The Mythology and Folklore Database
K23A - Feathers – birds' weapons.
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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
Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims.Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 10, Adventures
K23 has 1 other sub-motifsK23. Birds attack inhabitants of another world or a person who has entered another world. See motif K22. K23a. Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims. Click here if would you like to see a distrbution map combining all of K23's motifs? |
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| M46A | 97.43% | The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). |
| M42C | 97.18% | Falling off a cliff and breaking his leg, the character eats his bone marrow. |
| H36J | 96.90% | The lark is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. |
| I49 | 96.90% | Earthquake – an anthropomorphic character (or category of characters) that moves around, shaking the earth. |
| J53C | 96.74% | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. |
| A42A | 96.67% | Having risen into the sky, the character unsuccessfully performs the role of the sun and as a result falls or is thrown down to earth. |
| M29Y | 95.71% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| J52A | 95.70% | A she-bear or bear treacherously kills his companion, neighbour, etc., who is associated with a herbivorous animal or a weaker predator. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children or flee. See motifs J52, J54. |
| B92 | 95.44% | A character whose body is hard and has broken into small pieces, or (rarely) a small object, turns into flint or other hard stones (the origin of flint). |
| F60 | 95.34% | A girl or woman falls ill. A character comes to heal her. The treatment consists of him copulating with her or attempting to do so. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Ancient Greece, Southern Selkups, Chukchi, Tsimshian, Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla)