The Mythology and Folklore Database
M140B - The wolf adorns the bird.




29 Myths, Legends and Folktales
29 Unique Narratives for Motif M140B
9 Cultures & Traditions where M140B is told
0 Mythemes Indexed
1 Sub-Motifs of Motif M140B


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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 fox cunningly ties up the wolf. The bird unties him, and the grateful wolf adorns her plumage. See motifs b97, b97a.

Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes

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


M14 has 1 other sub-motifs


M14.  A man brutally murders his wife (rarely: children, fiancée, sister) and/or eats her flesh himself, or brings her flesh to her relatives (if he kills children, he brings the flesh to his wife).
M14a.  To take revenge on his wife or her relatives for (allegedly) causing him offence, the husband roasts his wife alive. See motif M14.

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Top 10 Motifs with similar dispersal patterns

MotifSimilarityMotif Summary
A32J100.00%A shaman with a tambourine ascends to the moon and remains there, visible in the silhouette of the lunar spots.
B42M1100.00%The three main stars of the Big Dipper's handle are associated with people of three different nationalities.
B64A100.00%Fish and birds fight (usually by shooting arrows at each other). Since then, fish have had many small bones in their bodies and/or birds' legs have taken on their current form.
B72D100.00%A woman makes herself wings (beak, tail) from clothing accessories and turns into a bird or a flying creature.
B74A100.00%Red cloths are sewn over the character's eyes (threads, eyelids are painted red) or he does it himself. He sees everything in red or his eyes have turned red forever.
D1A1100.00%Because a woman offended the fire, its mistress takes her child away.
E13100.00%The shamanic tambourine is compared or associated with a lake.
E1E100.00%The son of the first human couple initially takes the form of a small plant that has grown from the ground, a stalk.
K32H2100.00%A man executes his wife by leaving her to be eaten by ants.
K56A1100.00%The groom, the bringer of prosperity, orders the girl who has come to perform work that she herself is unable to do. The groom's mother performs the work, and the girl is accepted by the groom. See motif K56A. Except for the Ket people: the work is performed by tiny women sitting in or behind the mother-in-law's ear.

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Map of Motif Dispersal

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This motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Nganasans, Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Western Tungus (Evenki), Western Siberia Tungus (Evenki): Sym River, Ket River, Ilimpii Tungus/Evenki, Yerbogachen Tungus/Evenki, Tungus/Evenki of Nercha - Chita area


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