C6B — Diver – muskrat (beaver, otter).

The desired object is brought up from the bottom by a muskrat (rarely a beaver or otter).

Berezkin category: Disasters

This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of 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.

C6.  In texts with an emphasis on authenticity, characters dive or otherwise descend into the underworld to bring back to earth something desirable that is located at the bottom (deep below) (aka "The Earth Diver" motifs) (cf. fairy tale motif k27x9).
C6a.  A turtle or toad (frog) brings a desired object from the bottom or from the underworld.
C6b.  The desired object is brought up from the bottom by a muskrat (rarely a beaver or otter).
C6c.  The bird dives and brings up the desired object from the bottom. See motif C6.
C6c1.  Two or more different birds (in Siberia, often a loon and a duck) successively try to retrieve something from the bottom. Only one succeeds.
C6c2.  Birds must dive to retrieve soil from the bottom, from which land will emerge. The loon cannot reach the bottom, refuses to dive, or tries to hide the soil it has retrieved (usually punished for this).
C6c3.  The loon dives and brings back a piece of earth (grass, etc.), which turns into land (it is the only or the only successful diver).
C6c4.  A duck or similar waterfowl dives and brings back a piece of earth, which turns into land (it is the only or the only successful diver).
C6d.  Land (earth) is formed from a small amount of solid substance (silt, sand, clay, mud) that characters retrieve from the underworld (usually from the bottom of the ocean).
C6e.  A crustacean retrieves earth from under water or from the underworld.
C6f.  The characters attempt to retrieve a living creature or part of its body that has sunk to the bottom of the water. See motif C6.
C6g.  The boar brings earth from the bottom and/or scatters it on the water.
C6h.  The insect brings soil (from the bottom of the sea or from somewhere far away).
c6h1.  The earth brought from the underworld was found in the belly of a worm or insect, from where it was taken.
C6i.  A zoomorphic character returns from the underworld covered in mud. He shakes himself off, or the mud is scraped off him, and earth emerges from it.
C6i1.  There is water everywhere. Earth is raked up from the bottom into a mound, its top rises above the water and turns into dry land.
C6j.  In the same narrative, the story of the creation of man and the attempt to prevent it follows immediately after the story of obtaining earth from the bottom of the sea or from the underworld.
C6j1.  An anthropomorphic deity sends someone to fetch earth from the bottom of his enemy. At first, the enemy or both characters sometimes have the appearance of birds. After the enemy brings the earth, a confrontation begins between the two characters, who now always have anthropomorphic appearances.

This motif has been recorded in 43 traditions: Svans, Dogrib, Slavey, Hare (K'ahsho Got'ine), Han, Kaska, Athna, Upper Kuskokwim (Kolchan), Koyukon, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Beaver, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Lenape (Delaware), Northern Saulteaux, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Ottawa, Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Montagnais, Menominee, Sauk (Sak, Mesquakie), Fox, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Huron (incl Wyandot), Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga), Tuscarora, Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Iowa, Gros Ventre, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine, Carrier, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Tillamook, Takelma, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper), Bannock, Hopi, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Upper Chinook: Wasco, Wishram, Clackamas, Kathlamet