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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I110 | Heavenly farmers. | Constellations are associated with agricultural tools or with people engaged in agricultural work (most often ploughing and haymaking). See motifs I110A (plough), I110B (haymaking). | 61 | 119 |
| M104 | Allegedly murdered relatives. | A character suggests that another kill their close relatives (children, brothers, mother), hides their own, and assures them that they have killed them. When the other actually kills their children, mother or brothers, it turns out that the first character's relatives are unharmed. See motif A41 (The Moon hides her star children to provoke the Sun into killing his children). | 81 | 119 |
| H27 | Released mosquitoes. | Before spreading throughout the world, stinging or blood-sucking insects or reptiles, diseases or evil spirits were kept in a vessel, bag or other small container. See motif H24. | 84 | 120 |
| J51 | A piece is missing, E33. | The character is dismembered or eaten; he is revived from his remains, but since one of his bones was broken, swallowed or carried away (or a drop of blood or a piece of flesh was lost), the revival fails, or the character remains defective in some way. | 71 | 120 |
| B38 | Unsuccessful colouring. | The character decorates birds or animals, or they decorate each other. Some are dissatisfied with the result. | 81 | 121 |
| B86 | The Tower of Babel. | To reach the sky (the moon, stars, sun), people build a ladder or tower consisting of separate modules (logs, poles, bricks, etc.), but the structure collapses. | 87 | 121 |
| F64 | Incestuous parent, T411.1.1. | The character is presented as another person in order to mate with a close relative in the descending or (less commonly) ascending line. | 81 | 121 |
| I8A In I8 family | Pillars of the world: anthropomorphic characters. | The world, earth or sky are supported by anthropomorphic beings. | 80 | 121 |
| K84 | Sisters married to animals, ATU 552.1. | A young man gives his sisters to the first ones who come to woo them (less often, unknown creatures kidnap the sisters one by one, demanding a ransom for them). These are animals or demons, which then usually help him. | 79 | 121 |
| M153 | Inscription on a hoof, ATU 47B. | A hoofed animal asks a predator to examine its hoof under various pretexts, and then kills or maims it with a kick. | 98 | 121 |
| M78 | Tiny boy, ATU 700 | A tiny little man performs a series of tricks, mocks people he meets and opponents. | 101 | 121 |
| I65 | Souls of the dead on the Milky Way. | The Milky Way is a path to another world, followed by the souls of the dead and/or shamans, or it is the path of a funeral procession. | 104 | 122 |
| J23c In J23 family | The younger brother defeats the monster, ATU 312D. | People in general or older brothers (siblings, older sister) disappear one after another. A woman raises a boy from infancy or, left alone, miraculously conceives a son or finds a baby. He defeats the antagonists, usually reviving or freeing the missing ones. | 107 | 122 |
| K32h3 In K32 family | The antagonist is burned. | The antagonist is executed by being burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the character is not a punishment but a means of getting rid of him are not taken into account). | 51 | 122 |
| K41 | Thunder against the snake. | A character representing a thunderstorm or a giant bird fights a snake or other large creature living in water or underground. | 71 | 122 |
| H12c In H12 family | Orpheus: bringing back his dead wife. | The husband follows his dead wife into the afterlife, but cannot bring her back, or brings her back but loses her again. | 75 | 124 |
| K38f4 In K38 family | Fire-breathing monster, B11.2.11, B19.1, B742.3, B742.4. | Flames burst from the mouth and/or nostrils of a monstrous character hostile to the hero; his breath is fire. | 79 | 124 |
| K93b2 In K93 family | Conception from an eaten fruit. | A childless woman conceives a child after eating a fruit (usually an apple; in northern traditions also cabbage, eggs, peas, etc., in India – mangoes). | 83 | 124 |
| M154 | The language of animals and the stubborn wife, ATU 670. | A man who has learned the language of animals laughs when he hears them talking. His wife or mother-in-law (rarely someone else) demands that he explain what is going on. The man is ready to comply with his wife's demand, even though he knows he will die if he reveals the secret. Usually, he hears the domestic animals condemning their master's stupidity and decides not to say anything. | 111 | 124 |
| M83 | Who's older? ATU 80A* | Each character claims that he is older and appeared before this world or (Ingush) that his father was cosmic in size. | 86 | 124 |
| I40 | Rainbow bow. | The rainbow is a bow. | 98 | 125 |
| I51a In I51 family | Four-legged animals – the pillars of the earth. | The earth is supported by or has a large mammal at its centre. See motif I8B. | 80 | 125 |
| M114b In M114 family | Come neither naked nor clothed (ATU 875). | When a character is asked to do and not do something at the same time, or not to do it in any of the possible ways (to come dressed and not naked, with a gift and without a gift, etc.), they figure out a solution. | 79 | 125 |
| M57a2 In M57 family | The male character exudes values | Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a | 92 | 125 |
| B50 | Whose blood is sweeter? | A dangerous character wants to find out from a blood-sucking insect where it drank blood or whose blood (flesh) tastes better. Usually, the insect deliberately lies, or another character prevents it from telling the truth (by pulling out its tongue). As a result, the dangerous character chooses animals or plants as the object of its aggression, rather than people. (The motif is related to the story of Noah's flood (see motif C3); †: There are versions in which the motif is presented separately, as well as those in which it is included in the story of Noah's flood.) | 83 | 126 |
| K64a In K64 family | The Blinded Cyclops, ATU 1137, K521.1, K603. | A man blinds a sleeping or immobile giant-cannibal and escapes from him. | 75 | 126 |
| K81 | Bezruchka, ATU 706. | For a minor offence or on false charges, a young woman is maimed and expelled from her home (rarely: she is killed or maims herself). The cripple miraculously recovers (the dead woman is resurrected). | 103 | 126 |
| M1 | Dangerous crossing. | The character crosses a body of water on the back of a monster or animal that agrees to be a carrier but may or intends to drown or eat its passenger. | 65 | 126 |
| M11c In M11 family | Removes fat from the body. | Without harming himself, a male character cuts off, pierces, roasts, holds over a fire, etc. a part of his body (or his wife's body). The character cooks the meat, fat, etc. obtained in this way and treats his guest to it. This food is not perceived as unclean (cf. motifs M11B and M38). | 82 | 126 |
| M46 | An imaginary baby | Some creatures steal or own valuables. To return (get) them, the character turns into a small object, from contact with which a woman becomes pregnant, or into a baby. A picked up or born baby takes on its true appearance and steals valuables (including making the girl who picked it up pregnant, if that was his goal). | 65 | 126 |
| B28 | The travelling transformer. | Travelling from one locality to another, the character successively transforms people into birds and animals, into stones, sanctuaries (or transforms monstrous animals into ordinary ones), establishes cultural norms, determines the biological characteristics of creatures, the appearance of the locality, etc. | 69 | 127 |
| I100 | Pleiades – girls, young women, women. | Pleiades – a group of girls or women (with children). | 96 | 127 |
| I8B In I8 family | Pillars of the world: zoomorphic creatures. | The earth or sky is supported by zoomorphic creatures. | 96 | 127 |
| K80a2 In K80 family | The pipe tells of a crime, ATU 780. | A part of the victim's body or a plant that grew at the site of the murder tells people about the crime that was committed, usually after it has been made into a musical instrument. | 54 | 127 |
| L15h In L15 family | External soul: sequential investments. | The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third, and so on (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a chest). Or the animal in which the character's soul is enclosed transforms into other animals as it flees. There are three or more enclosures or transformations. | 83 | 127 |
| L96 | The changed appearance is sold and returns (ATU 325). | The character has the ability to transform into animals or objects. Sold in this form, he achieves his goal and becomes human again. | 87 | 127 |
| B116 | The eaten book. | The first book (writing, important document) is eaten by an animal or a person. (In some European traditions, the eating of the book is not described, but is implied from the context). Cf. ATU 200. Cf. Thompson 1955-1958. †A2219.2. Cow swallows book; cause of maniplies in stomach. | 66 | 128 |
| K94 | The bird of happiness (eaten head), ATU 567, 567A. | Those who eat a miraculous bird, fish, animal or fruit gain wealth and power. | 113 | 128 |
| L4 | The Unmasked Murderer, ATU 311, 312. | The character consistently (almost) kills girls (rarely: his nephews or his wife's younger brothers) whom he brings to his home (usually a male character kills wives). The heroine or hero (the youngest of all) avoids the common fate, usually after discovering the captives or their remains. | 88 | 128 |
| G23a In G23 family | Plants from body parts. | Parts of the body and organs of living beings are transformed into various plants (teeth into corn, testicles into yams, etc.). | 78 | 129 |
| I27 | The dog of the land of the dead. | The dog and/or (rarely) the domestic cat is the master, guardian of the land of the dead, guide on the way there; dogs live on the way to the land of the dead. (For indirect evidence and similar beliefs, see also Benson 1991). | 63 | 129 |
| I99 | The Pleiades – boys or men. | The Pleiades – a group of boys, young men, men or people of different genders, but predominantly male. | 90 | 129 |
| D9 | Vultures and fire. | The raven or other large dark-coloured bird of prey is the owner, embodiment, spouse, provider or thief of fire, the sun or daylight. | 66 | 130 |
| H20 | Released fish. | All the fish or (rarely) molluscs were concentrated in one place. A certain character allows them to escape or deliberately releases them into rivers or the sea. {In some cases, the theme of the spread of fish concentrated in a small container is difficult to separate from the theme of the spread of water. In any case, neither of these exist in Africa}. | 57 | 130 |
| I20 | Underground dwarves, F451. | The inhabitants of the underworld or the land on the horizon where the sky meets the earth are dwarves. See motif I14A. | 76 | 131 |
| I8e1 In I8 family | Four pillars of the world. | The sky or earth is supported by four objects or beings located at the four cardinal points (either four groups of beings, or four at the corners and a fifth in the centre). Th A841. See motifs 8A, 8D. | 116 | 131 |
| J25 | Infants hide and return. | Heroes (one, two or one of two), while still infants or embryos, disappear or are thrown away (often into water). To bring them back to the world of humans, they are lured, persuaded or (with difficulty) caught. | 92 | 131 |
| M29b2 In M29 family | The bear is a loser and a loser | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the bear dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 183 | 131 |
| D1b In D1 family | Man-fire. | The man is the master or embodiment of fire (alone or alongside the woman-fire). | 94 | 132 |
| K38b In K38 family | The serpent threatens the chicks, B364.4. | A snake or monster of aquatic-chthonic or indeterminate nature eats or maims the young of a bird or other flying creature – in most cases, the chicks of a huge bird. A man kills the snake (monster). See motif K38. | 95 | 132 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.