Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M6 — Night with a partridge
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 young man or girl spends night in the forest. The forest partridge (Tinamus sp.) provides him or her a fire, a shelter and/or a hammock but takes them away and flies away itself when the person does something wrong
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M6 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedM6. A young man or girl spends night in the forest. The forest partridge (Tinamus sp.) provides him or her a fire, a shelter and/or a hammock but takes them away and flies away itself when the person does something wrong
M6A.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| E21 | 99.90% | A child catches fish (with poison), or fish poison is secreted from his body. Fish or water snakes kill him. Death is avenged. |
| L82 | 99.90% | A person deliberately or accidentally burns his foot in a fire or burns himself completely; he turns into a demonic creature. See motif L9 (man with a sharp foot). |
| M29QQ | 99.90% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| B1F | 99.88% | In the era of creation, two men have a common origin, are not antagonists, and display their characteristics in a series of episodes. One is intelligent and successful, the other is simple-minded and irresponsible. |
| B58 | 99.83% | After the first ancestors steal the original fire, a forest bird the size of a partridge (Penelope sp.; Anhima cornuta; etc.; jacu, paujil) swallows a hot coal. As a result (except for the Andoc), its neck turns red. |
| D4P | 99.83% | The parrot obtains fire for humans. See motif D4A. Australian data is not taken into account, as the common origin of the motif in America and Australia is excluded. |
| D6B | 99.83% | The one who is burned turns into a crocodile/caiman. |
| A22D | 99.78% | The burned character turns into a constellation or a dark spot on the Milky Way. |
| B114 | 99.78% | A woman or a man (usually old people) turn into anteaters (the origin of anteaters). |
| B24A | 99.78% | After a character surrounds a group of people with a circle of feathers or throws feathers into their dwellings, the people turn into wild pigs or peccaries. |
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
10 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 10 traditions: Makiritare (Yecuana), Sanema, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Wayapi, Emerillon, Yagua, Ticuna (Tucuna), Xipaya, Amahuaca, Cashinahua, Sharanahua, Yaminahua, Yawanahua, Capanahua), Chacobo, Mundurucu, Curuaia
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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