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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.
E - Origins of people and culture
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E1e In E1 family | Son-stalk. | The son of the first human couple initially takes the form of a small plant that has grown from the ground, a stalk. | 2 | 3 |
| E36a In E36 family | Growing nails. | Nails grow constantly, or the human body is covered with a hard crust only on the nails, because only they were washed with living water. | 2 | 3 |
| E42 | The appearance of female breasts. | Women have two breasts because the original breast was cut in half. | 2 | 3 |
| E13 | Tambourine – lake. | The shamanic tambourine is compared or associated with a lake. | 2 | 4 |
| E34 | Sacred flutes made from the ashes of a cannibal. | The cannibal is killed. From his ashes arise musical instruments taboo for women, used in male rituals. | 4 | 4 |
| e9j1 In e9 family | Monkeys - ancestors of humans. | Humans are considered descendants of monkeys. | 4 | 4 |
| E15b In E15 family | Birds sew a boat. | Bird women sew the birch bark covering of the hero's boat. See motif E15. | 5 | 5 |
| E38c In E38 family | The first humans are mute. | The first humans were mute and began to speak after being struck by something, made to laugh, etc. | 5 | 5 |
| E39a In E39 family | A female animal conceives from human urine. | An animal (snake, pig) conceives from a man's urine and gives birth to a human child (or twins). | 4 | 5 |
| E5 | The half-finished man tries to stand up. | God makes man out of clay. He must wait until it dries, but tries to stand up earlier. | 9 | 5 |
| E14a In E14 family | Masks reproduce slain demons. | People kill demons, examine their bodies, make ritual costumes and masks, reproducing the appearance of the slain. | 6 | 6 |
| E40 | Nostrils facing upwards. | The first humans had nostrils facing upwards, into which rain poured. | 4 | 6 |
| E9aa In E9 family | The fox wife in the burrow of all animals. | A man searches for a missing woman, who is a fox by nature, and comes to the burrow where she has hidden. Various bird or animal women come out of the burrow and offer themselves in place of the fox. Then they let him inside. | 4 | 6 |
| E13B In E13 family | Knowledge from the sky. | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals received from the celestials. | 9 | 7 |
| E5e In E5 family | The two-headed creature does not come out onto the ground. | People or animals come out from under the ground or descend from the sky. The two-headed creature following them gets stuck in the opening or is not allowed to come out. | 10 | 7 |
| E30b In E30 family | Pygmalion. | A man makes a figure or receives a woman. She comes to life and becomes his wife. | 12 | 8 |
| E9b In E9 family | The magical wife – the elephant. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of an elephant (elephant tusk). | 7 | 8 |
| e9i5 In e9 family | The magical wife - the snail. | Before meeting the hero, his wife takes the form of a snail. | 4 | 8 |
| E16 | Oars with edges. | When rowing, the character first tries to push off with the edge rather than the flat side of the oar. | 8 | 9 |
| E1a1 In E1 family | Soaked by rain (why there are cripples). | A deity or ancestor moulds people from clay. Some of the figures got wet, which is why there are cripples among people. | 3 | 9 |
| E23 | Revival by fleas. | A handful of fleas or lice must be thrown at the character; only this will make him or her move, which is necessary for revival or for the existence of people. | 9 | 9 |
| E28 | The blood of the Moon pours onto the earth. | People shoot at the Moon, its blood spills onto the earth. | 4 | 9 |
| E41 | The blacksmith kneads iron with his hands. | A skilled blacksmith, as a special gift, can take iron heated in a furnace with his bare hands, knead it like dough, and shape it as desired. Usually, he breaks a certain taboo and loses his gift. (The motif was identified and the material collected by Ruslan Doutalieyev). | 7 | 9 |
| E15a In E15 family | The boat as a bird's breastbone. | The bow of the boat is modelled on a bird's breastbone. | 6 | 10 |
| E19 | The origin of drugs. | Narcotic plants arise from the body of a human being torn to pieces by others. | 6 | 10 |
| E21 | The victim of aquatic creatures finds revenge. | A child catches fish (with poison), or fish poison is secreted from his body. Fish or water snakes kill him. Death is avenged. | 7 | 10 |
| E24 | Knees and elbows. | Joints appeared in humans after the first ancestor (or several first ancestors) fell from a height, breaking their arms and legs. | 6 | 10 |
| E41a In E41 family | How ticks were invented. | The first ticks were made as a result of observing animals (a dog's crossed paws, two snakes, snake jaws, etc.). | 8 | 10 |
| E31b In E31 family | Female saviours of men. | Several women participate in reviving a dead man and argue about who did more to revive him. | 9 | 11 |
| E9i4 In E9 family | The magical wife – the crane. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a crane. | 10 | 11 |
| E1b1 In E1 family | Prohibited work for a daughter-in-law. | A man who has married an unusual girl is warned that she must not perform certain tasks or eat certain foods. Other members of his household ensure that the young woman breaks the prohibition, and as a result she dies or disappears. | 12 | 12 |
| E22 | The swallowed gains knowledge. | Once inside a certain creature, the swallowed character learns rituals, songs, ornamental motifs, obtains drugs or poison, and, once outside again, passes this knowledge on to people. | 9 | 12 |
| E26 | Those who have become fish are turned back into humans. | People, or only women, go underwater and turn into fish. Men catch them with fishing gear. Those who are caught become human (women) again. (Narratives about the transformation of only one caught fish into the hero's wife are not included; see motif F7). | 9 | 12 |
| E6a In E6 family | The path through water. | People walk across a (frozen) body of water to reach their current place of residence, while some remain on the other side or drown. | 6 | 12 |
| E9l In E9 family | The magical wife – mouse. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat). | 14 | 13 |
| E3 | New people from the bones of the old. | After the destruction of the previous world, new people (rarely: new earth) are made from the remains of the dead. | 14 | 14 |
| E31a2 In E31 family | One is her father, another is her brother, and this one is her husband. | The girl must be given to one of several men. She herself or someone else explains that one of the suitors can be called her father, another her brother (etc.), and only one can be her husband. | 14 | 14 |
| E1d In E1 family | Clay boats. | (The first) boat is made of obviously unsuitable material. | 9 | 15 |
| E9k In E9 family | Husband-honey (bee). | The husband or wife is the embodiment of honey or a human bee. | 10 | 15 |
| E8a In E8 family | People in fruits. | Women or people in general emerge from fruits (often coconuts), or fruits or, less commonly, leaves turn into people or only women. Cf. motif k33c. | 11 | 17 |
| E9a In E9 family | The magical wife - the fox. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a fox. | 13 | 17 |
| E9n In E9 family | The magical wife – an aquatic mammal. | A man marries a female seal, seal or dolphin that has taken the form of a woman and lives with her among people. | 15 | 18 |
| E14 | Knowledge from the dead. | Rituals received from the spirits of the dead. | 16 | 19 |
| E1a In E1 family | The first humans made of fragile materials. | The first humans are made of fragile materials (clay, wax, fire, honey, etc.) and prove to be unviable. | 13 | 19 |
| E27 | People from drops of blood. | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. | 12 | 19 |
| E31 | Imaginary Pygmalion. | A man makes a wooden doll and behaves as if it were alive. It does not come to life, or comes to life only partially or temporarily. A real woman replaces the figure and marries the carver. | 14 | 19 |
| E39 | Pig ancestor. | The child of a pig or boar is a woman or man – the ancestor of a certain group of people. | 19 | 21 |
| e8b In e8 family | Woman hides in a fruit. | A woman hides inside a fruit brought into the house and comes out when no one is around or when the fruit is cut open. | 19 | 22 |
| E7 | Stuck in a hole in the sky. | The path from one part of the world to another passes through a narrow opening. The character gets stuck in the opening, permanently severing the connection between the worlds. | 23 | 23 |
| E29 | The lizard makes hands for humans, A1311.1. | Two characters (usually a coyote and a lizard) argue about whether human hands should be shaped like paws or end in fingers. | 17 | 24 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.