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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E13 | Tambourine – lake. | The shamanic tambourine is compared or associated with a lake. | 2 | 4 |
| E13a In E13 family | Knowledge from the underwater world. | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals were first obtained by humans from the inhabitants of the underwater world. | 38 | 76 |
| E13B In E13 family | Knowledge from the sky. | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals received from the celestials. | 9 | 7 |
| E14 | Knowledge from the dead. | Rituals received from the spirits of the dead. | 16 | 19 |
| 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 |
| E15 | Ducks and boats. | People learn how to build boats and row from birds; a bird or part of its body serves as a model for building a boat. | 21 | 34 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| E17 | The origin of ornamentation. | People get the idea of ornamentation of vessels, baskets, bodies, etc., or of a sign system after someone manages to see a pattern on the body of a zoomorphic or supernatural creature or make an imprint of it. | 21 | 32 |
| E18 | Vessels and snakes. | People learn to make or decorate ceramics or baskets (usually learning to apply patterns) thanks to a water creature. | 17 | 26 |
| E19 | The origin of drugs. | Narcotic plants arise from the body of a human being torn to pieces by others. | 6 | 10 |
| E20 | The origin of fish poison. | When a certain person enters the water, the fish die. A plant grows from parts of his body or on his grave, from which fish poison (timbó) is made. | 17 | 27 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| E25 | Arachne (spider weaver). | People learn the art of weaving from a spider or from a person who later becomes a spider; the spider makes fabrics for humans. | 28 | 29 |
| 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 |
| E27 | People from drops of blood. | People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. | 12 | 19 |
| E28 | The blood of the Moon pours onto the earth. | People shoot at the Moon, its blood spills onto the earth. | 4 | 9 |
| 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 |
| E30 | Wooden substitute spouse. | A man has no wife or a woman has no husband, and uses a wooden substitute as a spouse. | 25 | 36 |
| E30a In E30 family | The ersatz spouse is replaced by the real one. | A man without a wife or a woman without a husband uses a substitute spouse made of wood or other material until a real spouse appears. | 19 | 27 |
| E30b In E30 family | Pygmalion. | A man makes a figure or receives a woman. She comes to life and becomes his wife. | 12 | 8 |
| 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 |
| E31a In E31 family | Creators and saviours of girls, ATU 653, 653A, 653B. | Several men (women) participate in the rescue, creation or revival of a girl (man), or mourn her (his) death. The question arises as to whom the revived person should belong to or who contributed more to the revival. Alternatively, three men create something valuable, each contributing their part. The question arises as to whose contribution is more important. | 133 | 175 |
| E31a1 In E31 family | Who will be the husband of the created girl? ATU 653C. | Three (rarely four or two) men participate in the creation of the girl: one carves the figure out of wood, another dresses her, and the third brings her to life. To whom should the animated girl belong? | 52 | 46 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| E31c In E31 family | Rescuers of the Abducted Maiden, ATU 513A, ATU 653. | Several men, each possessing a unique skill, bring a (kidnapped) girl from a distant country. | 66 | 65 |
| E32 | Progenitor plants. | The first humans or the first woman (progenitor, goddess) are born from trees, emerge from a tree, stump, flower, or reed. | 90 | 155 |
| E33 | People from grains. | People arise from grains, seeds, dough. | 16 | 32 |
| 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 |
| E35 | Webbing between the fingers. | The first humans or creatures created by the Creator's rival were incomplete, not fully anthropomorphic (they resembled larvae, had webbing on their fingers, etc.). | 42 | 52 |
| E36 | Hard covering of the body. | The human body was or could have been covered with a protective layer (bone, rarely wool), but it has only been preserved on the nails (head). | 43 | 57 |
| 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 |
| E37 | People made of sticks. | The creator collects many sticks, feathers, reeds, etc., and turns them into people (either people of both sexes and all ages, or no mention is made of gender or age). | 16 | 26 |
| E38a In E38 family | People made of pieces. | A woman gives birth to a pumpkin, a sack, a sack of eggs, a piece of meat. The newborn is cut open, chopped up, and the pieces turn into new people; numerous people (usually tribal ancestors) emerge from the pumpkin or sack. Cf. motif F47. | 23 | 50 |
| E38b In E38 family | People from a pumpkin. | After a global catastrophe or at the beginning of time, a pumpkin appears on earth, from which the ancestors of humans emerge. | 22 | 53 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| E40 | Nostrils facing upwards. | The first humans had nostrils facing upwards, into which rain poured. | 4 | 6 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| E42 | The appearance of female breasts. | Women have two breasts because the original breast was cut in half. | 2 | 3 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.