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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.
K - Adventures: Acts of heroes
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K51b In K51 family | Smiles on the faces of the dead. | The bodies of the slain are left in such a position that it seems as if they are rejoicing – smiling, laughing, dancing. | 14 | 24 |
| K56a5d In K56 family | Conversation with Moroz. | A person responds kindly to a question from a character embodying cold, praises him, and is rewarded. Another expresses dissatisfaction and is punished. | 10 | 24 |
| K58a In K58 family | Water in exchange for love. | The character brings water for irrigation or a fish river to the place where the girl agrees to meet him, and does not bring water if she refuses. (The parallel between the myths of Peru and Oregon was first noted in Lehmann-Nitsche 1935a; 1936). | 14 | 24 |
| K73a6 In K73 family | A child turns into a tree. | Malicious women kill (throw away) her wonderful children. Trees (flowers) grow from their remains, later reincarnating into humans. | 24 | 24 |
| K78a In K78 family | Swallows and heals. | A demonic character swallows cripples and regurgitates them healthy and beautiful. | 16 | 24 |
| K89b In K89 family | The brother left on the tree. | At the beginning of the story, the sister parts with her brothers (or one brother), who die, remain on trees, on a hill, ascend to the sky, etc. Usually, after a successful marriage, the sister meets her brothers again, who have acquired superhuman nature. | 14 | 24 |
| K92C In K92 family | The wife weaves, the husband sells. | A princess or sorceress turns out to be the wife of a poor man. She weaves or embroiders a scarf (or other item) and sends her husband to sell it. This marks the beginning of their path to success. | 24 | 24 |
| K102c In K102 family | Having changed his appearance, the hero recovers the magical object (ATU 318). | The enemy seizes the object that makes the hero invulnerable and kills him. The hero is revived. Changing his appearance, he provokes the enemy to put the magical object on the ground, seizes it again and kills the enemy. | 20 | 25 |
| K119e In K119 family | The Miller: A Success Story. | The poor young man who was helped by an animal assistant, who presented him to the king as a rich man, is a miller or a miller's son. | 20 | 25 |
| K136c In K136 family | Sometimes alive, sometimes dead. | Upon leaving, the demon temporarily kills or puts the girl to sleep, and upon returning, revives her. | 19 | 25 |
| K179 | As much gold as the bride weighs. | For an object (usually a girl), as much (or more) gold (silver) is given or promised as it weighs, or a pile of valuables as tall as the person being bought. | 18 | 25 |
| K1c In K1 family | He who comes to look at the bones perishes himself. | A man is abandoned on an island but survives. After some time, the person who abandoned him comes to look at his bones. The abandoned man sails away in his boat, leaving him to die. | 19 | 25 |
| K31 | Wooden seal. | The character makes a marine mammal or fish out of wood. It kills his enemies or drags them out to the open sea. | 19 | 25 |
| K33a1a In K33 family | Heroine in the belly of a whale. | A woman thrown into the water finds herself in the belly of a fish (whale), but is then rescued. | 16 | 25 |
| K33a4 In K33 family | Heroine transformed into a forest animal (ATU 409). | A woman, transformed into a medium-sized forest animal (lynx, wolf, vixen) by the machinations of a rival, tries to establish contact with her children or husband. | 18 | 25 |
| K50 | An imaginary wife cuts off the head of an enemy. | A man approaches the enemy disguised as a woman and kills him at night (usually cutting off his head and taking it with him). | 23 | 25 |
| K56a4a In K56 family | While the demon brings clothes, ATU 480A. | Left alone with the demon in the bathhouse (mill, etc.), the girl demands that he bring her new clothes, jewellery, etc., and while the demon is fetching them, morning comes. | 19 | 25 |
| K56c In K56 family | The Golden Axe, ATU 729. | A man loses his axe. A spirit or chief offers him a golden one, but the man says that the axe is not his and for this he receives axes of gold and silver as a reward. Another man deliberately loses his ordinary axe, seeking to obtain a golden one, but suffers a fiasco. | 39 | 25 |
| K60c In K60 family | Stropiva with the king, patient with the groom. | The stubborn wife of a worthy man goes on a date with a demon or a servant. He beats her, but she patiently endures her lover's beatings. | 21 | 25 |
| K70 | Two daughters-in-law: a girl and a frog. | One man marries a girl, another (usually the brother of the first) marries a frog or a toad, or the girl and the frog are the wives of one man. Usually, the wives are given certain tests, and the girl is recognised as a worthy wife, while the frog is recognised as worthless. | 23 | 25 |
| K9 | The wife of a deity is thrown down from heaven. | The heavenly leader (deity), accusing or suspecting a woman of infidelity, relations with an animal, incest, or a desire to rule over him, throws her down. She becomes the mistress of the lower or middle world or part of it, or the mother of the master of the lower world, and gives birth to humans. Cf. motif J18. | 17 | 25 |
| K10a In K10 family | Battle with a bird: hiding. | Heroes kill a dangerous bird; during or before the battle, they hide in a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, sack, well) or cover themselves with an object that protects the body. | 17 | 26 |
| K10i In K10 family | The tree that opened up. | The tree opens its trunk and hides the hero fleeing from a man-eating bird. The monster that flies in after him is held tightly by the tree, which squeezes its trunk again. | 8 | 26 |
| K124 | It's not a miracle! | An animal killed by a hunter runs away. The animal itself or someone else explains that this is not a miracle (or that it is not a tragedy), but that the real miracle (tragedy) happened somewhere else. A story about what happened follows. | 11 | 26 |
| K155 | The prince grew up in seclusion. | A person (usually a king) raises a son (daughter) in isolation. One day (usually by chance), the young man (woman) sees the outside world and leaves his (her) confinement. | 20 | 26 |
| K25a6 In K25 family | The magical wife does not forgive infidelity. | A woman from another world agrees to live with a man in his earthly world, but leaves him when she learns that he has broken a taboo (often his infidelity). Cf. motif F94 (the hero betrays his magical wife in her world); motif K12B (the hero visits his world alone, contrary to the warning of his magical wife). | 23 | 26 |
| K56a4b In K56 family | The wind carries away the yarn. | A girl is told to clean the yarn, or to spin and weave. The wind blows the yarn (cloth, spindle) away, the girl goes in search of it, and comes across a character who rewards her. | 19 | 26 |
| K56a7 In K56 family | Greenery in winter. | In winter, a girl (rarely a boy) is sent to bring something that is normally only available in summer. She brings it. | 24 | 26 |
| K56e1 In K56 family | Song mentioning the days of the week. | A man sees dwarves (spirits, witches) having fun. Their song mentions the names of the days of the week. The man sings along, naming the days that the dwarves like. He is rewarded. (Usually, someone else tries to get the same reward, but names the wrong days of the week and is punished). | 17 | 26 |
| K57d In K57 family | Tight shoe, cut-off toes. | The prince marries the girl who fits the shoe. The girl cuts off her toes or heel so that the shoe will fit. | 24 | 26 |
| K12a In K12 family | The stretched bow. | An unrecognised hero arrives at a place where his bride or wife is to be given to another man or turned into a servant. Contrary to expectations, he manages to draw a tight bow (raise a spear), with which he kills his rivals. | 26 | 27 |
| K21a In K21 family | Woman returns from heaven. | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. | 19 | 27 |
| K27x3a In K27 family | Recognise by the scarf. | When a husband sets off on a difficult mission, his magical wife gives him her towel or scarf, instructing him to use only those items (usually so that her relatives will recognise him as their son-in-law). | 24 | 27 |
| K40 | One will be eaten today, another tomorrow. | Two (rarely more) characters consider themselves doomed to death, but the one whose death will come later rejoices, while the one whose death will come earlier grieves. Cf. motif N30. | 20 | 27 |
| k56a8d In k56 family | Eaten by a boa constrictor. | A girl agrees to become the wife of a snake, which turns into a handsome man. Another girl (or her mother or father) brings the snake to her or offers it to become her husband, but it does not turn into a man and kills her. | 18 | 27 |
| K73b4 In K73 family | Fill the bag with truth. | A person is asked to fill a bag (cauldron) with truth (lies, fairy tales). He fulfils the request by telling a revealing story. | 22 | 27 |
| K35c3 In K35 family | The ship stopped. | For reasons that are not immediately clear, the ship stops in the middle of the sea (rarely: a horse stops in the middle of the road). | 23 | 28 |
| K66b In K66 family | Princesses given to companions. | Travelling from one place to another, the hero leaves one of his companions in each place (usually marrying them to the princesses he has received as a reward), and continues on his way. When he gets into trouble, his companions come to his aid. | 20 | 28 |
| K73c In K73 family | The girl in the bird's nest, (ATU 705A, 709A). | A girl finds herself in a bird's nest (usually the bird carries the baby girl away). The bird takes care of the girl, who grows up to be a beauty. | 27 | 28 |
| K85d In K85 family | A horse whose skin cannot be bitten through. | Covered with skins (coated with resin and sprinkled with sand, etc.), the mighty horse becomes invulnerable to the bites of other horses. | 19 | 28 |
| K93b4 In K93 family | A woman, a mare, and a dog give birth to boys. | When a woman gives birth to a son, at the same time a mare (dog, and/or other domestic animals) give birth to a boy. These boys grow up together and then set off on a journey. | 14 | 28 |
| K127a In K127 family | The silent heroine. | The heroine must remain silent for a long time and therefore cannot respond to the accusations. They want to execute her, but at that moment the restrictions expire and she is saved. | 19 | 29 |
| K27g5 In K27 family | Wooden axe. | A person tries or must try to chop or dig with a wooden (lead, felt) tool instead of a steel one. Cf. motif L84. | 18 | 29 |
| K27yy1 In K27 family | Obtain the feather of a dangerous bird. | The hero brings the feather (feathers) of a dangerous bird. | 30 | 29 |
| K142 | Burying one dead man three times, ATU 1536B. | After killing several people, a man asks a gravedigger to bury the dead and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone, but believes that there is only one dead man. | 50 | 30 |
| K144 | Predicted death by an animal, ATU 934A, 934B. | When the animal, object, or person that was supposed to cause the character's death has already died or is far away, the character's remains or images become the cause of death. | 26 | 30 |
| K150 | The horse eats coals. | A magical horse (rarely: dog) eats (hot) coals, nails, etc., or attempts are made to feed these to the horse. | 18 | 30 |
| K155b In K155 family | A girl's hair serves as a rope to climb up (ATU 310). | A girl lets down her hair, which another character uses to climb up to her. | 24 | 30 |
| K25a4 In K25 family | Escape from the siren, ATU 316. | A man (rarely a woman) finds himself in the power of an aquatic-chthonic creature (usually a siren, fish, sea monster, sometimes a sorcerer). The captive is lifted above the water (above the ground; usually after the antagonist lifts him) several times. After that, the captive escapes (most often by flying away as a bird). | 26 | 30 |
| K27m In K27 family | Obtain an animal of unusual colour. | Task: to kill and bring an animal of a certain (often unusual) colour or shape. See motif K27. | 36 | 30 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.