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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.
I - Supernatural objects and creatures
| Ref ▲ | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I50c In I50 family | Sharabha (animal with legs on its back). | Describes a hoofed animal with a second set of legs on its back that runs either normally or upside down. This makes it tireless. | 4 | 3 |
| I51a In I51 family | Four-legged animals – the pillars of the earth. | The earth is supported by or has a large mammal at its centre. See motif I8B. | 80 | 125 |
| I51b In I51 family | Earth – animal. | The earth or sky is perceived as a large mammal or created from parts of its body. | 31 | 41 |
| I52 | Fish – the support of the earth. | The world rests on a fish or fish-like creature, or the earth itself is such a creature or originated from a fish. See motif I8B. | 93 | 152 |
| I53 | An insect annoys the support of the earth. | An insect or other small creature bothers the animal that supports the earth, so the animal moves and the earth shakes (or, conversely, the animal is afraid to move because of the insect). | 22 | 24 |
| I54 | Water creature filled with fish. | Inside a snake or other aquatic creature are aquatic animals or live fish; an aquatic monster gives birth to fish, is the master of fish; turns into many fish. | 18 | 31 |
| I55 | Stars – holes. | Stars – holes in the sky; or holes in the canopy, in the roof of a dwelling, appear to be stars. | 65 | 75 |
| I55a In I55 family | Stars – lakes. | Stars – lakes on one of the heavenly tiers. | 5 | 7 |
| I55b In I55 family | The Sun Deer. | The hero chases a deer or elk carrying the sun. | 2 | 3 |
| I56 | Spirits cannot see the living. | Moving between worlds, the same living person is visible to some and invisible to others. | 42 | 63 |
| I56a In I56 family | Man is an evil spirit in the world of spirits. | When a person who has entered another world touches the local inhabitants, they become ill or die. | 29 | 42 |
| I57 | Thunder pursues the enemy. | Thunder's enemies are animals, reptiles, and spirits that live in burrows. They usually hide from him in various objects and items, and Thunder (a god, angel, etc.) strikes his enemies or these objects with lightning. | 88 | 133 |
| I58 | The Milky Way – the path of birds. | The Milky Way is called the bird path and is associated with migratory birds. | 51 | 84 |
| I59 | The Milky Way – scattered straw. | The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas. | 46 | 95 |
| I59a In I59 family | Thief in the sky. | Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.). | 47 | 107 |
| I59b1 In I59 family | The Milky Way – the road to a distant city. | The Milky Way – the road to a distant city, usually with religious significance (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.). | 29 | 52 |
| I59b2 In I59 family | The Milky Way – St. James' Way. | The Milky Way – St. James' Way. | 15 | 19 |
| I59b3 In I59 family | The Milky Way – the road of salt traders. | The Milky Way – the road of salt traders, "Chumak Way". | 15 | 10 |
| I59b4 In I59 family | The Milky Way – snow, hoarfrost. | The Milky Way is associated with snow, hoarfrost, and cold. | 10 | 10 |
| I60 | The Milky Way – the heavenly seam. | The Milky Way - a seam, a crack between the two halves of the sky. | 13 | 18 |
| I60a In I60 family | Milky Way – a stripe on the belly. | The Milky Way – a stripe associated with a longitudinal stripe on an animal's body. | 4 | 4 |
| I61 | Milk on the Milky Way, A778.5. | The Milky Way is a trail of spilled milk. | 23 | 34 |
| I61a In I61 family | The Milky Way – belt. | The Milky Way – the heavenly belt. | 14 | 11 |
| I62 | Milky Way - river, A778.3. | The Milky Way is a heavenly river, a body of water, a chain of creatures floating in the water. | 110 | 181 |
| I63 | The Milky Way – the tapir's path. | The Milky Way is the tapir's trail; the tapir can be seen on the Milky Way. | 14 | 20 |
| I64 | Animal tracks on the Milky Way. | The Milky Way – traces of animals that walked or ran. | 45 | 61 |
| I64a In I64 family | Race on the Milky Way. | Two different hoofed animals race across the sky. Usually, the Milky Way is the dusty trail they leave behind. | 11 | 13 |
| I65 | Souls of the dead on the Milky Way. | The Milky Way is a path to another world, followed by the souls of the dead and/or shamans, or it is the path of a funeral procession. | 104 | 122 |
| I66 | Ashes on the Milky Way. | The Milky Way is ash or smouldering embers. | 20 | 30 |
| I67 | Emu and nandu in the Milky Way. | The giant figure of an emu (in Australia) or a rhea (in South America) is visible in the Milky Way. | 12 | 31 |
| I68 | Opening of the sky. | At a certain moment, a crack or window opens in the sky (rain pours through it, it is possible to see what is happening in heaven, perhaps communication with the celestials). | 49 | 81 |
| I68a In I68 family | The night of magical water. | Once a year, water briefly acquires unusual properties. | 12 | 14 |
| I68b In I68 family | The night of fulfilled wishes. | On a certain night of the year, any wish that is expressed or conceived will come true. Cf. motif M13. | 39 | 67 |
| I69 | Heavenly excrement. | Luminous celestial objects or atmospheric phenomena are bodily secretions of celestial beings. | 55 | 38 |
| I70 | Reptile with trees on its back. | Trees or reeds grow on the back or head of a reptile. | 6 | 9 |
| I71 | Stars – roots. | Stars – roots of plants growing in the upper world. | 17 | 23 |
| I72 | Stars – people. | Stars – anthropomorphic beings. See motif K19 (marriage to a star). Cases where the Star is a unique object, e.g. Venus, rather than one of many Star-people, are not included. | 239 | 278 |
| I72a In I72 family | Stars – children of the moon, A764.1.3. | Stars – children of the moon and/or sun. | 66 | 79 |
| I73 | Stars – sparks. | Stars (rarely suns and moons) – sparks, hot coals. | 17 | 21 |
| I74 | Stars – stones. | Stars – (bright) stones, sequins, beads. | 31 | 34 |
| I74a In I74 family | Stars – fireflies. | Stars – fireflies. | 9 | 9 |
| I75 | Previous worlds. | Before the emergence of the present world or present humans, there were others (at least two worlds or races). | 31 | 68 |
| I76a In I76 family | The snake becomes a dragon. | After a certain period of time, a snake or fish transforms into another creature, usually a dragon. | 35 | 50 |
| I76b In I76 family | A mouse becomes a bat. | After a certain amount of time or after performing certain actions, an ordinary mouse turns into a bat. | 13 | 13 |
| I77 | The lame thunderer. | A powerful character associated with thunderstorms and rain, lame. | 14 | 13 |
| I78 | Square Earth. | The earth is thought of as rectangular (usually square). | 60 | 71 |
| I79 | Kirtimukha. | The monster is beheaded or deprived of its body. Its head is depicted on temples and vessels (narrative texts and/or iconography). | 1 | 1 |
| I79A In I79 family | Kirtimukha/Sisiutl. | The creature has a head or bulge in the middle of its body and snake-like protrusions extending on both sides (from the head, cheeks, mouth) or across the head in profile symmetrically at both ends. In the art of the Nanai, Ulch, Orochi, Udegei, Nivkh, and Ainu peoples (less obviously, the Negidal and Uilto peoples), it is curvilinear. The Orochi, Udegei, and Nivkh peoples draw from a well, then thin out. The goat finds him asleep, the kids jump out, the goat puts a vmnament with central symmetry based on a similar image. | 31 | 72 |
| I80 | The thunderbolt's apprentice. | A character who finds himself in the locus of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena violates certain prohibitions or instructions, thereby causing excessively strong thunderstorms, rain, snowfall or wind. | 36 | 51 |
| I80a In I80 family | Junior Thunder. | Upon meeting the Thunders, a person becomes one of them. | 12 | 14 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.