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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K87a1 In K87 family | The child is handed over. | A demonic woman asks the baby's mother to let her hold him or secretly replaces another person who was supposed to take the child. Once she has the baby, the demon takes him away. | 13 | 10 |
| K87b In K87 family | A woman steps in bear droppings. | A woman is picking berries, steps in bear droppings, and scolds the bears. The offended bear takes her away and marries her. | 12 | 15 |
| K88 | Two Travellers (Truth and Falsehood), ATU 613. | Two people set off on a journey or argue about which is stronger: truth or falsehood (stinginess or generosity, etc.). The evil one abandons the good one, crippling or robbing him, but the good one regains his health and achieves success. The villain usually perishes. | 117 | 141 |
| K88a In K88 family | Blinded heroine, ATU 404. | The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). | 42 | 48 |
| K88b In K88 family | Food in exchange for eyes. | The character suffers from thirst or hunger. His companion promises to share water or food with him (to make him rich) if he allows himself to be blinded. | 64 | 81 |
| K88c In K88 family | The blood of a dog will cure the princess. | The character learns that the blood (brain, etc.) of the dog guarding the neighbouring herd will cure the princess (prince). He uses this medicine and is rewarded. | 12 | 15 |
| K89 | The girl and the witch: gifts from relatives. | After getting married, the heroine and her rival (witch, frog) must bring gifts from their relatives. The heroine finds her brother, brothers or sister who went missing at the beginning of the story and receives rich gifts from them, while the gifts brought by her rival are worthless. | 20 | 31 |
| K89a In K89 family | Where to leave the sister? | Having escaped danger, the girl or boy goes with their sister or brother. The sister or brother is crippled, rejects a number of places where they are to be left, and remains in the last place offered. See motif K89. | 12 | 14 |
| K89b In K89 family | The brother left on the tree. | At the beginning of the story, the sister parts with her brothers (or one brother), who die, remain on trees, on a hill, ascend to the sky, etc. Usually, after a successful marriage, the sister meets her brothers again, who have acquired superhuman nature. | 14 | 24 |
| K89c In K89 family | Brother-helper is married to a bear. | A girl parts with her brother or sister. He or she becomes the wife or husband of a bear and helps the girl. | 9 | 10 |
| K89d In K89 family | Hides, turning into a needle. | Left alone in the house or finding herself in a stranger's house, a girl (less often a male character) hides by turning into a needle (a pin) or another tool for sewing or spinning. | 33 | 38 |
| K90 | Black and red, (ATU 156B*). | A person sees two opposing monsters or animals (usually of contrasting colours: red and black, black and white) and helps one of them, or one of the combatants helps the person. (Cf. ATU 156B, 738). | 41 | 45 |
| K90a In K90 family | Aimed at the black one, hit the white one. | Seeing two snakes of contrasting colours fighting, a man tries to strike one, but accidentally hits the other. The relatives of this snake gather to punish him, but upon learning what happened, they reward him. | 11 | 11 |
| K90b In K90 family | Deer antlers in the dragon's mouth. | The antlers of a deer or the tusks of an elephant, which a snake or dragon is trying to swallow, get stuck in its mouth. | 14 | 14 |
| K91 | The invisible battle. | Dogs, the hero's horse, or the hero himself fight the enemy in the underworld. Those watching from a distance judge the course of the battle by the colour of the water or foam rising to the surface, the colour of the first animal to emerge, etc. | 37 | 34 |
| K92 | King Lear, ATU 923, 923B. | The father asks his children a question, the answer to which seems obvious (does his daughter love him, who is the eldest in the family, etc.). The youngest daughter (less often – son) gives an unexpected answer, the father drives her away (deprives her of her inheritance), and later becomes convinced of her intelligence and nobility. | 39 | 44 |
| K92a In K92 family | A woman builds a house, ATU 923B. | A girl who has been driven from her home or has become the wife of an insignificant pauper becomes rich and respected. | 58 | 78 |
| K92b In K92 family | I love you like salt, ATU 923. | A daughter tells her father (rarely her brother) that she loves him like salt (or that salt is more important than him, etc.). He sends his daughter away (gets angry with his sister), but then realises she is right. | 49 | 44 |
| K92C In K92 family | The wife weaves, the husband sells. | A princess or sorceress turns out to be the wife of a poor man. She weaves or embroiders a scarf (or other item) and sends her husband to sell it. This marks the beginning of their path to success. | 24 | 24 |
| 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 |
| K93a In K93 family | Sword on the marriage bed, T351. | When lying down with a woman, a man places a sharp or pointed object between her and himself as a sign that he will abstain from sex during the night (sometimes the woman places the sword herself). | 52 | 69 |
| K93b1 In K93 family | Conception from eaten fish. | After eating fish, a childless woman gives birth to a boy or twins. | 44 | 81 |
| 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 |
| K93b3 In K93 family | Boys, foals, puppies: born together. | To have a child, a woman eats fish, an apple or something else. Part of it (often the peel, broth, skin, etc.) is eaten by a mare, dog or other animals. The woman gives birth to a son (twins), the mare to a foal (foals), the dog to a puppy (puppies). | 53 | 77 |
| K93b4 In K93 family | A woman, a mare, and a dog give birth to boys. | When a woman gives birth to a son, at the same time a mare (dog, and/or other domestic animals) give birth to a boy. These boys grow up together and then set off on a journey. | 14 | 28 |
| K93b5 In K93 family | Disguised as a puppy. | The character infiltrates the enemy camp disguised as a kitten or puppy. Usually, one of the enemies suspects deception, but the others believe that the cute animal is harmless. | 14 | 17 |
| k93b6 In k93 family | A sword grown in the garden. | The fish eaten by the woman gives birth to sons, and what is buried in the garden are objects or items that are further associated with these young men. These are either weapons (swords, sabres, rapiers) or objects whose appearance allows one to judge what is happening to the young men. | 15 | 20 |
| 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 |
| K95 | Together and after death, ATU 970. | Two people who love each other (usually a man and a woman) die prematurely and are buried in the same grave or nearby. After or during the burial, something unusual happens that is connected with the story (special plants grow in that place, the smoke from the two funeral pyres joins together, the dead turn into two birds, two stars, etc.). | 77 | 77 |
| K95a In K95 family | Burdock among rose bushes. | The lovers are buried in the same grave or nearby. Two plants grow in this place, reaching towards each other, and between them is a thorny bush, embodying the character who separated the lovers. | 18 | 19 |
| K96 | Fifty Sons, ATU 303A. | Several (more than three) brothers marry or must marry in such a way that their wives are sisters. | 73 | 99 |
| K97 | Tested fear, ATU 537. | A man prepares to kill a large bird, but does not kill it. When the bird later carries him, it pretends to leave him on a rock or throw him down. In doing so, it makes it clear how frightened it was. Either the bird first drops and catches the man, and later he makes her experience fear herself (the Volyn variant is slightly different). | 36 | 38 |
| K98 | The slain man turns into a camp. | An animal or (less commonly) a woman who gave birth to a hero or helped him turns into a house and property. | 55 | 72 |
| K99 | The Untold Dream, ATU 725. | A person dreams about an upcoming celebration for himself or a member of his family (rarely: he daydreams about it). Either another person buys the dream and becomes the protagonist of the story, or the person who saw it hides its content from everyone, or he is persecuted for excessive conceit, as evidenced by the content of the dream. The meaning of the dream is revealed at the end of the story. Often, the young man ascends to the throne and marries the heiresses of two kingdoms (in the dream, these were two suns or the sun and the moon). | 70 | 92 |
| K99a In K99 family | Father will serve his son, ATU 517, (725). | A young man or woman (often after having a dream) declares that a great future awaits him or her (usually that his or her father, parents, brothers, or sisters will show him or her signs of respect). The young man or woman is expelled, but the prophecy comes true. | 42 | 42 |
| K99a1 In K99 family | The condemned riddle-solver is freed. | A man thrown into prison is released and exalted because he alone manages to solve the riddles set by the king or save the princess (king, prince, etc.). | 45 | 61 |
| K99a2 In K99 family | The sold dream. 26.29.30.32.33. | One person has a dream, and another buys it and obtains what was predicted in the dream. | 8 | 9 |
| K99a3 In K99 family | Happy dream: sun, moon and stars. | A person sees the sun, moon and stars (all together or some of them) in a dream. At the end of the story, the meaning of the dream becomes clear: these are people who love or worship him (often two wives and a child). | 33 | 46 |
| K99b In K99 family | Midnight escape: change of partner, (ATU 856). | A girl and a young man agree that he will take her away at night. The young man is late or falls asleep, and the girl is taken away by someone else who happens to be at the appointed place. | 39 | 50 |
| 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 |
| K100a In K100 family | Tobiah, (ATU 505). | Setting off on a journey, a young man releases a caught fish or animal, or he or his father does someone a favour. As a reward for their help, a person or creature in the guise of a stranger or animal comes to the young man, becomes his companion and protector. | 62 | 94 |
| K100b In K100 family | The Grateful Dead Man, ATU 505. | A person helps to bury a dead man (pays his remaining debt, honours a saint). The revived dead man (saint) helps him overcome difficulties. See motif K100A. | 55 | 85 |
| K100c In K100 family | The snake bites the girl's suitors, ATU 507 (main part, variant 2). | A woman (rarely a young man) does not know that inside her (him) there is something dangerous for her (his) marriage partner (usually a snake), or that on her wedding night she will turn into a snake, or that a snake will crawl in on her wedding night. The hero or his companion eliminates the danger. {Motif K100C is similar to F9f1, but the latter belongs to the cosmological-etiological category and is associated with the idea of a dangerous woman, while K100C is adventurous}. | 48 | 72 |
| K100d In K100 family | The helper turns out to be a prince, ATU 314. | At the end of the story, the animal helper (horse, lion, etc.) turns into a prince (princess) itself. | 26 | 54 |
| K100e In K100 family | Dangerous tales. | Fairy tales act as separate characters: they usually try to harm people, believing that a certain person does not treat them with due respect. Cf. motif L94d, "The Tale with a Tail". | 17 | 16 |
| K100f In K100 family | The young man releases the fish. | A man catches an unusual fish (rarely: a bird or some kind of aquatic creature). His son (a worker) releases it. For this, the father (king) drives him away, or the one who released the fish leaves on his own. The rescued fish helps him. | 32 | 41 |
| K100f1 In K100 family | The Wild Man, ATU 502. | A man (king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son releases the wondrous captive (after which he flees from his father's wrath or is banished). The freed captive helps him. Cf. motif K161. | 45 | 41 |
| K100f2 In K100 family | The thirst-quenched breaks his chains. | A captured supernatural character breaks his chains and escapes to freedom after being given water (or wine, etc.) to drink. | 30 | 36 |
| K100g In K100 family | Sacrifice a son, (ATU 516C). | In order to revive or heal a friend (to heal oneself, to fulfil a vow), the character agrees to sacrifice his son (children). The slain person usually comes back to life, or the person's willingness to make the sacrifice is sufficient to satisfy supernatural forces. | 74 | 104 |
| K100h In K100 family | The test of gratitude, ATU 750D, 751C*. | A supernatural character fulfils the wishes of one or more people and later visits them again. The beneficiary or most of them turn out to be ungrateful and chase him away. In response, the character deprives them of what they have gained. | 30 | 16 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.