The Mythology and Folklore Database
B98 - The bat between beasts and birds, ATU 222A.
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Motif Summary - Motifs with Simlar Dispersals - Map of Myth Distribution - List of Traditions - Myths |
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 bat (rarely: ostrich) tries to join either the beasts or the birds, or finds itself excluded from both.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
B98 has 3 other sub-motifsB98. The bat (rarely: ostrich) tries to join either the beasts or the birds, or finds itself excluded from both. B98a. The bat becomes an outcast among other creatures (usually after trying to join either the animals or the birds). B98b. The Bat comes into conflict with other creatures in connection with someone's death or funeral. B98c. The heavenly deity could have healed the bat's mother or child, but did not do so, and they died. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of B98's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| L108 | 98.42% | Each time the departed character returns, he or she sings a song or gives a signal to a relative (usually a child) or friend who remained at home, who then lets him or her in. The antagonist pretends to be the departed person, imitating his or her voice, showing his or her hand, etc. Cf. motif L27a. |
| M157 | 96.37% | The character claims that a man, male animal or object gave birth (or had a period), or that an animal of one species gave birth to a young of another species, or that a woman gave birth to an animal or inanimate object. |
| L65B | 96.33% | A demonic woman, less often her lover or another monster, is ready to kill or kills the hero. Dogs (or animals and birds that replace them – lions, bears, eagles, etc.) come running (flying), rescue the hero and kill the demon. |
| K32D | 96.27% | As a result of the antagonist's intrigues, a noble girl (young woman) or boy (young man) is turned into a servant or servant, sent to graze cattle or chase birds in the field. Everything is revealed – usually after people hear a song in which the hero or heroine tells about the substitution. Most often, the hero or heroine goes to relatives or (less often) to the groom. The deceiver accompanies her or him and is accepted as a relative or bride. The deceiver is executed. Comoros: the deceiver becomes the mistress, turning the girl's parents into peacocks. |
| K56 | 95.95% | One of the girls, young women or young girls (wives of one man) meets a character who is able to reward and punish. She behaves correctly and receives a reward. Another (others) tries to repeat everything, but behaves incorrectly and is punished (rarely: not rewarded). |
| L106B | 95.92% | A girl, a young girl or (rarely) a boy loses an everyday object, usually carried away by water or wind. In search of the lost object, she (he) encounters powerful characters, returns the object and/or receives valuables. Traditions recorded only in Roberts 1994: 103-110 are highlighted in italics. |
| M157A2 | 95.64% | The character claims that the calf (kid, etc.) was not born (brought) by a cow (goat, etc.) belonging to another owner, but by his own animal of a different species or male sex, or by an inanimate object (usually a cart). |
| M124 | 95.64% | The character buries the tail (head, ears) of a domestic animal, claiming that it has fallen into the ground. Usually, he asks others to pull on the tail (head), and when it "breaks off," he accuses others of stealing the animal. |
| M156 | 95.63% | A dangerous animal (rarely: a spirit) is about to kill a human or another animal – usually the one who freed it from a trap. A third character acts as a judge and saves the human – most often by luring the ungrateful back into the trap. |
| M154 | 95.13% | A man who has learned the language of animals laughs when he hears them talking. His wife or mother-in-law (rarely someone else) demands that he explain what is going on. The man is ready to comply with his wife's demand, even though he knows he will die if he reveals the secret. Usually, he hears the domestic animals condemning their master's stupidity and decides not to say anything. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 50 traditions: Algeria Arabs, Amhara; Zay, Harari; Silte, Gogot, Gogo, Kaguru, Luguru, Zigula, Taveta, Shambala (Sambala), Bondei, Taeta, Dabida; Zaramo, Sakata, Congo (Koongo, Bacongo; incl Vili, Fioti, (Ma)Yombe, MuKunyi), Ndombo, Luango (Loango), Zombo (Sambo), Laadi (Laari), (Ba)Fioti, Woyo (Kiwoyo), Ronga, Boa, Komo, (Ba)Nyanga, Mbole, Fang (Pangwe), Eton, Bafia, Batanga, Benga, Bube (Bubi), Buheba, Yaunde (Ewondo), Yebekolo, Koko, Bulu, Beti (Beti-Bulu), Sekiani, Eghap, Hausa, Igbo (Ibo); Isoko, Urhobo, Yoruba; incl Ife), Nupe, Bini (Edo), Engenni, Chamba, Dakka, Kukuruku, Kposso, "Togo-Restvölker" (Adele, Akebu, Akposso, Bowiri/Bowili, Santrokofi, Lelemi, Borada Akrade, Teteman, Baakwa, Bowiri), Bia: Anyi, Agni, Baule, Nsema, Niue, Burmese, Intha, Nicobarese, Rawang, Dulong; Anong, Drung, Kachin (Singpho), Chak, Punjabi, Seraiki (Multani), Early Chinese written sources, Lepcha, Spain, Spaniards, Portuguese, Portugal, Ancient Italy: Latins, Etruscans, Magna Graecia, France, Dutch, Flemish, Czech, Czechs, Hungarians, Ancient Greece, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Finns, Abkhaz, Abkhazians, Georgians, Kalmyk, Crimean Tatars, Karaims, Azeris (Azerbaijanis), Hui (Dungan) of Xinjiang, Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Inner Mongolia, Qinghai, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan (Dungan texts from Southern and Eastern China are clustered with the Chinese ones), Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Yuchi, Klamath, Modoc, Cherokee, Western Keres (Acoma, Laguna), Shuar, Achuar (Shiwiar), Arabs (literary tradition; incl. One Thousand and One Nights), Prussians, Congo