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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.
H - Paradise Lost
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H7b1 In H7 family | Get into the bag. | Having received a magic bag, into which any creature can be forced against its will at the owner's discretion, a person gains power over Death or devils. | 26 | 33 |
| H33 | Children walk from birth. | At first, children walked, had to walk, or could walk immediately after birth. | 36 | 35 |
| H18b In H18 family | Cattle return to the water. | Having received livestock from supernatural characters, a person (usually due to violating a prohibition on looking, shouting, etc.) immediately loses all or most of the animals (they go into the water, into the sky, scatter, etc.). | 23 | 36 |
| H4a In H4 family | Interrupted renewal. | People no longer rejuvenate (usually, they do not change their skin), because they were disturbed at the moment of renewal or were not recognised as the same person after renewal. See motif H4. | 32 | 36 |
| H46a In H46 family | The dog and the ear of corn. | The possibility of using cereals for food is determined by the behaviour of the dog in the era of creation. See motif H46. | 24 | 38 |
| H32a In H32 family | Lost abundance: the wronged wife. | A young woman is the embodiment of fertility; she comes to live with people, and food becomes readily available. The woman is wronged, she leaves, and the superabundance ends. | 32 | 39 |
| H19 | The raven interferes with hunting. | The raven hides game animals in a pen or cave or scares them away from hunters. See motif H18. | 29 | 40 |
| H1c In H1 family | Trampled grave. | People cease to be reborn (or no longer come to the living) after the deceased is buried in the ground for the first time or someone tramples the earth on a fresh grave, preventing the deceased from rising from the grave. | 36 | 40 |
| H49 | The slain dog sought to save the child, Th B524.1.4.1; B221.2.2; ATU 178A. | A dog or other animal kills a creature that threatened a small child. The owner or other people mistake the saviour for an aggressor and kill it. | 47 | 40 |
| H2 | The selfish animal. | Animals ask God to make humans (tigers: domestic animals) mortal or otherwise reduce their numbers, as they fear that humans will trample them, deprive them of food or habitat, force them to work, etc. | 33 | 42 |
| H29 | Progenitor of foreign tribes. | A woman mates with an animal. The people of a hostile tribe originate from or derive their culture from the descendants of this union, from the relatives of the animal or from the children of the woman's brothers. | 27 | 42 |
| H48 | Fever sisters. | Illnesses – female sisters (less often male brothers), usually children of an evil spirit. | 34 | 42 |
| H6a In H6 family | People and plants. | Mortal humans are contrasted with plants, which regularly shed their bark, bloom in spring after winter dormancy, or reproduce vegetatively. See motif H4. | 45 | 42 |
| h54d In h54 family | Lord of the spirits. | A character whose eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) are so heavy that he cannot open his eyes without help, possesses enormous power and is dangerous to heroes and people in general. He is often associated with the underworld or with a bygone era. | 25 | 46 |
| H10 | The sunken stone. | People are mortal, as they are likened to a stone thrown into water; they usually miss the opportunity to resemble organic matter that floats in water. | 29 | 47 |
| H13 | The returned dead come back to life. | The character comes to the underworld, brings back the dead person or brings back their remains. The dead person comes back to life and (for a while) remains among the living. | 37 | 47 |
| H36b In H36 family | The chameleon betrays man. | The chameleon is to blame for the fact that man is mortal or that he must labour; he loses the trust placed in him by the deity. See motif H36. | 39 | 47 |
| H37 | The spirit's superweapon falls into the hands of the hunter. | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. | 33 | 47 |
| H44 | The bloody division of offspring (ATU 485). | A human enters into a relationship with a non-human being. When they part, the being tears apart (or intends to tear apart) their child. (Most of the data was collected by S.Y. Neklyudov). | 27 | 47 |
| H6b In H6 family | The elixir of immortality is spilled on plants. | The elixir of immortality, intended for humans, is not delivered to its destination, but falls on plants, which become evergreen, capable of regeneration or bearing fruit. (Traditions in which the "elixir of immortality" is linked to the motif of false news are marked with an asterisk. Cf. motif B115). | 33 | 51 |
| H6c1 In H6 family | Values in exchange for a child. | To obtain the desired object, the character grabs the young or the female bird (snake, crab) and promises to release them if the father (mother, male) bird delivers the desired object. | 34 | 51 |
| H7a In H7 family | Death and the healer, ATU 332. | Having received knowledge from Death (rarely: Happiness or a certain spirit) about whether the sick person will be healed or not, whether she is going to take his soul, the person will know whether he will recover. U.nyak praises him for his impartiality; U.t himself; the poor man scolds the doctor, becomes rich. Usually he sees where exactly Death (spirit, etc.) is near the bed, whether it is going to take his soul, whether the person will recover. U. praises him for his impartiality; U. himself; the poor man scolds the sick man, and on this basis knows what will happen to him. | 49 | 52 |
| H7b In H7 family | Death sticks to a tree or a bench, ATU 330. | A person asks Death (a spirit) to climb a tree or sit on a bench, to which they stick and can only be freed with his permission. | 52 | 56 |
| H36ff In H36 family | The raven betrays man. | The raven (crow) or other large bird of prey tries to kill people and/or is responsible for the fact that humans (tigres: domestic animals) are mortal or susceptible to disease. | 39 | 57 |
| H43 | One creates the body, and another the soul. | One character creates people's bodies, while another brings them to life. | 32 | 59 |
| H43aa In H43 family | Spat-upon figures. | Having created the human body, the creator leaves. At this time, his opponent spits on the figure, which has not yet come to life, smears it with mud, etc. | 42 | 60 |
| H3A In H3 family | Violated sexual taboo. | People die (fall ill) and cannot come back to life because a taboo related to sexual contact or pregnancy was once violated. {The motif may be composite, including historically unrelated variants}. | 52 | 62 |
| H26 | Mosquitoes had to be drowned. | A vessel containing stinging insects or reptiles should be thrown into a river or the sea, or buried in a remote place. See motif H24B. | 33 | 63 |
| H36gg In H36 family | The coyote betrays man. | The coyote is to blame for the fact that humans are mortal. | 37 | 64 |
| H47 | Offended sky/earth. | The sky (celestial deity) or Earth is offended by people's behaviour towards them and reacts accordingly. | 40 | 70 |
| H46 | The dog's share. | A character (usually God) is about to deprive people of their food (most often grain), but does not do so for the sake of the dog (and/or cat; rarely for the sake of birds). Either God gave the ear of corn to the dog, and the man took it for himself. | 43 | 73 |
| H54b In H54 family | Deadly gaze. | The character's gaze brings death (and destruction). | 50 | 73 |
| H11 | The call of God. | People are mortal or defective because they respond to the call (or pronounce the name) of a creature that brings death, or do not hear the call (do not pronounce the name; do not respond to the call, do not notice) of a creature that promises immortality (power). | 47 | 74 |
| H42 | The creator leaves. | Having created human bodies or conceived creation, the creator or his representative leaves for a time. Another character, out of malice or incompetence, spoils or tries to spoil the results of the work, creating something that the creator would have done better. Most often, this leads to humans being mortal or susceptible to disease. See motif H40. | 70 | 76 |
| H16b In H16 family | Milk pond. | The narratives (in various contexts) mention a milk pond (river, lake, wave in the sea) existing on earth (but not among the stars). Cf. motifs H16, K33F, N34. | 53 | 79 |
| H16a In H16 family | Rivers of blood, A671.2.2. | The narratives (in various contexts) mention rivers (lakes) of blood (as well as water used to wash the dead, pus, bones, sweat). Cf. motifs H16, K33F, N34. | 73 | 80 |
| H28a In H28 family | The ashes of the burned turn into gnus. | When a character is burned, the smoke and sparks turn into mosquitoes and other blood-sucking insects that scatter throughout the world. | 40 | 85 |
| H34g In H34 family | Porridge from a grain. | One grain was enough to prepare a meal. | 41 | 85 |
| H1a In H1 family | He who wished death upon another is himself in mourning. | The character decides that people should die. His or her child, mother, or some other being whose life is dear to him or her dies. Now the decision-maker agrees to make people immortal, but it is impossible to change the decision that has been made. | 57 | 86 |
| H45 | The Stained Flatbread, ATU 779G. | A woman or child treats food disrespectfully by smearing it with excrement. For this, people (rarely: only the culprit) are punished. | 61 | 86 |
| H6c In H6 family | The immortal raven. | The raven (crow, vulture) is associated with death or contrasted with humans as immortal among mortals (sent to bring the elixir of immortality or water that revives the dead; drinks this water himself; teaches people funeral rites; etc.). | 54 | 86 |
| H55 | Sinners in the Other World, ATU 471, (ATU 470). | A person going to the other world sees people who are punished or rewarded for their actions in life. | 75 | 89 |
| H9 | Strong and fragile. | People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material). | 66 | 99 |
| H41 | The dog betrays man. | Because of the dog, man is weak, mortal, and wicked. Usually, the antagonist bribes the dog with warm wool, and it betrays human figures to him for desecration. | 64 | 101 |
| H51 | The Devil's Horse. | The horse is a predator or is associated with God's enemy. | 48 | 101 |
| H40 | The dog guards the man. | The dog guards and protects (successfully or unsuccessfully) a human figure that has not been completely finished by the creator, or the entrance to paradise. | 60 | 113 |
| H27 | Released mosquitoes. | Before spreading throughout the world, stinging or blood-sucking insects or reptiles, diseases or evil spirits were kept in a vessel, bag or other small container. See motif H24. | 84 | 120 |
| H12c In H12 family | Orpheus: bringing back his dead wife. | The husband follows his dead wife into the afterlife, but cannot bring her back, or brings her back but loses her again. | 75 | 124 |
| H20 | Released fish. | All the fish or (rarely) molluscs were concentrated in one place. A certain character allows them to escape or deliberately releases them into rivers or the sea. {In some cases, the theme of the spread of fish concentrated in a small container is difficult to separate from the theme of the spread of water. In any case, neither of these exist in Africa}. | 57 | 130 |
| H34 | In the past, there was no need to work. | Work did not require effort. Some people do not believe that this is possible, or do not consider it to be right, or do not fulfil the necessary conditions, which is why people have to work. See motifs H34A – H34H; H34 contains only texts that are not classified in more detail. | 96 | 151 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.