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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.

B - Origins of the environment

Showing 101–150 of 313 · Page 3 of 7

Ref ▲	Title	Summary	Traditions	Narratives
B36b In B36 family	Birds acquire voices.	Birds find their voices by pecking at a large reptile and smearing themselves with the fluids that flow out of its body.	6	7
B36c In B36 family	Fat animals.	Animals receive meat and fat rendered from a certain creature or obtained in some other way. Some received a lot, others remained thin.	21	23
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
B38	Unsuccessful colouring.	The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result.	81	121
B38a In B38 family	Two birds adorn each other.	Two birds agree to paint each other. One of them does not become more beautiful as a result and often becomes uglier. See motif B36A.	38	28
B38b In B38 family	Two animals adorn each other.	Two quadrupeds (or a quadruped and another creature) adorn each other themselves or are adorned by someone else.	21	30
B38c In B38 family	The raven and the loon adorn each other.	The raven and the loon paint each other.	20	28
B38d In B38 family	Raven and owl.	The Raven and the Owl paint each other.	8	11
B38e In B38 family	The gull's rump.	The character kicks a loon or other waterfowl. Since then, it has had a flattened tail and finds it difficult to walk on land.	33	47
B39	The narrow waist of an insect.	An insect or character, which later turns into an insect, knows where food (cultivated plants) or water is located, but refuses to share this knowledge. To find the valuables (usually to force the insect to reveal its secret), the first ancestors pull on a rope tied around the character's waist (the origin of the bridge between the abdominal and thoracic sections of insects).	14	19
B40	The rabbit as a substitute for the deer.	The hare/rabbit is a false deer, a former deer, a brother of the deer, a former or failed owner of antlers, its ears are false antlers.	44	48
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
B40b In B40 family	The horse changes with the cow.	The horse changes with the cow, gives up its horns and/or gets teeth.	10	10
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
B41a In B41 family	Animals tell about the lives of their owners.	A dog or other domestic animal reveals details about its owners' lives that they would prefer to keep private; it is punished for this by losing its ability to speak.	19	21
B42	Cosmic hunting, F59.2.	Hunters, their dogs, fleeing or killed animals are visible in the sky in the form of stars and constellations.	153	299
B42a In B42 family	Blood or fat sprinkled on the ground.	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.	6	4
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
B42c In B42 family	Bear hunting.	In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motifs B42 and B42P.	30	2
B42d In B42 family	Hunting the tapir.	In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is a bear. See motif B42.	4	1
B42e In B42 family	Hunting the rhea.	In the cosmic hunting plot, the object of pursuit is the rhea (Rhea americana, a large flightless bird). See motif B42.	7	3
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
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
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
B42h1 In B42 family	The arrow pierced the animal.	In the plot of cosmic hunting, one of the astral objects is identified with an arrow or bullet, and it is emphasised that it struck an animal or three animals, which are identified with Orion's Belt. {In the Khoisan variants, it is emphasised that the arrow did not reach its target}.	27	35
B42h2 In B42 family	Reddish star – arrow.	A large reddish star (Betelgeuse or Aldebaran) is identified with an arrow.	8	13
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
B42i In B42 family	Cassiopeia – deer.	Cassiopeia is associated with a deer or elk.	15	12
B42k In B42 family	Cosmic hunting – Pleiades.	In stories about cosmic hunting, the object of pursuit or the hunters are identified with the Pleiades. See motif B42.	36	37
B42l In B42 family	Ladle – beast, handle – hunters.	The stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are hunters, the dipper itself is a bear, an elk or a meat storehouse where the bear climbs.	23	12
B42m In B42 family	The second hunter's pot.	The three stars of the Big Dipper's handle are three men (hunters, thieves). The stars of the dipper are the object they seek to obtain (the hunted animal; the bed). Alcor (a faint star near Mizar) is a container, a vessel carried by the second of the three characters.	10	16
B42m1 In B42 family	Ket, Selkup and Evenk.	The three main stars of the Big Dipper's handle are associated with people of three different nationalities.	9	13
B42m2 In B42 family	The boastful and hasty.	The stars of the Big Dipper's handle are three hunters chasing a beast. Each has a distinct character (one is boastful, another is hasty, etc.). In Siberia, the hunters are identified with people of different nationalities, and in the North American Northeast, with birds of different species.	15	14
B42mn In B42 family	A hunter chases the Big Dipper.	Only one character (rather than several) chases an animal (elk or bear) across the sky, associated with one of the circumpolar constellations, but not with the Pleiades or Orion. (In the Kalevala tradition, there is no identification with stars).	18	42
B42n In B42 family	Orion – one person.	The constellation Orion is identified with a man, usually a giant, warrior, or hunter.	60	98
B42o In B42 family	The Hunchback Constellation.	A certain constellation is represented by a person who has been struck or wounded in the back.	7	7
B42o1 In B42 family	The Great Bear – the fisher.	The Big Dipper is identified with the fisher (Mustela pennati).	7	5
B42p In B42 family	Ursa Major – bear.	The Big Dipper is identified with a bear.	38	45
B42q In B42 family	Ursa Major – cart.	Ursa Major – chariot, cart.	57	136
B42r In B42 family	Orion's Belt: running after each other.	The three stars of Orion's Belt are three characters chasing each other.	16	17
B42s In B42 family	Wounded by a spear.	The Big Dipper or Polar Star – a small animal (ermine, marten, forest marmot) or anthropomorphic character with animal features, struck by a spear or arrow.	14	14
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
B42U In B42 family	The stars of the ladle handle – three people.	The stars of the handle of the Big Dipper – three people, and the four stars of the dipper – animals or objects (one or more).	29	45
B43	Purusha, D287.5.	Elements of the landscape or parts of the universe are created from the body of the original being.	46	75
B43a In B43 family	Created from many objects.	The character is created from many materials or objects, or from materials brought from different places.	32	22
B44	Dispute about time, A1150, A1172.	The first ancestors (usually human-animals) argue about how long the year, winter, night, or other periods of time should last, and whether cold and darkness should be replaced by warmth and light.	90	153
B44a In B44 family	Units of time.	Characters argue about the number of discrete units of time that determine the duration of a certain period of time (most often winter or night). See motif B44.	57	14
B44b In B44 family	Fingers, claws, hair, feathers.	The number and/or nature of the alternation of fingers, claws, feathers, hairs, and stripes on animal skins determines the number of time intervals in the calendar or daily cycle. See motif B44.	29	8
B44c In B44 family	To be warm and light.	The characters argue about whether there should be darkness or light, cold or warmth on earth. See motif B44.	22	23
B44d In B44 family	Black and white beast - night and day.	Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted.	3	3

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Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.