Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M16A — Gains sight by diving.
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 character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M16 has 1 other sub-motifs
RelatedM16. The wife or relatives (often the mother) of the sick person do not care for him. He recovers, and those who treated him badly are punished. Cf. motifs F62 and F96.
M16a. A character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| K32C | 99.69% | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. |
| M123 | 99.69% | A bird of prey or scavenger (raven, owl, hawk, coyote) marries (or attempts to marry) a partner who (or whose brothers) are geese or other waterfowl. The marriage is disrupted or proves unsuccessful. |
| M61A1 | 99.69% | The character (always a raven) provokes a seagull to quarrel with another bird, telling each one that the other was hostile or offensive towards her. |
| C19A | 99.68% | The character (except Quileut: Raven) turns into a child, asks for and receives heavenly bodies to play, or (Chukchi) comes to play with the little daughter of the owner of the stars. |
| A13A1 | 99.23% | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). |
| L102 | 99.05% | A girl or woman (for various reasons, jokingly or seriously) calls an animal or animal remains her husband, or steps on bones and addresses them. The animal (comes to life and) carries her away. Her human husband, parents or brother come for her, and they flee; usually the animal husband pursues them, but stops the chase or dies. |
| M46C | 99.02% | The character turns into a needle, a garbage, a small insect. A woman swallows it and becomes pregnant. See M46B motif. |
| L10 | 99.01% | The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. |
| M20 | 99.01% | The character does something unacceptable, is caught, and his beak or jaw is damaged. Usually (except for the Koryaks), people keep the torn-off beak (jaw) in their homes, and the character comes and takes it back. |
| B97A | 98.77% | A strip of light or dark feathers (rarely: wool) on the neck of a bird (animal) is its necklace (scarf). |
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: Avar, Andi, Akhvakh, Chugach, Hare (K'ahsho Got'ine), Upper Tanana (Nebesna), Tanacross, Tutchone, Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, Athna, Tanana, Gwich'in (Kuchin, Loucheux), Bering Strait Inupiat (incl. King Island), North Alaskan Inupiat, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Assiniboine, Carrier, Chilkotin, Lushootseed (Puget Sound: Puyallup, Nisqualmi, Snuqualmi, Duwamish, Muckleshoot, Snohomish, Skagit), Zuni
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