Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L37B3 — The body of a bird has miraculous powers.
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
OverviewFrom the birds' conversation, humans learn that their bodies or secretions have miraculous properties.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
L37 has 9 other sub-motifs
RelatedL37a. On the way to a powerful being, a person meets characters who ask him to ask questions on their behalf (usually to find out the cause of their misfortunes).
L37a1. A man sets out to discover the reason for his misfortunes. Others also convey their questions to him. God (fate) replies that a predator (wolf, lion, bear) must eat the fool, and in order to help the others, one must dig up treasure, marry the queen, etc. The man refuses to marry, take the gold, etc., because he has not received direct instructions to do so. The predator decides that he will not find anyone more foolish.
L37a2. A man comes to ask God (fate, the sun, etc.) questions that he was asked to ask by those he met along the way. Someone asks when he will be freed from his duties. Answer: let him leave another person in his place.
L37b. By accidentally overhearing a conversation between animals or spirits, a person learns how to help themselves and others.
L37b1. To cure a sick person or rid a house of other misfortunes, one must kill (catch, expel) a toad, frog or snake hiding in the house (in the garden, under the roots).
L37b2. From the conversation of snakes or crows, a person learns the cause of another's illness: a snake has crawled inside him. The person expels the snake and the sick person recovers.
L37b3. From the birds' conversation, humans learn that their bodies or secretions have miraculous properties.
L37b4. From a conversation between spirits or animals, a man learns that the meat (brain, blood) of a neighbouring shepherd's dog has miraculous properties.
L37c. A person encounters the incarnations of Fortune (and Misfortune) â his own or someone else's. He manages to influence their behaviour and change (for himself) the course of events for the better.
L37c1. The happiness (misfortune, hardship, etc.) of each person is represented by specific characters with whom they interact.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K90A | 99.77% | Seeing two snakes of contrasting colours fighting, a man tries to strike one, but accidentally hits the other. The relatives of this snake gather to punish him, but upon learning what happened, they reward him. |
| I95A | 99.59% | Orion (probably always Orion's Belt) is Libra. |
| E41A | 98.89% | The first ticks were made as a result of observing animals (a dog's crossed paws, two snakes, snake jaws, etc.). |
| K95A | 98.80% | The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers. |
| M114C | 98.79% | The character is puzzled as to how the other person's clothes (firewood, etc.) remained dry after the rain â the other person covered them with their body (hid them in a vessel, waited out the rain in a shelter). |
| M100B | 98.40% | One of the characters persuades another to jump from a high cliff or tree, because, allegedly, the other's ancestor did so. The other jumps, crashes or falls into the clutches of the first. |
| K133 | 98.32% | A man notices that his horse (donkey) looks tired and learns that an animal or demonic creature is riding it. Cf. motif M182a. |
| K75A1 | 98.23% | The ruler orders his youngest daughter (and her chosen husband) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her status. He does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch, as he seems, but a mighty warrior and a handsome man. |
| N7 | 98.18% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that three apples fell from the sky or tree, at least one of which went to the narrator. Or it is said that someone give/should give the narrator one or three apples. |
| K99A3 | 98.17% | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). |
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: Kabylia and other Berber of Northern and Central Algeria: Beni Snous, Beni Menacer (incl Zuav), Shaui, etc.), Arabs of Sudan, Sudanese, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Himachali-Pahari (Western Pahari), Nogai, Armenians, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Kumaoni (Central Pahari), incl. Garhwali, Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio)
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