Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M1A — The caiman carries the Pleiades brothers.
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 caiman transports one of the brothers or a group of brothers, who then turn into the Pleiades. It usually bites off the leg of the youngest. Cf. motif K13B.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 10, Adventures.
M1 has 2 other sub-motifs
RelatedM1. The character crosses a body of water on the back of a monster or animal that agrees to be a carrier but may or intends to drown or eat its passenger.
M1a. The caiman transports one of the brothers or a group of brothers, who then turn into the Pleiades. It usually bites off the leg of the youngest. Cf. motif K13B.
M1b. A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey across a river. She manages to jump ashore and runs away from the caiman.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| B42D | 100.00% | In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motif B42. |
| E9G | 100.00% | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a vulture. |
| H38 | 100.00% | A supernatural character changes appearance and comes to the hero's children (less often to the hero himself). Unaware of the trick, they hand over the magical object they have obtained to its former owner, and the character disappears with it. |
| K11B | 100.00% | The bones of a huge bird are turned into reeds or bamboo for making arrows or sarbacanes. |
| F9B | 99.89% | A biting piranha in a woman's genitals. |
| A25 | 99.85% | When coming out onto the earth (for the first time or after a global catastrophe) or witnessing the first sunrise, people should not look directly at the light. |
| J68 | 99.85% | Characters who have been chasing an animal for a long time see increasingly fresh droppings on the trail and finally catch up with their prey (usually the droppings correspond to how long they have been lying there); or the pursuers see areas where less time has passed since sowing. |
| L39A | 99.62% | A supernatural character emerges from the underworld and attacks a man who has climbed a tree. |
| L78 | 99.52% | In the images, the character has the features of a jaguar and a toad; the toad/frog turns into a jaguar; the toad/frog is the mother or wife of the jaguar. |
| J43 | 99.28% | To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. |
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
6 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 6 traditions: Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Siona, Secoya, Coreguaje, Napo (Quijo), Kanelo (“Jungle Kechua”), Shipibo, Conibo, Setebo, Craho, Sherente
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, J. (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Where applicable, users should also cite the relevant original sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including Berezkin, ATU, Thompson, and other cited authorities, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jon Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.