Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
N27 — Bird's milk
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
OverviewBird milk (variant: chicken, pigeon, hawkish, etc.) milk is mentioned in fairy tales, riddles, paroemias and conspiracies as something very rare and difficult to obtain or non-existent actually.
Berezkin category: Fabulous and epic formulas
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 13, Formulae.
N27 has 3 other sub-motifs
RelatedN27. Bird milk (variant: chicken, pigeon, hawkish, etc.) milk is mentioned in fairy tales, riddles, paroemias and conspiracies as something very rare and difficult to obtain or non-existent actually.
N27a. It is said that somewhere there is (or was) even bird’s milk
N27b. It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk
N27c. It is claimed that the bird has no milk and/or breasts
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| I95 | 99.87% | The Pleiades are a sieve or riddle for sifting agricultural products. See motif I95. |
| N14 | 99.69% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula stating that the narrator attended a feast and/or wedding arranged by the characters of the fairy tale. |
| K27X1 | 99.68% | Having received a difficult task (usually: to bring an object or creature that has no specific characteristics, such as "something, I don't know what," "a strange wonder," etc.), the hero meets an invisible man who serves others; he is kind to him, and the man becomes his assistant. (This motif is certainly present in some texts of the ATU 465A plot, but it is not specifically highlighted in the definition). (Cf. motif K131B). |
| B32A | 99.65% | The enemies of a hero sailing the sea turn into seals or dolphins. |
| I137 | 99.65% | One of the constellations is associated with footwear, usually with (worn-out) bast shoes. |
| I95B | 99.65% | Orion is a yoke. |
| K35A7 | 99.65% | A character finds a feather, the touch of which brings health and beauty. |
| K38F3 | 99.65% | To kill the dragon, the hero digs a pit and hides in it. When the dragon crawls nearby or over the pit, the hero strikes it with a fatal blow of his sword. |
| M39A2A | 99.65% | fool buys spoons and/or a table, tells the table to go on its own feet, throws away spoons because they rattle. The two episodes are usually combined. |
| M39A3B | 99.65% | fool decides that stumps need hats, puts pots on the stumps. |
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
50 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 50 traditions: Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, Germans: North (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg, Pommern, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen, Brandenburg, Rügen, Poles, Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Albanians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Karelians, Vepsians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Persians, Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Laks, Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Kumyk, Terekemen, Svans, Mingrelians (Megrelians), Laz, Georgians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Stavropol Turkmen (recent migrants from Mangyshlak Peninsular), Anatolia Turks, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Kurds, Kara Kalpak, Kazakh, Kirghiz, Uyghur, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Bashkirs, Mari (Cheremis), Mordvins, Chuvash, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Shor, Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Urums, Rumei, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Early Russian written sources, Buryats: Eastern (trans Baikal), i.e. Khori, Russian Federation
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