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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I26 | Dangers on the path of souls. | On its way to the other world, the soul must distract its guardians with gifts or defend itself from attack. | 21 | 20 |
| 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 |
| I27a In I27 family | Settlements and dog trails. | The souls of dead dogs go to a special place in the afterlife and/or go to the afterlife along a special path. | 26 | 24 |
| I27b In I27 family | The dog-ferryman. | A dog carries a person across a river to another world. See motif I27. | 3 | 5 |
| I27c In I27 family | Four-eyed dog. | Dogs with two spots above their eyes stand out and are usually called two- or four-eyed. | 37 | 35 |
| I27d In I27 family | The mouth of a black dog. | There is a certain black or red dog that (is associated with objects in the night sky and) negatively affects people's lives. | 3 | 3 |
| I28 | Animals underground, F127. | Wild or domestic animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underground world, or once came out of there into our world; often animals take on human form underground and have an owner. See motif H18. | 39 | 168 |
| I28a In I28 family | Animals cause earthquakes. | Large animals that are hunted go underground and cause earthquakes. | 3 | 3 |
| I29 | To the underworld through an animal's burrow. | A character climbs into an animal's burrow and finds himself in the underworld, or digs a deep hole and finds himself in a world inhabited by burrowing animals. | 33 | 37 |
| I30 | The lord of the dead meets women. | In the world of the dead, its master or mistress copulates with all new arrivals. | 4 | 13 |
| I31 | The master and mistress of the dead. | In the afterlife, the souls of the dead are met by a pair of mythological characters – a man and a woman, or the master of the dead appears to women in female form and to men in male form. | 10 | 11 |
| I32 | The tree of infants. | There was or is a tree on which babies grow; the souls of unborn babies; whose leaves have turned into people; whose trunk is covered with many female nipples or flowers from which babies suck milk or juice. | 27 | 44 |
| I32a In I32 family | The tree of destiny. | When a leaf or fruit from a certain tree falls, one of the people on earth dies. | 18 | 17 |
| I33 | The Tree of the Dead. | The soul on its journey to the afterlife stops at a certain tree. | 29 | 31 |
| I34 | Dangerous tree. | It is necessary to approach a tree that is surrounded by fire, spews fire, throws sharp splinters, etc. | 10 | 10 |
| I35 | Thunder - animal skin. | Thunder is produced by a (tanned) animal skin or (rarely) a person being dragged, or clothing being dragged behind or shaken out. | 33 | 41 |
| I35a In I35 family | Thunder – an old woman. | Thunder is produced by an old woman in the sky. | 14 | 18 |
| I35a1 In I35 family | Challenging the thunderer. | The character claims the role of the thunder god and imitates him. | 21 | 37 |
| I35a1a In I35 family | Insulting a deity. | The character considers himself equal to the deity, imitating him, mocking him or trying to kill him. | 23 | 42 |
| I35a2 In I35 family | Thunder – rolling stones, vessels. | Thunder is heard when stones or large vessels are rolled, dragged or overturned in the sky. | 20 | 22 |
| I35b In I35 family | Copper sky. | The sky is considered to be metallic. The process of its creation resembles metal forging. | 22 | 38 |
| I35b1 In I35 family | Icy sky. | The sky is made of ice. | 5 | 3 |
| I35c In I35 family | Craftsman god. | One of the mythological characters who, using his craft skills, first makes (usually forges) tools and natural objects; he is the patron of craftsmen (usually blacksmiths). | 36 | 62 |
| I36 | Thunder and lightning – relatives or in-laws. | Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightnings) – characters related by kinship, marriage or property. | 39 | 52 |
| I37 | Mushrooms. | Mushrooms are mentioned in a mythological context. | 109 | 175 |
| I37A In I37 family | Mushrooms - an inferior object. | A mushroom is a substitute for a real object: 1) inferior, imaginary food (people ate mushrooms before the advent of hunting and agriculture; a character offers mushrooms instead of real food; real food appears as a result of the metamorphosis of mushrooms); 2) a preparation for creating or imitating a complete object (fish, birds, animals arise as a result of the metamorphosis of mushrooms; a copy of a lost or non-existent object is made from mushrooms); 3) characters of low status (lice, turtles) are engaged in mushroom picking; 4) the appearance of mushrooms is associated with a violation of the rules of interpersonal relations. See motif I37. | 56 | 44 |
| I37B In I37 family | Mushrooms are associated with the world of the dead. | Mushrooms are associated with the dead, the afterlife, evil spirits, and disease. See motif I37. | 6 | 29 |
| I37C In I37 family | Mushrooms: erotic associations. | Mushrooms have erotic associations. See motif I37. | 12 | 9 |
| I37d In I37 family | Mushrooms - excrement. | Mushrooms are the excrement of a mythological character. See motif I37. | 8 | 6 |
| I37d1 In I37 family | St. Peter spits out mushrooms, ATU 774L. | St. Peter secretly eats bread, and when Christ asks him what he is doing, he chokes, spits out the crumbs, and they turn into mushrooms. | 10 | 5 |
| I37e In I37 family | Mushrooms cry out. | Tree mushrooms cry out like people. | 3 | 5 |
| I37f In I37 family | Mushrooms - ears. | Mushrooms are called "ears". | 54 | 75 |
| I37g In I37 family | Mushrooms - a step, a platform, an obstacle. | A tree mushroom is a step, a platform; an object that helps or hinders movement; provides shelter or refuge. See motif I37. | 1 | 6 |
| I38 | Dog-headed creatures. | There are creatures that combine the characteristics of dogs and humans (usually people with dog faces or heads). | 54 | 83 |
| I38a In I38 family | Dogs – husbands of women. | The husbands of human women are dogs or dog-headed creatures. | 11 | 17 |
| I39 | Rainbow bridge, F152. | The rainbow is a bridge, a road, a staircase. | 102 | 169 |
| I39a In I39 family | The souls of the dead walk on the rainbow. | The souls of the dead walk across the rainbow to another world; a rainbow bridge spans the river separating the world of the dead from the world of the living. | 23 | 23 |
| I40 | Rainbow bow. | The rainbow is a bow. | 98 | 125 |
| I41 | Rainbow serpent, A791.2. | A rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake), less often a fish or snake-like, usually dangerous, object (snake tongue, scorpion tail). | 152 | 363 |
| I41a In I41 family | Rainbow from an anthill. | A rainbow rises from an anthill or termite mound. | 18 | 16 |
| I41b In I41 family | The rainbow drinks water. | The rainbow drinks (draws into itself) water (and living creatures). | 60 | 90 |
| I41b1 In I41 family | The rainbow swallows fish. | The rainbow drinks, swallowing fish, people, etc. along with the water. Sometimes this fish falls from the sky to the ground. | 16 | 22 |
| i41b2 In i41 family | Rainbow from the mouth of an animal. | A rainbow emerges from the mouth of a reptile, amphibian or invertebrate animal. | 8 | 8 |
| I41c In I41 family | Celestial object – reflection of a snake. | Rainbow or Milky Way – reflection of a snake (fish) on land or in the sea. | 7 | 9 |
| I42 | Rainbow – a pair of creatures. | The rainbow is a pair of creatures, usually a man and a woman, male and female. | 40 | 60 |
| I42g3 In I42 family | Edible house | In the forest person comes across a house that is made, completely or partly, of edible matter | 0 | 0 |
| I43a In I43 family | Cosmic serpent. | A giant reptile, serpent, fish, or chain of fish stretches across the earth and/or supports the sky. Usually associated with the Milky Way, sometimes with a rainbow. | 37 | 78 |
| I43b In I43 family | The Milky Way – snake, fish. | The Milky Way is a reptile, fish or chain of fish. | 37 | 67 |
| I44 | Chthonic serpent. | A huge serpent encircles, embodies or supports the earth. | 52 | 81 |
| I45a In I45 family | Do not look at the moon or stars. | Pointing at or staring at the moon or stars will cause illness (death) or the pointing finger to rot or wither. | 49 | 62 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.