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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L29 | Fish from a puddle. | A person catches fish where it should not be, usually in a small forest pond isolated from running water; those who eat this fish die, undergo metamorphosis and/or are attacked by monsters. See motif L28. | 18 | 24 |
| L33e In L33 family | The gifted cloak. | The trickster demands back or takes the cloak belonging to the skale or another character (usually he himself had previously given this cloak as a gift). | 15 | 24 |
| L42g2 In L42 family | The bird erases the trace. | A person leaves traces behind by dropping seeds, pebbles, etc., or leaving drops of blood. These traces are unintentionally destroyed by birds, animals, wind, etc. | 21 | 24 |
| L42i1 In L42 family | The boy fisherman is carried away by a witch (ATU 327F). | A boy is rowing a boat. A witch lures him out and carries him away. The boy escapes. | 9 | 24 |
| L57b In L57 family | The demon comes for a part of his body, ATU 161A. | A person tears off or cuts off a part of the body of a predatory animal or demonic creature and uses it. The creature comes for the lost part, usually killing or maiming the person. | 19 | 24 |
| L7a In L7 family | Sticky: first to humans, then to animals. | A character who sticks to another creature and refuses to let go, first sticking to a human, then to an animal, or first sticking to an animal, then to a bird. | 17 | 24 |
| L82 | Burns his leg in a fire. | A person deliberately or accidentally burns his foot in a fire or burns himself completely; he turns into a demonic creature. See motif L9 (man with a sharp foot). | 16 | 24 |
| M111 | Monkey on a banana. | Two animals (usually a monkey and a turtle) agree to gather fruit. The one who can climb trees eats the good fruit and throws one peel or rotten fruit to its companion. The companion takes revenge. | 20 | 24 |
| M163b In M163 family | Inheritance brings good luck. | A father leaves his son (each of his sons) something of little value as an inheritance. The son goes to a country where such objects or animals are unknown and sells what he has received for a large sum of money. | 23 | 24 |
| M179a In M179 family | The master is driven out of the house. | One character deceives another or, in the absence of the other, occupies his dwelling and refuses to return it. | 21 | 24 |
| M199g1 In M199 family | Hold on to the handle, ATU 1052. | A human (a weaker animal) deceives a strong giant (a demon, a stronger animal). One of the episodes: both carry a tree, the strong man takes hold of the top (by the crown), the man supposedly takes hold of the crown (by the top), but instead sits on the tree carried by the strong man or walks along pretending to support the branches. | 30 | 24 |
| M29f In M29 family | Wolverine is a loser and a loser | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the wolverine dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 30 | 24 |
| M33 | Sealed anus | The character plugs or seals his anus tightly (with wax, clay, grass, etc.), or someone else does it. See M32 motif. | 23 | 24 |
| M39a4e In M39 family | A fool sells property to a tree | Fool sells property to a tree (stump, pole, a cross in the countryside) and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure | 21 | 24 |
| M39a6f In M39 family | Sell and return the sheep | The father tells his son to sell the sheep (goat) and return it along with the proceeds. Usually a girl teaches how to sell trimmed wool. | 24 | 24 |
| M39g1 In M39 family | Jump into pants, ATU 1286 | fool does not pull pants or boots over his feet, but jumps in them from above. | 32 | 24 |
| M39i In M39 family | The Hangman's Treasure, ATU 910D | After going broke, a person decides to hang himself, but finds gold (specially put by the father where his son hangs). | 37 | 24 |
| B103 | Cornelian cherry. | The character thinks that since the cornel blooms earlier than other fruit trees, its fruits will ripen earlier than others. The character is mistaken and is left without fruit. | 19 | 25 |
| B94 | Trees lose the gift of speech. | Trees (and animals) used to talk, asking people not to cut them down or kill them. | 15 | 25 |
| F28 | Monstrous penis. | There is a separate penis character with whom the first women, Amazons, or simply some woman copulate. | 18 | 25 |
| F55 | What do you want? | Not understanding what her interlocutor of the opposite sex wants, a woman or girl names or shows various objects and body parts. The interlocutor is satisfied when she names or exposes her genitals. Cf. motif f55a. | 22 | 25 |
| F65d In F65 family | The fake dead man: the wife doesn't believe it. | The character pretends to be dying and is left at the burial site. However, his wife (mother, aunt) finds out about the deception and provokes the supposed dead man, forcing him to reveal himself. | 10 | 25 |
| G16 | Ants find cultivated plants. | Ants are the first to find cultivated plants that are unknown to others and concentrated in one place. | 13 | 25 |
| H34e In H34 family | Edible snow. | The snow was edible. | 24 | 25 |
| H36d In H36 family | The hare betrays man. | The hare distorts God's command and/or is responsible for the fact that humans are mortal. See motif H36. | 9 | 25 |
| I85a In I85 family | Animals around the North Star. | Animals walk around the North Star, or the movement of the stars is compared to the movement of animals around a pole. See motif I85. | 23 | 25 |
| J12H In J12 family | Opossum. | The false groom - the opossum. | 14 | 25 |
| J41c In J41 family | Trials before meeting the antagonist. | The character goes to fight a dangerous enemy. Along the way, he is given tasks to complete. This is a sign that he will defeat his enemy. Usually, the same tasks were previously given to another character who was unable to complete them and was defeated by the enemy. | 23 | 25 |
| J48 | The parrot cuts the rope. | A character climbs up to the sky or descends from the sky to the ground on a rope. A parrot cuts the rope, and the character falls. | 10 | 25 |
| K102c In K102 family | Having changed his appearance, the hero recovers the magical object (ATU 318). | The enemy seizes the object that makes the hero invulnerable and kills him. The hero is revived. Changing his appearance, he provokes the enemy to put the magical object on the ground, seizes it again and kills the enemy. | 20 | 25 |
| K119e In K119 family | The Miller: A Success Story. | The poor young man who was helped by an animal assistant, who presented him to the king as a rich man, is a miller or a miller's son. | 20 | 25 |
| K136c In K136 family | Sometimes alive, sometimes dead. | Upon leaving, the demon temporarily kills or puts the girl to sleep, and upon returning, revives her. | 19 | 25 |
| K179 | As much gold as the bride weighs. | For an object (usually a girl), as much (or more) gold (silver) is given or promised as it weighs, or a pile of valuables as tall as the person being bought. | 18 | 25 |
| K1c In K1 family | He who comes to look at the bones perishes himself. | A man is abandoned on an island but survives. After some time, the person who abandoned him comes to look at his bones. The abandoned man sails away in his boat, leaving him to die. | 19 | 25 |
| K31 | Wooden seal. | The character makes a marine mammal or fish out of wood. It kills his enemies or drags them out to the open sea. | 19 | 25 |
| K33a1a In K33 family | Heroine in the belly of a whale. | A woman thrown into the water finds herself in the belly of a fish (whale), but is then rescued. | 16 | 25 |
| K33a4 In K33 family | Heroine transformed into a forest animal (ATU 409). | A woman, transformed into a medium-sized forest animal (lynx, wolf, vixen) by the machinations of a rival, tries to establish contact with her children or husband. | 18 | 25 |
| K50 | An imaginary wife cuts off the head of an enemy. | A man approaches the enemy disguised as a woman and kills him at night (usually cutting off his head and taking it with him). | 23 | 25 |
| K56a4a In K56 family | While the demon brings clothes, ATU 480A. | Left alone with the demon in the bathhouse (mill, etc.), the girl demands that he bring her new clothes, jewellery, etc., and while the demon is fetching them, morning comes. | 19 | 25 |
| K56c In K56 family | The Golden Axe, ATU 729. | A man loses his axe. A spirit or chief offers him a golden one, but the man says that the axe is not his and for this he receives axes of gold and silver as a reward. Another man deliberately loses his ordinary axe, seeking to obtain a golden one, but suffers a fiasco. | 39 | 25 |
| K60c In K60 family | Stropiva with the king, patient with the groom. | The stubborn wife of a worthy man goes on a date with a demon or a servant. He beats her, but she patiently endures her lover's beatings. | 21 | 25 |
| K70 | Two daughters-in-law: a girl and a frog. | One man marries a girl, another (usually the brother of the first) marries a frog or a toad, or the girl and the frog are the wives of one man. Usually, the wives are given certain tests, and the girl is recognised as a worthy wife, while the frog is recognised as worthless. | 23 | 25 |
| K9 | The wife of a deity is thrown down from heaven. | The heavenly leader (deity), accusing or suspecting a woman of infidelity, relations with an animal, incest, or a desire to rule over him, throws her down. She becomes the mistress of the lower or middle world or part of it, or the mother of the master of the lower world, and gives birth to humans. Cf. motif J18. | 17 | 25 |
| L115 | The Perfect Gentleman. | A girl who rejected suitors finally finds someone she likes. The groom turns out to be a werewolf: on the way to his home, he gives away borrowed items of clothing and parts of his body. | 16 | 25 |
| L116 | The Singer in the Sack, ATU 311B. | A cannibal (old man, gypsy) grabs a girl, carries her away, and forces her to sing (beg). People recognise the girl's voice and free her. | 20 | 25 |
| L122 | Riding a rooster. | The character rides on a rooster. | 19 | 25 |
| L15i In L15 family | Life in hair. | A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends to) if his hair is cut or pulled out. | 24 | 25 |
| L65b1 In L65 family | Exchanging sheep for dogs. | A man exchanges sheep (goats) for dogs. The exchange seems unequal, but the dogs help him achieve success. | 15 | 25 |
| M103 | Children with beautiful spots. | One character asks another how her (his) children acquired valuable qualities (became beautiful, obedient, etc.). The other replies that children must be baked in ashes, kept in fire, burned, etc. The first character does so, and her or his children die or are maimed. | 20 | 25 |
| M115 | The eaten wolf. | The character kills an animal that is dangerous to him by cunning. Relatives or friends of the killed animal find out about this and come to take revenge. The character escapes. | 20 | 25 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.