Folklore Database · Browse
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.
B - Origins of the environment
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B33h In B33 family | Mother of the Sun. | The sun has a mother who lives with him (less often with her) in the same house. Cf. motif K27x6b ("The character goes to the mother of the sun") | 41 | 51 |
| B5b In B5 family | Universal mother. | A woman (alone or with her companion) creates or gives birth not only to humans, but also to various creatures, objects, and parts of the universe. | 39 | 52 |
| B33d In B33 family | The Old Woman of Winter. | An elderly woman embodies winter, is associated with snow, and/or at the border between winter and spring (autumn) there are several very cold days associated with a certain old woman. | 35 | 53 |
| B57 | Bloody sunset. | Blood spurting from a killed or wounded person or animal colours the sky (dawn, northern lights) or other natural objects (moon, vegetation) red. | 39 | 53 |
| B77b1 In B77 family | The sky was struck with a pestle. | The sky receded and/or the connection between humans and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck during work with a pestle used to pound in a mortar or with a spoon used to stir porridge (Ewe, Nubians, Nyiman). | 29 | 54 |
| B31 | Women turn into aquatic mammals. | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. | 42 | 55 |
| B27 | Variants of metamorphosis. | The characters ponder what object or creature they should transform into, and once they have made their choice, they undergo metamorphosis. | 39 | 57 |
| B10 | Drunk water, A1013. | The character drinks a lake or all the water in the world, or the only water is in his stomach. They pierce his stomach or remove the plug, forcing him to burp up the water - the water pours out. See motif B7. | 45 | 58 |
| B42b In B42 family | Hunting hoofed animals. | In the cosmic hunting plot, the objects of pursuit are hoofed animals (elk, deer, mountain sheep). See motif B42. | 47 | 58 |
| B51a In B51 family | The snake is the enemy of the swallow. | The snake is the enemy of the swallow (usually because the swallow prevents the snake from destroying people – the snake sends a mosquito or other blood-sucking insect to find out whose blood tastes better; the mosquito returns to report that it is human blood; the swallow bites off its tongue, and the snake plucks the feathers from the swallow's tail). | 49 | 58 |
| B4 | The elongated land. | Islands or mainland pulled out of the ocean, pulled by a rope. | 30 | 59 |
| B54 | Splinters turn into fish. D441.10+. | Wood chips, branches or pieces of bark that have fallen or been thrown into the water turn into fish and aquatic animals. | 46 | 59 |
| B42f In B42 family | Ursa Major – hoofed animal. | The Big Dipper (as a whole or only the dipper) is identified with a large hoofed animal (elk, deer, mountain sheep). Unless otherwise specified, see motif B42 in the description of cosmic hunting. | 49 | 60 |
| B33c In B33 family | Borrowed days. | The month on the border between winter and spring (usually March) takes (rarely: buys, steals) a few days from its neighbour. | 29 | 61 |
| B41 | The talking dog. | Because the dog spread certain information, argued with its owners, and spoke at inappropriate times, it lost the gift of speech. | 62 | 61 |
| B48 | Predators become herbivores. | Harmless and herbivorous animals were or could become dangerous predators. | 53 | 64 |
| B77b In B77 family | They touched the sky with a long object. | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a long object (a pestle, a broom, etc.) during work. Cf. motifs B77b1 and B77b2. | 32 | 64 |
| B40a In B40 family | The one who lost his horns. | Nowadays, hornless animals lose their horns or are deprived of the opportunity to grow them. See motif B40. | 52 | 65 |
| B42h In B42 family | Orion's Belt – game, hunter – another star. | Orion's Belt – game, another star or group of stars within or outside Orion – hunter. | 48 | 67 |
| B42t In B42 family | The seven stars of the Big Dipper – animal. | All seven stars of the Big Dipper (and not just the stars of the dipper) are considered to be the figure of an animal - a bear, moose, deer, ram, camel, or dog. | 61 | 69 |
| B69 | Striped chipmunk, A2217.2. | Wishing to reward or punish a small rodent (chipmunk, marmot, squirrel), the character makes it striped, usually by running a paw or hand down its back. | 51 | 69 |
| B2e In B2 family | Earth-man. | The Earth or the world as a whole is a male character (alone or alongside a female character). | 57 | 71 |
| B98a In B98 family | The bat becomes an outcast, ATU 222A. | The bat becomes an outcast among other creatures (usually after trying to join either the animals or the birds). | 70 | 73 |
| B26 | Gone to the animals. | A person who follows wild animals (temporarily) turns into one of them or their master, or lives with animals that look like humans to him. | 56 | 74 |
| B33 | Woman-wind. | There is a female character who embodies the wind or is considered the mother or mistress of the winds. | 48 | 74 |
| B98 | The bat between beasts and birds, ATU 222A. | The bat (rarely: ostrich) tries to join either the beasts or the birds, or finds itself excluded from both. | 73 | 74 |
| B43 | Purusha, D287.5. | Elements of the landscape or parts of the universe are created from the body of the original being. | 46 | 75 |
| B17 | Night in a vessel. | Darkness is a special object that can be carried and transferred (usually brought from the original owner in a vessel or bag). | 52 | 76 |
| B42hh In B42 family | Cosmic hunting and Orion. | Orion is associated with the theme of cosmic hunting. (Including motifs b42h, b42h1, b42m, b42r). | 52 | 76 |
| B29 | Eschatological festival. | People turn into animals, birds or stones, living beings acquire their current characteristics at a general meeting, festival, after a festival, after performing a ritual or after defeating a common enemy. | 58 | 77 |
| B45A In B45 family | Winter versus summer. | The alternation of seasons and/or differences between the climates of different localities are explained by the struggle between characters associated with warmth and those associated with cold. See motif B45. | 64 | 77 |
| B9 | Water in a tree. | A huge amount of water is contained in the trunk of a tree, or the tree turns into water. | 48 | 79 |
| B33a In B33 family | Frozen in spring. | Deciding that it has become (or will soon become) warm, the character believes that winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze cattle), but dies from the cold or the cattle driven out to pasture perish. Cf. motif I84A ("The frozen son of God"). | 40 | 80 |
| B12 | Snake rivers. | The riverbed follows the path of a snake, fish, dragon, or crab; the river arises from parts of the snake's body; the river is a snake. | 76 | 81 |
| B14A In B14 family | Tears turn into water. | Rivers, springs, the sea, floodwaters, and rain arise from tears (for rivers of tears in the world of the dead, see motif H16). | 68 | 82 |
| B1f In B1 family | Two brothers: the winner and the loser. | In the era of creation, two men have a common origin, are not antagonists, and display their characteristics in a series of episodes. One is intelligent and successful, the other is simple-minded and irresponsible. | 36 | 82 |
| B36a In B36 family | Two adorn each other. | Two zoomorphic characters adorn each other, after which one is satisfied with the result and the other is not. | 59 | 89 |
| B37 | Living beings are given their appearance. | The character decorates various birds (less often fish) and distributes fat to animals. Since then, the corresponding species have possessed their current characteristics. | 56 | 93 |
| B36 | Living beings acquire their appearance. | Birds, fish, and four-legged animals deliberately or accidentally smear themselves with colouring substances or divide parts of another's body among themselves, thereby acquiring their current appearance. | 48 | 94 |
| B42g In B42 family | The Great Bear – a hunted animal. | The Big Dipper (as a whole or only the dipper) is identified with an animal (animals) pursued by hunters / attacked by other characters. | 44 | 94 |
| B109 | Man became a bear. | A man grows fur and becomes a bear (the origin of bears). | 55 | 96 |
| B116c In B116 family | The Lost Book. | In the past, the people possessed writing and knowledge, but these were lost, or the people missed the opportunity to acquire them. | 54 | 98 |
| B42n In B42 family | Orion – one person. | The constellation Orion is identified with a man, usually a giant, warrior, or hunter. | 60 | 98 |
| B3e In B3 family | The earth fell into the waters. | At first, below the sky there is only air and water or (rarely) swamp, an indefinite abyss. A character descends from the sky, creates or has a support created for him, and the earth grows out of it; the earth is lowered, dropped from the sky; the earth is thrown, placed on the surface of the sea, and grows into land; the earth is brought from somewhere else (not from the underworld) and placed on the waters. (This is a more general motif compared to motif b79a1, "The bird dropped the firmament onto the waters"). | 81 | 112 |
| B38 | Unsuccessful colouring. | The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result. | 81 | 121 |
| B86 | The Tower of Babel. | To reach the sky (the moon, stars, sun), people build a ladder or tower consisting of separate modules (logs, poles, bricks, etc.), but the structure collapses. | 87 | 121 |
| B50 | Whose blood is sweeter? | A dangerous character wants to find out from a blood-sucking insect where it drank blood or whose blood (flesh) tastes better. Usually, the insect deliberately lies, or another character prevents it from telling the truth (by pulling out its tongue). As a result, the dangerous character chooses animals or plants as the object of its aggression, rather than people. (The motif is related to the story of Noah's flood (see motif C3); †: There are versions in which the motif is presented separately, as well as those in which it is included in the story of Noah's flood.) | 83 | 126 |
| B28 | The travelling transformer. | Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc. | 69 | 127 |
| B116 | The eaten book. | The first book (writing, important document) is eaten by an animal or a person. (In some European traditions, the eating of the book is not described, but is implied from the context). Cf. ATU 200. Cf. Thompson 1955-1958. †A2219.2. Cow swallows book; cause of maniplies in stomach. | 66 | 128 |
| B42q In B42 family | Ursa Major – cart. | Ursa Major – chariot, cart. | 57 | 136 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.