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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| J25b In J25 family | Dead mother brings food to her child. | A pregnant woman dies and is buried. Her spirit leaves the grave to bring food to the child. The child is found and grows up. | 3 | 2 |
| j25c In j25 family | Raised by a wolf. | A she-wolf nurses an abandoned infant. He becomes an outstanding leader. | 3 | 4 |
| 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 |
| J26a In J26 family | Boys and puppies. | Among children of a woman or two women living together, there is a boy and a puppy, or a puppy was placed with a woman, and her son was thrown out. The puppy lives with the woman and helps her. | 14 | 14 |
| J27 | Cast out and at home, Z210.1. | A little boy (several babies) was abandoned, born to a mother who had already died, lives in a river, in a forest, etc. Another boy lives with his father or mother, but in the end the first one moves to live in the locus of the second. Often (see motif J25, "Infants hide and return"), the brother living in the river, in the forest, etc., first secretly meets with his "home" brother (with his brothers; with other children from his clan; with a puppy nursed by his mother). | 67 | 94 |
| J27a In J27 family | The rejected child kills his father. | One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25. | 6 | 9 |
| J27b In J27 family | Water Father. | An infant is thrown into a lake or river and occasionally comes ashore. In addition to his earthly parents, he has a father (and mother) in the underwater world. He does not want to part with them, nor do they want to let him go. | 16 | 14 |
| J28a In J28 family | The truth about the father. | When asking how one of his parents died, the hero receives a series of false answers. He often exposes himself to the same dangers, but remains alive, proving the falsity of the proposed versions. | 21 | 31 |
| J28b In J28 family | Hot flatbread. | Upon learning that a woman (usually the hero's mother) is hiding the truth about his father, mother, brothers, or bride, a young man (rarely a young woman) causes her pain, forcing her to tell the truth (usually by pressing hot bread into her palm or sticking her fingers into hot food). | 44 | 69 |
| J29 | The shadow of the father. | Murdered parents themselves inform their children about the circumstances of their death. | 13 | 13 |
| 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 |
| J31 | Father's weapon. | Heroes receive weapons or other items that belonged to their deceased father and are necessary for fighting their antagonists. | 47 | 58 |
| J32 | Brothers guard the night thief, ATU 530. | Someone regularly steals livestock (horses, sheep, etc.) or crops (apples, hay, peas, flowers, etc.). Those who undertake to guard them (usually the older brothers) fail to catch the thief, and only the hero (usually the younger brother) discovers him. | 104 | 205 |
| J32a In J32 family | At night by his father's grave, ATU 530. | When dying, a person orders that someone spend the night at his grave or bring something to the grave. | 61 | 89 |
| J32a1 In J32 family | Nocturnal pests – horses. | But at night someone tramples the field, steals hay, etc. The hero learns that it is horses doing this. | 24 | 30 |
| J32b In J32 family | Extended night. | In order to accomplish what he wants, the hero prolongs the night by changing the behaviour of the character on whom the alternation of day and night depends. | 10 | 12 |
| J32c In J32 family | The demon comes to harm the deceased. | At night, a demonic character comes to the grave of the deceased, intending to harm him. | 13 | 14 |
| 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 |
| J32e In J32 family | Stolen Foals. | Every time a mare foals, the foal is stolen. The hero finds out who is doing this. | 18 | 20 |
| J32f In J32 family | Stolen apples. | While standing guard, the hero discovers who is stealing fruit (usually apples) from the garden. | 61 | 85 |
| J33 | Scarecrow. | A boy, a young man, or two children live in the house of an older character. In order to elicit a certain reaction from him, they kill a person or a large animal, stuff the scarecrow with insects, worms, ashes, grass, or inflate it. | 17 | 27 |
| J33a In J33 family | An old woman beats a scarecrow. | A boy, a young man, or two children live in an old woman's house. They kill her husband—a man or a large animal—and make a scarecrow out of him. Angry that her husband is not responding to her, the old woman beats the scarecrow and then discovers that her husband has been killed. See motif J33. | 4 | 4 |
| J34 | Grandchildren scare their grandmother. | After killing a dangerous enemy, the heroes make a scarecrow out of him to frighten the household. | 11 | 14 |
| J35 | The frog kills its pursuer. | A tree frog kills or neutralises a demon or beast pursuing the heroes. | 12 | 12 |
| J36 | Antagonist - turtle. | The turtle drags the hero's parents under water. | 7 | 8 |
| J37 | A bird carries away the antagonist. | Transforming into a powerful bird or creating one, the hero lifts his opponent into the air and carries him away. | 40 | 65 |
| J38 | Stuck claws. | A mighty bird sinks its claws into a huge aquatic creature. The claws get stuck in its body. The bird is dragged underwater or struggles to free itself. | 24 | 27 |
| J39 | Who killed the rabbit? | The antagonist makes the woman his slave. Other characters secretly come to her and kill a small animal or bird for her. The antagonist suspects that the woman could not have caught the game herself, but she insists that she did. | 20 | 16 |
| J40 | Enemy from the sky. | The sky is inhabited by creatures that descend to kill people. Usually, the creature carries away a person or many people, or a human head. The hero (usually a close relative of the deceased) avenges the killer and/or returns the kidnapped person (persons; the carried-away body part). | 41 | 65 |
| J40A In J40 family | Avenged captives. | Returning after a long absence, the hero finds his parents or other close relatives in humiliating slavery, orders them to demonstratively show disobedience, and punishes those who humiliated them. | 22 | 12 |
| J40b In J40 family | Avenged prisoners | After the hero comes back after a long absence and finds his parents enslaved, he tells them to demonstrate openly a lack of respect to their masters and punishes those who were cruel with them | 0 | 0 |
| J41 | Foxes mock the abandoned. | The hero leaves for a long time. When he returns, his relative does not immediately believe that it is really him. All this time, someone has been mocking him or her, imitating the voice of the departed, saying that he has returned and/or throwing ashes in his or her face. | 14 | 14 |
| J41a In J41 family | Son turns mother into a bird. | The son returns and finds his mother, who has been humiliated and tortured in his absence. The son turns his mother (and usually himself as well) into a bird of a certain species. | 10 | 6 |
| J41b In J41 family | The returned son burns his tormentors with magic. | The son returns, finds his mother, who was humiliated and tortured in his absence, and burns his tormentor and his men, summoning fire and heat with magic. | 10 | 12 |
| J41c In J41 family | Trials before meeting the antagonist. | The character goes to fight a dangerous enemy. Along the way, he is given tasks to complete. This is a sign that he will defeat his enemy. Usually, the same tasks were previously given to another character who was unable to complete them and was defeated by the enemy. | 23 | 25 |
| J41d In J41 family | Throwing a stick, he exposes his forehead. | The strongman orders an iron club (sword, etc.) of monstrous size to be made, but breaks it and demands a new one, even heavier (often throwing it into the air and exposing his forehead, etc. – the club breaks). | 17 | 24 |
| J42 | Parting waters. | The character creates a dry passage across the bottom of the water body, and after passing through, the waters close again. | 117 | 170 |
| J43 | Bait for enemies. | To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. | 2 | 4 |
| J44 | The collapsed bridge. | The hero lures the enemy onto a rickety bridge. The enemy falls into the water, into the abyss (see motif J46). See motif J52. | 108 | 164 |
| J45 | The leg serves as a bridge, R246. | The character extends his leg (dafla: arm; upper tanana: tail) or neck as a bridge across a water barrier. Usually, those being pursued or walking ahead cross such a bridge to the other side, while the pursuer or those walking behind fall into the water because the character removes his bridge. See motif J44. | 67 | 85 |
| J46 | The enemy drowns. | Antagonists perish by falling into water or attempting to cross a water barrier. See motifs J42, J44. | 184 | 226 |
| J47 | The pursuer falls from a height. | A character climbs up to the sky using a rope, ladder, etc., or climbs a tree or rock, or descends from the sky to the ground, or rises to the ground from the underworld. Another character climbs after them, but the rope or ladder breaks or is cut, and the character falls. | 96 | 168 |
| J47a In J47 family | Bob to the sky, ATU 328A, 804A. | A plant (usually not a mighty tree, but a legume) grows unusually fast, and a character climbs it to reach the sky. | 34 | 65 |
| J47a1 In J47 family | Goats – owners of food. | The character enters a house where goats live. He secretly eats the food he finds there, but is eventually discovered. | 7 | 8 |
| J47b In J47 family | Two ropes. | When a character runs away from a pursuer, a strong rope (chain, etc.) is lowered (thrown) to him. A rotten rope is lowered to the pursuer, it breaks, and the pursuer crashes (drowns). | 13 | 27 |
| J48 | The parrot cuts the rope. | A character climbs up to the sky or descends from the sky to the ground on a rope. A parrot cuts the rope, and the character falls. | 10 | 25 |
| J49 | The Moon's wife falls down. | The wife and/or sister of the Moon unsuccessfully tries to climb up to him in the sky or reaches him but returns to earth. | 10 | 14 |
| J50 | Attempt to resurrect the dead. | The father or mother of twin heroes dies or is killed. An attempt to revive the deceased fails. | 36 | 40 |
| J50a In J50 family | Sons embrace their mother. | The mother dies when her sons push or embrace her. | 7 | 9 |
| J50b In J50 family | The father remains half-dead. | The father (alone or with his brother) is only partially resurrected and is unable to live among people (he cannot be a warrior). The hero leaves him (in another world) or allows him to die completely. | 10 | 8 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.