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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
| Ref | Title ▲ | Summary | Traditions | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b87d In b87 family | Alcor - infant. | Alcor (a faint star next to the second star of the Big Dipper's handle) – infant. | 9 | 10 |
| b33e2 In b33 family | March breaks the bull's horns. | The severity of the cold in early spring is said to break the horns of large hoofed animals. | 6 | 5 |
| b125c In b125 family | The beaver and the muskrat swapped tails. | Previously, the beaver had the same tail as the muskrat now has, and the muskrat had the same tail as the beaver. | 5 | 5 |
| B79a In B79 family | A bird laid an egg. | At the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them. | 21 | 26 |
| B123 | A fly instead of a nail, ATU 772*. | A fly lands on the chest of the crucified Jesus. His persecutors, who intended to drive a nail into his heart, do not do so, believing that the nail has already been driven in. | 8 | 11 |
| 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 |
| B121 | A little bird wants to fill the sea with stones. | A small bird carries pebbles and sticks, trying to fill the sea. | 2 | 5 |
| B125b In B125 family | A person going to a festival borrows someone else's organ. | A zoomorphic character goes to a festival and asks another to lend him a part of his body, which will make him look more attractive. | 19 | 20 |
| B104b In B104 family | A woman turns into a woodpecker. | A woman refuses to share bread with Jesus, who has come to her, and he turns her into a woodpecker. | 7 | 8 |
| B87a In B87 family | Alcor – dog. | A dim star next to the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper (Tibetans: Little Dipper) Ursa Major – dog. | 24 | 29 |
| B87 | Alcor. | Alcor (a faint star next to the second star of the Big Dipper's handle) stands out as a separate celestial object. | 99 | 156 |
| B3F In B3 family | An object dropped from the sky. | A character in the sky accidentally drops an object. The search for this object in the world below the sky leads to the creation of the earth or a change in its appearance. | 4 | 3 |
| B72b In B72 family | An offended child becomes a bird. | A girl or, less commonly, a boy turns into a bird after his mother (father, guardian) refuses to give him water or food or otherwise mistreats him. | 20 | 17 |
| B125 | Animals exchange characteristics. | The absence or presence of certain organs in animals (less often in plants) and the peculiarities of these organs are caused by the fact that during the era of creation, one species exchanged with another or, having borrowed a foreign organ, refused to return it. In some cases, a reverse exchange and return to the original state is described, as well as the transfer of part of one's body to another animal without compensation. Instead of one of the animals, there may be a human or a deity. | 116 | 163 |
| 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 |
| B64d In B64 family | Arrow bones. | Certain bones in the bodies of living creatures (usually birds and fish) are arrows shot into them. | 22 | 27 |
| B48c In B48 family | Artefacts in the pike's head. | In the head of the pike there are (visible) tools used by people. | 18 | 14 |
| B3c In B3 family | Attempt to drown God. | When the creator, having created the land, lies down to rest, the antagonist tries to drown him, dragging him to the edge of the earth. As a result, the earth expands, and the antagonist is unable to reach its edge. | 15 | 17 |
| B68b In B68 family | Attempted to frighten God. | A character who, by his appearance, behaviour or unexpected appearance, tried to frighten God (people) and was turned into an animal (with a different appearance than before) for this. | 35 | 50 |
| B109a In B109 family | Bear from the sky. | Originally, the (human) bear lived in the sky, then descended to earth (and became a bear). | 3 | 7 |
| 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 |
| B111 | Bees from the body of an animal. | Bees or wasps fly out of the carcass or body of a large animal (lion, bull) (usually the episode explains the origin of bees). | 7 | 8 |
| B52 | Before the flood, there were no mountains. | The floodwaters formed a rugged landscape. | 29 | 34 |
| B93a In B93 family | Bird bridge over the heavenly river. | Once a year, birds form a bridge across the heavenly river with their bodies. Usually, the feathers on their heads are worn away as a result. | 5 | 9 |
| B97a In B97 family | Bird or animal necklace. | A strip of light or dark feathers (rarely: wool) on the neck of a bird (animal) is its necklace (scarf). | 23 | 27 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B107 | Black oyster. | During the (world) fire, the oyster burns, which is why oyster shells are black. | 2 | 3 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B64 | Bony fish. | Bones in the bodies of fish are the result of fights, battles, military expeditions; they are arrows stuck in them (gill openings – from stuck arrows), or small bones – fragments of the original large bones. | 27 | 37 |
| 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 |
| B22a In B22 family | Boys and the tapir. | Boys climb a tree to eat fruit and refuse to throw the fruit down to the tapir, who tries to kill the boys. | 8 | 11 |
| B63A In B63 family | Brothers of the elements. | Several brothers turn into Thunder, Storm and other elements. | 4 | 8 |
| B2f1 In B2 family | Buried in the head. | (While the earth does not yet exist or has not yet hardened), birds bury the dead in their bodies – usually in their beaks or heads, which explains the unpleasant smell or the origin of the crest, swelling on the beak, etc. | 11 | 19 |
| B95 | Burnt sphincter. | The appearance of the sphincter or buttocks is explained by the fact that a certain character burned his backside. | 5 | 4 |
| B85 | Calming the Wind. | The wind blows too strongly, it is forced to calm down. | 28 | 30 |
| B2f2 In B2 family | Carries an unburied corpse. | The character carries the body of the deceased for a long time, unable to bury it or not knowing how to do so, but eventually buries the body in the ground. | 5 | 6 |
| B42i In B42 family | Cassiopeia – deer. | Cassiopeia is associated with a deer or elk. | 15 | 12 |
| B34 | Caught by the first night. | After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal. | 9 | 16 |
| B102a In B102 family | Clouds – cows. | Clouds are associated with horned cattle, especially cows (and rain is their milk). | 17 | 21 |
| B102 | Clouds – smoke. | Clouds are formed from smoke rising from the ground. | 15 | 14 |
| B52b In B52 family | Concealing the earth. | The character regurgitates the earth hidden (usually in his mouth), thereby creating mountains, swamps, and other inconveniences. See motif B52. | 26 | 32 |
| B103 | Cornelian cherry. | The character thinks that since the cornel blooms earlier than other fruit trees, its fruits will ripen earlier than others. The character is mistaken and is left without fruit. | 19 | 25 |
| B79 | Cosmic egg. | In the world ocean or in the world abyss, from an egg (eggs) or egg-like sphere, shell, etc., the earth, sky, luminaries, and creator gods arise. | 32 | 43 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B49b In B49 family | Cow teats. | In the past, cows had more teats on their udders than they do now. | 5 | 6 |
| 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 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.