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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L75 | Flint kills his mother at birth. | One of two brothers is the embodiment of evil; at birth, he cuts open his mother's body, killing her. | 16 | 20 |
| L79 | Two wives: a girl and a monster. | The girl marries a powerful, benevolent character; his first wife is a monster; he kills her or is satisfied that she has been killed by his new wife. | 16 | 22 |
| L80 | Drop of blood. | A demonic creature or animal is killed, but comes back to life or can come back to life if even a small piece of its flesh or blood is left behind, unnoticed. | 16 | 22 |
| L82 | Burns his leg in a fire. | A person deliberately or accidentally burns his foot in a fire or burns himself completely; he turns into a demonic creature. See motif L9 (man with a sharp foot). | 16 | 24 |
| L84 | Unsuitable axes. | The character attempts to chop down a tree with an axe made of obviously unsuitable material. Cf. motif K27g5. | 16 | 17 |
| L85b1 In L85 family | Ascending to heaven, he regains his physical wholeness. | After ascending to the sky (meeting God, returning from the sky to earth), a physically disabled young man (usually with only half a body) becomes whole. | 16 | 20 |
| L125b In L125 family | Eats carrion. | After following his wife (husband), the husband (wife) discovers that she or he goes around devouring dead bodies. | 17 | 16 |
| L128 | You are Lyuta, and I am Pra-Lyuta. | When a demonic character or predator reveals who he is, the hero or herbivorous animal responds by calling himself a name that implies his superiority over his opponent. | 17 | 18 |
| L129a In L129 family | Man asks, wolf explains. | The wolf or demon is asked why its body parts and organs are the way they are. It explains sequentially. | 17 | 16 |
| L131a In L131 family | Your children are burning: appeal to the demon. | To get rid of a demonic character (usually a woman), they inform her that the place where her home and/or children are located is engulfed in flames. | 17 | 26 |
| L15J In L15 family | Only with fire. | The character can only be killed by fire. | 17 | 14 |
| L28a In L28 family | Eating a snake causes a flood. | People (or a certain person) eat the meat of a snake (dragon, unusual fish). This results in a flood, landslide, or the appearance of a river or lake. | 17 | 34 |
| L31b In L31 family | The reptile crawls into the water. | Upon discovering a reptile on land, people touch it or sit on it, stick to it, and it crawls away with them into the water. See motif L31. | 17 | 3 |
| L33f In L33 family | The nightjar breaks the rock. | A rock or boulder pursues a character. The character calls for help, and the nightjar splits the rock into pieces. | 17 | 28 |
| L44a In L44 family | Give me your liver! | The demon demands that the man hiding in the shelter give him parts of his body. The man gives the demon parts of the body of a dead animal. The demon does not understand the deception and dies, giving parts of his own body in return. | 17 | 29 |
| L72e In L72 family | The pursuer returns for the axe. | In order to overcome the obstacles created by the fleeing hero, the pursuer is forced to return home for the necessary tools. | 17 | 29 |
| L7a In L7 family | Sticky: first to humans, then to animals. | A character who sticks to another creature and refuses to let go, first sticking to a human, then to an animal, or first sticking to an animal, then to a bird. | 17 | 24 |
| L93 | The discarded axe. | A demon, a man-eater, chops down a tree or a rock on top of which the hero is hiding. While he is resting, the animal throws his axe into the water, carries it away or damages it. See motif L92. | 17 | 7 |
| L96c In L96 family | He hasn't learned anything! | A young man is learning magic. In order for the sorcerer to let him go, he must pretend that he is incapable of learning. | 17 | 21 |
| L9d In L9 family | Sharp hands. | The character has sharp nails or knife-like hands, which he uses to kill people. | 17 | 18 |
| L102 | Escape from an animal husband. | A girl or woman (for various reasons, jokingly or seriously) calls an animal or animal remains her husband, or steps on bones and addresses them. The animal (comes to life and) carries her away. Her human husband, parents or brother come for her, and they flee; usually the animal husband pursues them, but stops the chase or dies. | 18 | 22 |
| L121 | The hunter and his werewolf wife. | An animal or cannibal (man-eater) transforms into a woman and marries a hunter with the sole intention of killing him. Usually, the wife takes on her true form when she goes into the forest with the hunter. | 18 | 37 |
| L29 | Fish from a puddle. | A person catches fish where it should not be, usually in a small forest pond isolated from running water; those who eat this fish die, undergo metamorphosis and/or are attacked by monsters. See motif L28. | 18 | 24 |
| L33b In L33 family | The trickster provokes a stone. | The character challenges someone who, at first glance, is unable to move (a stump, a boulder, fire) to race or roll over it. The challenged party sets off, crushes or burns the character, or runs away with their property. | 18 | 22 |
| L42c In L42 family | Inside the house, outside the house. | The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him. | 18 | 20 |
| L5c In L5 family | Head-chaser, D1641.7, D992, D1602.12, R261.1. | The monster head pursues celestial bodies, people, or attaches itself to someone else's body. See motif L5. | 18 | 21 |
| L65b4 In L65 family | Tooth-axe. | The character pulls out his tooth to use it as a weapon or tool (often an axe). | 18 | 22 |
| L89 | One secretly feeds another. | One person, wishing to harm another, secretly gives him certain food to eat or a certain object to use. As a result, the other person dies (usually undergoing a metamorphosis). Cf. motif K82a. | 18 | 16 |
| L103b In L103 family | Animals carry away from the demon, (ATU 314A*). | A girl (boy, children) falls into the hands of a demonic creature. An animal or bird offers to carry her away and runs off. Usually, animals of different species do this, but only the last one manages to escape pursuit. | 19 | 39 |
| L122 | Riding a rooster. | The character rides on a rooster. | 19 | 25 |
| 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 |
| L16b In L16 family | Eyes on the knees. | The eyes or mouths of creatures are located on joints (knees, etc.). | 19 | 24 |
| L21 | The ogre runs away to pick up his prey. | A cannibal or demon under a tree intends to grab a person who has climbed a tree; the person throws his prey or some object far away, and while the cannibal is looking for, picking up or eating what has been thrown, he runs away. | 19 | 18 |
| L42g3 In L42 family | Gingerbread house. | In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. | 19 | 23 |
| L57b In L57 family | The demon comes for a part of his body, ATU 161A. | A person tears off or cuts off a part of the body of a predatory animal or demonic creature and uses it. The creature comes for the lost part, usually killing or maiming the person. | 19 | 24 |
| L62 | Stone Man. | The Stone Man kills people, but is then killed himself. | 19 | 17 |
| L71 | The end of a thin branch. | The character kills an animal; the trickster tries to take the meat; the character lifts the meat onto a tree; helps the trickster or his cub to climb up too; after eating, the climber wants to relieve himself or (less often) drink; the character points out that this can be done at the end of a thin branch; the trickster or the trickster's cub climbs up, falls, and is killed. See motif L70. | 19 | 7 |
| L111 | Hook from the sky. | The inhabitants of the sky or shamans catch or want to catch earthly people with a hook, net, noose, etc., dragging them up into the sky (somewhere above) like fishermen pull fish out of the water; the inhabitants of the earth fish with hooks for fish, which in their own world are people or domestic animals. | 20 | 23 |
| L112 | Attaining physical completeness. | A physically defective boy is born (tiny, with one head, half a body, etc.). After a series of adventures, he gains physical completeness. | 20 | 27 |
| L116 | The Singer in the Sack, ATU 311B. | A cannibal (old man, gypsy) grabs a girl, carries her away, and forces her to sing (beg). People recognise the girl's voice and free her. | 20 | 25 |
| L118a In L118 family | Imitation: knife to the throat. | In order to get rid of a dangerous but foolish character, a person performs certain actions, which the character imitates, not realising that he is harming himself. | 20 | 18 |
| L44b In L44 family | The blind man saw, the lame man ran. | The blind and deaf (lame) began to live together, helping each other. After being mortally frightened or fighting, both (less often, one of them) got rid of their disabilities. | 20 | 21 |
| L59 | The stingy woman: metamorphosis. | A woman eats the best food or eats fruit before it is ripe; as punishment, she undergoes metamorphosis. | 20 | 23 |
| L99 | Bring the skewer! | Having captured the character, the ogre orders him to bring wood or a spit to roast him. The character deliberately procrastinates, brings the wrong thing, or is helped to escape by some animal. | 20 | 19 |
| L17 | Face on the chest. | Mouth and eyes of an anthropomorphic creature on the chest, no head. | 21 | 20 |
| L42g2 In L42 family | The bird erases the trace. | A person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc. | 21 | 24 |
| L47 | Backwards – the slain enemy. | The hero's enemy approaches him upside down or backwards, giving the hero the opportunity to kill him or escape. See motif L46. | 21 | 18 |
| L63 | Eats with the anus or vagina. | The character eats food with the womb or anus. See motif F9A. | 21 | 16 |
| L65b2 In L65 family | Dogs with talking names. | The hero's dogs have names that speak of their strength and agility (Wind, Ironbreaker, etc.). | 21 | 36 |
| L78 | Toad-jaguar. | In the images, the character has the features of a jaguar and a toad; the toad/frog turns into a jaguar; the toad/frog is the mother or wife of the jaguar. | 21 | 22 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.