Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
G28 — Tree with fish.
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 tree contains a fish in its trunk.
Berezkin category: Fertility and Agriculture
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 |
|---|---|---|
| M72 | 99.14% | The character puts his hand into the anus of a tapir or other large herbivore and is unable to pull it out. The animal rushes to run and drags a person with it for a long time. |
| G13C | 97.77% | Before the advent of cultivated or edible wild plants, people ate what is now considered unfit for consumption: (rotten) wood, bark, earth, stones, mushrooms. |
| C4 | 97.65% | During the flood or at the beginning of time, fruits, seeds, or other objects fall into the water one after another. As this happens, the water begins to recede, exposing the earth. |
| H21A | 97.44% | The fish are concentrated in a small container, from which the owner takes as many as he needs. Another character opens the container, breaking the rules, and the fish escape. |
| L7A | 97.19% | A character who sticks to another creature and refuses to let go, first sticking to a human, then to an animal, or first sticking to an animal, then to a bird. |
| B34 | 97.15% | After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal. |
| D12 | 97.15% | People in the past or inhabitants of distant lands cooked food in the sun; or the owner of the fire lies, saying that the food was cooked in this way. |
| K19A | 96.79% | A man marries a star woman. |
| F40A | 96.53% | A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women. |
| G13 | 96.21% | Before the advent of cultivated plants, people ate rotten or soft wood (ceiba â Ceiba L., balsa â Ochroma (Bombax) Sw.); some people eat rotten wood. |
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: Zande (Azande, incl Nzakara), Hawaii, Palau (Western Carolines), Sinhalese; Vedda, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Sierra Miwok, Lake Miwok, Plains Miwok, Coastal Miwok, Cuna; XVI century data on Eastern Panama, Wapishana (incl Ataroi); Mapidian; Taruma, Pemon: Arekuna (incl. Kamarakoto), Taulipang (Taurepan), Kofan, Letuama, Tanimuca, Ufaina, Yahuna, Tupari, Makurap, Sakirap, Ajuru (Wayoro), Ayoreo, Chamacoco (Ishir), Mataco, Chorote, Palau
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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