Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B38C — The raven and the loon adorn each other.
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 raven and the loon paint each other.
Berezkin category: The Origins of the Characteristics of the environment
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.
B38 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedB38. The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result.
B38a. Two birds agree to paint each other. One of them does not become more beautiful as a result and often becomes uglier. See motif B36A.
B38b. Two quadrupeds (or a quadruped and another creature) adorn each other themselves or are adorned by someone else.
B38c. The raven and the loon paint each other.
B38d. The Raven and the Owl paint each other.
B38e. The character kicks a loon or other waterfowl. Since then, it has had a flattened tail and finds it difficult to walk on land.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M94A | 98.24% | The demonic character kills his victims, provoking them to slide down the mountain. |
| B16B | 96.37% | The sea is salty because a wolverine or a fox bathed in it or urinated in it. |
| B38B | 96.37% | Two quadrupeds (or a quadruped and another creature) adorn each other themselves or are adorned by someone else. |
| M123D | 96.17% | A bird from the corvid family is rejected after its mate or relatives discover that it eats carrion or filth. |
| I50B | 95.94% | Describes or depicts a predatory animal with six or more legs. |
| A31A | 94.85% | Upon learning that her husband or lover has committed an act incompatible with accepted norms, a woman cuts off her breast and shows it to him. |
| K53 | 93.17% | A character temporarily transforms into an animal or bird of a certain species by putting on its skin, or skins taken along with them come to life and serve the hero. |
| M123C | 92.74% | A non-migratory bird sets off south with migratory birds, but is unable to reach its destination. |
| K27N3C1 | 92.18% | The inhabitants of the polar bear village â relatives of his wife â set the hero difficult tasks and trials. |
| B96 | 92.00% | The heroes' enemy turns into a large commercial fish (usually a sturgeon) or (rarely) a commercial aquatic mammal. |
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: Central Yakuts (Sakha), Reindeer Koryak, Maritime Koryak (Alyutor), Forest (Upper Kolyma) Yukaghir, Creols of Russkoye Ustye, Chipewyan, Dogrib, Slavey, Athna, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Mackenzie Delta, Copper, Caribou, Iglulik, East Greenland (Angmassalik, Kulusuk), Labrador Inuit (Koksoagmiut), Eyak, Greenland
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