Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
E20 — The origin of fish poison.
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
OverviewWhen a certain person enters the water, the fish die. A plant grows from parts of his body or on his grave, from which fish poison (timbó) is made.
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.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K27YY2 | 99.68% | The hero is sent to bring the chick of a dangerous bird. |
| F47A | 99.36% | Men use each part of the body of a single woman for copulation, or each man takes a part of her body cut into pieces. |
| M8C | 99.36% | Birds pierce through a layer of clay, wax, resin, etc., that covers the character's eyes or anus. |
| F47B | 98.21% | In order to create new people (new women) to replace those who have been destroyed, the character leaves something (feathers or pieces of flesh) in each empty hut (in the hearth, in the hammock, in the village), from which new people (new women) appear. |
| M70 | 98.00% | The oldest character poisons the youngest with his intestinal gases. |
| M73A | 97.89% | Two (animal) persons compare their feces (with different purpose). One of them gets to exchange them |
| B36A | 97.51% | Two zoomorphic characters adorn each other, after which one is satisfied with the result and the other is not. |
| F31 | 97.20% | A girl or woman becomes pregnant, without knowing it, by a reptile when she unknowingly touches a dead reptile or when a liquid that has leaked from the reptile gets inside her (usually when the contents of a snake egg accidentally flow between her legs). |
| A22D | 97.17% | The burned character turns into a constellation or a dark spot on the Milky Way. |
| B114 | 97.17% | A woman or a man (usually old people) turn into anteaters (the origin of anteaters). |
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
17 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 17 traditions: Natchez (incl Avoyel), Alabama, Koasati, Cherokee, Yana, Makiritare (Yecuana), Waiwai, Trio, Hixkariyana, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Akawai, Guiana Kariña, Kaliña, Galibi, Wayapi, Emerillon, Baniwa (incl. Wakuenai), Bare, Piapoco, Curripaco, Siusi, Guarikena , Ticuna (Tucuna), Mundurucu, Curuaia, Kamayura, Guarani of Paraguay and Brazil: Caygua, Mbia, Apapocuva, Nyandewa, Chiripa
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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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