Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J36 — Antagonist - turtle.
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 turtle drags the hero's parents under water.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| C9A | 99.83% | During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals. |
| D13C | 99.65% | Two companions or brothers live together. The older one has a wife, whom he hides. To discover her, the younger one, left alone in the house, makes her laugh. |
| I28A | 99.65% | Large animals that are hunted go underground and cause earthquakes. |
| J60 | 98.73% | A woman conceives twins from two different fathers. |
| E13A | 98.66% | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world. |
| F43 | 97.78% | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. |
| F42 | 97.51% | Feeling wronged, men leave their wives or sisters. |
| F44 | 97.43% | In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc. |
| B36 | 97.36% | Birds, fish, and four-legged animals deliberately or accidentally smear themselves with colouring substances or divide parts of another's body among themselves, thereby acquiring their current appearance. |
| L9A | 97.01% | The character's leg is crippled (intentionally or accidentally) or originally pointed. He uses the pointed bone for hunting, fishing or killing people. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Kabiyari, Yukuna (Yucuna), Mura (Pirahã), Maue (Mawe), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Mehinaku, Waura, Yaulapiti, Kamayura
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.