Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
B96 — The enemy turns into a sturgeon.
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 heroes' enemy turns into a large commercial fish (usually a sturgeon) or (rarely) a commercial aquatic mammal.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M29F | 98.59% | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the wolverine dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. |
| K51 | 98.57% | The husband feigns death, disappears or leaves home for a long time. The wife learns that he has married another woman, finds and, as a rule, kills her husband and/or rival, who often turns out to be a creature of non-human nature. |
| B97A | 98.33% | A strip of light or dark feathers (rarely: wool) on the neck of a bird (animal) is its necklace (scarf). |
| J41A | 98.20% | The son returns and finds his mother, who has been humiliated and tortured in his absence. The son turns his mother (and usually himself as well) into a bird of a certain species. |
| L10 | 98.20% | The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. |
| M29A1 | 98.09% | In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow) |
| K54 | 98.09% | When encountering a giant or a snake, a person is afraid of it, but it becomes his friend and asks for help when he is fighting another giant or snake. The person fulfils the request. |
| K27N3C1 | 98.00% | The inhabitants of the polar bear village â relatives of his wife â set the hero difficult tasks and trials. |
| B101 | 97.91% | Angry at the birch tree, the character beats or cuts it, leaving stripes on the bark that remain to this day. |
| E9M | 97.54% | 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. |
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
13 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 13 traditions: Tungus (Evenki): Baikal region, Evenks, Tungus (Evenki) of China (Solon, Birar, Oroqen, Manegir), Evenks, Tungus (Evenki): Russian Far East, Evenks, Northern Saulteaux, Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Eastern Cree, Naskapi, Winnebago, Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwa, Lower Chinook (Chinook proper)
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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