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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L9a In L9 family | Ostronog, G341.1. | The character's leg is crippled (intentionally or accidentally) or originally pointed. He uses the pointed bone for hunting, fishing or killing people. | 49 | 67 |
| L100b In L100 family | The forgotten bride. | Having escaped from his pursuers, the young man parts with the girl, intending to return for her soon, but forgets her. When he is about to take another wife, the girl manages to restore his memory with the help of magic, and she marries him. Alternatively, the girl, who has briefly parted from her magical spouse, herself forgets him after an embrace or a kiss in her parents' house. | 51 | 106 |
| L1a In L1 family | The woman became a bear. | A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband. | 51 | 71 |
| L106 | Demand to return the harpoon. | A person takes an object belonging to another and loses it; the owner demands that the object be returned; the hero goes after it (to another world), usually finds it and brings back what was lost. See motifs K56a3 and L105. | 53 | 71 |
| L72b In L72 family | The whetstone mountain. | Fleeing for his life, the character throws small objects behind him, which turn into powerful obstacles in the path of his pursuer. One of the objects thrown is a whetstone. (In one of the Udmurt variants, the objects thrown destroy the obstacles in the character's path). See motif L72. | 53 | 78 |
| L105 | The invisible hook, B5482.3. | A wounded animal, fish or anthropomorphic character runs or swims away – usually with a hook, harpoon, arrow or other hunting or fishing implement stuck in its body; local healers cannot cure the wounded creature (usually because they cannot see the object that caused the wound); a person comes to the wounded person's village and successfully treats them (usually by removing the object that caused the wound). Cf. motif M60A. | 54 | 63 |
| L3 | A husband turns into a demon. | The demon takes on human form and comes to his wife (less often to another woman). Usually, the woman (alone or with a child) runs away and/or kills the monster, either by herself or with someone's help. | 54 | 79 |
| L45 | The fooled watchman. | A strong character traps a weak one and leaves someone to guard the prey. The guard fails to fulfil his duties (usually tricked by the weak one), and the weak one escapes. {African borrowings in America are difficult to distinguish from possible local cases} | 54 | 53 |
| L24 | Suffocating demons with smoke. | Demons (or one of them) attack people and then hide. People destroy the demons' lair and kill all or most of them by spreading a smoky fire around the demons' refuge. | 55 | 96 |
| L68 | Two in the night. | Left alone (usually at night in a deserted place) with his companion, a man undergoes a monstrous metamorphosis. | 55 | 92 |
| L94b In L94 family | Give back what you don't know at home! | A person promises to give to a supernatural character the first thing that comes their way (either something they have not yet seen in their own home, or something that is behind the door, etc.). The person thinks that they will have to give something of little value, but it turns out to be their own child. | 55 | 117 |
| L11 | The turtle bench. | Everyday objects take the form of fish, invertebrates, reptiles, dangerous predators, or objects that transform into these animals under special circumstances. | 57 | 78 |
| L34 | Burning hair. | The character kills or maims the enemy by setting fire to their clothes, mask, headdress, hair, or an object behind their back. | 57 | 51 |
| L38 | The demon trap. | The demon sets a trap, and people fall into it. Cf. motif K64A. | 57 | 92 |
| L41a In L41 family | Stone in a basket. | The character runs away from his captor, leaving a stone (or a log, sand) in his place. See motif L41. | 57 | 55 |
| L98 | The man-eating owl. | The demon that carries off children and threatens heroes, people, etc., is the eagle owl; there is a race of owls that is hostile to humans. | 57 | 78 |
| L61 | Samoyed, F1035. | The character eats himself, guts himself, or kills himself in order to be eaten. | 58 | 68 |
| L108b In L108 family | The Thin Voice, (ATU 327F). | To prevent his victim from recognising him, the predator, the cannibal, makes his voice thinner by mechanical means - he smears his throat (tongue) with fat, cauterises it with a hot stone or iron, exposes it to ant bites, consults a blacksmith, etc. | 59 | 83 |
| L46 | Head down. | The character walks, climbs or descends upside down, or sees the world turned upside down. | 61 | 76 |
| L73 | Drink the river! G522 | Trying to drink a river, lake, or sea, the antagonist bursts. | 61 | 90 |
| L90 | Mouth to the sky. | One lip (one fang, horn, etc.) of the creature reaches the sky, while the other drags along the ground. | 61 | 103 |
| L17b In L17 family | Mouth on the back of the head. | A character or creature has a second face or a second mouth on the back of its head. | 65 | 105 |
| L28 | Snake meat. | A person who eats unusual or forbidden meat or fish, or touches something forbidden, turns into a reptile or a fish. | 65 | 92 |
| L65a In L65 family | The Cannibal Sister, ATU 315A. | A daughter is born, or people find a girl; she is a monster or turns into a monster and devours everyone. Her brother escapes (usually leaves, marries, returns), and she pursues him unsuccessfully. | 65 | 82 |
| L108a In L108 family | The goat kills the antagonist. | A predator or cannibal swallows people and animals. A goat (rarely a sheep) punishes it and usually rescues those who have been swallowed (most often by cutting open its belly, allowing those who have been swallowed to escape alive). | 66 | 81 |
| L13 | The raised monster. | People feed a dangerous creature, or it grows on its own in a man-made enclosure. Once it becomes big and strong, it starts to destroy people. | 66 | 97 |
| L113 | Married to a werewolf (ATU 363). | A girl who has long rejected suitors falls in love with a handsome man who turns out to be a demon, a werewolf, or a dangerous animal. The girl barely escapes or perishes. | 67 | 93 |
| L18 | Multi-headed bird. | A bird with two or more heads in descriptions or images. | 67 | 146 |
| L114 | The younger brother saves from the werewolf. | A group of young men or women arrives at the demon's lair. The younger brother or sister, or a character who is considered sick, unpleasant, unfit, and often goes with others against their will, saves them all. See motif L113. | 70 | 85 |
| L114b In L114 family | Task: to bring the property of the cannibal, ATU 328. | After receiving the task or on his own initiative, the trickster enters the character's house (usually that of the cannibal) several times, each time taking one of his belongings or one of his family members. | 70 | 77 |
| L65 | The scary baby. | An infant or small child turns out to be a demon and kills people. | 73 | 97 |
| L106b In L106 family | For disappearance into another world. | A girl, a young girl or (rarely) a boy loses an everyday object, usually carried away by water or wind. In search of the lost object, she (he) encounters powerful characters, returns the object and/or receives valuables. Traditions recorded only in Roberts 1994: 103-110 are highlighted in italics. | 74 | 93 |
| L42b In L42 family | The gullible children of the cannibal. | After capturing the hero, the antagonist brings him home and leaves him in the care of a family member. The latter believes the hero's words and follows his instructions. See motif L42. | 77 | 116 |
| L118 | Hand caught in a log, H1532, ATU 38. | One character provokes another to stick a part of their body into a split log (between two boards, etc.) and knocks out the wedge. | 78 | 101 |
| L14 | The cultivated snake. | People bring a small creature (usually a worm or reptile) into their home and raise it, or it settles into a man-made dwelling on its own. The creature turns into something terrifying or magnificent. See motif L13 (raised monster attacks people). | 79 | 45 |
| L42g In L42 family | Hansel and Gretel, ATU 327A. | The stepmother, and more often the father (usually at the insistence of his new wife), leaves the children in a deserted place or sends them into the forest. They end up in the house of a cannibal or cannibals, all (or at least one of them) survive and achieve success. | 79 | 84 |
| L15h In L15 family | External soul: sequential investments. | The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third, and so on (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a chest). Or the animal in which the character's soul is enclosed transforms into other animals as it flees. There are three or more enclosures or transformations. | 83 | 127 |
| L57a In L57 family | The hero's companion returns his organ. | The enemy takes possession of part of the character's body (remains). Another (usually resorting to trickery) returns what is missing, and the character comes back to life or recovers. | 83 | 114 |
| L19b1 In L19 family | Seven-headed monster. | Describes or depicts a monster (usually a reptile) with seven heads (except in cases where snakes with an increasing number of heads are described sequentially and "seven" is not the largest number). | 85 | 155 |
| L6 | The clingy demon. | The creature demands that the person carry it constantly, not allowing itself to be thrown off. | 85 | 113 |
| L96 | The changed appearance is sold and returns (ATU 325). | The character has the ability to transform into animals or objects. Sold in this form, he achieves his goal and becomes human again. | 87 | 127 |
| L4 | The Unmasked Murderer, ATU 311, 312. | The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. | 88 | 128 |
| L39 | The hero is forced to climb down from the tree. | By force or deception, the character forces another to climb down from the tree in order to harm him. | 90 | 135 |
| L100 | The Unrecognised Fugitive, D671. | A young man and woman fleeing from their pursuers take on the appearance of different but associatively related creatures or objects (a pond and a duck, a minaret and a muezzin, etc.). Usually, their pursuers do not recognise them. | 91 | 173 |
| L100d In L100 family | Deceived admirers, ATU 1358C, 1730. | A man or several men pursue the love of a beautiful woman. Having agreed in advance with her husband, she pretends to agree, arranging a date (with each) for a specific time. Before the first suitor's desires are satisfied, the second arrives. The woman hides the first, then the second, and so on. The husband enters and the couple mocks the admirers who find themselves in a humiliating position. | 98 | 114 |
| L114c In L114 family | Exchanging clothes with the cannibal's daughters, ATU 327B. | Children or young men (usually brothers) exchange clothes (headgear, jewellery, blankets, sleeping places) with the children of a hostile character, who then kills his own children instead of them at night. Usually, the brothers end up with a cannibal, and the younger brother orders them to swap places (clothes, etc.) with his daughters for the night. Outside Europe, the protagonists are animals. | 103 | 100 |
| L19a In L19 family | Creature with an even number of heads. | Creatures (any except ornithomorphs) with an even number (but not more than ten) of heads at one end of the body are described or depicted, except when such creatures are mentioned among others and the series ends with an odd number or a number greater than ten. | 105 | 147 |
| L40 | Reflection and shadow, R351. | The character discovers (rarely: cannot discover) another person on a tree or rock, noticing their reflection or shadow. See motif L39. | 108 | 133 |
| L37a In L37 family | To learn the causes of misfortune, Th H1291, ATU 460A. | On the way to a powerful being, a person meets characters who ask him to ask questions on their behalf (usually to find out the cause of their misfortunes). | 113 | 174 |
| L15a In L15 family | Vulnerable spot on the body, | The character's vulnerable spot is located on the surface of the body, but not in vital internal organs. | 115 | 163 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.