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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K38b3a In K38 family | The hero feeds the chicks. | A mighty bird helps a man for feeding its chicks. | 14 | 15 |
| K47d In K47 family | The dog fulfils the condition of marriage. | A girl gives herself to a dog because it fulfils the condition of marriage set by her or her father for her future husband. See motif K47A. | 14 | 7 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K56a4e In K56 family | The stepmother's daughter burned to death. | After meeting a supernatural character, a kind person receives valuables, while a greedy person burns to death upon returning home. | 14 | 17 |
| K56a5c In K56 family | Conversation with the months. | A man who kindly answers the questions of characters representing the weather in certain months of the year is rewarded. Another man scolds them and is punished. | 14 | 16 |
| K58 | Canal builder. | To win the hand of his beloved, the character builds a canal or aqueduct or digs a well. Usually, the woman does not end up marrying the person who completed the work, and either she herself or the suitor perishes. | 14 | 36 |
| 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 |
| K61e In K61 family | The one who laughs rewards. | Seeing an absurd situation, a powerful (supernatural) character laughs and is thereby usually cured of his ailment. For this, the people involved in the situation are rewarded and saved from danger. | 14 | 16 |
| K65e1 In K65 family | Midwife to a toad. | A woman delivers a baby (baptises a child) for a creature that in the human world has the appearance of a toad or frog. | 14 | 15 |
| K67f In K67 family | Slaughter the sheep that looks at you. | A fool or a rogue is instructed to slaughter the sheep (cow, bull) that looks at him, i.e. any one. He slaughters them all, because they all looked at him. | 14 | 15 |
| 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 |
| K8c2 In K8 family | The swallowed mouse. | The mouse is swallowed by a large land animal and comes out by cutting it open from the inside. | 14 | 20 |
| K90b In K90 family | Deer antlers in the dragon's mouth. | The antlers of a deer or the tusks of an elephant, which a snake or dragon is trying to swallow, get stuck in its mouth. | 14 | 14 |
| 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 |
| K93b5 In K93 family | Disguised as a puppy. | The character infiltrates the enemy camp disguised as a kitten or puppy. Usually, one of the enemies suspects deception, but the others believe that the cute animal is harmless. | 14 | 17 |
| k102c1 In k102 family | A splinter turns into a duck. | The enemy systematically destroys the objects and creatures into which the hero is reincarnated. The hero wins after turning from a splinter into a waterfowl (duck, goose). | 15 | 16 |
| K10d In K10 family | A bird carries the hero away to an island. | A flying monster carries the hero away to a distant island. The hero kills the monster and uses a boat, bridge or rope made from part of the monster's body to return. | 15 | 24 |
| k135a In k135 family | The coward put out the door. | The coward or lazybones has become so tiresome to his family that they leave him outside. He sets off on a journey and defeats powerful enemies, thanks to chance or cunning. | 15 | 21 |
| k136a1 In k136 family | The young man's hair carried away by the water. | Seeing the young man's hair carried away by the water, a woman decides to marry the owner of the hair. | 15 | 17 |
| 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 |
| K25a2 In K25 family | Discarded feathers. | An anthropomorphic character flies away or tries to fly away, attaching feathers shed by birds flying in the sky to his body. | 15 | 21 |
| K25a7 In K25 family | Two brothers and a winged maiden. | The older brother hunts, the younger brother takes care of the household. After catching the winged maiden, the older brother takes her as his wife, while the younger brother, out of naivety, returns her wings to her. The older brother sets off in search of his wife. | 15 | 23 |
| K27g1 In K27 family | Task: clean out the stable. | The character must quickly clean the stable or barn of the manure that has accumulated there over a long period of time. | 15 | 22 |
| K27h1 In K27 family | Bringing fruit. | The character is tasked with bringing the fruits of a tree that is difficult to reach. | 15 | 19 |
| K32h1 In K32 family | Placed in a barrel with nails. | The antagonist is executed by being placed in a barrel (with nails) and rolled down a hill or tied to a horse. | 15 | 21 |
| K38f2 In K38 family | A mark made with dragon's blood. | The girl saved by the hero smears him with the blood of the monster he has slain. When the deceiver claims that he killed the dragon, the hero shows the bloodstain on his body, thus proving that he is the victor. | 15 | 20 |
| K42 | Bird woman kills men. | A young bird woman energetically searches among a group of men for one she likes, takes him by force and makes him her husband; she turns into a monster, pursues and kills men, but is ultimately killed herself. | 15 | 32 |
| 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 |
| K56a5b In K56 family | Any weather is good. | A person who responds kindly to the questions of characters representing the weather during certain periods of the calendar cycle is rewarded. Another person who scolds these characters is punished. | 15 | 23 |
| 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 |
| K87a In K87 family | The stolen boy. | A forest woman receives or kidnaps a little boy and raises him to be her lover. | 15 | 10 |
| k93b6 In k93 family | A sword grown in the garden. | The fish eaten by the woman gives birth to sons, and what is buried in the garden are objects or items that are further associated with these young men. These are either weapons (swords, sabres, rapiers) or objects whose appearance allows one to judge what is happening to the young men. | 15 | 20 |
| K107a4 In K107 family | The daughter asks for a magical groom to be brought to her. | When her father leaves, the daughter asks him to bring her an object or creature that embodies a magical groom. The father does not understand the meaning of her request. | 16 | 24 |
| K116 | Choosing a companion (ATU 516C). | To choose an assistant, a young man asks the candidates to perform simple tasks (eat bread, set off on a journey). The behaviour of the chosen candidate shows that he will take care of the hero, while the behaviour of the others shows that they will only think of themselves. | 16 | 18 |
| K116c In K116 family | The father was persuaded to leave his daughter in a chest, ATU 896. | In order to take possession of the girl, the priest arranges for her father to agree to place her in a chest (barrel) and lower it into the river (leave it in a deserted area). | 16 | 20 |
| K137 | Sister brings women to revive her brother. | The brother is killed, the sister, dressed in her brother's clothes and disguised as a young man, finds women who are able to revive the dead, puts her brother's clothes back on his body, and the women who have come revive him. Or the sister is killed, the brother lures women capable of reviving the dead, puts his clothes on his dead sister, the women think it is their husband, and revive the girl. | 16 | 15 |
| K154 | Inscription on a skull. | A person finds a skull on which a mysterious and gloomy prophecy is written or which utters it. Then it becomes clear what it means. | 16 | 24 |
| K155a In K155 family | Bone in meat. | A man (usually a king) raises his daughter (less often his son) in a closed room, ordering her to be fed boneless meat. One day, a bone is found in the meat, and the girl (boy) uses it to make a hole in the wall and sees the outside world for the first time. | 16 | 18 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| K27v In K27 family | Shooting a bird. | The character must hit the bird with an arrow or a stone. (Cf. motif K27M, where it is not the accuracy of the archer that is important, but the unusual appearance of the creature that needs to be caught). | 16 | 17 |
| K27xy In K27 family | Characters with different properties in the enemy camp. | Several men (animals), each of whom can do something better than the others, work together to accomplish difficult tasks set before them by their opponents. The competition is not intended to find a worthy suitor for a girl or to get rid of an unwanted suitor. Cf. motif K27o3 (Competition between two teams). | 16 | 21 |
| 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 |
| K54a In K54 family | Blow to the legs. | A man and a friendly giant live together. The friendly giant fights another giant and asks the man for help. The help consists of the man damaging the enemy's legs. | 16 | 18 |
| 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 |
| K73b5 In K73 family | And so the mother could not eat her child. | A woman is accused of actions that she could not have committed by her very nature. To refute the accusation, an example of something equally absurd and impossible is given, or it is pointed out that the interlocutor accepts the impossible but does not believe in the possible. | 16 | 20 |
| K78a In K78 family | Swallows and heals. | A demonic character swallows cripples and regurgitates them healthy and beautiful. | 16 | 24 |
| K100e In K100 family | Dangerous tales. | Fairy tales act as separate characters: they usually try to harm people, believing that a certain person does not treat them with due respect. Cf. motif L94d, "The Tale with a Tail". | 17 | 16 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.