Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
L69 — The puma defeats the monster.
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
OverviewA monster attacks a person; a puma, jaguar or dog fights the monster, kills or drives it away; the person returns home.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
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 |
|---|---|---|
| H37B | 96.80% | One character gives another his power (usually a skunk gives his volley). The other wastes the resource unnecessarily to test its effect. Usually, when the need arises, the resource no longer works. |
| G30 | 96.35% | A long penis is cut into pieces, which turn into many edible plants or different types of trees. Cf. motif B53. |
| M26 | 96.35% | The character dives under waterfowl and ties a rope to their legs to catch them. Birds soar into the air, lifting the catcher with them. It later falls. |
| M13A | 96.32% | A deity and a human meet so that the former can fulfil the latter's request. As a result, the human is turned to stone. Usually (except for the Squamish), one of the supplicants wants eternal life and is turned to stone. See motif M13. |
| F45A1 | 96.31% | A woman, against her will, conceives from the wind. |
| K104 | 96.31% | The youngest of the brothers stays at home, wounds a red swan or duck, and follows its trail. |
| M53C | 96.28% | trickster, inviting birds to dance around him with their eyes closed, kills them one at a time and threatens to turn red at the one that opens their eyes; this is an empty threat, or for a bird that opens eyes and eyes have really turned red ever since. |
| M75A | 95.83% | The character lures a veteran to avenge his fall from the sky. Either the (potauatomi) shovel drops the character or leaves him on top to avenge being lured and caught. |
| M66A | 95.34% | After eating a certain food, the trickster leaves a mountain of excrement that is larger than himself. |
| B42A | 94.44% | Hunters chase a bear across the sky and kill it in August-October. The bear's blood or fat falls to the ground in the form of dew or colours the foliage red. See motif B42. |
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
11 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 11 traditions: Lenape (Delaware), Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Cree, Huron (incl Wyandot), Tuscarora, Plains Cree, Caddo, Alabama, Koasati, Hitchiti, Cherokee, Tzotzil
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How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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