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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B38e In B38 family | The gull's rump. | The character kicks a loon or other waterfowl. Since then, it has had a flattened tail and finds it difficult to walk on land. | 33 | 47 |
| B52c In B52 family | The earth is larger than the sky. | When the earth and sky were created, they turned out to be different sizes. The earth was compressed, and mountains appeared. See motif B52. | 30 | 47 |
| B90 | Master of wolves. | There is an anthropomorphic patron, master or mistress of wolves; he usually gives instructions to the wolves on a certain day of the year. | 32 | 47 |
| C5b In C5 family | Animals sent on reconnaissance. | After a global catastrophe or during the creation of the earth, animals run around, making the earth large, reporting on its condition, or are sent to find out how large the earth is. | 35 | 47 |
| c8e In c8 family | Salvation in a pumpkin during the flood. | During the flood or at the beginning of time, people (usually a brother and sister) float in a large gourd. | 21 | 47 |
| E2 | People on trial. | When creating humans, the creator does not immediately achieve perfection. The first versions of the creation are rejected, then the appropriate form and material are found. See motif E1A. | 31 | 47 |
| G32 | Food from the underworld. | People obtain cultivated plants from the underwater or underground world. | 41 | 47 |
| H10 | The sunken stone. | People are mortal, as they are likened to a stone thrown into water; they usually miss the opportunity to resemble organic matter that floats in water. | 29 | 47 |
| H13 | The returned dead come back to life. | The character comes to the underworld, brings back the dead person or brings back their remains. The dead person comes back to life and (for a while) remains among the living. | 37 | 47 |
| H36b In H36 family | The chameleon betrays man. | The chameleon is to blame for the fact that man is mortal or that he must labour; he loses the trust placed in him by the deity. See motif H36. | 39 | 47 |
| H37 | The spirit's superweapon falls into the hands of the hunter. | A magical item that makes hunting or fishing easy and reliable falls into the hands of a character who is unable to control it or abuses it. | 33 | 47 |
| H44 | The bloody division of offspring (ATU 485). | A human enters into a relationship with a non-human being. When they part, the being tears apart (or intends to tear apart) their child. (Most of the data was collected by S.Y. Neklyudov). | 27 | 47 |
| I103 | Dog Star. | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf. | 29 | 47 |
| I118 | The spider-advisor. | A female spider (less commonly, an old spider) protects the hero or heroine, who live with her, and the hero marries her daughter. (Texts in which the spider only lifts the hero up to the sky or lowers him to the ground are not included; see motif I117). | 20 | 47 |
| I11a In I11 family | The earth is supported on the back of a turtle (frog). | Describes how, in the process of creation, the earth is placed on the back of a turtle or frog, which becomes its support. | 26 | 47 |
| I16 | Physical abnormalities of the first humans. | Early humans have no mouth, anus, or genitals, and their women are unable to give birth. | 51 | 47 |
| I22c In I22 family | Board from the stern of the Argo. | The character safely slips, sails or flies through the opening, which then slams shut, but the edge of the stern of the boat, the tail of an animal or bird, the body of a riding animal, the hero's companion or his own heel is crushed, torn off, etc. | 47 | 47 |
| I85c1 In I85 family | Heavenly vessel for rain, A1131.4, A1131.4.1. | In the sky there is a vessel, a box or an indescribable container for storing rain (rain clouds). | 38 | 47 |
| K108 | The revived wife cheats on her husband, ATU 612. | Wife dies, husband revives her, she leaves him for another man, punished. | 62 | 47 |
| K131a In K131 family | The hero divides the carcass, ATU 159*. | Several animals (often a lion, a falcon, an ant) argue (usually over prey or habitat). The hero resolves their dispute, and they grant him the ability to take on their form (to possess their qualities). | 24 | 47 |
| K131d In K131 family | Seven-league boots. | Mention is made of footwear that allows the character to quickly cover enormous distances. | 34 | 47 |
| K18d In K18 family | At the pike's command, ATU 675. | A young man releases or saves a fish (frog, snake, supernatural creature), it grants his wishes, and he marries a princess. {References to ATU are not entirely reliable. In particular, Uther 2004 includes a Corsican variant (Massignon 1984, No. 66), in which the main part of the plot is missing. References to Balkan variants probably correspond to the definition of the plot, since it does exist among the Bulgarians}. | 55 | 47 |
| K27x2 In K27 family | Getting an egg from under a bird, ATU 1525H 1 . | The character is able to get an egg or chick (and put them back) from under a bird in a nest, or change the bird's feathers (pluck feathers), or get a fruit from an animal's womb so that the bird or animal does not notice. | 45 | 47 |
| K27zy In K27 family | The hero between two cannibals. | A young man (woman) lives in the house of a cannibal (witch). In order to destroy him or her, the cannibal orders that a certain object be brought from other cannibals (often from his or her mother or sister). The hero or heroine escapes (and destroys all the cannibals). | 29 | 47 |
| K33a8 In K33 family | The heroine is transformed into a dove. | A woman transformed into a dove by the machinations of a rival tries to establish contact with her children or husband. | 34 | 47 |
| K35c In K35 family | The Dev in the Well, ATU 677, 677*, 986. | The dev (ajdaha, sea king) did not kill the man who descended to him, as people assumed, but rewarded him because he greeted him and/or answered his question correctly. | 36 | 47 |
| K38b3b In K38 family | The hero shelters the chicks. | A mighty bird (rarely – another creature) helps a person for sheltering (warming) its chicks (offspring, children). | 27 | 47 |
| L131 | Your children are burning (all versions). | To get rid of a demonic creature or make a bird or ladybird fly away, they are told that the place where their home and/or children are located is engulfed in fire. | 23 | 47 |
| L135 | The Wanderer. | A person leaves home and finds himself in unfamiliar places. His journey is marked by encounters with various strange creatures. In the end, he either returns home or leaves the earth for another world. (With an abundance of episodes, the story often either breaks off or does not contain the initial episodes explaining the reason for the hero's departure from home). | 36 | 47 |
| M110 | The forgotten liver, ATU 91. | Upon learning that it is being transported by water to be eaten, the land animal explains to the transporter that it has forgotten on the shore the organ without which the meat is not tasty, which must be used as medicine, etc. The transporter agrees to return for this organ, and the animal runs away. | 42 | 47 |
| M166 | The world among animals, ATU 62. | A predator suggests that its potential prey, which is sitting in a tree, come down (usually telling a bird that there is peace among the animals and there is no need to be afraid). The prey is in no hurry to come down and usually advises the approaching dogs to spread the word about the peace among the animals. The predator runs away. | 71 | 47 |
| M198b2 In M198 family | A fortune teller named Grasshopper. | An authoritative character asks a person whose name (or his wife's name) is the name of an insect (most often Grasshopper) to guess what is in his fist (in a box, etc.). The corresponding insect is there. The person says that now he, so-and-so, has been caught, while others think that he has guessed correctly. | 42 | 47 |
| M203 | The Great Pan is dead, ATU 113A. | A supernatural being conveys a message to an unknown recipient through a passer-by. By fulfilling the request, the person provokes an unexpected reaction from another supernatural being (usually living in his house). Most of the material was collected by K.Yu. Rakhno. | 33 | 47 |
| M30c In M30 family | He falls, breaking the ban | A character flying through the air falls, violating the ban on talking, looking down, flying over villages, etc. (The character is not dropped by the person carrying it and flies above the ground, not descends from the sky or rises to the sky). | 33 | 47 |
| M39d In M39 family | Shemyakin Court, ATU 1534 | A person consistently and unintentionally harms others. The victims take him to a judge. He saves a person from punishment by making a formally logical but clearly unacceptable decision in each case. | 63 | 47 |
| M81e In M81 family | Don't herd cattle on giant land, ATU 314A, 321 | young man undertakes to herd cattle and is warned not to cross the borders of a giant, dragon, witch, etc. The young man violates the ban and kills a giant. | 40 | 47 |
| N5 | Winter is recognized by frost, summer by rain | Long trips, hikes, flights, or battles are described using a formula that indicates that characters learn about winter through snow or frost, and summer through warmth, rain, dew or other similar signs. | 22 | 47 |
| A6A In A6 family | Two-faced moon/month. | In the same ethnic group, the gender of the moon/month varies in different texts; it changes depending on the phases; the moon is a married couple; the moon is a woman who used to be a man. See motifs A3 - A5. {The material is incomplete. For Western European traditions, data contained in fairy tales is not included}. | 75 | 48 |
| B33a1 In B33 family | Insulted March. | A person (animal, bird) teases or insults March or another calendar month and is punished as a result. | 27 | 48 |
| B40 | The rabbit as a substitute for the deer. | The hare/rabbit is a false deer, a former deer, a brother of the deer, a former or failed owner of antlers, its ears are false antlers. | 44 | 48 |
| B45 | The Wedding of Winter and Summer, A1153. | The arrival of warm (bright, abundant) or cold (hungry, dark) times is associated with the marriage of a certain character who brings cold, warmth, abundance, etc. | 36 | 48 |
| B60 | Offended children leave their parents. | Children come into conflict with their parents over food, clothing, attention, which they demand and which their parents deny them, and sexual behaviour. They leave their parents, turning into birds, bats, stars or atmospheric phenomena. See motif B59. | 32 | 48 |
| D4e In D4 family | Coyote or fox obtains fire. | The thief or giver of fire, light or sun is a coyote or fox (indicated in square brackets). See motif 4A. | 43 | 48 |
| E9o In E9 family | The magical wife – a frog or a toad. | A man marries a woman who has the appearance of a frog or toad. | 38 | 48 |
| G10 | The tree is suspended from the sky. | A tree whose trunk has been cut down remains hanging because it is held up from above. | 32 | 48 |
| G17 | The gift of the reptile. | Cultural or important food crops, partially cultivated plant species owe their origin to snakes, moray eels or crocodiles/caimans. | 30 | 48 |
| J57 | Son of the Sun. | Conceived by the Sun, a woman gives birth to sons or a son; when they come of age, they visit their father. See motif J56. | 32 | 48 |
| K107c In K107 family | Knives on the Window (Finist the Bright Falcon), ATU 432. | A magical spouse who arrives in the form of a bird or appears in some other way meets a woman. Jealous sisters (stepmother, brother, etc.) wound him (usually by placing razors, glass shards, etc. in his path). The wounded young man disappears, and the woman goes in search of him. | 50 | 48 |
| K61c In K61 family | Find out the name, ATU 500. | A demon agrees to help (agrees not to harm) a person on condition that the person guesses his name. At the last moment, the person accidentally learns the demon's name, and the demon disappears or rewards the person. | 50 | 48 |
| K88a In K88 family | Blinded heroine, ATU 404. | The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). | 42 | 48 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.