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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K77a In K77 family | Verlioka, ATU 210. | Various objects and animals (rarely: only animals, but including those that are safe in reality) defeat a strong enemy (usually joining the hero who is going to take revenge on the strong enemy for an insult and hiding in the house where the enemy is supposed to appear), attacking him in turn; he dies or flees. Either someone or the attacked character himself places objects in his dwelling that then harm that character. | 99 | 135 |
| K1h In K1 family | Walled up in a hollow. | The character finds himself inside a tree trunk or inside a rock; someone frees him by making a hole from the outside. | 36 | 58 |
| K62 | War of animals, Th B260-B263. | Animals, birds, etc. fight or play with each other, divided into two hostile camps. The stakes are high, often life itself. {Data incomplete}. ATU 222. B261, war between birds and animals. ATU 222A. B261.1, the bat joins first one side, then the other. K2323.1, the raised tail of a fox serves as a signal. | 55 | 69 |
| K56a4c In K56 family | Wash black until white. | A person is tasked with washing something black until it is white or something white until it is black (yarn, clothing, a board, etc.). | 16 | 17 |
| K56a2b In K56 family | Wash lizards and beetles. | A supernatural character asks a girl to redeem (feed) his (her) children. These are snakes, beetles or wild animals. The girl does everything she is asked and is rewarded. | 14 | 20 |
| K56a2a In K56 family | Washing in red water. | A girl becomes beautiful or ugly after washing herself with water of a certain colour. | 15 | 14 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K77b2 In K77 family | Weapons of the goat. | The goat (goat, ram, etc.) responds to the predator's questions in the sense that parts of its body are weapons and other objects designed to kill the questioner, or that the goat is actually armed. | 26 | 39 |
| K107a In K107 family | Wear out iron shoes, Q502.2. | Before reaching their goal, the character must wear out iron shoes or an iron staff. | 51 | 103 |
| K30b In K30 family | Went out for a walk and disappeared. | A woman or girl is forbidden to go outside. As soon as she does, a flying creature kidnaps her. | 13 | 17 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K83a In K83 family | Where the father did not go. | To fulfil the task, the character's sons must travel to a place where he has never been (or once was). | 15 | 19 |
| K89a In K89 family | Where to leave the sister? | Having escaped danger, the girl or boy goes with their sister or brother. The sister or brother is crippled, rejects a number of places where they are to be left, and remains in the last place offered. See motif K89. | 12 | 14 |
| K65f In K65 family | Which eye do you see with? (ATU 476**) | Once in the locus of demons, a person sees them in their true form. Upon returning, the person sees the demon again, which ordinary people are incapable of doing. The demon blinds him. | 30 | 42 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K130 | Who is the sweetest in the world? | A woman (rarely: a man) asks who is the most beautiful of all and receives the answer that she (he) is. One day she (he) is told that someone else is more beautiful. | 46 | 56 |
| K27z9 In K27 family | Why the fish smiled (ATU 875D). | (Dried) fish (water, satyr, etc.) laughs, smiles or spits. The reason is that there is a man dressed as a woman in the house. | 13 | 18 |
| K109 | Wife – puppy or object. | The hero is advised to ask supernatural characters for something insignificant (a puppy, a cup) in return for his service. What he receives turns out to be the daughter of a deity. Another character unsuccessfully tries to take the hero's wife away from him. | 6 | 7 |
| K38f7 In K38 family | Wild animals serve the hero. | The character acquires wild animals (at least two different species) that serve him like dogs. | 35 | 56 |
| K156 | Will the flowers under the pillow wilt? | A girl pretends to be a man. To determine who it really is, flowers are placed under the pillow or mattress. If a man is sleeping, they will remain fresh, but if a woman is sleeping, they will wilt by morning (or if a woman is sleeping, the milk left under the bed will sour). | 11 | 10 |
| K77b1 In K77 family | Wolf's Head, ATU 125. | When they see predators, domestic animals consciously or accidentally behave in such a way that the predators flee in fear. | 59 | 65 |
| K19e In K19 family | Wolverine under a tree. | Returning from the sky to earth, a woman or two sisters encounter a male wolverine who tries to capture them. Usually, the women who have descended first find themselves in a tree. Some animals cannot or will not help them descend to the ground. The wolverine descends to take the sisters as wives; they run away from him. See motif K19B. | 14 | 11 |
| K47a In K47 family | Woman and dog: the origin of humans. | A woman mates with a dog. Her children grow up to be humans and usually become the ancestors of certain ethnic groups. | 98 | 165 |
| 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 |
| K8b In K8 family | Woman – the soul of the whale. | A raven finds itself in the belly of a whale; the woman inside asks it not to touch a certain organ of the whale (usually the heart) or a burning lamp. The raven breaks the prohibition, the woman disappears, and the whale dies. | 8 | 9 |
| K56f2 In K56 family | Woman, two men, five eggs, ATU 1663. | In order to divide a certain number (often five) of eggs equally among people of different sexes, a cunning woman takes into account that each of the men already has two eggs. | 9 | 7 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K19f In K19 family | Working stars. | A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B. | 5 | 9 |
| K10c In K10 family | Wrapped in entrails. | The hero (twins) is weighed down with the blood-filled intestines of an animal. A bird pierces them with its claw, blood flows, the bird thinks its prey is dead, and brings the man to its nest. He kills the adult bird and either kills or transforms the chicks. Cf. motif M91A. | 11 | 20 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.