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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K57 | Cinderella, ATU 510A. | A girl hides her beauty and/or lives in poverty, a man of high status sees her in her true form/in luxurious attire and takes her as his wife, recognising her by an item he gave her or she lost, usually a slipper or shoe, or by seeing her change her clothes. {All texts with this motif are also considered to contain the f62 motif}. | 116 | 230 |
| C6d In C6 family | Obtaining land from the underworld. | Land (earth) is formed from a small amount of solid substance (silt, sand, clay, mud) that characters retrieve from the underworld (usually from the bottom of the ocean). | 109 | 233 |
| I82b In I82 family | Venus-woman. | The Morning and/or Evening Star – a female character. | 170 | 234 |
| M157 | Impossible births, (ATU 875E). | The character claims that a man, male animal or object gave birth (or had a period), or that an animal of one species gave birth to a young of another species, or that a woman gave birth to an animal or inanimate object. | 154 | 234 |
| M91c1 In M91 family | The herd from the bottom | The character (pretends to) take possession of someone's property (usually setting the owner to be killed instead of him), says that he got everything at the bottom of the river, in the abyss, etc., to him they believe. | 150 | 236 |
| M91c2 In M91 family | Seated in a bag | character is placed in a bag or chest, locked in a cage, tied, etc., to drown, burn, etc. When left for a while, the character pretends to be in the bag voluntarily or because he does not want to become a chief, marry, etc.; the other agrees to take his place. See M91c1 motif. | 170 | 236 |
| c8aa In c8 family | Brother and sister give birth to humans. | At the beginning of time, or as a result of a catastrophe, the only human couple are a brother and sister. They marry and give birth to people. | 93 | 237 |
| K73a4 In K73 family | The child is replaced by a puppy. | Malicious women replace the newborn with a puppy (telling the father that his wife has given birth to a puppy). See motifs K73, K73A. | 131 | 237 |
| A2a In A2 family | The sun emits destructive heat. | The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns lit up or will light up simultaneously; or destructive heat (or light) once emanated from one sun. | 109 | 238 |
| K74 | Brothers and the dwarf. | Of two or more characters, each one stays at home or goes to fetch fire for cooking or brings food to the house. Each time, a certain character appears who eats the food and/or defeats the one who stayed behind or came to fetch fire. | 126 | 239 |
| K32g In K32 family | Torn apart by horses. | The antagonist is executed by being tied to a horse (camel, bull), which drags him along the ground or tears him to pieces. | 96 | 242 |
| L85 | Half-creatures, F525. | The character has only half a body (vertically). See also L85C, "Half-chicken". | 124 | 243 |
| B82 | White Raven, A2411.1.1.6. | The raven (less often another bird of prey, or another black bird the size of a raven) was first white, and then turned black. | 175 | 244 |
| F30 | The snake lover. | A girl or woman takes a snake, eel, moray eel, lizard or worm as a lover or spouse. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or their offspring, or she herself turns into a snake. Cf. motif K76B (the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man). See motif F29. | 139 | 246 |
| M156 | The Ungrateful One is Punished, ATU 155. | A dangerous animal (rarely: a spirit) is about to kill a human or another animal – usually the one who freed it from a trap. A third character acts as a judge and saves the human – most often by luring the ungrateful back into the trap. | 169 | 250 |
| L65b In L65 family | Dogs as saviours. | A demonic woman, less often her lover or another monster, is ready to kill or kills the hero. Dogs (or animals and birds that replace them – lions, bears, eagles, etc.) come running (flying), rescue the hero and kill the demon. | 151 | 251 |
| K38 | The hero helps the chicks, B364.4. | For doing good to chicks (rarely: young of non-ornithomorphic flying creatures), their mother or father does a favour for the person. | 119 | 254 |
| L5 | Rolling head. | Describes or depicts a creature in the form of a skull or head without a body. | 153 | 254 |
| A32e In A32 family | Character with an object in their hands. | On the lunar (rarely: solar) disc, a character holding an object or animal is visible. See motif A32D. | 154 | 256 |
| F45 | Amazons. | There are or were settlements where only women lived or live (cf. motifs F8, F45C). | 156 | 256 |
| H4 | Skin change as a condition for immortality, D1889.6. | Those who change their skin (bark, clothing) are immortal (forever young). (Cf. motif K56a5a: Skinning oneself to become young: To become a young beauty, an old or ugly woman asks to have her skin skinned off). | 123 | 256 |
| K29a In K29 family | Unharmed by fire. | The hero demonstrates his magical abilities or cunning by remaining alive in a hot bath, oven, fire, or among burning vegetation. | 176 | 258 |
| M21 | The fugitive hides with his protector. | The character runs away from his pursuer. The person, animal or object that the character asks for help hides him (and kills the pursuer). | 170 | 258 |
| L65b3 In L65 family | Rescue on a tree. | A character who climbs a tree manages to escape from a demon (who usually tries to knock the tree down). | 154 | 261 |
| L72a In L72 family | Comb-thicket. | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him a comb (brush), which turns into an obstacle (almost always thickets) in the path of his pursuer. (In South America, this motif is most likely of European origin). See Andreev 1929, No. 313.I. | 116 | 261 |
| M38a In M38 family | Inept imitation: visiting, Th J2425 | On a visit, the character sees how the owner acts with magic or techniques that suit his nature (in Africa, too, deception). He imitates their actions but fails. Actions are not tests or competitions and are not related to performing feats. This is mainly getting or preparing food. | 150 | 265 |
| C8 | Blood relatives give birth to people. | At the beginning of time or as a result of a catastrophe, the only human couple is a brother and sister (less often a mother and son, father and daughters). They marry and give birth to people. | 103 | 266 |
| J4a In J4 family | Revenge for the death of a mother. | A woman is killed. Her son or sons (rarely: grandsons, nephews) avenge her. | 142 | 274 |
| B3b In B3 family | The grown earth. | Initially, the earth or the world as a whole was small in size, then it grew; fertile soil grew from a small amount of initial substance. See motif B3A (the earth grows from a piece of solid substance thrown onto the surface of the water). | 234 | 277 |
| I72 | Stars – people. | Stars – anthropomorphic beings. See motif K19 (marriage to a star). Cases where the Star is a unique object, e.g. Venus, rather than one of many Star-people, are not included. | 239 | 278 |
| G6 | The first tree. | One of the trees is the main, original tree, which is very different from the others (it was the first to appear; the progenitor of trees; the progenitor of wild or cultivated plants; the sea and rivers within it; the world axis; higher than the others; obscuring the sky). | 148 | 279 |
| I3 | Weapons of Thunder. | Lightning (and thunder) is produced by an object (sword, arrow, whip, mirror, etc.) in the hands of a character; lightning is an object. | 194 | 280 |
| K33 | The Living Drowned Woman, Th D688, E323.1; ATU 450. | When a malevolent woman pushes another woman into a body of water (a well), the latter drowns or loses her human form, but manages to return to the world of humans. Cf. motif k32m | 167 | 283 |
| K76 | The Strange Son, ATU 425A, 441. | A boy who is born or found has a strange or ugly appearance (ball, nut, sack, half-human, dwarf, animal), but then demonstrates magical powers and turns out to be handsome (usually getting a bride of high status). The princess's magical spouse initially has a non-human or ugly appearance. | 163 | 284 |
| M57a In M57 family | Beads are like body secretions | Instead of the usual secretions from the human body, beads, flowers, gold and other valuables pour in. | 143 | 284 |
| L37b In L37 family | Overheard conversation, ATU 613, N451.1. | By accidentally overhearing a conversation between animals or spirits, a person learns how to help themselves and others. | 167 | 285 |
| H28 | Creature turns into reptiles, A2034. | A creature that has been killed and destroyed (often burned) (usually a cannibal, a ferocious animal, or a powerful shaman) turns into stinging insects or other harmful, unpleasant, or dangerous creatures. | 157 | 286 |
| K38f In K38 family | The dragon slayer, ATU 300. | A reptilian monster demands human sacrifices (devours people; kidnaps a girl; blocks water sources). The hero kills it. The monster's victims do not play an active role in the action. | 148 | 287 |
| K66 | Bogatyrs with different abilities, ATU 513, 653, F601. | Each of several companions or brothers excels others in some way (sees, hears, runs, etc. better than anyone else). Cf. motif K2B, "Gorynya and Dubyna". | 162 | 287 |
| A35 | Spots on the lunar disc, A751.5. | Dark spots on the lunar disc – dirt, blood, paint, marks from blows, burns on the body or face of a character; they do not form a specific image. See motif A31. | 212 | 289 |
| J26 | Infants from the river. | The character or that from which he arises is found in a river, lake, sea, or on the riverbank. The future hero emerges from the body of water into which he was thrown. | 208 | 291 |
| F35a In F35 family | Feeding meat from a relative. | The character, unaware of this, eats or prepares meat (slowly kills) a member of his household (a relative, rarely a servant or spouse) or feeds it to his acquaintances, or uses its bones for household needs. | 182 | 295 |
| J1A In J1 family | The myth of the avengers with a full plot | 153 | 297 | |
| B42 | Cosmic hunting, F59.2. | Hunters, their dogs, fleeing or killed animals are visible in the sky in the form of stars and constellations. | 153 | 299 |
| K28 | Father or uncle – enemy and rival. | The uncle on the mother's side or the father of the young hero (or grandfather, if he replaces the father, who is not mentioned) is his enemy and rival, giving him difficult tasks with the aim of destroying him. | 190 | 302 |
| I1 | Thunderbirds, A284.2. | Creatures that cause or embody rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or winged anthropomorphic characters. {Traditions in which birds are associated with thunderstorms and rain, but Thunder itself is not a bird, are marked with an asterisk (*). | 183 | 303 |
| E1 | The creation of man. | The first human being was created, made by a certain character, and did not exist initially (on earth, underground, in the sky, in a small container) and did not arise spontaneously. Only variants that specify the material from which humans were created, or that refer separately to the creation of the human figure and its ensoulment, rather than simply to the fact of "creation" itself, are taken into account. | 164 | 311 |
| E11 | Burnt skin. | The future family member reveals himself or remains with the person after the object that defines the character's non-human appearance is destroyed. After the person destroys (usually burns) the discarded animal skin, the character retains his human appearance. See motif E9. | 194 | 315 |
| F34b In F34 family | Lover of non-human nature. | A girl, woman or group of women voluntarily take as their lover a penis that exists as a special creature, snake, moray eel, lizard, worm, crab, large aquatic animal or aquatic monster, or large terrestrial mammal. People kill or maim the lover, the woman and/or her offspring, or she herself loses her human nature. The woman's behaviour is condemned. | 156 | 315 |
| K73a In K73 family | Child substitution. | Malicious women replace the newborn with an animal or an inanimate object (they tell the baby's father that his wife gave birth to an animal or an object). See motif K73. | 162 | 318 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.