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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K160a In K160 family | The demon's answers to his wife's questions, ATU 461. | A woman living in the house of a supernatural character hides a man who has come to her and asks the character questions, the answers to which the man must find out. | 72 | 93 |
| K161 | The Released Dragon, (ATU 302C*). | A character who has deprived a dragon (demon, thunder) of its freedom orders others not to unlock the dungeon (not to enter a certain room, not to give the chained creature anything to drink, etc.). The prohibition is violated, the chained creature is freed, which leads to disaster. Cf. motif K100f1. | 42 | 58 |
| K162 | The villain enters the bedroom (ATU 956B). | The antagonist (robber, sorcerer, witch) sneaks into the house of a girl or young woman, hiding inside a statue, in a wardrobe, etc., and/or putting her husband (guard, etc.) to sleep, but is destroyed at the last moment. | 16 | 20 |
| 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 |
| K164 | A wife is not a best friend, ATU 921B. | The person himself or someone else creates a situation in which he becomes convinced that his wife is not his best friend. Usually, the treacherous wife is contrasted with a loyal dog. | 20 | 17 |
| K165 | Seeking to experience fear, ATU 326. | The young man has never experienced fear and wants to know what it is like. Robbers and evil spirits do not frighten him. | 39 | 33 |
| K166 | Forty girls. | A group of girls forms a community or troop and acts independently of men. Cf. motif F39. | 19 | 16 |
| K167 | The Child King. | A boy plays, pretending to be a king and demonstrating wisdom and/or magical abilities. | 12 | 8 |
| K167a In K167 family | The Tsarevich and the Blacksmith's Son, ATU 920. | The queen hates the son she is pregnant with and replaces him with the son (rarely – daughter) of a commoner, who raises the prince. The prince shows wisdom and becomes king. | 21 | 21 |
| K167b In K167 family | What is a lamb in the womb of a sheep? | A boy is able to determine the sex and colour of a young animal in the womb. | 3 | 3 |
| K168 | Imaginary life in an instant, ATU 664*, 681. | A person experiences an eventful long period of life. Everything turns out to be an illusion, and he finds himself back in the same place and at the same moment in time from which the story began. | 30 | 37 |
| K168a In K168 family | Food turns into severed body parts, ATU 664*. | A person thinks that they are holding something intended for food (a calf's head, a melon, bread, etc.), but these objects turn into human heads or limbs. Cf. motif K80c1. | 15 | 12 |
| K168b In K168 family | The bewildered man became a bear. | A person makes another person believe that he has turned into a bear (wolf), found himself in the forest, etc. When he wakes up, the bewitched person finds himself where he was before. | 10 | 9 |
| K169 | Pregnant doe. | The hunter spares the hunted animal, noticing that it is a pregnant female and remembering his own pregnant wife. | 6 | 5 |
| K170 | Water without frogs, land without flies. | The character sets off in search of a place where there are no ordinary creatures that live everywhere (water without frogs, air without flies). | 4 | 6 |
| K171 | The weaver creates an army. | The heroes fight, but the number of enemies does not decrease, because someone is constantly weaving (forging) new warriors. | 12 | 13 |
| K172 | The deaf bride without arms and legs. | A man describes his daughter to a potential groom as ugly and crippled. The groom agrees to the marriage, and the bride turns out to be beautiful. | 5 | 5 |
| K173 | It is better to suffer when young (Placidas), ATU 938. | A powerful and wealthy man loses everything, is separated from his wife and children, and they are separated from each other. The man regains his power and wealth, and the family is reunited. | 54 | 36 |
| K174 | The thrown ring. | To signal their arrival, a person places, or more often discreetly throws, a ring or other small item of personal jewellery or toiletries into the jug of a maid or servant. Upon discovering it, the other person understands that the first is nearby. | 48 | 61 |
| K175 | The wind blew away the flour, ATU 759C. | A man was carrying flour, but the wind blew it away. The man complains to an authoritative figure and usually receives compensation. Cf. motif M57d3 ("The Wind-Giver"). | 20 | 24 |
| K176 | Man in search of a woman, ATU 400. | A man sets out on a journey to find or bring back a bride or wife. | 322 | 613 |
| K176a In K176 family | The wind dries the laundry. | The hero searches for his magical wife who has left him. It turns out that one of the winds is flying to her to perform a certain task. The hero follows him. | 7 | 8 |
| K177 | The wandering heroine. | A girl or woman sets off on a journey to find or return her fiancé or husband, or flees from danger, and her journey ends in a successful marriage. | 236 | 398 |
| K178 | The enchanted husband drives away and finds his wife again, ATU 425E, 425L. | A girl descends into the underworld to her magical husband, and when she breaks the ban, he drives her away (sends her away with a task). She comes to live with other people, she has a child from her magical husband. Her husband finds her, the spouses are reunited, the spell is broken. {Motif in the work} | 17 | 14 |
| 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 |
| K180 | The time of the wolf and the time of the fox. | The ruler demands an explanation of his dream. The snake tells the man that this dream signifies the coming of a time when people tend to behave in a certain way. This happens several times. Each time, the man's behaviour towards the snake confirms her words. | 4 | 5 |
| K181 | The horse from the dungeon. | The hero finds a suitable horse in the dungeon (in the basement, in an empty castle, in deep mud, etc.), where it has stood for many years. | 19 | 32 |
| K181a In K181 family | Placing a hand on a horse's back. | When a person puts their hand on a horse's back, it bends over and falls. This is a sign of heroic strength. | 4 | 6 |
| K182 | The deceived protector. | A supernatural defender comes to the rescue upon hearing the alarm, but stops doing so after the alarm has been raised in vain. | 5 | 13 |
| K182a In K182 family | The sleeping defender. | A mighty warrior residing in a cave (or crypt, etc.) will eventually emerge into the light (to assist his people), or he could emerge but chooses not to. | 14 | 20 |
| K183 | Which fish swallowed it? | The character cuts open the bellies of aquatic creatures (birds of prey) or looks into their throats to find the swallowed person or part of their body. | 16 | 15 |
| K184 | When the forest comes to life. | The character links the onset of an event that is impossible, in his view, with the time when the trees of the forest will start moving, as if they were people. | 0 | 0 |
| k185 | Father fights son. | Not recognising his son, the father fights him and kills him. {In this formulation, the motif is rare, and in more general ones it has no clear boundaries}. | 14 | 13 |
| K561 | The wise carving of the fowl | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again. | 0 | 0 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.