Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G11 — The squirrel-woodcutter.
Source data for narratives and traditions is drawn from Berezkin’s Analytical Catalogue. If you use this data, please acknowledge and link to it: Ю.Е. Березкин, Е.Н. Дувакин. Тематическая классификация и распределение фольклорно-мифологических мотивов по ареалам. Аналитический каталог.
Summary of motif
OverviewThe squirrel plays an important role in cutting down a giant tree (usually chopping or trying to chop the vine that holds it, see motif G10).
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 7, Etiology of plants and animals and of their peculiar features, particular animals as protagonists of cosmological stories, metamorphoses, weather and calendar.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L1E | 99.99% | A monstrous bird is created from a small amount of human or animal flesh (usually from the heart) or from lumps of manioc starch. |
| B7D | 99.90% | Water pours from a broken bone, flooding the earth. |
| I129 | 99.90% | The rainy season is associated with the appearance of the Heron constellation in the sky. |
| L7B | 99.90% | While chasing a person, spirit, monster or beast, he mistakenly throws himself after a calabash floating down the river. |
| B66 | 99.54% | Characters climb to the sky using a rope or chain of arrows; when it falls to the ground, it turns into forest vines. See motif J47. |
| C15 | 99.54% | A monstrous jaguar (puma) is locked in a cave or tree trunk. |
| C34A | 99.54% | A supernatural character goes with people to catch fish or lives on the sand by the river; he is buried in the sand or thrown into the river, into a swamp, or otherwise persecuted. Usually, he himself or his father sends a flood. |
| H32B | 99.54% | A girl and/or boy, who are the children of a deity, come to live with humans, leading to an abundance of food/resources. Due to the hurt they have caused, the children return to their own world, and human life becomes difficult or meagre. |
| L1D | 99.54% | The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives. |
| A13B | 99.25% | During an eclipse or at the first appearance of night, ants eclipse the sun. |
See the 100 most similar distributions →
Map of motif dispersal
DistributionDrag the map to pan, use the scroll wheel to zoom — choose a texture or projection below
Traditions
19 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 19 traditions: Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Choco: Embera, Nonama (Waunana), XVI century Dabaiba, pre-Columbian iconography of Sinu, Sicuani, Cuiva, Guayabero, Makiritare (Yecuana), Sanema, Hixkariyana, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Mai Huna (Coto, Orejon), Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Waorani, Kofan, Barasana, Taibano, Macuna, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Ticuna (Tucuna), Caraja
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