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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

Showing 1,401–1,450 of 3,494 · Page 29 of 70

Ref Title Summary Traditions Narratives ▲
M97a1 In M97 family The blind man questions the trees to get new eyes. 12 18
A2c1 In A2 family The Sun refuses to marry. The Sun is going to have children. One of the animals warns that if the Sun has children, the world will burn. The Sun has to (refuse marriage and) remain childless. 11 19
A30 The corpse-eating moon. The moon descends to earth to eat children, corpses or the bones of the dead. 11 19
A32i In A32 family Shepherd on the moon. A shepherd (shepherd and girl, shepherd and his flock, dogs) can be seen on the lunar disc. 14 19
A35c In A35 family Scratches and wounds on the face of the moon. Moon spots are scratches and wounds on the face of a character. 15 19
A37a In A37 family The hidden archer. A small animal (marmot, rabbit, mole, toad, frog, earthworm) or a person who turns into such an animal tries to hit the heavenly body with arrows or helps the archer. Since then, this animal has been hiding in burrows and in water. 14 19
A42a In A42 family The sun imitator falls from the sky. Having risen into the sky, the character unsuccessfully performs the role of the sun and as a result falls or is thrown down to earth. 8 19
B19 Night and married life. Before nightfall, people could not make love in peace. 12 19
B2f1 In B2 family Buried in the head. (While the earth does not yet exist or has not yet hardened), birds bury the dead in their bodies – usually in their beaks or heads, which explains the unpleasant smell or the origin of the crest, swelling on the beak, etc. 11 19
B39 The narrow waist of an insect. An insect or character, which later turns into an insect, knows where food (cultivated plants) or water is located, but refuses to share this knowledge. To find the valuables (usually to force the insect to reveal its secret), the first ancestors pull on a rope tied around the character's waist (the origin of the bridge between the abdominal and thoracic sections of insects). 14 19
B55 Leaf fish. Fish grow on tree branches or tree leaves turn into fish. 15 19
B86A In B86 family Reaching for the moon in the sky. People try to climb up to the sky to get the moon. (In brackets are traditions in which the goal of building a tower to the sky is the moon, but the task of getting it is not mentioned). 17 19
C10a In C10 family Birds clinging to the sky, A2211.1. During the flood, some birds save themselves by clinging to the sky with their beaks. Cf. A2211.7 ("During the flood, birds cling to the sky; their tails acquire their current colour"). 15 19
E14 Knowledge from the dead. Rituals received from the spirits of the dead. 16 19
E1a In E1 family The first humans made of fragile materials. The first humans are made of fragile materials (clay, wax, fire, honey, etc.) and prove to be unviable. 13 19
E27 People from drops of blood. People arise from drops of blood from a wounded anthropomorphic creature. 12 19
E31 Imaginary Pygmalion. A man makes a wooden doll and behaves as if it were alive. It does not come to life, or comes to life only partially or temporarily. A real woman replaces the figure and marries the carver. 14 19
F31 Snake egg. A girl or woman becomes pregnant, without knowing it, by a reptile when she unknowingly touches a dead reptile or when a liquid that has leaked from the reptile gets inside her (usually when the contents of a snake egg accidentally flow between her legs). 15 19
F91 The worm grower. A man finds or breeds monstrous worms to eat his wife. 10 19
F9a1 In F9 family The pike's mouth, ATU 1686A*. A girl or young woman says (pretends) that she has a predatory mouth in her vagina. {Unlike variants characteristic of the circum-Pacific region, the corresponding texts do not suggest that the female womb is actually dangerous}. 17 19
G26 Swallowed food: obtained for people. After swallowing or hiding food in their mouth, the character brings it to earth (passes it on to people). 14 19
H24f In H24 family Meat in a bag. The character has the ability to put a large amount of meat or fish into a bag or container that is easy to carry. 13 19
H36f In H36 family The raven – an unsuccessful messenger. The raven is sent to deliver an important item or message. He distorts the message or loses what has been entrusted to him. 15 19
H39 Snakes become poisonous (spilled poison). Creatures that are now dangerous (snakes, insects) swallow an uncontrolled substance and as a result become poisonous or immortal; creatures acquire their nature (usually becoming poisonous) by drinking or licking a special potion. 16 19
H49d In H49 family The Innocently Slain Parrot, ATU 916(4). A character (usually a bird) brings a healing (rejuvenating) fruit (seed, branch). Accidentally or maliciously, poison gets into the fruit. The person whom the fruit-bearer wanted to help kills or is about to kill his benefactor, and then learns of his mistake. 14 19
H50 The sky god and the mistress of the dead. A pair of deities or first ancestors diverge. The man remains on earth or goes to heaven (remains in heaven), the woman becomes the mistress of the world of the dead, the earth, the underworld, usually associated with disease and poisonous animals. 13 19
H52a In H52 family Death provokes touching the ground. Returning from the land of immortality, a person must not touch the ground. However, he dismounts from his horse to help an old man (old woman). Death, who has taken the form of an old man, immediately kills him. Rarely: at the last moment, the hero decides not to perform actions that are fatal for him. 11 19
H7c1 In H7 family The trickster enters paradise. The trickster first deceives Death (the devil), and then, also by deception, enters paradise. 16 19
I10a In I10 family Coloured layers of the sky. Individual layers or categories of the sky or clouds differ in colour. 17 19
I116 The Milky Way – the boundary between seasons. The Milky Way separates the seasons of the year or worlds (dry from wet, sky from earth, etc.). 18 19
I3a In I3 family Lightning – whip. During a thunderstorm, the character strikes with a whip – these are flashes of lightning. 19 19
I59b2 In I59 family The Milky Way – St. James' Way. The Milky Way – St. James' Way. 15 19
j1d In j1 family Heroic avengers - Like J1D, but the role of potential heroes is reduced to a minimum: a woman with a baby is saved from the antagonist and receives help from <i>the patron </i>. Heroic avengers - Like J1D, but the role of potential heroes is reduced to a minimum: a woman with a baby is saved from the antagonist and receives help from the patron . 13 19
J22b In J22 family Two women from one. A woman is cut or torn in half, and two new ones appear. 11 19
J52a In J52 family Antagonist – female bear. A she-bear or bear treacherously kills his companion, neighbour, etc., who is associated with a herbivorous animal or a weaker predator. The victim's children take revenge by killing the murderer's children or flee. See motifs J52, J54. 36 19
J63 The son saves, the daughter betrays. Enemies arrive and tie up the husband. The wife agrees to live with the new man, while the former lies bound. One character (usually the daughter) refuses to free him, while another (usually the son) frees him. The husband kills the enemies and usually brutally executes (the daughter and) his wife. 16 19
K101b1 In K101 family Black becomes white. The enchanted character (the castle where the action takes place) gradually changes its appearance over several days as the spell wears off: it acquires human features, turning from black to white, from ugly to beautiful. 12 19
K102a1 In K102 family Imaginary grave. To hide the truth, a person buries an animal or an inanimate object and says that the grave supposedly contains the remains of another person's wife (bride, mother, daughter, sister, children). 18 19
K23 Battle with birds. Birds attack inhabitants of another world or a person who has entered another world. See motif K22. 46 19
K24c In K24 family An old man helps to obtain a bird wife, ATU 413. A young man comes to an old man (less often – to an old woman), who teaches him how to get a magical wife by hiding her bird clothes. Usually, the young man gives away the clothes for the first time and lives with the old man until the girls fly back. 20 19
K27h1 In K27 family Bringing fruit. The character is tasked with bringing the fruits of a tree that is difficult to reach. 15 19
K27zz1 In K27 family Preserving her child. Several wives are thrown into a dungeon (banished), each gives birth to a child, but only one manages to save hers. The boy grows up and rescues the women. 19 19
K33a5 In K33 family The heroine is turned into a duck. A woman who has been turned into a duck (goose) by her rival's scheming tries to establish contact with her children or husband. 10 19
K45b In K45 family A woman becomes an aquatic animal. A man and a woman belonging to different generations (father – daughter, son – mother) come into conflict, as a result of which the woman turns into a marine mammal, the mistress of marine mammals, or a frog. 12 19
K80c1 In K80 family Melon and severed head, ATU 780C. Someone brings meat or fruit to another person or keeps it for themselves. At the decisive moment, the food turns into the remains of a (supposedly) murdered person. The owner is executed or is about to be executed. Cf. motif K168A. 24 19
K83a In K83 family Where the father did not go. To fulfil the task, the character's sons must travel to a place where he has never been (or once was). 15 19
K95a In K95 family Burdock among rose bushes. The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers. 18 19
L15b In L15 family To kill with a cane. The character can only be killed with a specific plant, which is not usually used for making weapons. 22 19
L25 The devil sucks out brains. By killing demons, people save the life of a child, girl or woman. Remaining among people, she or he kills people (usually children) left in her or his care. 16 19
L32 The voracious stone. The stone swallows, bites, beats or transforms people. 15 19

Showing 1,401–1,450 of 3,494 · Page 29 of 70

Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.