The Mythology and Folklore Database
L18 - Multi-headed bird.
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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 bird with two or more heads in descriptions or images.Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part group 8, Queer and monstrous beings, creatures, objects and loci, folk beliefs related to particular phenomena and objects
Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns
| Motif | Similarity | Motif Summary |
|---|---|---|
| H28 | 95.21% | 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. |
| B12 | 94.50% | The riverbed follows the path of a snake, fish, dragon, or crab; the river arises from parts of the snake's body; the river is a snake. |
| C2 | 92.16% | The inhabitants of the middle world (in part) are destroyed (or will be destroyed) once by fire or drought, another time by a flood, or the world is flooded with a stream of fire and boiling water. |
| I78 | 91.99% | The earth is thought of as rectangular (usually square). |
| G6 | 91.55% | One of the trees is the main, original tree, which is very different from the others (it was the first to appear; the progenitor of trees; the progenitor of wild or cultivated plants; the sea and rivers within it; the world axis; higher than the others; obscuring the sky). |
| I3 | 90.87% | Lightning (and thunder) is produced by an object (sword, arrow, whip, mirror, etc.) in the hands of a character; lightning is an object. |
| I14 | 90.72% | Creatures without an anal opening are described. |
| I20C | 90.06% | Dwarves live in an underground world that partly resembles the earthly world. If dwarves and humans meet, it happens underground. |
| C5A | 90.03% | 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. |
| E1A | 89.87% | The first humans are made of fragile materials (clay, wax, fire, honey, etc.) and prove to be unviable. |
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Map of Motif Dispersal
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This motif has been recorded in 49 traditions: Samoa, Miao (Hmong) and Yao of Southern China, Bulgarians, Balkarians, Ancient Greece, Estonians, Ingush, Georgians, 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), Turkmen, Oirats (incl Torgouts, Derbets, Oilots), Tuvinians of Tuva, Tuvans, Khakas, Nganasans, Southern Selkups, Kets, Central Yakuts (Sakha), Dolgans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Evens (Lamuts), Nanai, Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Inland Tlingit, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Creek, Seminole; Tuskegee; iconography of Kentucky Hopewell, Huichol, Aztec; Aztec and Teotihuacan iconography, Pame, Jonaz (Chichimeca-Jonaz), Mazahua, Otomi, Quiche, Achí, Cakchiquel, Pocomchi, Pocomam, Tzutujil, Sayula Popoluca (=Veracruz Mixe), Sierra Popoluca, Veracruz Zoque, Bribri, Cabecar, Terraba; Chiriqui (AD 800-1500) iconography, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Muisca, Muzo, Makiritare (Yecuana), Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Waiwai, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor), Northern Peru: Sierra (Kechua-speaking communities, Cajamarca, Ancash, Huanuco and San Martin departments; Chavin pre-Columbian iconography; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Lima dep: Costa and adjacent Sierra (Spanish, Kechua, and Jacaru-speaking communities, mostly in Pachacamac, Cajatambo, Canta, Huarochirí; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries), Ica department, Costa (Spanish-speaking communities; Spanish sources of XVI-XVII centuries; Topara, Paracas and Nazca pre-Columbian iconography), Aimara, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Kamayura, Trumai, Terena (Tereno) , Kono (=Kone), Wai, Maldives, Costa Rica