Motif
Dead or harmed being signals through bird, feather, or tree
dead_or_harmed_being_signals_through_bird_feather_or_tree
A motif of the Restless Dead, Haunting, and Vengeance family, within the sub-family Ghostly Signs, Warnings, and Revelations. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
afro caribbean
-
Jamaica Anansi Stories RIDDLES. / INDEX TO RIDDLES. / ABBREVIATIONS OF TITLES. / NOTES.; lines 12995-13137 confidence: medium
The Barking Puppy note states that the bird is generally a friendly spirit and the dog an unfriendly one in African story; here the dog replaces the warning bird and invokes its master's spirit by calling the master's name. Cited parallels include Dove warning Hippopotamus against Rabbit, a warning feather, and a dog warning of murder.
Dove's remaining feather gives warning, the passage says some birds may be regarded as the soul of a murdered person, and an Andros tree sings of a murder.
read in the book →