Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M75D — Vulture knife
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 bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M75 has 9 other sub-motifs
RelatedM75. The character attracts and catches corpse eaters (usually birds) and as a result obtains valuables or returns something valuable (fire, woman, animals, etc.).
M75a. The character lures a veteran to avenge his fall from the sky. Either the (potauatomi) shovel drops the character or leaves him on top to avenge being lured and caught.
M75b. A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person.
M75b1. A person (usually of high status) learns that a poor boy who is born will inherit his property or become king. He tries to stop it, but what he predicted comes true.
M75b1a. A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful.
M75b2. bird tries in vain to prevent the marriage, which she learned was inevitable when the future spouses were still children.
M75b3. Enemies are shown a life-size or larger image of a horse or bull. Not realizing that this is a ruse, they bring the figure to their own territory and are defeated as a result.
M75b4. To master a woman, the hero hides inside the hollow figure of a horse (bull, deer) or in an animal carcass. The character guarding the woman takes her to her. The hero gets outside and becomes a woman's lover. Or a woman hides inside the figure of a horse, which is taken to the man's chambers.
M75c. A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive.
M75d. A man bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B26 | 96.42% | A person who follows wild animals (temporarily) turns into one of them or their master, or lives with animals that look like humans to him. |
| K27O2 | 94.67% | To destroy the hero, his opponents play ball with him, throwing a heavy dangerous object (a ball made of ice, bone, stone, iron, a walrus head, a biting skull, etc.). |
| J37 | 93.99% | Transforming into a powerful bird or creating one, the hero lifts his opponent into the air and carries him away. |
| B54 | 93.01% | Wood chips, branches or pieces of bark that have fallen or been thrown into the water turn into fish and aquatic animals. |
| L59 | 92.80% | A woman eats the best food or eats fruit before it is ripe; as punishment, she undergoes metamorphosis. |
| A20 | 92.35% | The Sun and the Moon (less often the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are brothers (sisters, brother and sister) who initially live on earth, but at the end of the story, as teenagers or young adults, ascend to the sky and become celestial bodies. |
| E15 | 90.94% | People learn how to build boats and row from birds; a bird or part of its body serves as a model for building a boat. |
| B27A | 87.44% | The characters ponder what they should transform into and decide to become thunder and/or lightning. |
| G1 | 87.31% | In order to acquire or regain values (land, soil, cultivated plants, sun, fire, shamanic knowledge, luck), people lure or steal the son or daughter of a certain character. |
| B31 | 86.83% | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. |
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
10 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Central Yupik, Koyukon, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Polar Inuit, Yurok, Waiwai, Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Nivakle (=Chulupi, Ashluslay, Ajlujlay)
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