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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M90c In M90 family | Stepladder instead of wife | man agreed with another that he could take the first thing he touched from his house. The visitor is going to take his wife, but when he takes up the stepladder to go up to the woman, he is told to pick up the stepladder and leave. | 7 | 7 |
| M99a1 In M99 family | Leaky beaks of birds | The character is going to pierce all the birds with their beaks (to string them on a rope) or cut them off altogether. | 7 | 11 |
| M106d In M106 family | My name is "Son-in-law". | By saying that his name is "Son-in-law" ("Husband," "Uncle," etc.), the character deceives others. The victims find no sympathy, since as a relative he has the right to behave in this manner. | 8 | 9 |
| m11d In m11 family | Salt from bodily secretions. | The character makes food taste good by adding salt to it. Another character learns that the cook extracts this salt from his own body (it is contained in his bodily secretions). | 8 | 7 |
| M140a In M140 family | The fox ties up its companion. | The fox cunningly ties up the wolf or man and runs away. | 8 | 13 |
| M155 | Covered nakedness of the father. | The father or mother (pretends to) fall asleep naked. One of the children covers him or her, which is a sign of respect. | 8 | 8 |
| M181b In M181 family | How the spider came to live under the roof. | The story of the trickster Spider ends with his transformation into a spider that lives under the roof, in dark corners, etc. | 8 | 12 |
| M204a In M204 family | Did not notice the money, closing his eyes. | Gold is placed in a person's path so that they can take advantage of it. At that moment, the person accidentally closes their eyes and walks past. | 8 | 8 |
| M22a In M22 family | The crane as a watchman. | In a foreign house, in a foreign country, where the hero finds himself, the crane or heron is a watchman who must raise the alarm in case of strangers appearing. | 8 | 12 |
| M29nn In M29 family | Trickster - Earth Squirrel (Xerus inauris) | See the motives in square brackets. | 8 | 10 |
| M38d3 In M38 family | A blurred lump of earth | The character, who is a lump of earth (oatmeal, salt), blurred in the rain or after going to get water. | 8 | 12 |
| M39a3a In M39 family | Oiled soil | fool sees cracked objects (stumps, earth, ice), sympathizes with them and oils them. | 8 | 10 |
| M4 | Careless step | When crossing a pond or descending from a tree, the character (usually despite a warning) steps at a specific animal or part of the animal's body . As a result, it falls into the water and often sinks. | 8 | 18 |
| 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 |
| M56d In M56 family | Fill the vessel with flies | The character promises to fill the vessel with small flying living creatures. He bets with them that they will not be able to fill the vessel. Creatures climb inside, the character closes the lid. Cf. K60B motif. | 8 | 9 |
| M62d In M62 family | A hare in rotten skin | trickster wears rotten skin, pretends to be another animal, and says that the name (i.e. himself) has caused him to get sick. The animals are frightened, they do not dare to take revenge on the trickster for his tricks. See M62C motif. | 8 | 7 |
| M7a1 In M7 family | The luminaries float above the hero | Person gets to a place from which he is unable to come out. Several (more than two) different celestial bodies rise and move near him or above him. He puts attention to them (and asks their help) | 8 | 12 |
| M90a3 In M90 family | The tree grew out of a snake | plant grows from a killed snake or part of a snake's body. | 8 | 10 |
| M92 | Glued lashes | Something red is glued to the character's eyelashes, he thinks it's a fire. | 8 | 9 |
| M114b2 In M114 family | How many steps did your horse take? | A man (an authoritative character) asks a girl (a subordinate) a question about the number of routine actions she has performed (or small items she has), which no one counts. She asks a counter-question about the number of similar actions performed by the questioner. | 9 | 11 |
| M114g In M114 family | The long-bearded goat and the tall camel. | Only the boy, the young man, answers the questions of the authoritative character wisely. When he asks why someone older and taller was not sent to him, the boy says that the goat has the longest beard and the camel is taller than everyone else. | 9 | 9 |
| M114h In M114 family | Building a house in the air. | An authoritative character orders a house to be built in the air. A man finds a clever way out of the situation. | 9 | 9 |
| M114i1 In M114 family | He throws away the dead ones and brings the unkilled ones. | A man replies that his father (brother, etc.) hunts: he kills (discards) those he sees, and leaves (brings back) those he does not see (those not killed). This refers to lice or fleas. | 9 | 8 |
| M11a In M11 family | Fish extracted from the body. | The character gives others the fish extracted from his body. | 9 | 12 |
| M120c In M120 family | Shared children. | Two animals agree to raise children together. One of them eats the other's children, continuing to pretend that the children are shared and that it does not matter which ones are missing. | 9 | 10 |
| M140b In M140 family | The wolf adorns the bird. | The fox cunningly ties up the wolf. The bird unties him, and the grateful wolf adorns her plumage. See motifs b97, b97a. | 9 | 6 |
| M149b In M149 family | Dogs in the stomach. | A person says that in his stomach (in a box) there are dangerous creatures that he has swallowed (put in a box) and that they may come out. A predator that is about to eat (bite) a person believes this and runs away. | 9 | 12 |
| M152c In M152 family | The lion and the donkey at the ford. | The weak companion of a large predator pretends to be strong and brave. When he is carried away by the river or drowns in a swamp, and the predator pulls him out, the companion pretends to be angry (for preventing him from catching fish, etc.). | 9 | 10 |
| M188a In M188 family | Jackal on the throne. | The character demands to be addressed as a ruler (usually sits on a pile of rubbish and demands to be recognised as king). One of the animals exposes him. | 9 | 10 |
| 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 |
| M192a In M192 family | Dried belts. | The character agrees to have a freshly removed skin put on him or to be wrapped in wet belts. The skin or belts cause suffering or death (usually because they dry out and shrink). | 9 | 9 |
| M197d In M197 family | Shortened stick, ATU 926C.2. | To find the thief, a man gives sticks to the assembled crowd and says that the thief's stick will become longer overnight. The thief cuts off the end of his stick and is thus discovered. | 9 | 9 |
| M198b3 In M198 family | The collapsed mosque. | A supposed fortune teller accidentally finds the missing items, is rewarded and brought close to the ruler. One day, for some reason, he rudely pushes him (or people in general) out of the room. Immediately afterwards, the roof of the building collapses. Since then, no one has doubted the fortune teller's abilities. | 9 | 9 |
| M199d1 In M199 family | The devil and the squirrel climb a tree, ATU 1073. | The devil (cannibal) challenges a man to a competition: who can climb a tree faster. The man puts his child, a squirrel, in his place. | 9 | 2 |
| M29x1 In M29 family | Trickster - Badger | See the motives in square brackets. | 9 | 7 |
| M30a In M30 family | They relieve the need for a fallen person | The character flying over the village falls, is tied up, and defecated on him. | 9 | 7 |
| M32a In M32 family | Eats what falls out | character's insides or pieces of flesh fall out of his back. He eats them, mistaking them for regular meat and fat. | 9 | 11 |
| M35 | Who won't freeze? | Two zoomorphic characters compete to see which of them will spend the whole night in the cold and stay alive. By morning, one of them dies. Cf. K27A motif (the cold test does not involve a two-animal competition). | 9 | 12 |
| M37 | Shattered with an axe | Although the character's head or entire body is cut in two with an ax or split with a stick, the character remains unharmed. Cf. motive J22. | 9 | 8 |
| M38d5 In M38 family | Cereals talking to each other, ATU 293E* | Two or three types of cereals talk to each other, act together, etc. | 9 | 8 |
| M39a2a In M39 family | A fool buys spoons and a table | fool buys spoons and/or a table, tells the table to go on its own feet, throws away spoons because they rattle. The two episodes are usually combined. | 9 | 14 |
| M39a2b In M39 family | A fool salts the river | After buying salt or sugar, a fool pours them into a pond to salt or sweeten the water. | 9 | 11 |
| M39a2d In M39 family | Meat is planted | Fools plant meat, horns, or bones in the hope of raising animals. | 9 | 5 |
| M39e2 In M39 family | Oracle tree, ATU 1543E* | Two people hid their valuables together, and one of them secretly took them. He suggests asking the tree that grew in this place for clarification and hides his father in a hollow to broadcast from there. The tree is set on fire and the deception comes out. | 9 | 8 |
| M57c1 In M57 family | Gold-producing bear | A man fights a bear or (Malayali) leopard and makes another person believe that this animal is defecating with gold. | 9 | 8 |
| M79 | Reed Dancer, J1883 | A person joins the dancers; it turns out that the dancers are reeds or trees in the wind. | 9 | 13 |
| M7a In M7 family | Thrown in the water | Birds or animals take the character into their boat, but take on a zoomorphic appearance and leave their passenger in the water (after he breaks a ban). (It is significant that the boat or raft only appears to be artifacts, but is actually the bodies of the corresponding birds or animals, or it is an ice floe; cf. Motive M31). | 9 | 11 |
| M7c In M7 family | Fish help: offered and rejected | zoomorphic character is waiting to be transported across the water. Animals or fish consistently offer help. The character only accepts the latter's help - he was waiting for him to eat. | 9 | 18 |
| M8d In M8 family | Extend the hole in the body | Birds break through the hard cover on the character's body to reach his entrails. | 9 | 13 |
| M152e In M152 family | Whose voice is louder. | A tiger (lion) and another animal compete to see whose roar is louder. The tiger roars louder, but ultimately loses. | 10 | 12 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.