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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.
M - Adventures: Tricks and episodes
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M75b In M75 family | The animal in the carcass was carried away by a bird | A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person. | 46 | 45 |
| M89 | Melted wax | A character is humiliated after an object or creature made of wax, resin, or excrement that he made himself or that he thought was strong melts warmly, the present. | 42 | 45 |
| M91c4 In M91 family | The pot cooks by itself | A person removes the pot from the fire, its contents continue to boil, or the person prepares food in advance, puts it in a pot or pit. Another believes that the pot cooks without fire or incredibly fast (or that a stick, if it hits the ground or the pot, creates food), buys a pot (stick). | 31 | 45 |
| M106a In M106 family | "I Myself" and "No One" in the Demon's House. | The character who caused the damage calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Nobody," "I Myself," etc. Usually, others decide that the victim himself is to blame for what happened. | 31 | 46 |
| M142 | The Punished Tail, ATU 154. | A zoomorphic character accuses his tail of hindering his escape from pursuit (usually punishes it and dies as a result). (ATU data not entered; plot 154 includes several independent motifs; which of them are present in the traditions referred to by ATU cannot be determined without referring to the original sources). | 36 | 46 |
| M143 | The fox in the well, ATU 31, 32. | Finding himself in a pit or well, one character persuades another to climb down to him, thanks to which he gets out, leaving the other at the bottom. | 64 | 46 |
| M165 | A coat for a wolf, ATU 102. | One zoomorphic character promises another to sew a coat (boots), asks him to bring sheep, eats them, and does not sew anything. | 38 | 46 |
| M167 | The tiger mistaken for a bull, ATU 177. | In the dark, a person mistakes a tiger (lion, demon) for another person or a domestic animal (bull, ox). | 33 | 46 |
| M176 | Test: jumping over an obstacle. | The characters agree to jump over a ditch, stream, fire, etc., or walk across a log, rope, etc. One or all of them {specified in brackets} fall. | 37 | 46 |
| M29w1 In M29 family | The leopard is a loser and a loser | As a result of their stupidity or antisocial behavior, the leopard (panther, leopard) dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 57 | 46 |
| M39a8a In M39 family | Drops a heavy object from a tree | A fool or buffoon climbs a tree taking a heavy objects with him and then drops it frightening those who are under the tree | 37 | 46 |
| M7 | Waiting for transport | The character goes to the lower world, to the sky, to the country on the horizon, etc. and waits for someone to give him a ride to his goal. Usually, some animals/birds or celestial bodies follow by, and the last (often the Sun or Month) delivers. | 27 | 46 |
| M110 | The forgotten liver, ATU 91. | Upon learning that it is being transported by water to be eaten, the land animal explains to the transporter that it has forgotten on the shore the organ without which the meat is not tasty, which must be used as medicine, etc. The transporter agrees to return for this organ, and the animal runs away. | 42 | 47 |
| M166 | The world among animals, ATU 62. | A predator suggests that its potential prey, which is sitting in a tree, come down (usually telling a bird that there is peace among the animals and there is no need to be afraid). The prey is in no hurry to come down and usually advises the approaching dogs to spread the word about the peace among the animals. The predator runs away. | 71 | 47 |
| M198b2 In M198 family | A fortune teller named Grasshopper. | An authoritative character asks a person whose name (or his wife's name) is the name of an insect (most often Grasshopper) to guess what is in his fist (in a box, etc.). The corresponding insect is there. The person says that now he, so-and-so, has been caught, while others think that he has guessed correctly. | 42 | 47 |
| M203 | The Great Pan is dead, ATU 113A. | A supernatural being conveys a message to an unknown recipient through a passer-by. By fulfilling the request, the person provokes an unexpected reaction from another supernatural being (usually living in his house). Most of the material was collected by K.Yu. Rakhno. | 33 | 47 |
| M30c In M30 family | He falls, breaking the ban | A character flying through the air falls, violating the ban on talking, looking down, flying over villages, etc. (The character is not dropped by the person carrying it and flies above the ground, not descends from the sky or rises to the sky). | 33 | 47 |
| M39d In M39 family | Shemyakin Court, ATU 1534 | A person consistently and unintentionally harms others. The victims take him to a judge. He saves a person from punishment by making a formally logical but clearly unacceptable decision in each case. | 63 | 47 |
| M81e In M81 family | Don't herd cattle on giant land, ATU 314A, 321 | young man undertakes to herd cattle and is warned not to cross the borders of a giant, dragon, witch, etc. The young man violates the ban and kills a giant. | 40 | 47 |
| M12 | The unlucky hunter. | Unable, unwilling or unable to obtain game (fish), the hunter (fisherman) cuts flesh from his own body, removes his own entrails and collects his blood. He usually offers this to others under the guise of animal meat or fish. Alternatively, a woman cuts flesh from her own leg to feed her husband. | 44 | 48 |
| M39a6 In M39 family | Misunderstood instructions: shorten the road | During the journey, a person allegorically asks someone else to say something, sing, etc., so that time on the road passes faster. He understands instructions literally by doing ridiculous actions. | 40 | 48 |
| M39a8 In M39 family | Drops a door from a tree, (ATU 1653) | A fool drags the door from the house with him (usually raises it to a tree and drops it, scaring the crowd under the tree). | 35 | 48 |
| M90 | The snake guesses the material, ATU 857 | Someone asks a riddle about the material from which a particular item is made or originated. It is almost impossible to guess, but the character learns the secret, forcing the hero or heroine to fulfill the conditions set. (Usually requires a girl to marry him). | 59 | 48 |
| M135b In M135 family | The wolf regrets his own stupidity. | The wolf (rarely a bear, jackal, or fox) approaches various domestic animals in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil their request, remains hungry and usually beaten, and in conclusion blames himself ("Am I a mullah to read?" etc.). In the Persian version, the fox tells him this. | 44 | 49 |
| M136 | The Unknown Sickle, ATU 1202. | Some people do not know what to do with cutting tools; they try to use tools that are not suitable for these purposes instead. | 41 | 49 |
| M162 | Eats his own entrails, ATU 21. | The character pretends to eat his own entrails or flesh. Others believe him and kill themselves (or allow themselves to be killed). | 45 | 49 |
| M185a In M185 family | On the tail of the winner (all versions). | Birds, animals and fish compete to see which of them can run or swim fastest or climb highest. A weak character secretly clings to the winner and wins. There are 3 key versions: A. Birds argue about which of them will fly higher or arrive first. The winner is the one whose victory seemed unlikely, ATU 221A. See motif A23C.B. A fast and a slow animal (insect) agree to compete in speed or long jump. The slow one secretly clings to the fast one, ATU 275B. See motif M185.C. Two fish (fish and whale, dolphin, squid and dolphin, etc.) agree to race each other. The weaker one secretly clings to the tail (fin) of the stronger one and wins, ATU 250. See motif M186A. | 90 | 49 |
| M199k In M199 family | Digging a well, ATU 1049. | A giant sends a man to fetch water, giving him a huge wineskin. The man cannot carry so much water, but he gets out of the situation with a trick (he pretends that he wants to bring the whole well at once; that he has already brought the water and drunk it all himself; etc.). | 40 | 50 |
| M22 | The crane as saviour. | A long-necked bird living near water (crane, heron, bittern, swan) helps a fugitive escape from his pursuer (indicated in brackets). See motifs J44-J46 (a long-legged bird helps cross the river, drowns the pursuer; the pursuer is most often a bear). | 56 | 50 |
| M65 | The trickster was pinched and the meat was eaten | trickster bakes meat obtained by trick, deception; immobilized by sticking to a tree, ground, or stone; at this time, another character (fox, wolf, coyote, birds) eats all the meat. See M53 motif. | 29 | 50 |
| M151 | Hello, house! ATU 66A, 66B | A dangerous character pretends to be dead or absent, or pretends to be an inanimate object. The potential victim says aloud that the deceased (object or place – house, burrow, log, etc.) should do or say something. The character does so, revealing himself. | 31 | 51 |
| M168 | Who is more cowardly than a hare? ATU 70. | Hares are desperate because they are more cowardly than everyone else, but they rejoice when they learn that there are animals (frogs, sheep) that are afraid of them. | 57 | 51 |
| M39a3 In M39 family | Did he have horns? ATU (1381B), 1600 | fool kills a man, throws him into a pond, well, etc. A clever man throws a goat there. A fool searches for a corpse in the pond, asks if the victim had horns, etc. Everyone is obviously crazy, and the murder charge has been denied. {The Buryat and Yakut versions may be recent Russian borrowings. The ATU 1581B definition also includes an episode where a human corpse was replaced with a goat carcass, but most of the texts that have been verified do not contain this motive}. | 48 | 51 |
| M3a In M3 family | Count the inhabitants of the waters | The character invites aquatic creatures to count them, and to do this, form a chain; crosses it to the other side or climbs to land. See M3 motif. | 33 | 51 |
| M61 | Incitement to quarrel (by words), K1084, ATU 1577 | The character provokes a quarrel by telling each of his opponents how one of them allegedly used hostile or offensive language towards the other. | 53 | 51 |
| M75c In M75 family | Treasures on the mountain, ATU 936 | A person is offered to climb a rock or tree to get treasures. A return descent is not possible. Doomed to death, the hero remains alive. | 50 | 51 |
| M57a1 In M57 family | Where it comes, there's gold | When a beautiful woman walks on the ground, jewels appear under her feet, flowers bloom, etc. | 29 | 52 |
| M93 | Part of the body as a watchman | When falling asleep or going to do something else, the character tells a certain part of his body to wake him up in case of danger. The organ did not give a signal or the character himself did not listen to it, as a result, the misfortune happened. | 36 | 52 |
| M187 | Race: snail – participant. | Participating in a race, a snail (mollusc, sea cucumber, etc.) defeats a faster opponent. | 32 | 53 |
| m195c In m195 family | The clever or lucky person solves riddles. | People of high status cannot determine the hidden difference between two or more outwardly similar objects or beings, or between two sides of the same object or being. Thanks to their own intelligence or chance, a person of low status does so. | 39 | 53 |
| M46a In M46 family | A picked up baby | The character turns into a baby, is picked up by the owners of valuables, and then steals valuables or converges with a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not intend to kill those who pick it up (cf. Motive L60). | 42 | 53 |
| M60a In M60 family | The hunter comes to the one he wounded | The creature/character runs away or swims away with a hook, harpoon, arrow, or other object thrown by the hero in his body. Local shamans can't heal an existence/character. The hero or his friend comes to the wounded man's village, takes out the object that caused the injury, or drives him even deeper into the body. The patient recovers or dies accordingly. See L105 and M60 motifs. | 53 | 53 |
| M62c In M62 family | Tug of war, ATU 291 | A weak character takes turns negotiating with two strong ones to compete in a tug of war. They don't know they're pulling each other's rope or that they're tied to a tree. | 34 | 53 |
| M94a1 In M94 family | Mountain riding: trickster animals | By stupidity or negligence, a zoomorphic character rolls down a mountain and as a result dies or suffers damage (attacks the edge, falls into the water, etc.). | 31 | 53 |
| M109b In M109 family | The beaten one carries the unbeaten one, ATU 4. | A weaker character convinces a stronger one that he feels even worse than he does. Usually, the stronger one agrees to carry him on his back. | 52 | 54 |
| M114i In M114 family | What do your relatives do? ATU 875(4), 921. | When asked where her father, mother, brother, etc. are, the girl or boy answers in such a way that only an intelligent person can guess what is meant (father went to make an enemy out of a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains the meaning of similar phrases uttered by others. | 64 | 55 |
| M136d In M136 family | Shattered dreams, ATU 1430. | A person dreams of gradually becoming rich and forgets that this has not yet happened. As a result, he loses the initial source of future prosperity (breaks a jug, scares away a hare he was about to shoot, etc.) or senselessly causes harm to himself or others. | 74 | 55 |
| M50 | Next to the stars | The character tries to join a group of stars (usually the Pleiades) or catch up with characters who run away from him and turn into stars; the goal of the persecution is sexual contact or the desire to be reunited with family. | 41 | 55 |
| M91c3 In M91 family | The postman hare | A person releases an animal or a bird - supposedly with his wife instructing his wife to cook food, etc. Another does not understand deception and buys an animal. | 48 | 55 |
| M127 | The tailless fox, ATU 2A. | The character is saved, but is left without a tail (without an ear), after which he tries to make other members of his species (social group) lose their tails (ears) as well. | 53 | 56 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.