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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H21a In H21 family | Do not touch the big fish. | The fish are concentrated in a small container, from which the owner takes as many as he needs. Another character opens the container, breaking the rules, and the fish escape. | 13 | 28 |
| H23 | Fatty horns. | This hard and now inedible object originally consisted of fat. | 13 | 14 |
| H24f In H24 family | Meat in a bag. | The character has the ability to put a large amount of meat or fish into a bag or container that is easy to carry. | 13 | 19 |
| H50 | The sky god and the mistress of the dead. | A pair of deities or first ancestors diverge. The man remains on earth or goes to heaven (remains in heaven), the woman becomes the mistress of the world of the dead, the earth, the underworld, usually associated with disease and poisonous animals. | 13 | 19 |
| H53 | The wolf – lord of the dead. | The wolf participates in the creation of the earth or is the brother of the creator and/or conqueror of the demons of the underworld. He dies and/or is considered the first to die and/or becomes the lord of the land of the dead. | 13 | 28 |
| H6d In H6 family | Stolen immortality. | Having obtained a means of ensuring immortality, the character falls asleep or leaves the means unattended. At this time, another character steals the means. | 13 | 20 |
| H7f1 In H7 family | Death as a devourer. | Death devours the dead and thus satisfies its hunger. | 13 | 10 |
| H22 | Sense of smell in animals. | Large game animals did not have a sense of smell. They acquired it and began to flee from hunters after someone created olfactory organs for them or gave them a strong smell to smell. Cf. motif H22A. | 14 | 22 |
| H24c In H24 family | Death in a vessel. | People open a vessel (a bundle, a basket, etc.) containing death (or old age, illness), and therefore they are mortal. | 14 | 17 |
| H3 | Funeral games end in death. | Death is sent to people as punishment for excessive sympathy for a dead animal or for funeral games, during which they bury an animal, tree, etc. | 14 | 16 |
| H33a In H33 family | Throwing children over the roof. | God wanted to throw a newborn baby (over a fence, house, etc.) so that it would immediately stand up and start walking, but the woman was frightened and did not allow it. Therefore, children do not walk from birth. See motif H33. | 14 | 16 |
| H34h In H34 family | Firewood came home. | Firewood and brushwood came by themselves, flying into the house; there was no need to specially harvest and deliver them. | 14 | 15 |
| H49d In H49 family | The Innocently Slain Parrot, ATU 916(4). | A character (usually a bird) brings a healing (rejuvenating) fruit (seed, branch). Accidentally or maliciously, poison gets into the fruit. The person whom the fruit-bearer wanted to help kills or is about to kill his benefactor, and then learns of his mistake. | 14 | 19 |
| H7f2 In H7 family | Death becomes invisible. | The character embodying death had a body visible to humans. Then death became invisible. | 14 | 4 |
| H1e In H1 family | The first to die opens the way for the rest. | A certain character is the first to enter the world of the dead, after which all people follow the same path; he paves the way to the world of the dead; the first to die becomes the master or guardian of the afterlife. | 15 | 14 |
| H21 | Game or fish kills a boy. | The character controls animals or fish; a boy, young man or girl knows his secret or serves as bait themselves; another character forces the boy (girl) to reveal the secret and/or help him in the same way that he or she helped the first character, or leads the boy to go fishing but kills him, or the boy himself starts hunting, breaking the rules; as a result, the boy or girl is killed or carried away by animals or fish. See motif H18. | 15 | 22 |
| H22a In H22 family | Animals were struck on the nose. | Large game animals were concentrated in one place and were not afraid of people. They scattered after someone touched them, hit them lightly (often on the nose), or smeared them with something. Cf. motif H22. | 15 | 13 |
| H24d In H24 family | Still gathering what has been released. | An animal character who released the contents (darkness, insects, reptiles) from a vessel is still trying to gather everything back (etiology of the behaviour of a certain species of animal). | 15 | 26 |
| H25 | Choose life or death. | People are offered a choice between two objects, one of which represents death and the other life, or they are asked whether they want to be reborn or die forever. Death is chosen. | 15 | 21 |
| H36f In H36 family | The raven – an unsuccessful messenger. | The raven is sent to deliver an important item or message. He distorts the message or loses what has been entrusted to him. | 15 | 19 |
| H39 | Snakes become poisonous (spilled poison). | Creatures that are now dangerous (snakes, insects) swallow an uncontrolled substance and as a result become poisonous or immortal; creatures acquire their nature (usually becoming poisonous) by drinking or licking a special potion. | 16 | 19 |
| H7c1 In H7 family | The trickster enters paradise. | The trickster first deceives Death (the devil), and then, also by deception, enters paradise. | 16 | 19 |
| H34d1 In H34 family | Edible sky. | The sky or celestial objects were edible, but then this source of food became inaccessible or is now only used by inhabitants of a country beyond the human world. | 17 | 20 |
| H49b In H49 family | The debtor gives his dog as collateral, Th B221.2.2; ATU 178B. | A man gives his dog to another man. The dog is of great use to him (it finds stolen goods and drives away thieves). The man who received the dog sends it back with a letter of thanks. The owner thinks that the dog has run away, kills it, and only then finds the letter. | 17 | 18 |
| H27a1 In H27 family | Diseases and reptiles from holes in the ground. | Reptiles and insects crawl out of holes in the ground, bringing disease. | 19 | 27 |
| H7g In H7 family | Life as a candle. | A person sees many burning candles or lamps. When one of them burns out, someone dies. | 19 | 22 |
| H1d In H1 family | The one who returned to the people was rejected. | The deceased returns, but people send him back, dissatisfied with his appearance, refusing to accept him or burying him again. From then on, death is final. | 21 | 23 |
| H27a In H27 family | A hole in the ground where a stake was driven. | When creating the earth, a negative character asks a positive character for as much earth as is necessary to prop up a staff, stake. | 21 | 29 |
| H43a In H43 family | Broken figures. | Having created the human body, the creator leaves. At this time, another character tries to break the figure, which has not yet come to life. | 21 | 29 |
| H7e In H7 family | People knew when they would die, ATU 934H(4). | In the past, people knew when they would die, so before their death they stopped doing their work or performed their duties half-heartedly. | 21 | 21 |
| H8 | Those who did not pass the test. | Unable to bring themselves to touch something unclean, poisonous, dangerous or hot, people lost their immortality (var.: did not receive the blessings that came to Europeans). | 21 | 27 |
| H24b In H24 family | Souls fly out of the vessel. | The character must open the vessel containing the soul of the deceased when he reaches the place or after a certain time has passed; if he opens it before the time is up, the soul flies away. See motif H24. | 22 | 12 |
| H30 | Wrong choice. | When meeting two women (together or one after the other), the hero must or may choose one. Usually, he chooses either the less beautiful or the dangerous one, bringing trouble or misfortune upon himself or upon people in general. | 22 | 27 |
| H36g In H36 family | False news: how many times to dine. | God sends a messenger to the people to tell them to eat infrequently (once a day, once every three days, etc.). The messenger says that one should eat often – at least two or three times a day. | 22 | 31 |
| H49c In H49 family | The Innocently Slain Falcon, Th B221.2.2; ATU 178C. | A tame bird (rarely: a domestic animal) shows visible aggression towards its owner (usually a falcon knocks a bowl out of the hands of a thirsty man). The man kills the bird (animal) and then discovers that they saved him from death. | 22 | 28 |
| H7g1 In H7 family | Death is more just and richer than God. | A man (usually looking for a godfather for his newborn son) rejects God (the saints) and the devil, but praises Death: it treats everyone without prejudice (or is richer than everyone else). | 22 | 26 |
| 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 |
| H6bb In H6 family | Lost objects. | A character is sent to deliver a certain object or substance to people, the possession of which is essential to them. The messenger loses these objects or brings others. Usually, this refers to the ability to be reborn after death. Traditions not related to the explanation of human mortality are marked with an asterisk*. | 23 | 30 |
| H20a In H20 family | The mistress of the fish loses it. | A woman or several women keep fish or water in some kind of container; a man releases all the fish into rivers or the sea, releases the water. See motif H20. | 24 | 9 |
| H34e In H34 family | Edible snow. | The snow was edible. | 24 | 25 |
| H35 | Decaying teeth. | Human teeth are made of fragile material. Usually, the motif explains the aetiology of toothache. | 24 | 29 |
| 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 |
| H7d In H7 family | Death and a bundle of firewood, ATU 845. | A man calls Death, and when it comes, asks it to help him lift a bundle of firewood or pull a cart with firewood. | 24 | 21 |
| H34b In H34 family | The river flows in both directions. | Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once. | 25 | 30 |
| H36hh In H36 family | The frog betrays the man. | The frog or toad is to blame for the fact that humans are mortal. | 25 | 32 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.