Berezkin Analytical Catalogue · Motif
J39 — Who killed the rabbit?
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 antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did.
Berezkin category: Avenger heroes: The amerinday cycle
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 |
|---|---|---|
| I105 | 99.95% | One of the constellations is associated with the hand (with five marked fingers). |
| B44D | 99.93% | Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted. |
| I37E | 99.93% | Tree mushrooms cry out like people. |
| K27V | 99.93% | The character must hit the bird with an arrow or a stone. (Cf. motif K27M, where it is not the accuracy of the archer that is important, but the unusual appearance of the creature that needs to be caught). |
| L1C | 99.93% | Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars. |
| M29D | 99.93% | See the motives in square brackets. |
| L1B | 99.23% | A young woman turns into a monstrous bear and kills most people except her younger sister (Ojibwa: the younger sister of her former husband). Their brothers (or one brother) return from hunting and kill the bear, or she dies while chasing them. Cf. motif L65D. |
| L33F | 99.13% | A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces. |
| F28C | 98.90% | A woman masturbates with the penis of a large animal that one of the men killed while hunting. |
| M37 | 98.70% | Although the character's head or entire body is cut in two with an ax or split with a stick, the character remains unharmed. Cf. motive J22. |
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
Cite this map
Distribution of the traditions attesting motif J39, ‘Who killed the rabbit?’, as recorded in the Berezkin–Duvakin Analytical Catalogue of Folklore Motifs (20 traditions mapped). Geolocation and cartography by Jonathan Fielder-White, Folklore Database, release 1.26206.1 (25 July 2026), https://www.folkloredatabase.com/motif/J39 (accessed 8 August 2026). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
Traditions
20 recordedThis motif has been recorded in 20 traditions: Chukchi, Bella Coola (Nuxalk), Blackfoot, Sarsee (Tsuu T'ina), Arapaho, Omaha, Ponca, Iowa, Arikara, Wichita; Spiro Mound iconography, Kiowa, Gros Ventre, Assiniboine, Crow, Shuswap, Chumash, Owens Valley Paiute, Northern Paiute (=Paviotso), Northern Shoshone, Southern Paiute, Chemehuevi
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How to cite: Fielder-White, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
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