Folklore Database · Browse
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K56d In K56 family | Broken leg. | One man treats a bird, which brings a seed, and something valuable grows. Another deliberately cripples a bird, then treats it, and it brings a seed, and something harmful and terrible grows. | 17 | 14 |
| K123b In K123 family | Broken spinning wheel. | A boy or young man damages an elderly woman's spinning wheel or yarn. This episode forms the basis of the rest of the story. | 10 | 8 |
| D13i In D13 family | Broken tooth. | The character amuses the audience in order to identify the deceiver and thief by his broken tooth. The latter laughs and gives himself away. | 17 | 27 |
| C8b In C8 family | Brother and sister did not recognise each other. | A brother and sister (or mother and son) find themselves alone, without marriage partners. Both of them (or only the brother, son) refuse to marry, but do so after accepting each other (or the brother accepts the sister, the son accepts the mother) as strangers. They give birth to new people. | 15 | 41 |
| K33a In K33 family | Brother Goat, ATU 450. | Young siblings (most often a brother and sister) leave home. One of them (rarely: several brothers) accidentally breaks a taboo and is transformed into an animal (usually a hoofed animal) or (rarely) a bird; later, the spell is usually broken. | 80 | 114 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| J5 | Brothers as victims. | The role of the victim is played by two or more brothers (friends). See motif J4. | 32 | 40 |
| 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 |
| K114 | Brothers leave after the birth of their sister (ATU 451). | Several brothers leave home immediately after or shortly before their mother gives birth to a girl (usually they want a brother and wait for news about who their mother has given birth to, but accidentally or maliciously a signal is given that a boy has been born). The girl grows up and goes in search of her brothers. | 27 | 32 |
| B63A In B63 family | Brothers of the elements. | Several brothers turn into Thunder, Storm and other elements. | 4 | 8 |
| K127b In K127 family | Brothers turned into oxen. | A group of brothers are turned into bulls (oxen) and then enchanted. | 8 | 8 |
| F9g In F9 family | Brünnhilde, ATU 519. | A powerful woman defeats and kills her suitors. The hero or his assistant defeats her (usually on their wedding night, subduing her with rods or a whip). The hero marries the heroine. | 60 | 46 |
| M14 | Brutal murder of wife or son. | A man brutally murders his wife (rarely: children, fiancée, sister) and/or eats her flesh himself, or brings her flesh to her relatives (if he kills children, he brings the flesh to his wife). | 39 | 62 |
| K27f4 In K27 family | Build a house. | Task: to erect a building. See motif K27. | 0 | 0 |
| K27f1 In K27 family | Building a bridge. | A character builds a bridge (usually from precious materials) in an implausibly short time. | 51 | 86 |
| M114h In M114 family | Building a house in the air. | An authoritative character orders a house to be built in the air. A man finds a clever way out of the situation. | 9 | 9 |
| 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 |
| K32h In K32 family | Buried alive. | The antagonist is executed by being buried alive. | 23 | 33 |
| B2f1 In B2 family | Buried in the head. | (While the earth does not yet exist or has not yet hardened), birds bury the dead in their bodies – usually in their beaks or heads, which explains the unpleasant smell or the origin of the crest, swelling on the beak, etc. | 11 | 19 |
| C34a In C34 family | Buried in the sand. | A supernatural character goes with people to catch fish or lives on the sand by the river; he is buried in the sand or thrown into the river, into a swamp, or otherwise persecuted. Usually, he himself or his father sends a flood. | 6 | 7 |
| L34 | Burning hair. | The character kills or maims the enemy by setting fire to their clothes, mask, headdress, hair, or an object behind their back. | 57 | 51 |
| M144a In M144 family | Burning straw on the back of a tiger. | The character asks a large and dangerous animal (a tiger or an elephant) to carry a load of straw and sets it on fire. Then he or someone else advises the victim to run not to the river, but to the mountain. | 7 | 7 |
| L82 | Burns his leg in a fire. | A person deliberately or accidentally burns his foot in a fire or burns himself completely; he turns into a demonic creature. See motif L9 (man with a sharp foot). | 16 | 24 |
| J19b In J19 family | Burnt belly. | An evil spirit kills a woman by burning through her body. | 3 | 7 |
| G3A In G3 family | Burnt grains. | The first cereal grains were exposed to fire, burning to varying degrees. This resulted in different varieties of corn or rice with different colours. | 1 | 1 |
| G19 | Burnt men bring plants. | After a conflict in the community of the first ancestors, a group of men or young people (pareisi: boy and girl) burn in a bonfire (jump over it, etc.). As a result, people acquire cultivated plants, mainly corn. | 6 | 7 |
| K67 | Burnt moccasins, K1615. | At night, one person intends to throw another person's shoes or clothes into the fire, but ends up burning his own shoes or clothes. Usually, the father-in-law throws his son-in-law's shoes into the fire at night in order to freeze him out, but the son-in-law has already switched shoes, so the father-in-law burns his own. | 25 | 35 |
| 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 |
| B95 | Burnt sphincter. | The appearance of the sphincter or buttocks is explained by the fact that a certain character burned his backside. | 5 | 4 |
| G8f In G8 family | Burnt wood chips. | Characters cut down a tree, but the trunk grows back. They manage to finish the job after the splinters are carried away or burned. | 13 | 15 |
| M38d6 In M38 family | Bursts with laughter | Several characters embody small objects and die one at a time. The last one left laughs and rejoices so much that he bursts with laughter (breaks his head, etc.). | 34 | 28 |
| K142 | Burying one dead man three times, ATU 1536B. | After killing several people, a man asks a gravedigger to bury the dead and each time says that the dead man has returned. The gravedigger buries everyone, but believes that there is only one dead man. | 50 | 30 |
| N27b In N27 family | But there's no bird's milk | It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk | 21 | 25 |
| K101c In K101 family | By day in the palace, by night in the sky. | The bride stipulates that she will only be with her husband during the day. The husband discovers that at night she meets with heavenly maidens (and usually flies away to dance in the sky). He follows her and in the end she stays with him on earth. | 6 | 7 |
| F49 | Caesarean section, T584. | Women had their stomachs cut open to remove the baby. Someone explains how to give birth or makes childbirth possible. | 76 | 106 |
| A32d1 In A32 family | Cain and Abel on the moon. | Cain and Abel are associated with the moon, usually distinguishable (both or only Cain) in the silhouette of lunar spots. | 21 | 45 |
| F37 | Calabash on the water. | To summon her lover, the character taps on a calabash placed on the water. | 14 | 22 |
| I25C In I25 family | Calling blood wine. | On the way to their goal, the character expresses imaginary pleasure when encountering repulsive and dangerous objects and creatures, thereby ensuring their loyalty (on the way back). | 24 | 33 |
| B85 | Calming the Wind. | The wind blows too strongly, it is forced to calm down. | 28 | 30 |
| K58 | Canal builder. | To win the hand of his beloved, the character builds a canal or aqueduct or digs a well. Usually, the woman does not end up marrying the person who completed the work, and either she herself or the suitor perishes. | 14 | 36 |
| M29g2 In M29 family | Cancer is a cunning winner | Cancer (crab) defeats or deceives strong opponents by cunning. | 30 | 45 |
| L50 | Cannibal by the trail, G321. | The character kills travellers passing by. Usually, he does not attack them unexpectedly, but distracts their attention first. Often, he pushes his victims down somewhere. | 37 | 56 |
| L42a In L42 family | Cannibal steals corpses. | The cannibal steals fresh corpses from graves. | 12 | 14 |
| L42e In L42 family | Captured again, ATU 327C. | A demon catches the hero, carries him home, but the hero escapes on the way. The demon returns, catches the hero again, and this time brings him to his home. Or the demon catches and carries several children, but they escape on the way, leaving only one, whom the demon brings to his home. | 43 | 50 |
| M4 | Careless step | When crossing a pond or descending from a tree, the character (usually despite a warning) steps at a specific animal or part of the animal's body . As a result, it falls into the water and often sinks. | 8 | 18 |
| B2f2 In B2 family | Carries an unburied corpse. | The character carries the body of the deceased for a long time, unable to bury it or not knowing how to do so, but eventually buries the body in the ground. | 5 | 6 |
| M105B In M105 family | Carries his mother on his back. | The character replies that the load, hump or bulge on his back or head is his deceased mother or grandmother. Another kills his mother or wife and places her on his back or head. | 3 | 4 |
| M136a In M136 family | Carrying light in bags, ATU 1245. | People try to bring light, darkness, smoke, etc. into or out of a room. | 50 | 35 |
| B42i In B42 family | Cassiopeia – deer. | Cassiopeia is associated with a deer or elk. | 15 | 12 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.