Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
K31 — Wooden seal.
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 character makes a marine mammal or fish out of wood. It kills his enemies or drags them out to the open sea.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Acts of heroes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| M46 | 97.17% | Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal). |
| K111 | 96.27% | The girl's mother consistently rejects birds and animals that propose to her daughter, but accepts the proposal of a heavenly anthropomorphic character. |
| M61A | 95.91% | To get valuables, the character provokes a quarrel between their owners. When they start fighting each other, valuables fall out of their bodies and end up at the character's disposal. |
| J65 | 95.69% | After the attack by enemies, a woman and her daughter remain. She rejects the marriage proposals of animal suitors and agrees to give her daughter to the heavenly deity (the Sun). The children from this marriage take revenge on their enemies. |
| M53A | 95.69% | raven gathers seals or other marine mammals around and deceives them into killing them. |
| K43A | 95.65% | People leave a boy, a girl, a sister and brother, a young woman or young spouses alone and depart. Someone sympathises with those who have been abandoned and secretly hides fire for them. |
| K52B | 95.50% | The hero comes to capture the daughter of a supernatural creature. He sees a slave breaking an axe (adze, wedge). The hero repairs the axe, and the slave helps him in return. See motif K52. |
| B35 | 95.24% | The bear hastily puts his left moccasin on his right foot and vice versa, which is why he is club-footed. |
| K52 | 95.24% | A woman or young man who approaches the shore is carried away by predatory sea creatures to the bottom of the sea; a character descends to rescue the kidnapped person and brings him or her back with the help of cunning and shamanic powers. |
| L57 | 95.20% | The character loses an internal organ or part of the body, which is taken away by others; he approaches unnoticed and takes back what was lost. |
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
18 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 18 traditions: Kapingamarangi, Nukuoro, Kalmyk, Tutchone, Tagish, Inland Tlingit, Tahltan, Kaska, Tlingit, Haida, Tsimshian, Kwakiutl (Kwakwaka'wakw), Lillooet, Lkungen (Straits; including Samish, Songish, Sooke, Lummi), Klallam, Comox, Pentlatch, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Lower Chehalis, Upper Chehalis, (Lower) Cowlitz, Quinault, Klamath, Modoc
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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