The stronger and smarter of the two characters escapes, while the weaker and stupider one is burned or burned to death. |
| C2B | 100.00% | The Sun and the Moon are caught in a fire. The strong and intelligent Sun escapes, while the weak and foolish Moon is burned or consumed, but the Sun revives it. |
| E28 | 100.00% | People shoot at the Moon, its blood spills onto the earth. |
| F43B | 100.00% | Leaving the men, the women of the community of the first ancestors hide in a hole underground. |
| F46A | 100.00% | Men (human-animals) discover a woman at the top of a tree and copulate with her there. |
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
12 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 12 traditions: Batak (Toba, Dairi), Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Ticuna (Tucuna), Sanapana, Lengua (incl Angaite), Makka, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay), Chorote, Toba (incl Pilagá), Terena (Tereno)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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