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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M17 | A woman lies, pretending that a man has missed his target. | A wife, mother or grandmother directs the arrow of a blind man or boy at game, lies that he missed, cooks and eats the meat herself. See motif M16 (man is blind, K333.1). | 34 | 20 |
| M81e1 In M81 family | A young man returns sight to old people, ATU 321 | A young man lives with an old man whose eyes or eyes were carried away by a giant. The young man goes to the giant, kills him, brings his eyes, the old man sees the light. | 27 | 25 |
| M122 | Advisors inside. | In a difficult situation, the character asks for advice from his tail, penis, or some creatures in his stomach (these are excrement, intestinal parasites, his "sisters," etc.). | 33 | 39 |
| M148 | Agreeing to be eaten. | One zoomorphic character asks another to agree to be eaten – usually saying that he will be resurrected and compensated for the inconvenience caused. The animal agrees. | 19 | 20 |
| M114j In M114 family | All women are the same, ATU 983. | A woman does not refuse those who harass her, but calmly explains that there is no point in trying to possess many, since they are all the same (they differ no more than eggs painted in different colours). | 28 | 16 |
| M53e In M53 family | Allegedly inedible whale | A character (always a raven) kills a whale and points others to imaginary signs that whale meat is not suitable for food. People believe and all the meat goes to the deceiver. | 8 | 12 |
| M105a In M105 family | Allegedly murdered children. | A character hides his children, but tells another that he has killed them. The other believes him and kills his own children. See motif M104. | 6 | 10 |
| 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 |
| M34 | An attached tail | An object is thrown at the character, which turns into a tail, and the character himself into a corresponding animal. | 11 | 15 |
| M63 | An enumeration of body members | Before reaching the part of the body that is most suitable for certain purposes, others are named or tried. (Cf. Motive F22: The enumeration is related to finding the partner's genitals). | 52 | 61 |
| M46 | An imaginary baby | Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal). | 65 | 126 |
| M74aa In M74 family | An imaginary visit | The character (several times) pretends to be his name (that he is going to visit), and eats up supplies himself. See M74A motif. | 71 | 44 |
| M59 | An insidious passenger kills a carrier, K952.1. | A small animal asks a large one to transport it across the river; consistently rejects all the seats on the carrier's body that he offers; climbs to where the carrier is You can kill when the crossing is over. | 29 | 26 |
| M38c3 In M38 family | An old woman was turned into a monkey | A conceited smith attempts to rejuvenate an old woman (man). His magic helper tries to save the victim but all that he do is to transform the woman into an animal, usually a monkey | 11 | 13 |
| M5b In M5 family | An Ungrateful Rat | rat drowns, has difficulty getting to the shore (usually an aquatic animal takes it), and mocks other animals (usually its savior). | 21 | 23 |
| M177 | And he had no heart, ATU 52. | A weak predator eats part of its victim's body and explains to the strong one that this part did not exist at all (otherwise he would not have come to a place where he knew he would be eaten). | 35 | 31 |
| M141a In M141 family | And who is the mouse to us? | In a gathering of various animals, one of the participants refers to the weakest as insignificant to the others and bearing an ugly name. That one is eaten. This is repeated several times, each time the weakest of the remaining animals is eaten. | 7 | 8 |
| 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 |
| M45b In M45 family | Animals at the trough, ATU 179B* | The old man carries a trough and lies down to rest, covered with it. The animals take the trough to the table and bring food. The old man gets up, the animals run away, the old man gets the food. | 2 | 2 |
| 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 |
| M112b In M112 family | Animals build a road, ATU 55. | Animals that do not see the sun (moles, shrews, earthworms) refuse to build the road with everyone else and are punished for it. | 13 | 10 |
| M141b In M141 family | Animals flee from the end of the world, ATU 20C. | An insignificant event (a falling leaf, acorn, etc.) is taken by an animal as the beginning of a catastrophe (the end of the world, war, the falling of the sky, etc.) and it flees. Other animals join the fleeing animal. | 44 | 39 |
| M141 | Animals in a pit, ATU 20A. | Several animals of different species find themselves in a pit from which they cannot escape. They devour each other, and the last one manages to escape. | 29 | 32 |
| M182b In M182 family | Animals in a sleigh, ATU 158. | Animals ask to be taken for a ride in a sleigh. The sleigh breaks down, and the animals bring unsuitable materials from the forest to repair it. While the owner of the sleigh goes into the forest to look for a replacement for the broken shaft (or leaves to chop wood), the animals eat the horse (bull) and leave a stuffed animal in its place. | 22 | 30 |
| M182a1 In M182 family | Animals redeem themselves, ATU 159. | A man catches several wild animals and releases them on the promise that they will bring gifts or prove useful. The animals fulfil their promise. | 17 | 21 |
| M182a In M182 family | Animals stick to a horse (ATU 159). | A person smears resin on a bull, a horse (usually making a figure that comes to life), or some object; wild animals or demons stick to it. Cf. motif K133. | 19 | 19 |
| M156a In M156 family | Answering objects. | A dangerous animal is about to kill a human or another animal that helped it. The predator and its prey agree to ask passers-by (people walking or sailing by) which of them is right. Among those who respond are inanimate objects (most often trees). | 45 | 58 |
| M29z4 In M29 family | Anthropomorphic trickster (miscellaneous) | 89 | 85 | |
| M29z1 In M29 family | Anthropomorphic trickster (miscellaneous). | purely anthropomorphic character, or a character who bears the name of an animal or plant but does not act zoomorphic in the course of his adventures. See the motives in square brackets. {Data not fully entered} | 32 | 35 |
| M91b In M91 family | Ash sold, (ATU 1535) | A person manages to fraudulently sell or exchange ash for gold and money. Others are unsuccessfully offering ash for sale. | 60 | 76 |
| M78e In M78 family | Baby ear | A tiny boy comes from an animal's ear, compared in size to an ear, his name is “ear”. | 5 | 9 |
| M43 | Bait figure | To kill or catch a monster, he sees a figure made of wood or clay or a living person. Most often, a monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck when they pierce a tree. | 31 | 39 |
| M19 | Bait man. | The character ties another person (usually a child) to the end of a line, using them as bait or forcing them to catch fish with their hands. | 16 | 20 |
| M179 | Bark and ice huts, ATU 43. | Two zoomorphic characters live nearby, one's house is destroyed, he asks the other to shelter him. Usually he breaks in and drives out the owner, strong animals fear the invader, while weak or small ones drive him away. | 16 | 32 |
| M39a6e In M39 family | Basket Maker, ATU 888A* | A person learns a craft (weaving, painting) in order to earn a living for the family. His wife is kidnapped (separated if he is with him). The wife finds out that her husband is there when she sees baskets or other items he has made. | 7 | 7 |
| M57d In M57 family | Bay, baton, ATU 563, 564 | A person consistently receives magical items that bring wealth. Others replace them or take them away. A person returns what has been taken - usually by receiving another wonderful object (baton, whip) that hits the kidnappers. | 120 | 202 |
| M57a In M57 family | Beads are like body secretions | Instead of the usual secretions from the human body, beads, flowers, gold and other valuables pour in. | 143 | 284 |
| M29z In M29 family | Beardless (Aldarkose) | hero of the story is a character named “Beardless” or Aldar-Kose (Aldar is a “deceiver”, a braid is “beardless”). | 31 | 32 |
| M190 | Beaver and porcupine. | The beaver carries the porcupine across a water barrier. Usually, he throws it into the water or leaves it on an island. | 9 | 12 |
| M191a In M191 family | Bell on a cat's neck, ATU 110. | Mice decide to hang a bell around a cat's neck or tail so that they will know when it is approaching. Usually, none of the mice are able to do this. | 42 | 26 |
| M42a In M42 family | Berry eyes | The character (usually after losing his own eyes) inserts seeds or berries into his eye sockets and sees again. | 24 | 30 |
| M99a In M99 family | Bird bone house, ATU 984 | The character is going to build a house (tower, etc.) from the bones or feathers of birds. | 24 | 28 |
| M130a In M130 family | Bird saves deer, ATU 239. | A trickster lures an animal into a hunter's trap. Another animal advises the victim to pretend to be dead and helps it escape. | 24 | 23 |
| M106h In M106 family | Bird under a cap, ATU 1528. | A man puts his hat on the ground and pretends that there is something valuable under it. In reality, there is only shit. Those who believe the deceiver lose their property. | 34 | 17 |
| M113 | Birds are forbidden to drink. | In summer, during the height of the heat, or constantly, birds of a certain species are not allowed to drink from ponds and springs. It is generally believed that they drink only rainwater and cry out, begging for rain. See motif M112. | 52 | 66 |
| M8b In M8 family | Birds are hammering the rock: extracting water | Animals, and often birds, struggle to break through the rock to get water or honey hidden inside it. | 7 | 7 |
| 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 |
| M84b2 In M84 family | Birds eaten and animated | The character carefully preserves the bones of migratory birds eaten (not fish or animals) and the birds come to life again. (Episodes of reviving a domestic goose or rooster are not taken into account in everyday tales). | 7 | 10 |
| M205 | Birds set fire to the city. | Soldiers besieging a city or palace capture or obtain as ransom the birds living there. They smear them with an oily liquid or tie objects to them (shells with resin, shavings, tinder, etc.), which are then set on fire. The released birds fly back to the city or palace. Thanks to the fire that has started, the warriors capture it. | 14 | 16 |
| M30b In M30 family | Birds take the feathers they have given | Birds give a non-flying or ugly character feathers so that he can fly or become beautiful, but then take them away. | 30 | 39 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.