Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif

M8A — Birds are hammering the rock: release from the trap

91 Myths, legends and folktales

91 Unique narratives for motif M8A

50 Cultures & traditions where M8A is told

4 Sub-motifs of motif M8A

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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

Overview

Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list includes groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.

M8 has 4 other sub-motifs

M8.  Some characters (not humans) are struggling to break a strong barrier that prevents access to the desired location or to a high-value object. See also M8A - M8D motifs; they are included in the M8 motif in the correlation tables.
M8a.  Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list includes groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space.
M8b.  Animals, and often birds, struggle to break through the rock to get water or honey hidden inside it.
M8c.  Birds pierce through a layer of clay, wax, resin, etc., that covers the character's eyes or anus.
M8d.  Birds break through the hard cover on the character's body to reach his entrails.

🌐 See a combined distribution map for all of M8’s motifs

Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns

Phylogeny

Motif	Similarity	Motif summary
B29	98.63%	People turn into animals, birds or stones, living beings acquire their current characteristics at a general meeting, festival, after a festival, after performing a ritual or after defeating a common enemy.
F53	97.91%	An unattractive man marries, but hides his face. When he is seen, the marriage is dissolved.
B28	96.49%	Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc.
E3	96.39%	After the destruction of the previous world, new people (rarely: new earth) are made from the remains of the dead.
J12	96.33%	A girl or two sisters wander, usually in search of a suitable groom or husband who has left or lives far away. Along the way or upon reaching their destination, they encounter false suitors. (Traditions in which two heroines travel rather than one are highlighted in bold (motif j13).
K4	96.25%	The character climbs a tree or rock to get a bird, bird eggs, or chicks, climbs into a bird's nest, comes into conflict with another character, and/or cannot climb down. See motifs K1, K2A. Traditions in which the nest destroyer is a woman are highlighted in italics; bold italics indicate those in which the character falls into the trap not through the fault of another person, but by accident, or, having climbed up to destroy the nest, does not fall into the trap at all, although he quarrels with his companion; an asterisk* marks those in which the character remains in the trap (undergoes a metamorphosis).
E14A	95.85%	People kill demons, examine their bodies, make ritual costumes and masks, reproducing the appearance of the slain.
L63	95.82%	The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A.
C34	95.75%	The flood begins after people kill (harm, maim) some kind of creature (usually aquatic).
J30	95.70%	Before the heroes defeat their antagonists or flee from them, they find or receive the remains or property of the victim.

See the 100 most similar distributions →

Map of motif dispersal

Distribution

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Traditions

50 recorded

This motif has been recorded in 50 traditions: Zande (Azande, incl Nzakara), Bemba (Wemba, Babemba; incl Ambo, Lala, Lamba, Bisa), Holoholo, Kaonde, Mon, Wa (incl Kawa), Bulang, Palaung (De Ang, Deang), Eastern Arunachal Pradesh: Abor (incl Minyong, Shimong, Padam, Pasi, Panggi), Apa Tani (Apatani), Bori, Bugun, Dafla (=Nyishi, Nisi, Nishing, incl Tagin), Gallong (=Galo, Adi), Mishmi, Lahu, Kucong, Nosu, Nisu, Nusu, Sani, Jino, Nenets, Tagish, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Blackfoot, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Plains Ojibwa, Shasta; Chimariko, Karok, Hupa, Chilula, Yurok, Caddo, Natchez (incl Avoyel), Cherokee, Maidu, Nisenan, Konkov, Navajo, Tewa (San Juan, Santa Clara, San Ildefonso, Tesuque, Nambe; Hano), Tiwa (Taos, Picuris; Sandia, Isleta), Towa (Jemez), Tepecano, Tepehua, Totonac, Chinantec, Mazatec, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chol; pre-Columbian Mayan iconography outside of Yucatan, Guajiro, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Aguaruna, Huambiza, Karijona, Tariana, Andoque, Juruna, Piro (Yine), Tacana, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Suruí, Gaviâo, Zoro, Arua, Cinta Larga, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kamayura, Rikbaktsa, Iranxe, Nambikwara, Botocudo, Mataco

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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com

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