Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L98 — The man-eating owl.
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 demon that carries off children and threatens heroes, people, etc., is the eagle owl; there is a race of owls that is hostile to humans.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K21A | 97.81% | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. |
| J13 | 97.70% | Not one woman or girl, but two sisters (or more than two, but only two play an important role in the narrative) wander and meet an unwanted deceiver instead of a desired husband or fiancé, or encounter dangerous creatures. See motif J12. |
| M84B | 97.60% | An animal, bird or fish that is killed and eaten comes to life after its bones are thrown into the water. See M84 motif. |
| I112 | 97.59% | The boat is a living creature with a mouth, a fish. |
| L1B1 | 97.48% | A woman comes into conflict with her brothers and turns into a dangerous demon. |
| F64 | 97.40% | The character is presented as another person in order to mate with a close relative in the descending or (less commonly) ascending line. |
| L74A | 97.38% | The enemy carries the hero away or tears off and carries away part of his body, after which he hangs his victim or part of his body (usually over a fire) in order to cause the victim torment. Another character rescues the hero himself or returns the stolen part of his body to him. |
| J34 | 97.16% | After killing a dangerous enemy, the heroes make a scarecrow out of him to frighten the household. |
| J40B | 97.15% | After the hero comes back after a long absence and finds his parents enslaved, he tells them to demonstrate openly a lack of respect to their masters and punishes those who were cruel with them |
| L97 | 97.15% | Seeing a character who is unable to move (nailed to the ground, his lower body rooted to the ground, petrified, completely absent), the hero himself manages to avoid a similar fate. |
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
56 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 56 traditions: Kirati (Kiranti): Rai (incl Thulung), Limbu, Newar, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Armenians, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Chukchi, Tutchone, Tagish, Tahltan, Athna, Eyak, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Menominee, Tuscarora, Cheyenne, Arapaho, Osage, Kiowa Apache, Comanche, Plains Ojibwa, Hidatsa, Chilkotin, Shuswap, Thompson (Nlaka'pamux), Lillooet, Nez Perce, Takelma, Okanagon, Sanpoil, Kutenai, Shasta; Chimariko, Yurok, Tunica, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Pomo, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Upland Yuma: Walapai, Havasupai, Yavapai, Ute, Luiseño, Juaneño, Jicarilla, Mescalero, Western Apache (White Mountain, San Carlos), Hopi, Zuni, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Lipan, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Chayahuita , Mura (Pirahã), Machiguenga, Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Italians: Central (Toscana, Umbria, Marche, Lazio), Halkomelem (Snaymuk)
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