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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B53 | Creatures and objects made from severed genitals. | The character's enormous genitals are cut off (usually cut into pieces), thrown away, and transformed into snakes or other creatures or objects. | 22 | 23 |
| 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 |
| B110 | Where the back is – swamps, where the head is – red poppies. | A character who is dragged along the ground or who runs, falls apart or hits the ground with different parts of his body. This determines the characteristics of the landscape and flora. | 23 | 31 |
| 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 |
| B68 | Giant hazel grouse. | The giant hazel grouse became small – it was usually torn into pieces, which turned into the current hazel grouse. | 23 | 42 |
| 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 |
| B47 | The Pleiades and cold. | The Pleiades or another group of stars once appeared or regularly cause severe cold. (The heliacal setting of the Pleiades occurs in May-June; in the Northern Hemisphere, they are best seen in winter). | 24 | 33 |
| B49 | The animals did not understand the instructions. | Animals of a certain species (in Toraja – humans) hear poorly or misunderstand instructions or questions about their future, or get confused when making requests to deities. This is how they acquire their current characteristics and habits. | 24 | 20 |
| B56A In B56 family | Crocodile without a tongue. | The reptile's tongue is cut off or mutilated (no association with fire). See motif B56. | 24 | 33 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B33a1 In B33 family | Insulted March. | A person (animal, bird) teases or insults March or another calendar month and is punished as a result. | 27 | 48 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B72 | The cuckoo was not given water. | Since the children do not give their mother water, she turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) and flies away. | 27 | 43 |
| B92 | Flint turns into flints. | A character whose body is hard and has broken into small pieces, or (rarely) a small object, turns into flint or other hard stones (the origin of flint). | 27 | 35 |
| B85 | Calming the Wind. | The wind blows too strongly, it is forced to calm down. | 28 | 30 |
| B89 | The eagle owl – king of birds. | The eagle owl (owl) was the chief among birds, claimed this position or behaved badly when choosing the head of the birds; now he avoids other birds and/or other birds chase him. | 28 | 26 |
| B97 | The character rewards the bird. | The character rewards (rarely punishes) a bird living by the water, determining its current appearance (crest, beak, feather colouring). | 28 | 27 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B52 | Before the flood, there were no mountains. | The floodwaters formed a rugged landscape. | 29 | 34 |
| B70 | Hare ears. | A man beats defenseless hares, foxes, and other small animals (one or many) that are usually locked in his house. The story explains the colouring of the tips of the ears and tails of these animals. Cf. motif M45A. | 29 | 38 |
| B73b In B73 family | In search of a family member. | Two teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call. | 29 | 45 |
| 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 |
| B117 | Dog rights, ATU 200. | A document issued to animals (usually dogs) is lost through the fault of a cat (swallowed by a cat, burned, gnawed by mice). Since then, dogs and cats (usually also cats and mice) have been at enmity. | 30 | 29 |
| B4 | The elongated land. | Islands or mainland pulled out of the ocean, pulled by a rope. | 30 | 59 |
| 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 |
| B52c In B52 family | The earth is larger than the sky. | When the earth and sky were created, they turned out to be different sizes. The earth was compressed, and mountains appeared. See motif B52. | 30 | 47 |
| B85b In B85 family | Wind in a bag. | The wind was or is in a small container, released from it or flying out of it from time to time. | 30 | 38 |
| B13a In B13 family | Water rushes after a person. | A stream of water (with a predator in it) rushes after a character who is trying to escape from it. | 32 | 43 |
| 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 |
| B60 | Offended children leave their parents. | Children come into conflict with their parents over food, clothing, attention, which they demand and which their parents deny them, and sexual behaviour. They leave their parents, turning into birds, bats, stars or atmospheric phenomena. See motif B59. | 32 | 48 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B90 | Master of wolves. | There is an anthropomorphic patron, master or mistress of wolves; he usually gives instructions to the wolves on a certain day of the year. | 32 | 47 |
| 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 |
| B16 | Salt water: bodily secretions, A1115. | The water of the sea, rivers, etc. comes from the fluid that flows from the body of a living being, or is contaminated by it; therefore, it is salty or opaque. | 34 | 40 |
| 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 |
| B48a In B48 family | Pieces of foreign flesh. | The bodies of animals, birds or fish contain internal organs or muscles that were originally parts of the bodies of other animals, birds, fish or monsters. Cf. motif B36C. | 35 | 43 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| B45 | The Wedding of Winter and Summer, A1153. | The arrival of warm (bright, abundant) or cold (hungry, dark) times is associated with the marriage of a certain character who brings cold, warmth, abundance, etc. | 36 | 48 |
| B11 | The appearance of rivers. | A river (rarely: a chain of lakes, a narrow strait) or its current course is created by humans or animals. See motifs B12, B13. This section covers other variants of the motif. | 38 | 37 |
| 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 |
| B42p In B42 family | Ursa Major – bear. | The Big Dipper is identified with a bear. | 38 | 45 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.