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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.

F - Gender and sex

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Ref	Title	Summary	Traditions ▲	Narratives
F9f1 In F9 family	Snake inside a woman.	Inside the woman there is a snake (snakes, scorpions, just poison) that comes out of her mouth. {Motifs F9f1 and K100C are almost identical, but the first can be included in the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while the second belongs to the adventure category}.	36	59
F70e1 In F70 family	Daughter in the role of son, AT 884B.	An old man needs a son to do men's work. (Only the youngest) daughter takes on this task (successfully passing the test set by her father), pretending to be a man.	38	42
F9f In F9 family	Asmodeus.	Without the woman's knowledge, the demon regularly kills her suitors on their wedding night.	38	44
F17	Genitals out of place, A1313.3.	Human genitals were initially located, should have been located, or could have been located under certain circumstances not where they are now; either there were no genitals initially, or people did not know their purpose and copulated using other parts of the body.	39	51
F20	Lovers stuck together.	After copulation, the man and woman are unable to break their embrace.	40	40
F40a In F40 family	The common husband of the first women.	A male character, androgynous, with a monstrous penis, single-handedly possesses all women, rules over them or leads away the first women.	40	54
F1	Transformed man.	The first woman, female deity, or female animals were originally men (males) who then changed their gender.	41	60
F36	Children against the lover.	(Adopted) children of a woman or man kill the lover (or spouse of non-human nature) of their father or (adoptive) mother.	41	35
F97	Forbidden fruit: people become sexually mature, C621.	After eating certain foods, people become sexually mature and/or lose their body hair or skin. Cf. motif H56 (people become mortal).	41	39
F54e In F54 family	Unintentional killing of a father.	Not knowing who is in front of him, a young man kills his father.	45	28
F70e In F70 family	Girl turns into a man, ATU 514.	A girl pretends to be a man, magically acquires male nature and lives with his wife. Cf. motif K137 (in Uther 2004, plot 514 mistakenly includes a Karakalpak text with our motif K137).	45	35
F44	Quarrel between men and women.	In the community of the first ancestors, women and men quarrel, leave, kill, maim each other, etc.	46	73
F22	Studying the partner's body.	The character asks a person of the opposite sex about the purpose of the part of the body used for sexual intercourse (usually after asking questions about other parts). Alternatively, the character tries out different parts of the body for sexual intercourse or for placing the genitals. Cf. motif M63.	49	58
F27	Girls and water spirits.	It is dangerous for girls or women to approach water (water creatures drag them away or swallow them; a girl who approaches water dies; she becomes pregnant by a snake; through her fault, a flood or other disaster occurs; water spirits themselves come to a girl who has her first period).	49	86
F54	Oedipus, ATU 931, 933.	Unaware of this, the son and mother (Konkani: daughter and father) engage in sexual relations and later learn of the incest they have committed. Cf. motifs c8c, f54e.	54	39
F9e1 In F9 family	Dangerous animal in the vagina.	A woman's womb is dangerous because it contains a toothy or stinging animal (not just its mouth) or many such creatures.	56	81
F39	Women's time.	In the past or in distant lands, women dominated men, were the active party in marital relations, and engaged in male activities. Men engaged in female activities. Later, the situation changed. Either women missed the opportunity to gain superiority. See motif F38.	57	61
F64a In F64 family	Describes the future spouse.	Leaving or pretending to be dying, the character gives instructions to a relative regarding what he or she should do to get married, indicating a partner with certain characteristics, or the character indicates the place of a future meeting with this partner; or (Philippines) describes a person who should be accepted as a guest; comes himself under the guise of the person mentioned. See motif F64.	58	10
F70a In F70 family	Scratches his body.	Accusing a man or young man of assaulting her (usually sexually), a woman presents fabricated material evidence (tearing her clothes, scratching her body, etc.). See motif F70.	58	42
F16	Men and women: exchange of characteristics.	Men possessed biological characteristics that are now characteristic of women, or vice versa (beards, menstruation, breasts, childbearing).	59	83
F58	The trickster and women.	The character spends the night with a group of women, concealing his nature and/or intentions. In the end, he is either identified and punished, or he slips away to continue his mischief.	59	63
F65a In F65 family	The Imaginary Dead Man: Meeting with a Lover, ATU 885A.	The spouse leaves the character at the burial site; the (pretend) dead person comes back to life and leaves to be with their lover.	59	68
F73	Imaginary wound.	The character mistakes the vulva or anus for a wound. See motifs F73A, F73B. (In the traditions of South and Central America, it is impossible to distinguish local variants from European borrowings).	59	59
F9g In F9 family	Brünnhilde, ATU 519.	A powerful woman defeats and kills her suitors. The hero or his assistant defeats her (usually on their wedding night, subduing her with rods or a whip). The hero marries the heroine.	60	46
F40b In F40 family	A man in a village of women.	A single man finds himself in a village of women. Usually, he is forced to satisfy a woman against his will, or each woman demands to have sex with him.	62	78
F9	Dangerous woman.	For various reasons, sexual intercourse with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man, or so it seems to him: Teeth, blades or sharp stones in the vagina or on the inside of the thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. See motif F9A.	62	66
F63	Man marries, K1321.1, ATU 1538*.	A male trickster transforms into a woman and gets married. In the end, he is exposed or runs away from his husband.	64	74
F38	Women and secret knowledge.	Women were the keepers of secret knowledge, shrines, or ritual objects that are now forbidden to them; they attempted to regain this knowledge or these objects.	65	135
F33	Connection with a water creature.	A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s).	68	102
F71	Susanna and the Elders, ATU 883A.	After being rejected, the man falsely accuses the woman of promiscuity; others believe him and try to punish her severely.	72	70
F49	Caesarean section, T584.	Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible.	76	106
F64	Incestuous parent, T411.1.1.	The character is presented as another person in order to mate with a close relative in the descending or (less commonly) ascending line.	81	121
F70b In F70 family	Revenge of the rejected.	A woman takes revenge on a man who rejected her love (but does not necessarily pretend that the man tried to force himself on her).	86	107
F34	Connection with terrestrial quadrupeds.	A woman takes a large land animal as her lover. Her husband, brother or (adopted) children kill or maim the lover and (sometimes) the woman herself. Sometimes there is mention of a group of women and their husbands. (Unlike motif K102, "The Demon's Mistress," the lover is not dangerous to the hero and plays a passive role, and the woman, if she becomes hostile and dangerous, does so only after the lover's death. Unlike motif K76, the woman and her husband/lover of non-human nature are clearly evaluated negatively).	90	143
F35	Feeding meat from a lover.	A character offers another person the meat of his sexual partner, and the other person, unaware, eats or cooks it.	99	139
F70	Potiphar's Wife, K2111, T418, ATU 318.	A woman falsely accuses a man of assaulting her.	105	139
F2	Birth from the leg T541; V52.	The child is born from a tumour on the character's body, either placed there temporarily or emerging from blood that has flowed from a cut.	111	171
F51	Secret lover, H58.	Someone under cover of night/incognito approaches a person of the opposite sex. The marriage partner deliberately (to determine who it is) or accidentally (thereby exposing the visitor) makes a mark on his/her body (clothing). See motif A31.	112	80
F62	Incognito at a festival.	A (supposedly) sick (weak, unattractive, poorly dressed) character is left alone when others leave for the festival; he (she) arrives there later in the guise of a handsome man or beautiful woman; those who arrived earlier do not recognise him (her) and take an interest in him (her). (This motif is also found in texts containing the motif k57, Cinderella).	112	198
F9a In F9 family	Toothy womb.	There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in a woman's vagina or on the inside of her thighs; the vagina is a toothy mouth. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are taken into account, not anecdotes).	114	204
F18a In F18 family	Long penis.	The penis of a male character is much longer than normal or becomes so. During intercourse, it usually crawls towards the woman like a snake. (Only texts with a focus on authenticity are included, not anecdotes).	118	170
F65	The imaginary dead man.	To satisfy their secret desire, which involves breaking social norms (forbidden sex, refusing to share food with relatives), the character pretends to be dying, abandoned at the burial site.	119	26
F86	Conditional signal.	A character calls another character of non-human nature (a mate or ward) with a conventional signal; the other character sees this, makes the same signal or utters the same words, takes on the appearance of the character they have come to replace, kills those who come out to meet them, or makes use of their sexual services.	127	191
F30	The snake lover.	A girl or woman takes a snake, eel, moray eel, lizard or worm as a lover or spouse. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or their offspring, or she herself turns into a snake. Cf. motif K76B (the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man). See motif F29.	139	246
F7	Woman from the underwater world.	A man catches, grabs, meets, or receives a woman associated with the aquatic-chthonic world (a fish, mermaid, snake, crab, seal, etc.) and takes her as his wife. Cf. motifs E26 and K25.	145	224
F34b In F34 family	Lover of non-human nature.	A girl, woman or group of women voluntarily take as their lover a penis that exists as a special creature, snake, moray eel, lizard, worm, crab, large aquatic animal or aquatic monster, or large terrestrial mammal. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or her offspring, or she herself loses her human nature. The woman's behaviour is condemned.	156	315
F45	Amazons.	There are or were settlements where only women lived or live (cf. motifs F8, F45C).	156	256
F35a In F35 family	Feeding meat from a relative.	The character, unaware of this, eats or prepares meat (slowly kills) a member of his household (a relative, rarely a servant or spouse) or feeds it to his acquaintances, or uses its bones for household needs.	182	295

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