Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M20 — Severed beak, J2138.
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 character does something unacceptable, is caught, and his beak or jaw is damaged. Usually (except for the Koryaks), people keep the torn-off beak (jaw) in their homes, and the character comes and takes it back.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L102 | 99.81% | A girl or woman (for various reasons, jokingly or seriously) calls an animal or animal remains her husband, or steps on bones and addresses them. The animal (comes to life and) carries her away. Her human husband, parents or brother come for her, and they flee; usually the animal husband pursues them, but stops the chase or dies. |
| A13A1 | 99.77% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| C19A | 99.19% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| M17 | 99.10% | A wife, mother or grandmother directs the arrow of a blind man or boy at game, lies that he missed, cooks and eats the meat herself. See motif M16 (man is blind, K333.1). |
| M16A | 99.01% | A character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16. |
| L10 | 98.79% | The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. |
| L79 | 98.38% | The girl marries a powerful, benevolent character; his first wife is a monster; he kills her or is satisfied that she has been killed by his new wife. |
| K32C | 98.38% | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. |
| M123 | 98.38% | A bird of prey or scavenger (raven, owl, hawk, coyote) marries (or attempts to marry) a partner who (or whose brothers) are geese or other waterfowl. The marriage is disrupted or proves unsuccessful. |
| M61A1 | 98.38% | The character (always a raven) provokes a seagull to quarrel with another bird, telling each one that the other was hostile or offensive towards her. |
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
15 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 15 traditions: Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Han, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Denaina, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Carrier
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