Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M190 — Beaver and porcupine.
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 beaver carries the porcupine across a water barrier. Usually, he throws it into the water or leaves it on an island.
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 |
|---|---|---|
| K27N3C2 | 100.00% | The hero's father-in-law, the bear, sets him difficult tasks and trials. |
| M53E | 100.00% | A character (always a raven) kills a whale and points others to imaginary signs that whale meat is not suitable for food. People believe and all the meat goes to the deceiver. |
| E9M | 99.66% | A man marries a bear (white or grizzly) that takes the form of a woman, or a woman who takes the form of a bear. |
| K54A | 99.61% | A man and a friendly giant live together. The friendly giant fights another giant and asks the man for help. The help consists of the man damaging the enemy's legs. |
| M46E | 99.08% | They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with |
| B101 | 98.99% | Angry at the birch tree, the character beats or cuts it, leaving stripes on the bark that remain to this day. |
| K32C | 98.78% | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. |
| M123 | 98.78% | A 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. |
| M61A1 | 98.78% | 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. |
| E15B | 98.64% | Bird women sew the birch bark covering of the hero's boat. See motif E15. |
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
9 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 9 traditions: Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Koyukon, Tanana, Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Eyak, Tlingit, Tsimshian
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
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