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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I17 | Physical abnormalities of inhabitants of the other world. | Creatures without mouths, anuses, or genitals, unable to give birth, live underground, in the sky, across the sea, or in certain areas. (Traditions describing women unable to give birth are marked with an asterisk*). | 85 | 95 |
| I59 | The Milky Way – scattered straw. | The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas. | 46 | 95 |
| K121 | The knight at the crossroads. | At the crossroads, it is indicated that one road is safe, another is neutral, and the third is deadly dangerous. There can only be two roads – dangerous and safe. The hero travels along the dangerous road. | 57 | 95 |
| K129 | Enchanted and brought to life, ATU 709, 709A. | (Due to the intrigues of an antagonist) a girl falls into a deep swoon, but is not dead. A male character of high status (either the girl's spouse or blood relative) revives her. {In sub-Saharan Africa, except for Swahili, borrowing from Europeans is more likely than from Arabs}. | 71 | 95 |
| K33c In K33 family | Girl found inside a foetus, (ATU 408). | A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg. | 57 | 95 |
| M5 | Provoked insult | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. | 11 | 95 |
| A6 | The sun and moon – women. | The sun and moon are considered female characters (including cases – Tuscarora, Oneida, when the gender is not directly specified, but both arise from the body of a female character). | 68 | 96 |
| B109 | Man became a bear. | A man grows fur and becomes a bear (the origin of bears). | 55 | 96 |
| G6a In G6 family | Tree of the year. | The year is described as a tree, the number of branches, twigs, and leaves of which corresponds to the number of seasons, months, days, etc. (or the year is a column with a certain number of objects on it; a building with a certain number of rooms). | 47 | 96 |
| L24 | Suffocating demons with smoke. | Demons (or one of them) attack people and then hide. People destroy the demons' lair and kill all or most of them by spreading a smoky fire around the demons' refuge. | 55 | 96 |
| M118 | The source of values is senselessly destroyed, ATU 954. | The character obtains valuables or finds refuge inside an animal, tree, or building. Later, he himself, or more often someone else following his example, destroys the source of the valuables or makes access to it impossible or too dangerous. | 94 | 96 |
| I13c In I13 family | The snake's crown, ATU 672, B101.7. | Reptiles possess a treasure that humans take or try to take. Usually it is a crown, a precious stone, or horns on a snake's head. | 68 | 97 |
| K22 | Cranes and pygmies, F535.5.1. | The inhabitants of a distant land, who differ from (ordinary) people, occasionally fight off enemies of a non-human nature who attack them. | 58 | 97 |
| K82 | The evil sister-in-law. | A man's wife or another woman tries to destroy his sister. | 68 | 97 |
| K8d In K8 family | Jonah: swallowed by an anthropomorphic creature. | The character enters the body of an anthropomorphic creature, kills it from within (K952) and/or returns to the outside without outside help. | 67 | 97 |
| L13 | The raised monster. | People feed a dangerous creature, or it grows on its own in a man-made enclosure. Once it becomes big and strong, it starts to destroy people. | 66 | 97 |
| L65 | The scary baby. | An infant or small child turns out to be a demon and kills people. | 73 | 97 |
| M39a5a In M39 family | Pancakes on trees, ATU 1381, 1381B | Realizing that a stupid son, wife or (rarely) husband, after telling the truth, will cause trouble for the family, the mother or husband (wife) adjusts that the son, wife or husband describes events that They obviously couldn't have happened. They're mistaken for crazy, the message is ignored. | 84 | 97 |
| B116c In B116 family | The Lost Book. | In the past, the people possessed writing and knowledge, but these were lost, or the people missed the opportunity to acquire them. | 54 | 98 |
| B42n In B42 family | Orion – one person. | The constellation Orion is identified with a man, usually a giant, warrior, or hunter. | 60 | 98 |
| K120 | Prevented incest (daughter and father), (ATU 510B, 510B*), 706C. | The girl's father (rarely: stepfather) intends to marry her (since she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid the marriage. | 64 | 98 |
| K135 | Seven with one blow, ATU 1640. | By accidentally defeating powerful opponents, a physically weak and timid person gains honour. | 84 | 98 |
| M152a In M152 family | Bound together, ATU 78 | A strong predator (a giant cannibal) and a weak predator are tied together with a rope to feel more confident. The strong one flees and drags the weak one behind him. | 62 | 98 |
| H9 | Strong and fragile. | People are mortal (they get sick and grow old) because they are compared to something weak, fragile, easily subject to destruction or decay (upper Tanana: people have not died out because they are made of durable material rather than ephemeral material). | 66 | 99 |
| K96 | Fifty Sons, ATU 303A. | Several (more than three) brothers marry or must marry in such a way that their wives are sisters. | 73 | 99 |
| M124 | Ox Tail, ATU 1004. | The character buries the tail (head, ears) of a domestic animal, claiming that it has fallen into the ground. Usually, he asks others to pull on the tail (head), and when it "breaks off," he accuses others of stealing the animal. | 99 | 99 |
| M131 | It's not a tail, it's a root, ATU 5, ThR5. | The character does not show that he has been caught by the tail or by the leg. The other thinks he has grabbed the root and lets go of the first one. (The variant is similar in meaning, although formally different. The American variants are most likely of African origin, but the turtle as a trickster is local, while in African variants the hare acts as the trickster). | 86 | 99 |
| M157a2 In M157 family | The bull and the cart give birth, ATU 875E. | The character claims that the calf (kid, etc.) was not born (brought) by a cow (goat, etc.) belonging to another owner, but by his own animal of a different species or male sex, or by an inanimate object (usually a cart). | 73 | 99 |
| k80a6 In k80 family | Talking pipe made from a plant that grew there. | A musical instrument is made from a plant that grew where the character was killed (fell, touched the ground). When played, it produces a text with a specific meaning. | 33 | 100 |
| L114c In L114 family | Exchanging clothes with the cannibal's daughters, ATU 327B. | Children or young men (usually brothers) exchange clothes (headgear, jewellery, blankets, sleeping places) with the children of a hostile character, who then kills his own children instead of them at night. Usually, the brothers end up with a cannibal, and the younger brother orders them to swap places (clothes, etc.) with his daughters for the night. Outside Europe, the protagonists are animals. | 103 | 100 |
| M157a1 In M157 family | Father gives birth. | The character proves the absurdity of another's statements by responding that his or her father (or another male or male animal) has given birth or is about to give birth, or that he or she is menstruating. | 69 | 100 |
| N10 | Transparent body | A woman or (rarely) a man with a transparent body is described. This transparency is a sign of beauty. | 49 | 100 |
| H41 | The dog betrays man. | Because of the dog, man is weak, mortal, and wicked. Usually, the antagonist bribes the dog with warm wool, and it betrays human figures to him for desecration. | 64 | 101 |
| H51 | The Devil's Horse. | The horse is a predator or is associated with God's enemy. | 48 | 101 |
| J32d In J32 family | The Princess in the Tower, ATU 530. | The girl will be won by the one who, on horseback or by some other means, quickly reaches a hard-to-reach place (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top steps of a staircase, a bridge, the bottom of a chasm, jumps over a moat, etc.). Usually, the girl herself is located where the suitor must climb or (rarely) descend. In Italian versions, the hero wins tournaments. | 66 | 101 |
| K79 | The snake shows how to recover. | Finding himself in a helpless situation, a man sees how a small animal finds a cure for itself or another animal. The man uses the same cure, saves himself or saves another. | 88 | 101 |
| L118 | Hand caught in a log, H1532, ATU 38. | One character provokes another to stick a part of their body into a split log (between two boards, etc.) and knocks out the wedge. | 78 | 101 |
| M199 | Squeezing water from a stone, ATU 1060. | A man and a giant (devil, predator, robber) agree to test their strength by crushing a stone. The man squeezes a piece of cheese, an egg, etc., and the giant believes that he is facing a strong man. {ATU 1060 includes variants in which the character squeezes brains (guts, etc.) out of the ground, without specifying this in the definition; where we were able to verify this, we did not include such traditions}. | 77 | 101 |
| F33 | Connection with a water creature. | A woman or group of women take a water animal or water monster as their lover. The husband(s), brother(s) or (adopted) children of the woman(s) kill or maim the lover and (in some cases) the woman(s). | 68 | 102 |
| K19b In K19 family | Star-man. | The star man takes an earthly woman as his wife. | 57 | 102 |
| K26 | The earth seen from the sky. | Approaching an opening or making one, the character sees the world below (usually seeing the earth from the sky). See motif K25. | 76 | 102 |
| C6c4 In C6 family | Duck – a successful diver. | A duck or similar waterfowl dives and brings back a piece of earth, which turns into land (it is the only or the only successful diver). | 57 | 103 |
| K107a In K107 family | Wear out iron shoes, Q502.2. | Before reaching their goal, the character must wear out iron shoes or an iron staff. | 51 | 103 |
| L90 | Mouth to the sky. | One lip (one fang, horn, etc.) of the creature reaches the sky, while the other drags along the ground. | 61 | 103 |
| M77 | Soiled bed | The character stains another's clothes or bed with sewage or something that looks like sewage, threatens to ruin the air and accuse the other, etc.; taking advantage of the victim's confusion, achieves the goal. | 62 | 103 |
| E9h In E9 family | The magical wife - the dove. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dove. | 74 | 104 |
| K100g In K100 family | Sacrifice a son, (ATU 516C). | In order to revive or heal a friend (to heal oneself, to fulfil a vow), the character agrees to sacrifice his son (children). The slain person usually comes back to life, or the person's willingness to make the sacrifice is sufficient to satisfy supernatural forces. | 74 | 104 |
| K38f1 In K38 family | Severed tongues. | After killing a monster or animal, the hero cuts off and hides a part of its body, usually the tongue. (In most cases, the deceiver takes credit for the feat, after which the hero presents the hidden item, thus exposing the deceiver). | 57 | 104 |
| D12 | Food was heated in the sun. | People in the past or inhabitants of distant lands cooked food in the sun; or the owner of the fire lies, saying that the food was cooked in this way. | 61 | 105 |
| L17b In L17 family | Mouth on the back of the head. | A character or creature has a second face or a second mouth on the back of its head. | 65 | 105 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.