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
Cite this map
Distribution of the traditions attesting motif L69, ‘The puma defeats the monster.’, as recorded in the Berezkin–Duvakin Analytical Catalogue of Folklore Motifs (11 traditions mapped). Geolocation and cartography by Jonathan Fielder-White, Folklore Database, release 1.26206.1 (25 July 2026), https://www.folkloredatabase.com/motif/L69 (accessed 8 August 2026). Basemap © OpenStreetMap contributors.
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, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
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