Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M123 — The raven marries the goose.
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
OverviewA bird of prey or scavenger (raven, owl, hawk, coyote) marries (or attempts to marry) a partner who (or whose brothers) are geese or other waterfowl. The marriage is disrupted or proves unsuccessful.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K32C | 100.00% | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. |
| M61A1 | 100.00% | The character (always a raven) provokes a seagull to quarrel with another bird, telling each one that the other was hostile or offensive towards her. |
| C19A | 99.71% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| M16A | 99.69% | A character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16. |
| M46C | 99.09% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| M68 | 98.98% | Because of his own stubbornness, the character suffers from an irrepressible gas eruption and scares away the game with a loud sound. Almost starves to death. |
| I133 | 98.91% | Star objects in different parts of the sky are associated with separate parts (as well as items of clothing, jewellery, etc.) of a single anthropomorphic or zoomorphic figure. |
| A13A1 | 98.90% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| L102 | 98.81% | A girl or woman (for various reasons, jokingly or seriously) calls an animal or animal remains her husband, or steps on bones and addresses them. The animal (comes to life and) carries her away. Her human husband, parents or brother come for her, and they flee; usually the animal husband pursues them, but stops the chase or dies. |
| K27N3C2 | 98.78% | The hero's father-in-law, the bear, sets him difficult tasks and trials. |
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
23 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 23 traditions: Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Central Yupik, Chugach, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Han, Inland Tlingit, Athna, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Caribou, Iglulik, Polar Inuit, West Greenland, Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Tlingit, Haida, Western Sahaptin (Upper Cowlitz, Klikitat, Tenino, Umatilla, Yakima, Wallawalla), Nez Perce, Tillamook, Kutenai
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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