Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E15 — Ducks and boats.
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
OverviewPeople learn how to build boats and row from birds; a bird or part of its body serves as a model for building a boat.
Berezkin category: The origins of people and culture
This is of motif type Cosmology and etiology and is part of group 6, Origin and interpretation of culture elements, in particular related to agriculture, inadequate forms of subsistence and economic activity before the establishment of the present norms.
E15 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedE15. People learn how to build boats and row from birds; a bird or part of its body serves as a model for building a boat.
E15a. The bow of the boat is modelled on a bird's breastbone.
E15b. Bird women sew the birch bark covering of the hero's boat. See motif E15.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| J37 | 94.66% | Transforming into a powerful bird or creating one, the hero lifts his opponent into the air and carries him away. |
| F9E1 | 93.72% | A woman's womb is dangerous because it contains a toothy or stinging animal (not just its mouth) or many such creatures. |
| B31 | 93.16% | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. |
| M70A | 91.84% | A character on whom an old woman defecates or whose face blows the winds pierces her from below with a sharp object. See M70 motif. |
| L135 | 91.67% | A person leaves home and finds himself in unfamiliar places. His journey is marked by encounters with various strange creatures. In the end, he either returns home or leaves the earth for another world. (With an abundance of episodes, the story often either breaks off or does not contain the initial episodes explaining the reason for the hero's departure from home). |
| F46 | 91.40% | At the beginning of time, two or more men (human-animals) had only one woman. |
| M75D | 90.94% | A man bereaves vultures of their hunting weapons or amulets |
| D13H | 90.85% | Those who have entered the world of the dead should not laugh. |
| B54 | 90.15% | Wood chips, branches or pieces of bark that have fallen or been thrown into the water turn into fish and aquatic animals. |
| A31 | 89.84% | As a result of intimate contact or romantic conflict, the night light takes on its current appearance â rising from the earth to the sky and/or spots appearing on it, which are now visible. |
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
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Komi (Zyrians and Permyaks), Udeghe, Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Denaina, Koyukon, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Micmac, Sicuani, Cuiva, Warao, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Trio, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Locono, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Kuikuro, Kalapalo, Calapalo, Caraja, Sherente
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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