The Mythology and Folklore Database
I6 - Birds that bring storms.




83 Myths, Legends and Folktales
83 Unique Narratives for Motif I6
37 Cultures & Traditions where I6 is told
131 Mythemes Indexed
1 Sub-Motifs of Motif I6


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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

A person encounters a huge bird carrying clouds, rain, snow, thunderstorms, etc.

Berezkin category: Supernatural objects, objects and creatures

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


I6 has 1 other sub-motifs


I6.  A person encounters a huge bird carrying clouds, rain, snow, thunderstorms, etc.
I6a.  The male and female of a huge bird carry different types of precipitation (for example, the eagle carries snow, and the eagle carries rain). Or (Buryats of Mongolia) the same bird carries different types of precipitation depending on whether it is angry or not. See motif i6. Traditions associated with Na-Dene languages are highlighted in italics in the list.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
K22C88.23%Inhabitants of another world who are birds (bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals that are not dangerous to ordinary people, but which regularly attack them.
K27YY187.83%The hero brings the feather (feathers) of a dangerous bird.
L987.63%The character's body parts resemble cutting or stabbing weapons.
K5987.12%One person places another in a box and closes the lid, or ties the other to a board, a boat, etc., and throws them into the water. The coffin (box, board) is nailed to a distant land, where the captive is freed. Usually, he returns and takes revenge on his enemy.
B44F187.06%In the dispute over whether the world should be light (warm), the bear is on the side of darkness (and cold); or the world is plunged into darkness because the bear hides the sun in his house.
A4386.74%The character runs away in a hurry and undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a bird or rising into the sky. He is missing one trouser leg, or a shoe on one foot, or one mitten.
I6A86.55%The male and female of a huge bird carry different types of precipitation (for example, the eagle carries snow, and the eagle carries rain). Or (Buryats of Mongolia) the same bird carries different types of precipitation depending on whether it is angry or not. See motif i6. Traditions associated with Na-Dene languages are highlighted in italics in the list.
K27Y85.45%The hero is sent or, knowing the danger, goes himself to obtain various (at least two) materials for making a bow and arrows (shafts, feathers, bowstring, flint for arrowheads, paint for colouring arrows, resin and fibres for attaching the arrowhead or feather to the shaft, etc.). See motif K27.
M1684.87%The wife or relatives (often the mother) of the sick person do not care for him. He recovers, and those who treated him badly are punished. Cf. motifs F62 and F96.
J1783.56%Instead of lice in the character's hair, there are other creatures, or he pretends that such creatures live in his hair.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 37 traditions: Greeks (modern), Balkarians, Uzbek, Karachays, Balkar, Ossetians, Dargin (Dargwa), incl. Müregin, Khürkilin, Kubachi, Georgians, Kara Kalpak, 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), Mansi, Buryats: Western (cis Baikal), Darkhad, Southern Altai: Altai proper (Altai-Kiji), Telengit, Altaians, Udeghe, Chipewyan, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Koyukon, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Beaver, Arapaho, Omaha, Ponca, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa Apache, Gros Ventre, Crow, Flathead, Navajo, Jicarilla, Chiricahua, Mescalero, Hopi, Zuni, Ayoreo, Chorote, Yellowknife


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