The Mythology and Folklore Database
B72 - The cuckoo was not given water.
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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
Since the children do not give their mother water, she turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) and flies away.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
B72 has 4 other sub-motifsB72. Since the children do not give their mother water, she turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) and flies away. B72a. Mother (stepmother, adoptive father) does not give food to a girl or (less often) a boy. The child asks migratory birds to take him with them, they give him bird clothing, he flies away with them, becoming a bird. B72b. A girl or, less commonly, a boy turns into a bird after his mother (father, guardian) refuses to give him water or food or otherwise mistreats him. B72c. Children run after their mother, injure themselves, and their blood stains plants, the ground, and the evening sky. B72d. A woman makes herself wings (beak, tail) from clothing accessories and turns into a bird or a flying creature. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B72's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| I22B | 96.71% | Migratory birds (or shamans in the form of birds) fly from our world to another; the path lies through a narrow opening between jutting rocks, or the sky strikes the earth, crushing those who fly through; and/or at the passage to the other world there is a character who feeds on birds; and/or in the world on the other side of the pulsating barrier there is the mistress of the birds. |
| K8C2 | 96.44% | The mouse is swallowed by a large land animal and comes out by cutting it open from the inside. |
| K52C | 93.89% | Demonstrating his power, a shaman, sorcerer or other character with magical abilities causes the dwelling in which he and other people are located to begin to fill with water. Sometimes it is said that this water is an illusion and that those present also see animals (waterfowl, fish or marine mammals). |
| I22B1 | 93.62% | Some migratory birds (shamans in the form of birds) die on the border of our world. |
| B68 | 93.50% | The giant hazel grouse became small – it was usually torn into pieces, which turned into the current hazel grouse. |
| K44B | 93.50% | The hero or heroine returns after a long absence. Seeing (usually from the roof of the house) his or her parents (mother, husband) languishing in poverty, he or she throws food at them, extinguishes the fire, pushes them, etc. At first, they usually do not understand what is going on. |
| B120 | 93.02% | There are creatures that sleep in winter, and frozen snot hangs from their noses. (Motif identified by Evgenia Korovina). |
| B42MN | 92.66% | Only one character (rather than several) chases an animal (elk or bear) across the sky, associated with one of the circumpolar constellations, but not with the Pleiades or Orion. (In the Kalevala tradition, there is no identification with stars). |
| C6C | 92.60% | The bird dives and brings up the desired object from the bottom. See motif C6. |
| H43AA | 92.21% | Having created the human body, the creator leaves. At this time, his opponent spits on the figure, which has not yet come to life, smears it with mud, etc. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 27 traditions: Poles, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Western Ukrainians, Byelarusians, Belarusians, Tats, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Kazan (Middle Volga) Tatars, Mansi, Eastern Khanty (Ostyaks), Shor, Nenets, Southern Selkups, Northern Selkups, Kets, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Nootka (Nu-chah-nulth), Makah, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet, Chechens, Yughs, Eastern Ukrainians, Northern Ukrainians, Russian Federation