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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M170 | Animals at repentance, ATU 20D*, 61A. | Pretending to be concerned only with performing religious rituals or following rules (confessing sins, going on pilgrimages, giving up meat, etc.), a zoomorphic character kills those who trust him. | 69 | 78 |
| M18 | Stolen tackle, D657.1. | The character turns into an object of fishing or hunting and presents himself as a target. The fisherman or hunter does not harm them, but they take away what they use: arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, bait; or they catch fish, having turned themselves into hooks; or they are caught but escape death by taking on human form again. | 61 | 78 |
| M114 | The rope of sand, ATU 1174. | The character is asked to make (or actually makes) a rope or other object out of sand, ash, smoke, etc. | 80 | 79 |
| M29gg In M29 family | The hedgehog is a cunning winner | hedgehog defeats or deceives strong opponents by cunning. | 43 | 79 |
| M16 | The healed cripple. | The wife or relatives (often the mother) of the sick person do not care for him. He recovers, and those who treated him badly are punished. Cf. motifs F62 and F96. | 48 | 80 |
| M8a In M8 family | Birds are hammering the rock: release from the trap | Animals, and more often birds, find it difficult to break through a rock from the outside or inside, make a hole in the tree, in the body of an absorber creature, tear fetters, etc., to help a character or get out of the confined space by yourself. The list includes groups whose texts deal with the exit of the first ancestors to earth from a confined space. | 51 | 80 |
| M90a5 In M90 family | Golden apples | The story mentions the golden fruits (rarely leaves) of a tree, usually golden apples. | 55 | 80 |
| M135a In M135 family | The wolf's misfortunes, ATU 122A. | A wolf (or, less commonly, another predator) approaches various (more than one type of) domestic animals (animals and humans) in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil the request, remains hungry and is usually beaten. | 71 | 81 |
| M151A In M151 family | Supports a rock, ATU 1530, J2273.1. | The character pretends to hold a rock, tree, etc., which is supposedly about to fall. See Dixon 1916: 189. (It is possible that in America the motif is of late African origin). | 77 | 81 |
| M157a4 In M157 family | Fishing on a mountain. | The character proves the absurdity of another's statements by claiming that he (or someone else) fished on a mountain, extinguished a fire with straw, sowed wheat in the sea, watched flying fish, etc. (or he himself imitates such actions). The absurdity of the statements stems from the incorrectly chosen locus or means for performing certain actions. | 68 | 81 |
| M127a In M127 family | The bird tricks the fox, ATU 223. | In response to a character's request to make him laugh or feed him, a bird sits on a person's or animal's head or on a fragile object. Another person tries to knock the bird down, kills or maims the person on whom the bird has landed, or breaks the object. Alternatively, the bird distracts the person's attention, and during this time the character eats the food that the person was carrying. | 74 | 82 |
| M28 | Icarus(failed flight on artificial wings), K1041.1. | When able to take off, the character takes off but falls or stays in a remote place from where he can no longer take off. | 47 | 82 |
| M106f In M106 family | Guest from the Other World, ATU 1540. | A stranger tells a woman that he has come from the other world. The woman gives him money and belongings with a request to pass them on to her deceased son, husband, etc. Usually, the woman's (new) husband (or son), upon learning of the deception, rides after him, and as a result, the deceiver steals his horse. | 83 | 83 |
| M171a In M171 family | Mena: gets a girl, ATU 1655. | A character (often zoomorphic) gets a girl (boy) by successively exchanging smaller values for larger ones. | 83 | 83 |
| M29k In M29 family | The turtle (toad, frog) is a cunning winner | A turtle (toad, frog) defeats strong opponents by cunning or perseverance. See the motives in square brackets. The character is named if it is a toad or frog; otherwise, a turtle. | 172 | 83 |
| M145 | The lion in the well, ATU 92. | One character (usually zoomorphic) shows another his reflection in a body of water. The latter believes that a beast resembling him is challenging his seniority, invites him to visit, etc.; usually throws himself into the water and perishes. | 60 | 84 |
| M29w2 In M29 family | The tiger is a loser and a loser | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the tiger dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 74 | 84 |
| M49a In M49 family | A substituted shaman | hero needs to penetrate unnoticed into the locus of dangerous creatures; he meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a doctor) going there, puts on her skin, and penetrates into dangerous ones in her guise creatures. | 47 | 84 |
| M29z4 In M29 family | Anthropomorphic trickster (miscellaneous) | 89 | 85 | |
| M41 | Eye juggling, J2423 | The character throws his eyes (an inhaler has a tooth) up or into the distance. At first they return to the eye sockets, but then they disappear. | 54 | 85 |
| M51 | The meat is on the tree | One of the two characters gets meat. The weaker deceives the stronger one, hiding the meat in his absence to eat alone later. | 58 | 85 |
| M91b1 In M91 family | Leather sold, (ATU 1535) | A man is going to sell a pet skin. On the way, he gets big money by deception or by chance. Usually, upon return, a person says that he received money for the skin, after which others slaughter their livestock and try unsuccessfully to sell the skins for money they are not worth. (In India, the hero sometimes supposedly sells not skin, but beef, which is forbidden to brahmanas). | 68 | 85 |
| M39a1 In M39 family | Misunderstood instructions: one step behind, ATU 1696 | character misunderstands the first instruction, promises to do the right thing next time; literally follows a memorized rule that does not correspond to the new situation; so multiple times. | 88 | 88 |
| M39a6d In M39 family | Encrypted message | One of the relatives or spouses transfers a text or object to the other through third parties. Only the recipient understands the meaning of the words or the item handed over, saves the sender and/or destroys his enemies. | 53 | 88 |
| M120 | The Cannibal Nanny, ATU 37, Th. K931. | A zoomorphic character takes on the responsibility of caring for other people's children (raising them, teaching them, healing them), but in reality has no intention of doing so, and usually eats the children. | 71 | 90 |
| M74a In M74 family | Strange newborn names, ATU 15 | The character pretends to be invited to visit several times in connection with the birth of a child, or gives names to various tracts that the boat passes by. The names and titles sound strange, but they become clear when it turns out that the character ate supplies. | 87 | 91 |
| M42 | Eyes taken out and lost, E781 | The character takes his eyes out of his orbits and loses them. He usually regains his eyes later, makes new ones, takes away from another character, etc. See the M41 motif. | 93 | 92 |
| M60b In M60 family | Imaginary doctor: finishing off the victim | The deceiver, promising to cure a wounded or sick person, finishes him off and eats him or offers a remedy that is only worse for him. | 48 | 92 |
| M5 | Provoked insult | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. | 11 | 95 |
| M118 | The source of values is senselessly destroyed, ATU 954. | The character obtains valuables or finds refuge inside an animal, tree, or building. Later, he himself, or more often someone else following his example, destroys the source of the valuables or makes access to it impossible or too dangerous. | 94 | 96 |
| M39a5a In M39 family | Pancakes on trees, ATU 1381, 1381B | Realizing that a stupid son, wife or (rarely) husband, after telling the truth, will cause trouble for the family, the mother or husband (wife) adjusts that the son, wife or husband describes events that They obviously couldn't have happened. They're mistaken for crazy, the message is ignored. | 84 | 97 |
| M152a In M152 family | Bound together, ATU 78 | A strong predator (a giant cannibal) and a weak predator are tied together with a rope to feel more confident. The strong one flees and drags the weak one behind him. | 62 | 98 |
| M124 | Ox Tail, ATU 1004. | The character buries the tail (head, ears) of a domestic animal, claiming that it has fallen into the ground. Usually, he asks others to pull on the tail (head), and when it "breaks off," he accuses others of stealing the animal. | 99 | 99 |
| M131 | It's not a tail, it's a root, ATU 5, ThR5. | The character does not show that he has been caught by the tail or by the leg. The other thinks he has grabbed the root and lets go of the first one. (The variant is similar in meaning, although formally different. The American variants are most likely of African origin, but the turtle as a trickster is local, while in African variants the hare acts as the trickster). | 86 | 99 |
| M157a2 In M157 family | The bull and the cart give birth, ATU 875E. | The character claims that the calf (kid, etc.) was not born (brought) by a cow (goat, etc.) belonging to another owner, but by his own animal of a different species or male sex, or by an inanimate object (usually a cart). | 73 | 99 |
| M157a1 In M157 family | Father gives birth. | The character proves the absurdity of another's statements by responding that his or her father (or another male or male animal) has given birth or is about to give birth, or that he or she is menstruating. | 69 | 100 |
| M199 | Squeezing water from a stone, ATU 1060. | A man and a giant (devil, predator, robber) agree to test their strength by crushing a stone. The man squeezes a piece of cheese, an egg, etc., and the giant believes that he is facing a strong man. {ATU 1060 includes variants in which the character squeezes brains (guts, etc.) out of the ground, without specifying this in the definition; where we were able to verify this, we did not include such traditions}. | 77 | 101 |
| M77 | Soiled bed | The character stains another's clothes or bed with sewage or something that looks like sewage, threatens to ruin the air and accuse the other, etc.; taking advantage of the victim's confusion, achieves the goal. | 62 | 103 |
| M112 | Animals at the well, ATU 55. | A zoomorphic character refuses to dig, clean or fill a source of drinking water and is forbidden to use the water. {List of African variants in Paulme 1977. In cases where the protagonist is a kite, hawk, buzzard, saker (and possibly also an eagle), it is most likely the same bird - Buteo buteo from the hawk family}. | 67 | 106 |
| M140 | The fox on the sled, ATU 1. | The character pretends to be dead, sick or infirm, is picked up, and eats the food that others are carrying – usually after first throwing it out of the cart, sleigh, sack, etc. | 88 | 108 |
| M75b1 In M75 family | Marco Rich, ATU 930 | A person (usually of high status) learns that a poor boy who is born will inherit his property or become king. He tries to stop it, but what he predicted comes true. | 94 | 111 |
| M185 | On the tail of the fastest (animals), ATU 275B. | A fast-footed animal (a flightless bird) and a slow character agree to compete in running or jumping. The slow character secretly clings to the fast-footed one (or to a vehicle) and at the finish line pretends that he has run at the same time as him (jumped just as far) or before him. | 69 | 112 |
| M198b In M198 family | The Imaginary Diviner, ATU 1641. | A man who is unable to find lost items and expose thieves successfully does so thanks to a fortunate coincidence. | 101 | 113 |
| M40 | Distorted instructions | The character is sent to get something relatively low in value. He asks for something else and shouts to whoever sent him to confirm the assignment. Usually, a weaker character comes to a stronger wife or son and tells her (him) that her husband (his father) told him to surrender to him, feed him, marry him, etc. {It is highly likely that American versions are borrowed after Columbus}. | 103 | 113 |
| M91a In M91 family | Imaginary murder (blood bubble) | The character pierces a container of animal blood or other red liquid, simulating murder or suicide. Cf. motifs K10C (wrapped in giblets) and M199H (Giant's ripped belly). | 90 | 117 |
| M104 | Allegedly murdered relatives. | A character suggests that another kill their close relatives (children, brothers, mother), hides their own, and assures them that they have killed them. When the other actually kills their children, mother or brothers, it turns out that the first character's relatives are unharmed. See motif A41 (The Moon hides her star children to provoke the Sun into killing his children). | 81 | 119 |
| M153 | Inscription on a hoof, ATU 47B. | A hoofed animal asks a predator to examine its hoof under various pretexts, and then kills or maims it with a kick. | 98 | 121 |
| M78 | Tiny boy, ATU 700 | A tiny little man performs a series of tricks, mocks people he meets and opponents. | 101 | 121 |
| M154 | The language of animals and the stubborn wife, ATU 670. | A man who has learned the language of animals laughs when he hears them talking. His wife or mother-in-law (rarely someone else) demands that he explain what is going on. The man is ready to comply with his wife's demand, even though he knows he will die if he reveals the secret. Usually, he hears the domestic animals condemning their master's stupidity and decides not to say anything. | 111 | 124 |
| M83 | Who's older? ATU 80A* | Each character claims that he is older and appeared before this world or (Ingush) that his father was cosmic in size. | 86 | 124 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.