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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.
L - Adventures: Monsters and evil spirits
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L15g In L15 family | The burnt log (death of Meleager), ATU 1187. | A person's life is connected to an object that can be burned. As soon as the object is burned, the person dies. | 19 | 8 |
| L1d In L1 family | Woman kills a jaguar. | The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives. | 7 | 8 |
| L23a In L23 family | Transformation into flame. | In an attempt to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance, in particular turning into fire (and water). | 9 | 8 |
| L39b In L39 family | The pie tree. | The tree grows from a flatbread (pie, etc.) and usually bears flatbreads instead of fruit. | 7 | 8 |
| L5g In L5 family | The head of the older sister rolls after the younger one. | Only the head remains of one of the sisters. It rolls after the other sister or sisters, or they take it with them; in the end, the head finds a place where it wants to settle. | 13 | 8 |
| L83 | An incomplete body turns into lightning/thunder. | A character who has only a head left (motif L5) or who has burned his leg (motif L82) turns into lightning/thunder (or emits lightning/thunderclaps). | 7 | 8 |
| L90c In L90 family | Horns reaching the sky and the earth. | One horn of an animal (deer, ram, bull, goat, wolverine) touches the ground, while the other is raised to the sky or reaches the sky. | 8 | 8 |
| L9g In L9 family | Bluebeard. | A man's hair or beard of an unusual colour is a sign of his demonic nature. | 8 | 8 |
| L122a In L122 family | Sewing up cracks in the earth. | The character is busy sewing up cracks in the earth, just as one would sew up torn fabric. (Motif identified by Ruslan Doutalieyev). | 6 | 9 |
| L134 | The Third Wave. | The hero's adversary (usually a demonic woman) is inside a sea wave (the third or ninth) or embodies the wave. | 10 | 9 |
| L16A In L16 family | Eyes on the feet. | The creature's eyes are located on its feet. | 7 | 9 |
| L1e In L1 family | The character creates monstrous birds. | A monstrous bird is created from a small amount of human or animal flesh (usually from the heart) or from lumps of manioc starch. | 9 | 9 |
| L39a In L39 family | Demon from the underworld. | A supernatural character emerges from the underworld and attacks a man who has climbed a tree. | 8 | 9 |
| L41b In L41 family | Tar basket. | A basket in which a cannibal puts people is smeared or filled with tar. See motifs L41, L42. | 10 | 9 |
| L42h In L42 family | Those gathered for the feast eat the host. | A cannibal catches the hero and invites other cannibals to a feast. The hero escapes, and the cannibals eat the one who invited them. | 9 | 9 |
| L42j In L42 family | The tree bends (children in the ogre's bag). | The ogre catches children (usually mice), puts them in a bag, orders a tree (pole, crossbar in the house) to bend over, hangs the bag, orders the tree to straighten up again, and leaves. Another character (usually a fox) orders the tree (pole, etc.) to bend over and frees the children. | 7 | 9 |
| L5d In L5 family | The head wants to drink. | The rolling head suffers from thirst. See motif L5. | 8 | 9 |
| L81d In L81 family | After fighting, the cripples recovered. | Two cripples with different physical disabilities quarrel and fight, and as a result become whole and healthy. | 10 | 9 |
| L103b1 In L103 family | A stream of excrement in the face of the pursuer. 28.30.-.32. | The hero or heroine flees from a demon on the back of a domestic animal (often a bull). When the demon approaches, the animal releases a stream of manure or intestinal gas into its face, and it stops the chase. | 5 | 10 |
| L39c In L39 family | Grown from a seed. | A boy (less often a girl) climbs a fruit tree that has just grown (usually from a discarded seed). A cannibal tries to force the boy (girl) to come down to the ground. | 9 | 10 |
| L40a In L40 family | A woman mistakes a young man's reflection for her own. | An unattractive woman sees the reflection of a young man sitting in a tree in the water and thinks that she has become beautiful. | 5 | 10 |
| L42b1 In L42 family | Frying pans are placed on top of each other. | A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. | 6 | 10 |
| L65b5 In L65 family | The hero's dogs at the princess's wedding. | Despite obstacles, the young man's dogs or other animals serving him get to the princess just as she is about to be given away to a deceiver. | 8 | 10 |
| L73a In L73 family | Darkness behind, light ahead. | The fugitives make sure that darkness spreads behind them, hindering their pursuers (while light pours in front of them). | 11 | 10 |
| L9f In L9 family | Golden nose or teeth. | A person with a nose or teeth made of gold or silver is a sign of their demonic nature. | 11 | 10 |
| L12 | Vultures and incomplete bodies. | Vultures lift into the sky a creature that has lost some of its limbs or has only one head left. | 6 | 11 |
| L1c2 In L1 family | Hiding under the hearth. | Fleeing from a demonic creature, the characters hide their children (younger brother or sister) in a camouflaged pit, usually under the hearth. See motif L1C. | 11 | 11 |
| L37b4 In L37 family | Dog meat has miraculous properties. | From a conversation between spirits or animals, a man learns that the meat (brain, blood) of a neighbouring shepherd's dog has miraculous properties. | 8 | 11 |
| L3a In L3 family | She asked for help – a demon came. | Left alone, a woman carelessly calls for someone to help her with the housework; a demon comes and kills the woman or her child. | 8 | 11 |
| L42f In L42 family | The prey escaped, the wife was killed. | The character intended for consumption slips away unnoticed. The master of the house thinks that his wife has eaten him alone and cuts open her stomach. | 4 | 11 |
| L59a In L59 family | Stuck to the whale. | People who mocked the hero or his son were dragged into the sea and turned into sea animals or parts of its body or parasites on its skin. | 7 | 11 |
| L5A In L5 family | The head turns into a celestial object. | A rolling head turns into a celestial object that emits or eclipses light (sun, moon, stars, fireball; it is the cause of eclipses). See motif L5. | 15 | 11 |
| L60 | The foundling demon. | Several sisters pick up a baby. In their absence, it turns into an adult man, and when they approach, it turns back into a child. Taking on its true form, the demon pursues the sisters. See motif M46a. | 10 | 11 |
| L72j In L72 family | A needle (awl) turns into many needles (awls). | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him an awl or needle, which turns into many awls or needles. | 11 | 11 |
| L73b In L73 family | A line drawn. | The fugitive draws a line on the ground (ice), creating an obstacle in the path of the pursuer. | 7 | 11 |
| L88 | The demon comes to life from touch. | A man kills a demon, but when he touches its remains some time later, it comes to life. | 8 | 11 |
| L93c In L93 family | The monkey helper. | The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them. | 13 | 11 |
| L94e In L94 family | White wolf. | A supernatural character who helps the hero or heroine under certain conditions – the white wolf. | 10 | 11 |
| L100d1 In L100 family | Mullah in the cradle. | A person endowed with (spiritual) power comes to a woman in the evening. When there is a knock at the door, the woman, having agreed in advance with her husband, tells the guest to lie down in the cradle and replies to her husband who has entered that their son is in the cradle. The man begins to turn the adult into a baby or threatens to do so: he shaves off his beard, knocks out his teeth, and grabs an axe to chop off his legs. The disgraced and exhausted guest runs away. | 10 | 12 |
| L15f In L15 family | Life in a necklace, ATU 412. | A young woman or man dies as soon as her or his jewellery (rarely: organ) is stolen, and comes back to life when the jewellery is returned or when the antagonist removes it. | 11 | 12 |
| L5e1 In L5 family | A female demon pursues her children. | A woman who has become a monster pursues her own children. | 15 | 12 |
| L69 | The puma defeats the monster. | A monster attacks a person; a puma, jaguar or dog fights the monster, kills or drives it away; the person returns home. | 11 | 12 |
| L72k In L72 family | A discarded bottle of oil. | Fleeing for his life, the character throws a jar of oil behind him. Spilling out, it turns into a lake or river. (Only North American materials are taken into account. In the Old World, the motif is rare and unsystematic. In North America, it most likely refers to hair oil in all cases). | 7 | 12 |
| L77 | The girl seems like a pineapple. | The character devours people because he sees them as a delicacy. | 9 | 12 |
| L85b In L85 family | A woman who has offended a god gives birth to a freak. | A pregnant woman curses the Sun, Rain or another powerful character. Because of this, the child is born physically disabled. He possesses magical powers and usually acquires a normal body. | 11 | 12 |
| L10 | Sharp tail. | The character has a sharp (biting) tail or a protrusion on its back. See motif L9, cf. motif L9C. | 16 | 13 |
| L103a In L103 family | They did not unlock the door for their daughter. | A girl, a young woman, runs away from a demonic character; she manages to run home, but her relatives do not open the door. The pursuer finds and eats her. (A musical instrument is made from her hair or intestines). (Overview of variants in Rakhno 2016: 475-484). | 7 | 13 |
| L35 | Severed hand. | A shaman or spirit comes at night and, reaching his hand into the hut, steals food or disturbs a woman. A man in the hut cuts off or tears off the hand. | 11 | 13 |
| L36 | A woman attacks when a man is in a tree. | At the moment when the husband climbs or descends from a tree, his wife (or her brother) kills or maims him or turns into a demon that pursues him. | 12 | 13 |
| L37b3 In L37 family | The body of a bird has miraculous powers. | From the birds' conversation, humans learn that their bodies or secretions have miraculous properties. | 12 | 13 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.