Folklore Database · Browse
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.
K - Adventures: Acts of heroes
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| k84a In k84 family | Give to the first person who asks. | On his deathbed, a father instructs his son, without specifying any conditions, to give his sister (sisters) to whoever comes for her. | 25 | 42 |
| K99a In K99 family | Father will serve his son, ATU 517, (725). | A young man or woman (often after having a dream) declares that a great future awaits him or her (usually that his or her father, parents, brothers, or sisters will show him or her signs of respect). The young man or woman is expelled, but the prophecy comes true. | 42 | 42 |
| K102b In K102 family | Ride for the last time, B184.1.6. | In order to destroy the hero (heroine), the antagonist must first get rid of his beloved animal (usually a horse). When the animal is about to be slaughtered, the hero (heroine) mounts it, rides away and escapes. | 39 | 43 |
| K160 | Getting Satan's Hair, ATU 461. | The hero is given the task of bringing back the hair, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous character. He does this with the help of the character's wife or mother. | 34 | 43 |
| K32i In K32 family | Two nurses beside a sleeping man, ATU 894. | A girl finds the body of a young man who shows no signs of life and must sit next to him for a certain amount of time so that he comes back to life and takes her as his wife. Usually, she leaves at the last moment and an impostor becomes the wife of the revived man. | 41 | 43 |
| K38e1 In K38 family | The Copper Forest, (ATU 511). | Characters pass through a forest with metal trees of two or more types (copper, silver, etc.). | 32 | 43 |
| K47b In K47 family | The dog becomes handsome. | A woman marries a man who originally had the appearance of a dog. The birth of children from a dog is not essential to the plot. | 35 | 43 |
| K62a In K62 family | The Quarrel of the Mouse and the Bird, ATU 222B. | A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a bird quarrel after failing to divide their winter supplies. (This episode usually serves as the beginning of a story about a war between birds and animals). | 38 | 43 |
| K64b In K64 family | Sticky object. | The hero's opponent provokes him to touch an object that turns out to be sticky. The hero sticks to the object (see Miller 1890: 41). See motif K64. | 33 | 43 |
| K80a3 In K80 family | To the forest for berries. | Members of the same family (girls, young women or children) go to the forest to pick berries and kill (bewitch) the one who is the object of their envy. | 12 | 43 |
| K85e In K85 family | Sea horses. | Magical horses live in water. | 33 | 43 |
| K103b In K103 family | The spinning cow. | A cow (goat) miraculously spins or weaves: it chews tow, turning it into thread, orders the yarn to be wound onto its horns, put into its ear, etc. | 27 | 44 |
| K157a In K157 family | The tavern where they feed for free, ATU 425D, (ATU 304). | In order to find a missing husband (wife, saviour), the character regularly gathers random people to tell stories (usually keeping a shop, bathhouse, etc. for this purpose). From the conversations, it becomes clear that one of the visitors is the person they are looking for, or his story helps to find the missing person. | 43 | 44 |
| k33c6 In k33 family | Only one girl survived. | A young man receives several fruits (eggs, reeds). When he opens the first one, the girl who comes out of it disappears, either because the necessary provisions (usually drinking water) have not been prepared for her, or because the fruit has been cut incorrectly. Only the one who comes out of the last fruit (egg, reed) remains. Cf. motif k33c7. | 23 | 44 |
| K35a3 In K35 family | The master becomes a servant. | In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him. | 32 | 44 |
| K38a In K38 family | White and black rams, F67. | Upon arriving in the underworld, the hero sees white and black horses, rams, etc. The white ones will take him to the upper world, while the black ones will take him even lower. Usually, the hero accidentally touches the black one. Sometimes a third ram or horse is mentioned, red or grey. Or the hero grabs the left horn of the animal instead of the right, and as a result ends up not where he wants to be. | 39 | 44 |
| K38e3 In K38 family | The Diamond Kingdom. | Among three (less often two or four) loci or objects associated with materials of high but varying degrees of value, the highest belongs to precious stones (usually diamonds, but also glass and crystal). | 27 | 44 |
| K75a1 In K75 family | The younger brother-in-law's place is in the barn. | The ruler orders his youngest daughter (and her chosen husband) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her status. He does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch, as he seems, but a mighty warrior and a handsome man. | 42 | 44 |
| K92 | King Lear, ATU 923, 923B. | The father asks his children a question, the answer to which seems obvious (does his daughter love him, who is the eldest in the family, etc.). The youngest daughter (less often – son) gives an unexpected answer, the father drives her away (deprives her of her inheritance), and later becomes convinced of her intelligence and nobility. | 39 | 44 |
| K92b In K92 family | I love you like salt, ATU 923. | A daughter tells her father (rarely her brother) that she loves him like salt (or that salt is more important than him, etc.). He sends his daughter away (gets angry with his sister), but then realises she is right. | 49 | 44 |
| K101b In K101 family | Three Nights of Trials, (ATU 400). | A girl or young man is freed from a spell after the hero endures three nights of torment or fear inflicted by demons. The girl or young man themselves are not dangerous to the hero; they help him. | 22 | 45 |
| K107a3 In K107 family | Beauty and the Beast, ATU 425C. | When her father leaves, the daughter asks him to bring her a flower (leaf, etc.). The father picks it in the garden of an enchanted prince who has a monstrous appearance. The monster demands the daughter from her father and, thanks to the girl, regains his princely appearance. | 36 | 45 |
| K117a In K117 family | Making the silent speak. | A girl who is constantly silent is promised to the one who can make her speak; or a husband struggles to make his magical wife speak. | 44 | 45 |
| K163 | Aladdin's Lamp, ATU 561. | A sorcerer orders a young man to retrieve a magical object (often a lamp) from a hard-to-reach place. The young man finds the object (but refuses to give it up), and the sorcerer grants his wishes. | 63 | 45 |
| K27ss In K27 family | Overtake (an old) woman. | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. | 34 | 45 |
| K80c In K80 family | Ivico's cranes, ATU 960, 960A. | Before dying, the murderer's victim turns to birds (stars, animals, plants, etc.). Later, seeing these birds (the moon, the sun, this plant, etc.), the murderer recalls his deed aloud or otherwise gives himself away. Or the birds, being the only witnesses to the crime, lead the investigators to the murderers. | 49 | 45 |
| K90 | Black and red, (ATU 156B*). | A person sees two opposing monsters or animals (usually of contrasting colours: red and black, black and white) and helps one of them, or one of the combatants helps the person. (Cf. ATU 156B, 738). | 41 | 45 |
| K128b In K128 family | The Hare Shepherd, ATU 570. | The ruler will give his daughter to the one who can herd (gather, train) hares (squirrels, sheep, poultry, partridges) without loss. A poor young man accomplishes the task with the help of a magic device. To have an excuse to refuse, the ruler's family members try to buy one hare (a magic pipe, etc.) so that the suitor cannot fulfil his promise, but as a result they find themselves in a humiliating position. | 53 | 46 |
| K21 | Once in heaven, she gets married. | A girl ends up in the sky and gets married there. | 32 | 46 |
| K99a3 In K99 family | Happy dream: sun, moon and stars. | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). | 33 | 46 |
| K108 | The revived wife cheats on her husband, ATU 612. | Wife dies, husband revives her, she leaves him for another man, punished. | 62 | 47 |
| K131a In K131 family | The hero divides the carcass, ATU 159*. | Several animals (often a lion, a falcon, an ant) argue (usually over prey or habitat). The hero resolves their dispute, and they grant him the ability to take on their form (to possess their qualities). | 24 | 47 |
| K131d In K131 family | Seven-league boots. | Mention is made of footwear that allows the character to quickly cover enormous distances. | 34 | 47 |
| K18d In K18 family | At the pike's command, ATU 675. | A young man releases or saves a fish (frog, snake, supernatural creature), it grants his wishes, and he marries a princess. {References to ATU are not entirely reliable. In particular, Uther 2004 includes a Corsican variant (Massignon 1984, No. 66), in which the main part of the plot is missing. References to Balkan variants probably correspond to the definition of the plot, since it does exist among the Bulgarians}. | 55 | 47 |
| K27x2 In K27 family | Getting an egg from under a bird, ATU 1525H 1 . | The character is able to get an egg or chick (and put them back) from under a bird in a nest, or change the bird's feathers (pluck feathers), or get a fruit from an animal's womb so that the bird or animal does not notice. | 45 | 47 |
| K27zy In K27 family | The hero between two cannibals. | A young man (woman) lives in the house of a cannibal (witch). In order to destroy him or her, the cannibal orders that a certain object be brought from other cannibals (often from his or her mother or sister). The hero or heroine escapes (and destroys all the cannibals). | 29 | 47 |
| K33a8 In K33 family | The heroine is transformed into a dove. | A woman transformed into a dove by the machinations of a rival tries to establish contact with her children or husband. | 34 | 47 |
| K35c In K35 family | The Dev in the Well, ATU 677, 677*, 986. | The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly. | 36 | 47 |
| K38b3b In K38 family | The hero shelters the chicks. | A mighty bird (rarely – another creature) helps a person for sheltering (warming) its chicks (offspring, children). | 27 | 47 |
| K107c In K107 family | Knives on the Window (Finist the Bright Falcon), ATU 432. | A magical spouse who arrives in the form of a bird or appears in some other way meets a woman. Jealous sisters (stepmother, brother, etc.) wound him (usually by placing razors, glass shards, etc. in his path). The wounded young man disappears, and the woman goes in search of him. | 50 | 48 |
| K61c In K61 family | Find out the name, ATU 500. | A demon agrees to help (agrees not to harm) a person on condition that the person guesses his name. At the last moment, the person accidentally learns the demon's name, and the demon disappears or rewards the person. | 50 | 48 |
| K88a In K88 family | Blinded heroine, ATU 404. | The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). | 42 | 48 |
| K8e In K8 family | Penetrates inside through the anus. | The character penetrates inside the creature through the anus. | 54 | 48 |
| K102a5 In K102 family | Fill the vessel with tears. | A woman must fill one or two vessels with tears (less often with blood). Usually, after this, her punishment must end, or the punishment depends on which of the vessels contains more tears. | 35 | 49 |
| K27w In K27 family | The monster kills the person giving the tasks. | The task giver demands that a dangerous creature be brought to him or that something belonging to a monster or deity be brought to him. The hero fulfils the task, but the beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task giver. See motif K27. | 53 | 49 |
| K29b In K29 family | Safe in the pit, K959,6. | The hero is asked to climb (or is thrown) into a pit, which is immediately filled with earth or into which a pole or stones are lowered, K959,6 (Posthole murder). The hero proves his magical abilities by climbing out of the pit alive. | 38 | 49 |
| K51 | The deceived wife. | The husband feigns death, disappears or leaves home for a long time. The wife learns that he has married another woman, finds and, as a rule, kills her husband and/or rival, who often turns out to be a creature of non-human nature. | 34 | 49 |
| K54 | Two giants. | When encountering a giant or a snake, a person is afraid of it, but it becomes his friend and asks for help when he is fighting another giant or snake. The person fulfils the request. | 37 | 49 |
| K67d In K67 family | Escape from the worker, ATU 1132. | The worker (rarely – the husband) annoys the master (wife) so much that he or she decides to run away, taking his or her property with him or her. The worker hides in a sack (chest) with his or her property and ends up back where he or she started. | 54 | 49 |
| K153 | Grateful animals and an evil man, ATU 160. | A man does a favour for several (potentially dangerous) animals and another man. The grateful animals help him, but the man betrays and harms him. | 65 | 50 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.