The Mythology and Folklore Database
B73 - The cuckoo has different legs.
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Source Data from Berezkin's Analytics Catalogue, if using this data please acknowledge and link to it here:
Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of Motif
The character turns into a cuckoo. This happens so quickly that one foot remains unshod or one braid remains unbraided. Therefore, it is believed that the cuckoo's legs or wings are different. See motif A43A.Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar
B73 has 2 other sub-motifsB73. The character turns into a cuckoo. This happens so quickly that one foot remains unshod or one braid remains unbraided. Therefore, it is believed that the cuckoo's legs or wings are different. See motif A43A. B73a. A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call. B73b. Two teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B73's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M197D | 100.00% | To find the thief, a man gives sticks to the assembled crowd and says that the thief's stick will become longer overnight. The thief cuts off the end of his stick and is thus discovered. |
| L100D1 | 99.95% | A person endowed with (spiritual) power comes to a woman in the evening. When there is a knock at the door, the woman, having agreed in advance with her husband, tells the guest to lie down in the cradle and replies to her husband who has entered that their son is in the cradle. The man begins to turn the adult into a baby or threatens to do so: he shaves off his beard, knocks out his teeth, and grabs an axe to chop off his legs. The disgraced and exhausted guest runs away. |
| M148 | 99.93% | One zoomorphic character asks another to agree to be eaten – usually saying that he will be resurrected and compensated for the inconvenience caused. The animal agrees. |
| K123B | 99.85% | A boy or young man damages an elderly woman's spinning wheel or yarn. This episode forms the basis of the rest of the story. |
| L122A | 99.85% | The character is busy sewing up cracks in the earth, just as one would sew up torn fabric. (Motif identified by Ruslan Doutalieyev). |
| N23 | 99.83% | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that the characters stayed or left where the action took place, and the narrator returned home and/or came to the place fairy tale performances. |
| K78A | 99.79% | A demonic character swallows cripples and regurgitates them healthy and beautiful. |
| K99A2 | 99.75% | One person has a dream, and another buys it and obtains what was predicted in the dream. |
| K27ZZ4 | 99.47% | A conceited prince (the son of a merchant) beats his wife every day (he marries on the condition that he will beat his wife every day). She saves him by demonstrating her superiority. |
| L81A1 | 99.47% | Noticing a red bead (pebble) that has fallen into the hearth, the character thinks it is a coal and does not understand that the fire in the hearth has gone out. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Kumyk, Terekemen, Kazakh, Bashkirs, Khakas, Shor, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Northern Altai: Chelkan, Kumanda, Tubalar, Altaians, Southern Altai: Teleut, Japan, Russian Federation