Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
M61A3 — The character fights 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 character tells each of two different species of fish how the other allegedly used to be hostile or offensive towards the former. Fish kill each other and the character prepares them to eat.
Berezkin category: Adventures: Tricks and episodes
This is of motif type Adventures and tricks and is part of group 11, Tricks and competitions won thanks to deception, absurd and obscene behavior.
M61 has 5 other sub-motifs
RelatedM61. The character provokes a quarrel by telling each of his opponents how one of them allegedly used hostile or offensive language towards the other.
M61a. 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.
M61a1. 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.
M61a2. The character provokes a quarrel between two stones of different breeds. To do this, he told everyone how the other supposedly spoke hostile or offensive towards the former.
M61a3. The character tells each of two different species of fish how the other allegedly used to be hostile or offensive towards the former. Fish kill each other and the character prepares them to eat.
M61a4. character lies to each of the spouses as if the other had a misfortune. They run to each other in panic.
Top 10 motifs with similar dispersal patterns
Phylogeny| Motif | Similarity | Motif summary |
|---|---|---|
| L75 | 99.47% | One of two brothers is the embodiment of evil; at birth, he cuts open his mother's body, killing her. |
| B42A | 99.23% | 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. |
| J27A | 99.00% | One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25. |
| M66A | 98.39% | After eating a certain food, the trickster leaves a mountain of excrement that is larger than himself. |
| M75A | 97.54% | 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. |
| K69 | 97.39% | Several men walk towards the horizon to ascend to the sky and visit the Sun or another supreme deity. Usually, one or more of them perish along the way, while others reach their destination. They return by a shorter route than they came. |
| M65A | 97.37% | The trees are creaking in the wind. Hearing a creak, the character climbs a tree and gets stuck. See M65 motif. |
| M13A | 97.31% | 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 | 94.87% | A woman, against her will, conceives from the wind. |
| K104 | 94.87% | The youngest of the brothers stays at home, wounds a red swan or duck, and follows its trail. |
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
7 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 7 traditions: Western Ojibwa (Chippewa), Eastern Ojibwa (Missisauga, Timagami and other groups in eastern Ontario), Northern Ojibwa (=Severn Ojibwa, Sandy Lake Cree), Naskapi, Menominee, Plains Ojibwa, Assiniboine
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