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Berezkin/Duvakin Catalogue of Motifs
English translation, enhancements and additional metadata by Jonathan Fielder-White
Source: Berezkin and Duvakin's Analytical Catalogue · Original catalogue (Russian)
About the catalogue and its sources
Unless otherwise stated, narrative and tradition data comes from Berezkin and Duvakin's Thematic classification and distribution of folklore and mythological motifs by area (Analytical catalogue).
Original Berezkin/Duvakin catalogue (Russian)
The English translation uses AI assistance alongside manual verification. Errors may occur; consult the original source when in doubt.
A - The Sun and Moon
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A6B In A6 family | The dual-sex sun. | In the same ethnic group, the sun is described as both male and female. See motifs A3 – A5. | 26 | 18 |
| A2c1 In A2 family | The Sun refuses to marry. | The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. | 11 | 19 |
| A30 | The corpse-eating moon. | The moon descends to earth to eat children, corpses or the bones of the dead. | 11 | 19 |
| A32i In A32 family | Shepherd on the moon. | A shepherd (shepherd and girl, shepherd and his flock, dogs) can be seen on the lunar disc. | 14 | 19 |
| A35c In A35 family | Scratches and wounds on the face of the moon. | Moon spots are scratches and wounds on the face of a character. | 15 | 19 |
| A37a In A37 family | The hidden archer. | A small animal (marmot, rabbit, mole, toad, frog, earthworm) or a person who turns into such an animal tries to hit the heavenly body with arrows or helps the archer. Since then, this animal has been hiding in burrows and in water. | 14 | 19 |
| A42a In A42 family | The sun imitator falls from the sky. | Having risen into the sky, the character unsuccessfully performs the role of the sun and as a result falls or is thrown down to earth. | 8 | 19 |
| A15 | Crossing paths. | An eclipse or the appearance of spots on the lunar disc is explained by the fact that the moon or sun turns onto the wrong path or the paths of the luminaries intersect. See motif A14. | 16 | 20 |
| A2d In A2 family | Suns of different worlds. | Other suns illuminate other levels of the universe or will shine sequentially in the future. | 15 | 20 |
| A23d In A23 family | Who is first in the calendar? | Animals argue about which of them should start the cycle of 12 months or years. The mouse wins the primacy. | 15 | 21 |
| A2c2 In A2 family | Extra moons. | The catastrophe threatening the earth is associated with the appearance of not only several suns, but also several moons. | 13 | 21 |
| A29b In A29 family | The Broken Moon. | A character associated with the upper world and a character associated with the earth or the lower world each seek to possess the hero or heroine who is associated with the Moon. | 12 | 22 |
| A47 | The sun is born from an egg. | The sun is born or emerges from an egg. | 17 | 23 |
| A12f In A12 family | The Money Lender. | The stars fade because the moneylender demands that they repay their debt. | 21 | 24 |
| A36a In A36 family | Sun and immortality. | The sun is contrasted with humans as immortal to mortals; responsible for the mortal nature of humans. | 17 | 24 |
| A25 | Getting used to light. | 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. | 9 | 26 |
| A40 | The Sun or Moon is married to a Toad/Frog. | The Toad or Frog is the wife (or one of the wives) of the Sun or Moon. Traditions in which the frog jumps onto the face (chest, back) of the Moon and remains there are highlighted in italics; those in which the frog is visible on the lunar disc are marked with an asterisk; traditions in which the frog or toad is the wife of the Sun are marked with a hash (#). | 22 | 26 |
| A32c In A32 family | Dog and man on the moon. | The figures of a man and a dog are visible (or should have been visible) on the lunar disc. | 23 | 29 |
| A34 | The fox and the moon. | The jackal, coyote or fox are associated with the moon (usually with the appearance of lunar spots). | 22 | 30 |
| A43 | One foot is shod, the other is not. | The character runs away in a hurry and undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a bird or rising into the sky. He is missing one trouser leg, or a shoe on one foot, or one mitten. | 17 | 30 |
| A12H In A12 family | Woman covers the sun. | Eclipses of the sun or moon are caused by a woman's attack. | 18 | 31 |
| A32k In A32 family | First to the sun, then to the moon. | A character, discernible in the silhouette of the moon's spots, first headed for the sun and only then reached the moon, or the Sun and the Moon argued over who he should belong to. | 20 | 31 |
| A12d In A12 family | Birds eclipse the sun. | Birds attack the sun or moon during an eclipse (covering them with their wings) or (*) cover the sun during sunrise or sunset. See motif A12. | 30 | 32 |
| A32d2 In A32 family | Man with a pitchfork on the moon. | A man with a pitchfork in his hands can be seen in the silhouette of the moon's spots. | 14 | 32 |
| A32g In A32 family | Holding on to a bush. | On the lunar disc, a character can be seen holding onto a tree or bush and ending up on the moon with them. See motif A32D. | 27 | 32 |
| A7a In A7 family | Torches in the hands of celestial bodies. | The light of the sun (moon, Venus) is a burning torch in the hand of a celestial body. | 22 | 32 |
| A22c In A22 family | Sacrifice to the Sun. | In order for the sun to rise, move to the right distance from the earth, or follow its heavenly path, a human being must be sacrificed. | 19 | 33 |
| A38b In A38 family | A mouse gnaws through a snare. | The sun gets caught in a trap. Only a mouse or other small animal manages to gnaw through the trap and free the sun. | 22 | 33 |
| A12b In A12 family | The frog swallows the sun. | During an eclipse or at sunset (marked *), the luminaries are swallowed by a toad or frog. | 23 | 34 |
| A29 | The sun and the demon compete for the hero. | A character associated with the upper world and a character associated with the earth or the lower world each strive to possess a human being and pull him towards themselves. One or both rivals are women. The character of the upper world and/or the one for whom the struggle is being waged is associated with the luminaries – the sun, the moon, Venus. | 18 | 34 |
| A32c1 In A32 family | Predatory beast on the moon. | The figure or imprint of a predatory mammal (fox, wolf, dog, coyote, jaguar, lion) is visible on the lunar disc. Either this animal is associated with the moon, belongs to it. See motif A34. | 33 | 34 |
| A46 | The sun and moon arise from the eyes of a creature. | The sun and moon (Rigveda: only the sun) emerge from the eyes of an anthropomorphic creature. | 21 | 34 |
| A32 | Figure on the surface of the Moon, A751. | A figure or imprint of some creature or object is visible on the lunar (Moon) surface. Statistical calculations also include motifs A32A – A32J (a rabbit, frog, predatory animal, human, tree, etc. are visible on the moon). | 29 | 35 |
| A8b In A8 family | The sun in the world of the dead. | Setting beyond the horizon, the sun shines on the anthropomorphic inhabitants of the underworld – the dead, dwarves, etc. | 27 | 35 |
| A19c1 In A19 family | The Sun Chariot. | The sun or moon travels across the sky in a chariot or sleigh. | 23 | 36 |
| A16 | Dangers on the path of the sun. | Every night, the sun passes by creatures or objects that try to swallow or destroy it. | 33 | 37 |
| A23b In A23 family | First rays on mountains and trees, (ATU 120). | Two characters argue about who will be the first to see the rising sun. The winner is the one who first notices not the sun itself, but its reflection or the trees and mountains illuminated by its first rays. | 35 | 38 |
| A42 | Phaeton (imitator of the Sun), A724.I.I. | The character comes to the Sun, tries to fulfil its role, but deliberately or through incompetence breaks the rules, usually causing disasters on earth. | 24 | 38 |
| A46a In A46 family | The sun and moon – the eyes of the deity. | The sun and moon (Rigveda: only the sun) are associated with the eyes of an anthropomorphic being (the motif of their emergence from the eyes of this being may be absent). | 26 | 38 |
| A19 | Heliophores. | Anthropomorphic or zoomorphic creatures help the luminary move across the sky (and the underworld). See motif A17: zoomorphic creatures are helmsmen or rowers in the sun boat. | 32 | 39 |
| A2a1 In A2 family | The moon shone like the sun. | At first, the moon was as bright and hot as the sun. | 28 | 40 |
| A11b In A11 family | One-eyed luminaries. | The sun or moon has one eye (usually the second eye is knocked out or sucked out, but sometimes the reason is not explained; among the Munduruku, the sun of the rainy season has lost both eyes, while the sun of the dry season has retained both). See motif 11A. | 33 | 41 |
| A19c In A19 family | The Sun Horse. | The sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a carriage drawn by horses (equidae). | 24 | 42 |
| A28 | The Sun and the Moon: smart and dumb. | The clever sun-man involves the foolish moon in various tricks that the latter is incapable of devising himself. Trying to repeat the sun's actions, the moon suffers a fiasco. Cf. motif B1F. | 22 | 43 |
| A2b1 In A2 family | The Last Sun. | Two or more suns shine in the sky. When the extra ones are destroyed, there is a danger that the last one will be destroyed along with them and darkness will ensue. | 24 | 43 |
| A11a In A11 family | Eyes of the luminaries: coolness and night. | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. | 33 | 45 |
| A2c In A2 family | Extra suns – children of the chief, A736.1.4.1. | The extra suns that existed in the past or may appear in the future are the children of the Sun-father. See motif A2A. | 28 | 45 |
| A32d1 In A32 family | Cain and Abel on the moon. | Cain and Abel are associated with the moon, usually distinguishable (both or only Cain) in the silhouette of lunar spots. | 21 | 45 |
| A41 | The sun eats its children. | Two characters have children (brothers and sisters, mothers). One suggests killing these children (mothers), giving reasons in favour of such a decision. In fact, he hides his own children, while his interlocutor actually kills his children. One of the characters and/or the surviving child is the sun. | 33 | 46 |
| A6A In A6 family | Two-faced moon/month. | In the same ethnic group, the gender of the moon/month varies in different texts; it changes depending on the phases; the moon is a married couple; the moon is a woman who used to be a man. See motifs A3 - A5. {The material is incomplete. For Western European traditions, data contained in fairy tales is not included}. | 75 | 48 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.