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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.
All motif categories
| Ref | Title | Summary | Traditions | Narratives ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M78b In M78 family | Too many kids | Wishing a baby, a childless woman gives birth to many tiny boys. She or her husband kill them or throw them away, but she stays alone and helps their parents. | 13 | 15 |
| M90a2 In M90 family | What did the tree grow from? | It should be guessed that the plant grew from a part of the body of a man or a snake or from dirt scraped off from the body | 14 | 15 |
| M90a6 In M90 family | Rejuvenating apples | Owning some apples ensures eternal youth. | 12 | 15 |
| N21 | Hero dough | The warrior-hero was made of dough and then became alive (his name is “The Dough”) | 14 | 15 |
| N29 | Until the boiler boils | time required to perform an action or elapsed since the event described is estimated by comparing it with the time it takes for water to boil and/ or food has been prepared. | 13 | 15 |
| A33 | Sun Ram. | The sun has the appearance of a large, non-predatory mammal (bull, ram, pig, antelope, rhinoceros, etc.) or rides on it. | 13 | 16 |
| A38a In A38 family | Loop made of pubic hair. | The sun is caught in a loop made of a woman's pubic hair. | 11 | 16 |
| A4a In A4 family | The sun hurts the eyes. | So that people do not look at it, the Sun blinds their immodest eyes (usually with needles, which are its rays). | 10 | 16 |
| B100 | Obtaining sleep. | In the past or in a distant land, sleep was unknown; a certain character embodies sleep, possesses it or teaches how to sleep; sleep is a special substance. | 16 | 16 |
| B13 | The crossed riverbed. | A character deliberately or accidentally makes a riverbed by digging it out, drawing it on the ground or spilling water as he walks (cf. motif B13A: water rushes in the footsteps of a person against his will, he tries to run away from it). | 20 | 16 |
| B25 | Pigs fall from trees. | Characters who climb trees or vines and then fall turn into wild pigs or other game animals. | 7 | 16 |
| B30a In B30 family | The slain person turns into a fish. | A fish emerges from the remains of a killed person or creature. At first, it is concentrated in one place, then spreads throughout the water. | 6 | 16 |
| B34 | Caught by the first night. | After the vessel of night is opened, a person caught by the onset of darkness turns into a bird or animal. | 9 | 16 |
| B42m In B42 family | The second hunter's pot. | The three stars of the Big Dipper's handle are three men (hunters, thieves). The stars of the dipper are the object they seek to obtain (the hunted animal; the bed). Alcor (a faint star near Mizar) is a container, a vessel carried by the second of the three characters. | 10 | 16 |
| B93 | Meeting in the sky once a year. | Once a year or once every few years, celestial beings or messengers of the gods meet among the stars. | 11 | 16 |
| C11 | Revenge of the insulted father. | A father with magical powers destroys people (all or many) who have insulted or harmed his son. | 13 | 16 |
| C33a1 In C33 family | Bird pecking at the liver. | A bird of prey flies to the chained character every day and pecks at his internal organs. The character recovers overnight, and the cycle repeats itself. | 4 | 16 |
| C9a In C9 family | The Flood: people turn into aquatic animals. | During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals. | 8 | 16 |
| F15 | Character sticks his penis out of the ground, K1315.2.1. | The character sticks his plant-like penis out of the ground (provoking a woman to sit on it). | 14 | 16 |
| F19 | Dangerous relationship with a frog. | After copulating with a frog, a man's penis is crippled (unless otherwise stated: it becomes long, see motif F18A). | 11 | 16 |
| F70f In F70 family | Accidental change of gender. | Finding themselves in a deserted place, people accidentally change their gender. | 11 | 16 |
| H24e In H24 family | Scattered seeds. | Having brought the seeds of humanity into our world, the character drops or prematurely opens what he has brought. (Sometimes this explains the inequality of people and disorder in society). | 8 | 16 |
| H3 | Funeral games end in death. | Death is sent to people as punishment for excessive sympathy for a dead animal or for funeral games, during which they bury an animal, tree, etc. | 14 | 16 |
| H33a In H33 family | Throwing children over the roof. | God wanted to throw a newborn baby (over a fence, house, etc.) so that it would immediately stand up and start walking, but the woman was frightened and did not allow it. Therefore, children do not walk from birth. See motif H33. | 14 | 16 |
| H36aa In H36 family | False news: incorrect instructions. | The messenger must tell people what they should do if they want to avoid death, but he distorts the instructions and people become mortal. In Mesoamerican variants, it is not about people in general, but about a specific character. | 9 | 16 |
| H36g1 In H36 family | The bull distorts the message. | When a bull (ox, cow) is ordered to convey certain instructions to people, he confuses them or deliberately distorts them. | 11 | 16 |
| H7b2 In H7 family | Immortal poverty. | A man named Poverty makes Death swear that it will never come to him. Therefore, poverty is inevitable in the world. | 10 | 16 |
| I111 | Reptilian Earth. | The earth as a whole or a mountain range is the body of a crocodile, dragon, or snake (eel). | 11 | 16 |
| I17a In I17 family | Dwarfs without bodily orifices. | Creatures without an anal opening or mouth - dwarves. | 13 | 16 |
| I41a In I41 family | Rainbow from an anthill. | A rainbow rises from an anthill or termite mound. | 18 | 16 |
| I47a In I47 family | Rainbow – fox wedding. | The rainbow is associated with the wedding of a fox or jackal. | 10 | 16 |
| I84a In I84 family | The frozen son of a god. | Contrary to the warning of his father or mother, a young man or woman sets off on a journey in winter and freezes to death. Cf. motif B33A ("Frozen in Spring"). | 10 | 16 |
| I86 | Down in birds, scales in fish. | The inhabitants of the upper world produce down, wool, and scales, which turn into birds, animals, and fish. | 18 | 16 |
| I88 | The multi-tailed beast. | Describes a creature with several tails. | 13 | 16 |
| I98b In I98 family | The Pleiades – a duck's nest. | The Pleiades – ducks, nest or wild duck egg. | 10 | 16 |
| J15a In J15 family | Woman among the Jaguars. | Setting off on a journey (usually in search of a fiancé, husband, or relatives), a woman finds herself in the lair or settlement of large dangerous predators - pumas or jaguars. See motif J15. | 18 | 16 |
| J39 | Who killed the rabbit? | The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did. | 20 | 16 |
| K100e In K100 family | Dangerous tales. | Fairy tales act as separate characters: they usually try to harm people, believing that a certain person does not treat them with due respect. Cf. motif L94d, "The Tale with a Tail". | 17 | 16 |
| K100h In K100 family | The test of gratitude, ATU 750D, 751C*. | A supernatural character fulfils the wishes of one or more people and later visits them again. The beneficiary or most of them turn out to be ungrateful and chase him away. In response, the character deprives them of what they have gained. | 30 | 16 |
| k102c1 In k102 family | A splinter turns into a duck. | The enemy systematically destroys the objects and creatures into which the hero is reincarnated. The hero wins after turning from a splinter into a waterfowl (duck, goose). | 15 | 16 |
| K119c In K119 family | Tsar-Thunder and Tsarina-Lightning. | The antagonist believes that he has been attacked by the lord of thunder (the father of the bride, whom a zoomorphic assistant has tricked into marrying a poor young man, motif K119). | 12 | 16 |
| K145 | Predicted death by a wolf, ATU 934B*. | A person is predicted to be torn apart by a wolf or to die during a wedding. The prediction turns out to be true. In the case of a wedding, the bride turns into a wolf and kills the groom. | 19 | 16 |
| K149 | Three knots. | The character has a rope or reins with three knots, allowing him to move faster or slower. Usually, untying the first and second knots causes the character's ship to sail faster (thanks to the rising wind) or his horse to gallop faster; however, contrary to the warning, the character (when almost reaching the goal) also unties the third knot and as a result loses the ship, the horse, ends up not where he wanted to be, etc. | 11 | 16 |
| K14b In K14 family | Accusation of knife theft. | A man is advised not to do anything until he is expressly asked to do so. He unwisely offers to let someone use his knife and is subsequently accused of a crime. | 19 | 16 |
| K166 | Forty girls. | A group of girls forms a community or troop and acts independently of men. Cf. motif F39. | 19 | 16 |
| K22c In K22 family | Birds are attacked. | Inhabitants of another world who are birds (bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals that are not dangerous to ordinary people, but which regularly attack them. | 10 | 16 |
| K27n3c1 In K27 family | The hero's adversaries – polar bears. | The inhabitants of the polar bear village – relatives of his wife – set the hero difficult tasks and trials. | 11 | 16 |
| k27q2 In k27 family | Gusli-samogudy. | The hero is sent to obtain a musical instrument, usually a gusli-samogudy. | 11 | 16 |
| K27v1 In K27 family | To hit a needle with an arrow. | The character must hit the eye of a needle with an arrow (the eye of a needle). | 10 | 16 |
| k33f1 In k33 family | Source of oil according to a vow. | A person promises to create a source from which a valuable product (most often oil) flows and honestly fulfils their promise (rarely: promises to distribute a large amount of such a product). | 10 | 16 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.