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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A11a In A11 family | Eyes of the luminaries: coolness and night. | The visible sun or moon are their eyes; if the eyes of the luminaries were not damaged, it would be much brighter and hotter. | 33 | 45 |
| A2c In A2 family | Extra suns – children of the chief, A736.1.4.1. | The extra suns that existed in the past or may appear in the future are the children of the Sun-father. See motif A2A. | 28 | 45 |
| A32d1 In A32 family | Cain and Abel on the moon. | Cain and Abel are associated with the moon, usually distinguishable (both or only Cain) in the silhouette of lunar spots. | 21 | 45 |
| B42p In B42 family | Ursa Major – bear. | The Big Dipper is identified with a bear. | 38 | 45 |
| B42U In B42 family | The stars of the ladle handle – three people. | The stars of the handle of the Big Dipper – three people, and the four stars of the dipper – animals or objects (one or more). | 29 | 45 |
| B73b In B73 family | In search of a family member. | Two teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call. | 29 | 45 |
| C6a In C6 family | Diver – turtle/frog. | A turtle or toad (frog) brings a desired object from the bottom or from the underworld. | 38 | 45 |
| I95 | The Pleiades – a sieve for grain. | The Pleiades are a sieve or riddle for sifting agricultural products. See motif I95. | 29 | 45 |
| J51a1 In J51 family | The helper girl: dismembered and reassembled. | To retrieve an object from a hard-to-reach place, the girl orders it to be dismembered (or just have its fingers cut off) and then reassembled, after which it comes back to life. | 15 | 45 |
| J53c In J53 family | One friend kills another. | Two women live together, both have children. One of them leaves the house with the other, kills her and (later) eats her. The children of the murdered woman escape. See motif J52. | 26 | 45 |
| K101b In K101 family | Three Nights of Trials, (ATU 400). | A girl or young man is freed from a spell after the hero endures three nights of torment or fear inflicted by demons. The girl or young man themselves are not dangerous to the hero; they help him. | 22 | 45 |
| K107a3 In K107 family | Beauty and the Beast, ATU 425C. | When her father leaves, the daughter asks him to bring her a flower (leaf, etc.). The father picks it in the garden of an enchanted prince who has a monstrous appearance. The monster demands the daughter from her father and, thanks to the girl, regains his princely appearance. | 36 | 45 |
| K117a In K117 family | Making the silent speak. | A girl who is constantly silent is promised to the one who can make her speak; or a husband struggles to make his magical wife speak. | 44 | 45 |
| K163 | Aladdin's Lamp, ATU 561. | A sorcerer orders a young man to retrieve a magical object (often a lamp) from a hard-to-reach place. The young man finds the object (but refuses to give it up), and the sorcerer grants his wishes. | 63 | 45 |
| K27ss In K27 family | Overtake (an old) woman. | A strong man must overtake a woman, often an old woman. This is difficult or impossible to achieve. | 34 | 45 |
| K80c In K80 family | Ivico's cranes, ATU 960, 960A. | Before dying, the murderer's victim turns to birds (stars, animals, plants, etc.). Later, seeing these birds (the moon, the sun, this plant, etc.), the murderer recalls his deed aloud or otherwise gives himself away. Or the birds, being the only witnesses to the crime, lead the investigators to the murderers. | 49 | 45 |
| K90 | Black and red, (ATU 156B*). | A person sees two opposing monsters or animals (usually of contrasting colours: red and black, black and white) and helps one of them, or one of the combatants helps the person. (Cf. ATU 156B, 738). | 41 | 45 |
| L116a In L116 family | Doe with golden horns. | While chasing a roe deer (fallow deer, deer), the hero finds himself in the lair of a demon or wizard; the roe deer is an enchanted person or demon. | 32 | 45 |
| L14 | The cultivated snake. | People bring a small creature (usually a worm or reptile) into their home and raise it, or it settles into a man-made dwelling on its own. The creature turns into something terrifying or magnificent. See motif L13 (raised monster attacks people). | 79 | 45 |
| L37a2 In L37 family | Who will become a ferryman. | A man comes to ask God (fate, the sun, etc.) questions that he was asked to ask by those he met along the way. Someone asks when he will be freed from his duties. Answer: let him leave another person in his place. | 34 | 45 |
| M134c In M134 family | Having eaten his fill in the storeroom, he cannot get out, ATU 41. | A zoomorphic character climbs into a cellar (pantry, garden, etc.) and eats so much that he cannot get out. | 49 | 45 |
| M29g2 In M29 family | Cancer is a cunning winner | Cancer (crab) defeats or deceives strong opponents by cunning. | 30 | 45 |
| M46b In M46 family | A born infant | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. | 40 | 45 |
| M75b In M75 family | The animal in the carcass was carried away by a bird | A person hides in the skin or carcass of a large animal. A bird brings a skin or carcass to the nest without knowing what it brought the person. | 46 | 45 |
| M89 | Melted wax | A character is humiliated after an object or creature made of wax, resin, or excrement that he made himself or that he thought was strong melts warmly, the present. | 42 | 45 |
| M91c4 In M91 family | The pot cooks by itself | A person removes the pot from the fire, its contents continue to boil, or the person prepares food in advance, puts it in a pot or pit. Another believes that the pot cooks without fire or incredibly fast (or that a stick, if it hits the ground or the pot, creates food), buys a pot (stick). | 31 | 45 |
| N10a In N10 family | Transparent bones | A woman or (rarely) a man with a transparent body is described - bones are visible through the skin, bone marrow is visible through the bones. This transparency is a sign of beauty. | 17 | 45 |
| N10b In N10 family | Transparent neck | A girl or (rarely) a young man with a transparent neck is described, through which you can see the drinks and/or food that this girl or boy swallows. This neck is a sign of beauty. | 31 | 45 |
| A41 | The sun eats its children. | Two characters have children (brothers and sisters, mothers). One suggests killing these children (mothers), giving reasons in favour of such a decision. In fact, he hides his own children, while his interlocutor actually kills his children. One of the characters and/or the surviving child is the sun. | 33 | 46 |
| E31a1 In E31 family | Who will be the husband of the created girl? ATU 653C. | Three (rarely four or two) men participate in the creation of the girl: one carves the figure out of wood, another dresses her, and the third brings her to life. To whom should the animated girl belong? | 52 | 46 |
| F32 | The snake son gathers fruit. | Small children or a single infant, who temporarily transform into adult men and/or emerge from their mother's womb, or a snake living in a woman's womb, climb a tree and help her gather fruit, bark, tree mushrooms, etc.; or a father discovers his daughter's connection with a snake when he climbs a tree to gather fruit for her. | 31 | 46 |
| F43 | Disappearance of women. | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. | 28 | 46 |
| F9g In F9 family | Brünnhilde, ATU 519. | A powerful woman defeats and kills her suitors. The hero or his assistant defeats her (usually on their wedding night, subduing her with rods or a whip). The hero marries the heroine. | 60 | 46 |
| G15 | Corn girls. | In another world or in the past, products or materials used by humans look or looked like people. | 26 | 46 |
| h54d In h54 family | Lord of the spirits. | A character whose eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) are so heavy that he cannot open his eyes without help, possesses enormous power and is dangerous to heroes and people in general. He is often associated with the underworld or with a bygone era. | 25 | 46 |
| J64 | Into the sky on a pillar of smoke. | Without touching the fire or burning, the character rises into the sky or crosses the river on clouds of smoke. | 37 | 46 |
| K128b In K128 family | The Hare Shepherd, ATU 570. | The ruler will give his daughter to the one who can herd (gather, train) hares (squirrels, sheep, poultry, partridges) without loss. A poor young man accomplishes the task with the help of a magic device. To have an excuse to refuse, the ruler's family members try to buy one hare (a magic pipe, etc.) so that the suitor cannot fulfil his promise, but as a result they find themselves in a humiliating position. | 53 | 46 |
| K21 | Once in heaven, she gets married. | A girl ends up in the sky and gets married there. | 32 | 46 |
| K99a3 In K99 family | Happy dream: sun, moon and stars. | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). | 33 | 46 |
| L108b1 In L108 family | The blacksmith makes his voice thin. | To make his voice thin, the character turns to the blacksmith. | 25 | 46 |
| M106a In M106 family | "I Myself" and "No One" in the Demon's House. | The character who caused the damage calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Nobody," "I Myself," etc. Usually, others decide that the victim himself is to blame for what happened. | 31 | 46 |
| M142 | The Punished Tail, ATU 154. | A zoomorphic character accuses his tail of hindering his escape from pursuit (usually punishes it and dies as a result). (ATU data not entered; plot 154 includes several independent motifs; which of them are present in the traditions referred to by ATU cannot be determined without referring to the original sources). | 36 | 46 |
| M143 | The fox in the well, ATU 31, 32. | Finding himself in a pit or well, one character persuades another to climb down to him, thanks to which he gets out, leaving the other at the bottom. | 64 | 46 |
| M165 | A coat for a wolf, ATU 102. | One zoomorphic character promises another to sew a coat (boots), asks him to bring sheep, eats them, and does not sew anything. | 38 | 46 |
| M167 | The tiger mistaken for a bull, ATU 177. | In the dark, a person mistakes a tiger (lion, demon) for another person or a domestic animal (bull, ox). | 33 | 46 |
| M176 | Test: jumping over an obstacle. | The characters agree to jump over a ditch, stream, fire, etc., or walk across a log, rope, etc. One or all of them {specified in brackets} fall. | 37 | 46 |
| M29w1 In M29 family | The leopard is a loser and a loser | As a result of their stupidity or antisocial behavior, the leopard (panther, leopard) dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 57 | 46 |
| M39a8a In M39 family | Drops a heavy object from a tree | A fool or buffoon climbs a tree taking a heavy objects with him and then drops it frightening those who are under the tree | 37 | 46 |
| M7 | Waiting for transport | The character goes to the lower world, to the sky, to the country on the horizon, etc. and waits for someone to give him a ride to his goal. Usually, some animals/birds or celestial bodies follow by, and the last (often the Sun or Month) delivers. | 27 | 46 |
| N2 | Origins: when the goat was a commander | Fabulous and epic texts start from the beginning, which states that animals were performing human social or economic functions at that time. | 14 | 46 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.