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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K65c3 In K65 family | Eve is ashamed of her large family. | A woman (alone or with her husband) hides some of her children from God because she is ashamed of having given birth to so many offspring. | 11 | 13 |
| K65c In K65 family | Eve's Unwashed Children, ATU 758. | A woman (rarely a man) hides some of her children (less often, all of them) or some of her domestic animals from God. According to God, the hidden children become either poor people or creatures of a non-human nature, and the hidden domestic animals become wild. | 47 | 75 |
| K5 | False chicks. | To lure the hero into a trap and send him far away, the enemy makes fake birds from worthless materials (bodily secretions, etc.). See motif K4. | 13 | 6 |
| K32k In K32 family | False wife – beetle or larva. | The false wife, replacing the real one – a foul-smelling beetle or larva. | 7 | 6 |
| K102a In K102 family | Father knew what he was doing. | A man orders the killing of a young man's sister, wife or mother. The young man does not allow such an order to be carried out, and then repents of this. | 20 | 24 |
| K28 | Father or uncle – enemy and rival. | The uncle on the mother's side or the father of the young hero (or grandfather, if he replaces the father, who is not mentioned) is his enemy and rival, giving him difficult tasks with the aim of destroying him. | 190 | 302 |
| 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 |
| K11a In K11 family | Feathers turn into birds and people. | Plucked feathers of a (huge) bird turn into actual birds (or their plumage) or humans emerge from them. | 35 | 41 |
| K23a In K23 family | Feathers – birds' weapons. | Birds use their feathers as arrows, or falling feathers cover the mouths of their victims. | 9 | 11 |
| K39 | Feeding the Simurgh bird, B322.1. | The character must feed a powerful creature by regularly throwing it pieces of meat. When the prepared meat runs out, he cuts off the last piece from his own flesh. See motif K38 (the bird carries the hero where he needs to go; on the way, he throws pieces of prepared meat into its beak; when the supplies run out, he gives the bird a piece of his own flesh). | 107 | 142 |
| K96 | Fifty Sons, ATU 303A. | Several (more than three) brothers marry or must marry in such a way that their wives are sisters. | 73 | 99 |
| 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 |
| K27f3 In K27 family | Fill the feather bed with feathers. | The character must quickly obtain enough feathers to fill a feather bed or pillow. | 4 | 7 |
| 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 |
| K120a4 In K120 family | Fill the vessel with tears. | The character must fill a vessel with tears (pour them on the floor). | 30 | 34 |
| 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 |
| K45a In K45 family | Fingers turn into aquatic animals. | A man sails away from a woman or girl in a boat or on a raft. When she tries to grab the edge of the boat (raft), he cuts off her fingers. The fingers turn into aquatic animals. | 9 | 14 |
| K38f6 In K38 family | Fire creature. | A creature consisting of fire is mentioned. | 26 | 30 |
| K38f5 In K38 family | Fire-breathing horse, B15.5.1. | Flames burst from the horse's mouth and/or nostrils, or the entire horse is engulfed in fire. | 25 | 35 |
| K38f4 In K38 family | Fire-breathing monster, B11.2.11, B19.1, B742.3, B742.4. | Flames burst from the mouth and/or nostrils of a monstrous character hostile to the hero; his breath is fire. | 79 | 124 |
| K63 | Fish babies and deer people. | A man comes to people who hunt humans or catch fish-people. For them, these are wild animals or fish. | 19 | 21 |
| K52c In K52 family | Flooding in the home. | Demonstrating his power, a shaman, sorcerer or other character with magical abilities causes the dwelling in which he and other people are located to begin to fill with water. Sometimes it is said that this water is an illusion and that those present also see animals (waterfowl, fish or marine mammals). | 23 | 31 |
| K56a6 In K56 family | Food asks her to taste it. | On the way to another world, people or objects ask a child (girl) to taste the food they offer or to do some work. The child (girl) does everything (rarely does not do) and therefore achieves the goal. | 41 | 58 |
| K88b In K88 family | Food in exchange for eyes. | The character suffers from thirst or hunger. His companion promises to share water or food with him (to make him rich) if he allows himself to be blinded. | 64 | 81 |
| 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 |
| K166 | Forty girls. | A group of girls forms a community or troop and acts independently of men. Cf. motif F39. | 19 | 16 |
| K32g1 In K32 family | Forty horses or forty knives? | The guilty party is offered a choice of items of utilitarian value (often forty, seven, three, etc. horses or the same number of knives). The person usually does not understand that these are methods of execution. | 27 | 38 |
| K25a1 In K25 family | Found clothing. | A magical wife leaves her earthly husband when she finds her clothes, which he has hidden (often feathers, if she is a bird woman), persuades him to give them back, makes new ones or receives them from her relatives. (The variant in which the wife leaves her husband because she is offended is not entirely alternative, but in most texts it does not fit with the motif of found clothing). | 106 | 212 |
| K134 | Found treasures. | A guest is planted with treasure in order to accuse him of theft. | 26 | 33 |
| K85c In K85 family | Four legs are faster than three. | A three-legged horse is strong and fast, but its four-legged brother is faster. | 12 | 11 |
| K33b In K33 family | Friends abandon a beautiful woman. | A girl goes with her friends to the forest, to the river; everyone returns home, but she is forced to stay or return. She escapes from a dangerous creature, becomes the wife of a supernatural character, a leader, etc., or dies, but is avenged. | 36 | 56 |
| K27u1 In K27 family | From conception to birth day. | Some people demand that the child be born the morning after conception or speak immediately after birth. | 16 | 18 |
| K61d In K61 family | From work became a beetle, ATU 501. | A young woman accidentally gives her fiancé, husband or mother-in-law the impression that she works a lot. To prevent the deception from being revealed, she or someone else makes others believe that women's work makes them ugly or turns them into animals. The husband forbids his wife to work. | 41 | 36 |
| K27l1 In K27 family | Frozen in ice. | Voluntarily subjecting himself to trials, the character allows himself to be frozen in ice and cannot free himself. | 12 | 22 |
| K27z In K27 family | Gambling for life and death. | A character gains power over another by winning a game of chance or an intellectual game (not a sporting competition). The motif includes all texts with motif K27z4. | 67 | 71 |
| K75a2 In K75 family | Gardener. | Appearing incognito to an authoritative figure, the hero works for him as a gardener. | 39 | 52 |
| K27f2 In K27 family | Get the same shoes. | A girl demands that her fiancé get her the same pair of shoes (or other items) as hers. These items either exist in a single copy, or it is not known what they look like. Having become invisible, the hero either steals the items (and the owner has to make new ones herself), or finds out what they look like. | 9 | 14 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K33c In K33 family | Girl found inside a foetus, (ATU 408). | A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg. | 57 | 95 |
| K38d1 In K38 family | Girl sacrificed to the dragon. | Fearing a monster living in the water or wishing to end a flood or drought, a girl is sacrificed or voluntarily hides in the waters. | 63 | 90 |
| K35a6 In K35 family | Glowing feather. | The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found. | 9 | 11 |
| K32e In K32 family | Gold, silver, wood. | A negative character, object or locus is contrasted with one or two positive ones, such as wood with gold and silver. | 13 | 14 |
| K2b In K2 family | Gorynya and Dubyna. | The occupations or names of the hero's companions are unusual and different for each one, but their specific abilities, which can be inferred from these names, are insignificant for the development of the plot. Cf. motif K66, "Heroes with different abilities". | 46 | 59 |
| 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 |
| K128 | Graze without loss. | A character orders the hero to graze animals (or birds) and promises to execute him (deprive him of his reward) if even one animal is lost. Cf. K128B (ATU 570). | 59 | 92 |
| 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 |
| K75a3 In K75 family | Groom. | Appearing incognito to an authoritative character, the hero works for him as a groom. | 27 | 33 |
| K80a4 In K80 family | Hair turns into grass, (ATU 780A). | The hair on a character's head turns into grass (thorns, bamboo, bushes). | 20 | 23 |
| K129a In K129 family | Half-living in the tomb. | A young woman (lying in a tomb) comes back to life, then appears dead again, but is ultimately freed from the spell. | 6 | 7 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.