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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F49 | Caesarean section, T584. | Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible. | 76 | 106 |
| L100b In L100 family | The forgotten bride. | Having escaped from his pursuers, the young man parts with the girl, intending to return for her soon, but forgets her. When he is about to take another wife, the girl manages to restore his memory with the help of magic, and she marries him. Alternatively, the girl, who has briefly parted from her magical spouse, herself forgets him after an embrace or a kiss in her parents' house. | 51 | 106 |
| M112 | Animals at the well, ATU 55. | A zoomorphic character refuses to dig, clean or fill a source of drinking water and is forbidden to use the water. {List of African variants in Paulme 1977. In cases where the protagonist is a kite, hawk, buzzard, saker (and possibly also an eagle), it is most likely the same bird - Buteo buteo from the hawk family}. | 67 | 106 |
| N15 | It flowed down the mustache, but did not get into the mouth | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that the narrator ate food and/or drinks, but they did not get into his mouth. | 27 | 106 |
| A32a In A32 family | Moon Rabbit, A751.2. | The figure or imprint of a rabbit or hare is visible on the lunar disc. | 66 | 107 |
| F70b In F70 family | Revenge of the rejected. | A woman takes revenge on a man who rejected her love (but does not necessarily pretend that the man tried to force himself on her). | 86 | 107 |
| I59a In I59 family | Thief in the sky. | Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with stories about the theft of various items, the value of which is insignificant (straw, firewood, cabbage, etc.). | 47 | 107 |
| I83 | The sky of birds. | Birds (especially vultures and eagles) lived or live in the sky, usually on one of several tiers of the upper world. | 64 | 107 |
| I98a In I98 family | The Pleiades – a hen with chicks. | The Pleiades (in Tajikistan – Giady) – hen, brooding hen with chicks, chicks, rarely – rooster. | 58 | 107 |
| K33d In K33 family | Donkey Skin, ATU 510B. | A man discovers that a beautiful girl is hiding under the guise of an ugly hag or under the skin of an animal. | 87 | 107 |
| K75a In K75 family | Throwing an apple at a suitor, H316. | The character chooses one of many suitors (a woman chooses a husband, a boy chooses a father, a young man chooses a bride) by throwing an object (often an apple) at him. Cf. motif K113A (throwing an object at random, not at a person who is nearby). | 68 | 107 |
| K93 | Twins and a woman, ATU 303. | After a series of adventures and victories, the hero finds himself in trouble. His twin or brother follows in his footsteps, meets the same characters, but when he encounters the final enemy, he defeats him and revives (frees) the hero. | 94 | 107 |
| I11 | Cosmic turtle/toad. | The turtle (toad, frog) serves as a support (embodiment) of the earth (sky), or the supports of the sky are made from its body. | 68 | 108 |
| I85 | The Polar Star – a stake or a nail. | Polar Star – stake, nail, hitching post, etc. | 77 | 108 |
| I8g In I8 family | Atlas, A842. | A single giant holds up the earth or the sky. | 78 | 108 |
| J30 | Remains of parents. | Before the heroes defeat their antagonists or flee from them, they find or receive the remains or property of the victim. | 78 | 108 |
| K130a In K130 family | The Girl in the Brothers' House, (ATU 709A). | Several young men (brothers) live far away from other people. A girl comes to them, or she is miraculously born in their house, and they treat her like a sister. After some time, the girl finds herself in danger, but is ultimately saved. | 77 | 108 |
| K27q In K27 family | Milk of a wild animal. | Task: to obtain the milk of a wild animal or milk possessed by a dangerous creature. See motif K27. | 80 | 108 |
| M140 | The fox on the sled, ATU 1. | The character pretends to be dead, sick or infirm, is picked up, and eats the food that others are carrying – usually after first throwing it out of the cart, sleigh, sack, etc. | 88 | 108 |
| G5 | Tree of abundance. | The fruits and shoots of various cultivated plants or the fruits of various wild plants grow on the branches of a single tree or on a single vine; the cultivated plant has a tree-like form that is not characteristic of it in nature. | 53 | 109 |
| j4b In j4 family | Revenge within the family. | The children (son, sons, son and daughter) of the murdered person take revenge on characters who are related to the victim by marriage or close kinship. | 63 | 109 |
| K19a In K19 family | Star Wife, T111.2.1. | A man marries a star woman. | 50 | 109 |
| J21 | Birth from eggs. | Gods, ancestors of humans, and founders of dynasties are born from eggs. | 63 | 110 |
| M75b1 In M75 family | Marco Rich, ATU 930 | A person (usually of high status) learns that a poor boy who is born will inherit his property or become king. He tries to stop it, but what he predicted comes true. | 94 | 111 |
| A32h In A32 family | Moon tree, A751.6. | A tree, bush, branch, snag, etc. are visible on the lunar disc. See motif A32G. | 81 | 112 |
| A38 | The Sun in a Trap, A728. | The sun falls into a snare, a trap, and finds itself tied by a rope. | 79 | 112 |
| B3e In B3 family | The earth fell into the waters. | At first, below the sky there is only air and water or (rarely) swamp, an indefinite abyss. A character descends from the sky, creates or has a support created for him, and the earth grows out of it; the earth is lowered, dropped from the sky; the earth is thrown, placed on the surface of the sea, and grows into land; the earth is brought from somewhere else (not from the underworld) and placed on the waters. (This is a more general motif compared to motif b79a1, "The bird dropped the firmament onto the waters"). | 81 | 112 |
| C9 | Warning of the flood. | God, an animal, or a certain character warns one of the people about an impending catastrophe (usually a flood) in which most people will perish. | 62 | 112 |
| M185 | On the tail of the fastest (animals), ATU 275B. | A fast-footed animal (a flightless bird) and a slow character agree to compete in running or jumping. The slow character secretly clings to the fast-footed one (or to a vehicle) and at the finish line pretends that he has run at the same time as him (jumped just as far) or before him. | 69 | 112 |
| H40 | The dog guards the man. | The dog guards and protects (successfully or unsuccessfully) a human figure that has not been completely finished by the creator, or the entrance to paradise. | 60 | 113 |
| K119a In K119 family | The Ungrateful Master. | An animal saves a human, does him a favour, and he humiliates or kills it. See motifs K119, M161. | 84 | 113 |
| K33g In K33 family | Two kinds of fruit, ATU 566. | The person who eats the fruit (leaf, etc.) grows horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal, while the other fruit (leaf, etc.) returns to its normal appearance. | 83 | 113 |
| L6 | The clingy demon. | The creature demands that the person carry it constantly, not allowing itself to be thrown off. | 85 | 113 |
| M198b In M198 family | The Imaginary Diviner, ATU 1641. | A man who is unable to find lost items and expose thieves successfully does so thanks to a fortunate coincidence. | 101 | 113 |
| M40 | Distorted instructions | The character is sent to get something relatively low in value. He asks for something else and shouts to whoever sent him to confirm the assignment. Usually, a weaker character comes to a stronger wife or son and tells her (him) that her husband (his father) told him to surrender to him, feed him, marry him, etc. {It is highly likely that American versions are borrowed after Columbus}. | 103 | 113 |
| E5b In E5 family | First ancestors from the underworld. | The first human (a group of brothers) or the first human couple emerge from underground (from a cave) or from a small object on the surface (a mound, a reed, a tree, a stone, a pumpkin). Cf. motif E5A: people from the underworld. | 73 | 114 |
| K100 | The Faithful Servant, ATU 516. | A person learns about the dangers threatening another (and usually that by warning his friend/master, he will turn to stone). The person eliminates the dangers, despite the fact that his behaviour upsets the person he has saved. | 82 | 114 |
| K113 | Animal princess, ATU 402. | Young men (usually three brothers) find wives (usually by shooting arrows or other objects at random, see motif K113A). The wife of the youngest brother is initially ugly or appears in the form of an animal (often a frog or snake), but turns out to be a beauty and a sorceress. Alternatively, the girls choose their husbands, and the wife of the youngest brother is a sorceress. | 79 | 114 |
| K33a In K33 family | Brother Goat, ATU 450. | Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken. | 80 | 114 |
| L100d In L100 family | Deceived admirers, ATU 1358C, 1730. | A man or several men pursue the love of a beautiful woman. Having agreed in advance with her husband, she pretends to agree, arranging a date (with each) for a specific time. Before the first suitor's desires are satisfied, the second arrives. The woman hides the first, then the second, and so on. The husband enters and the couple mocks the admirers who find themselves in a humiliating position. | 98 | 114 |
| L57a In L57 family | The hero's companion returns his organ. | The enemy takes possession of part of the character's body (remains). Another (usually resorting to trickery) returns what is missing, and the character comes back to life or recovers. | 83 | 114 |
| K66c In K66 family | Bear marriage. | A bear (lion) takes a woman away, or a she-bear takes a man away. They have children who are either human or bear-like in appearance. Less commonly, a woman gives birth to a son in a den because she was pregnant at the time of her abduction by the bear. | 82 | 115 |
| L42b In L42 family | The gullible children of the cannibal. | After capturing the hero, the antagonist brings him home and leaves him in the care of a family member. The latter believes the hero's words and follows his instructions. See motif L42. | 77 | 116 |
| E9i1 In E9 family | The magical wife – the swan. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a swan. | 58 | 117 |
| K25e In K25 family | The magical wife – ancestor of humans. | Humans in general or a specific ethnic, tribal or social group are considered descendants of an earthly man and woman of supernatural origin. | 73 | 117 |
| K67b In K67 family | Agreement not to be angry, ATU 1000. | A character of low social status (without supernatural abilities) takes a job with a character of high social status (with supernatural abilities) on the condition that the employer will not get angry with the employee. By repeatedly annoying the employer, the employee causes him to become angry and, as a result, be severely punished or pay a large sum of money. | 97 | 117 |
| L94b In L94 family | Give back what you don't know at home! | A person promises to give to a supernatural character the first thing that comes their way (either something they have not yet seen in their own home, or something that is behind the door, etc.). The person thinks that they will have to give something of little value, but it turns out to be their own child. | 55 | 117 |
| M91a In M91 family | Imaginary murder (blood bubble) | The character pierces a container of animal blood or other red liquid, simulating murder or suicide. Cf. motifs K10C (wrapped in giblets) and M199H (Giant's ripped belly). | 90 | 117 |
| D1 | Woman-fire. | A woman (usually elderly) is the embodiment of fire – alone or together with her husband, the master of fire. Cf. motif D5 (woman possesses fire). | 77 | 119 |
| D5 | Woman controls fire. | The original owner or inventor (but not the embodiment) of fire is a female character. | 68 | 119 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.