The Mythology and Folklore Database
C5A - Scout birds.
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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
A bird, various birds, or people who then turn into birds are sent to explore the earth (whether it exists, whether it has dried up, whether there are any survivors, why smoke is rising from the earth, etc.) or with the task of bringing back a piece of solid substance to create dry land.Berezkin category: Disasters
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 3, Cosmogony, the earth and the sky, etiology of the elements, natural and biological phenomena (fire, water, soil, thunderstorms, dream, etc.), cataclysms and cosmic threats, spirits of nature
C5 has 1 other sub-motifsC5a. A bird, various birds, or people who then turn into birds are sent to explore the earth (whether it exists, whether it has dried up, whether there are any survivors, why smoke is rising from the earth, etc.) or with the task of bringing back a piece of solid substance to create dry land. C5b. After a global catastrophe or during the creation of the earth, animals run around, making the earth large, reporting on its condition, or are sent to find out how large the earth is. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of C5's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H28 | 95.06% | A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures. |
| I8E1 | 94.05% | The sky or earth is supported by four objects or beings located at the four cardinal points (either four groups of beings, or four at the corners and a fifth in the centre). Th A841. See motifs 8A, 8D. |
| I78 | 93.15% | The earth is thought of as rectangular (usually square). |
| H34B | 92.10% | Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once. |
| I82A | 92.10% | The Morning and/or Evening Star – a male character. |
| L18 | 90.03% | A bird with two or more heads in descriptions or images. |
| F9 | 89.92% | For various reasons, sexual intercourse with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man, or so it seems to him: Teeth, blades or sharp stones in the vagina or on the inside of the thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. See motif F9A. |
| I69 | 89.88% | Luminous celestial objects or atmospheric phenomena are bodily secretions of celestial beings. |
| F30 | 89.83% | A girl or woman takes a snake, eel, moray eel, lizard or worm as a lover or spouse. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or their offspring, or she herself turns into a snake. Cf. motif K76B (the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man). See motif F29. |
| K8A | 89.47% | The character enters the belly of an aquatic creature or a giant creature whose appearance and habitat are not precisely described. He kills the creature from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. Upon emerging from the belly, he often finds himself bald (K921). Cf. motifs I81B (Charybdis) and L110 (Devourer). |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 89 traditions: Akkad, Assyria, Babylonia, Berbers of southern Tunisia and adjacent part of Libya (Matmata and Ghadames areas), Tonga, Samoa, Mindanao and Sulu: Blaan (Bilaan), Bagobo, Bukidnon, Cotabato, Hiligáynon, Binukid, Magindaan (=Magindanao: main Muslim population), Mandaya, Mansaka, Manobo (Agusan, Ata, Dibabawon, Sarangani, Ilianen), Maranao, Samal, Subanon (=Subanun), Subanen, Tboli, Northern Munda of Kharwar branch: Birhor, Ho, Mundari, Kol, Asur (including Agaria, Kol, Birjhia), Bhumij, Bhuiya (now Aryans, originally Munda; Rahman 1955: 203), Baiga, Bhaina, Bhumia (subgroup of Baiga, incl Bharia, formerly Munda, now speak Indo-Aryan languages of neighboring groups), Bondo, Didayi (Gata'), Gutob (=Gadaba; cf Dravidian-speaking Gadaba), Sora (Savara, Saora), Parenga, Chin-Naga: Ao, Mao, Sema, Zeme, Kolren, Kom, Lhota, Rengma, Angami, Kabui, Tangkhul, Koirenf, Garo (Atchik), Kachari (Bodo, incl. Lalung), Dimasa, Tripuri, Riang (of Tripura), Khami, Riga, Mori, Nepali; Tharu, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Lepcha, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Romanians, Moldavians, Aromanians, Moldovans, Western Sami, Western Ukrainians, Russians: Central part of ethnic territory as in A.D. 1500 (Tver, Yaroslavl, Moscow, Kostroma, Vladimir, Ivanovo, Nizhny Novgorod, Ryazan, Tula, Kaluga, Smolensk provinces; in case of absence in other areas also Russians in Vyatka, Perm, Kazan provinces), Ossetians, Armenians, Mari (Cheremis), Udmurt, Mansi, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Khakas, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Kets, Dolgans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Evens (Lamuts), Ainu, Oroch, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Chukchi, Koyukon, Lenape (Delaware), Ottawa, Montagnais, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Iowa, Pawnee, Kiowa Apache, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Caddo, Chitimacha, Creek, Seminole; Tuskegee; iconography of Kentucky Hopewell, Choctaw, Chicasaw, Catawba, Tutelo, Sierra Miwok, Yana, Yokuts, Salinan, Western Shoshone, Gosiute, Navajo, Jicarilla, Hopi, Warihio (Guarijío), Tarahumara, Western Mexico Nahuatl, Tojolabal, Chuj, Jacalteca, Kanjobal, Mocho (incl Tuzantec), Acatec, Tequistlatec, Tzotzil, Tzeltal, Chorti, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Yupa (Yukpa), Guajiro, Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Urarina, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Yagua, Maue (Mawe), Kanamari, Moseten, Chimane, Yuracare, Mundurucu, Curuaia, Sheta, Mocovi; Kechua of Santiago del Estero with probable Guaikuruan substratum; Abipon, Ayoreo, Chamacoco (Ishir), Central Tibetans (Yu Tsang, incl. Sikkim Tibetans, Tichurong of NW Nepal), Yellowknife, Terek Cossacks