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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.
J - Avenger heroes
| Ref ▲ | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J62b In J62 family | Those transformed into animals are disenchanted. | The character turns those who come to him into animals. Thanks to the hero, they are disenchanted. | 9 | 10 |
| J62b1 In J62 family | The mistress of the island turns men into animals. | A sorceress living on an island turns men into animals. | 4 | 4 |
| J62c In J62 family | A sister asks her brother to obtain the impossible. | In order to destroy the young man, the antagonist arouses in his sister (rarely: in him himself) a desire to possess wonderful objects, the attempt to obtain which is deadly dangerous. The young man sets off to obtain the objects. | 57 | 87 |
| J63 | The son saves, the daughter betrays. | Enemies arrive and tie up the husband. The wife agrees to live with the new man, while the former lies bound. One character (usually the daughter) refuses to free him, while another (usually the son) frees him. The husband kills the enemies and usually brutally executes (the daughter and) his wife. | 16 | 19 |
| J64 | Into the sky on a pillar of smoke. | Without touching the fire or burning, the character rises into the sky or crosses the river on clouds of smoke. | 37 | 46 |
| J65 | The children of the Sun destroy their enemies. | After the attack by enemies, a woman and her daughter remain. She rejects the marriage proposals of animal suitors and agrees to give her daughter to the heavenly deity (the Sun). The children from this marriage take revenge on their enemies. | 6 | 7 |
| J66 | The straps are bitten through. | The character cuts or bites through bowstrings and other straps in advance, punctures boats, preventing opponents from fighting or pursuing him. | 63 | 82 |
| J67 | Stones on the eyes. | At night, the character places light-coloured stones or shells over his eyes. Thinking that the character's eyes are open, the antagonist either does not dare to attack him or takes the stones away instead of gouging out his eyes. | 9 | 11 |
| J68 | First old, then fresh droppings on the trail. | Characters who have been chasing an animal for a long time see increasingly fresh droppings on the trail and finally catch up with their prey (usually the droppings correspond to how long they have been lying there); or the pursuers see areas where less time has passed since sowing. | 7 | 12 |
| J69 | Murders in jest and in earnest. | A person is killed (with a cold weapon, dead water) and then revived. Another person asks for the same thing to be done to him, but is not revived. | 11 | 13 |
| jia | The myth of the avengers with a full plot. | The myth of the avengers with a full plot. | 0 | 0 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.