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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F64a In F64 family | Describes the future spouse. | Leaving or pretending to be dying, the character gives instructions to a relative regarding what he or she should do to get married, indicating a partner with certain characteristics, or the character indicates the place of a future meeting with this partner; or (Philippines) describes a person who should be accepted as a guest; comes himself under the guise of the person mentioned. See motif F64. | 58 | 10 |
| B21 | Destruction of the world tree. | People climb trees to hunt, fish or gather honey. The tree is felled, people fall down and undergo a metamorphosis, or remain in the upper world. | 12 | 17 |
| L100b1 In L100 family | Dialogue between the male and the female pigeons | The young man forgets his magic bride and meets another woman. At the last moment a bird tells the story about his real bride and he recalls everything. Usually two birds, a male and a female, have a dialogue in which the female can tell the male that he will be as cruel with her as this youth who has forgotten his bride. | 0 | 0 |
| B44e In B44 family | Dialogue of the first ancestors. | First ancestors (usually birds or animals) argue with each other about the length of time periods in the calendar or daily cycle, or about the desirability of the dominance of cold and dark or warm and light times. See motif B44. | 11 | 12 |
| M39a3 In M39 family | Did he have horns? ATU (1381B), 1600 | fool kills a man, throws him into a pond, well, etc. A clever man throws a goat there. A fool searches for a corpse in the pond, asks if the victim had horns, etc. Everyone is obviously crazy, and the murder charge has been denied. {The Buryat and Yakut versions may be recent Russian borrowings. The ATU 1581B definition also includes an episode where a human corpse was replaced with a goat carcass, but most of the texts that have been verified do not contain this motive}. | 48 | 51 |
| M204a In M204 family | Did not notice the money, closing his eyes. | Gold is placed in a person's path so that they can take advantage of it. At that moment, the person accidentally closes their eyes and walks past. | 8 | 8 |
| B2f In B2 family | Difficult funerals. | The character cannot bury the deceased, not knowing how to do it or not finding a place for burial. | 13 | 23 |
| M199k In M199 family | Digging a well, ATU 1049. | A giant sends a man to fetch water, giving him a huge wineskin. The man cannot carry so much water, but he gets out of the situation with a trick (he pretends that he wants to bring the whole well at once; that he has already brought the water and drunk it all himself; etc.). | 40 | 50 |
| F43 | Disappearance of women. | The women of the community of the first ancestors kill or abandon the men. | 28 | 46 |
| M36 | Disassembled into pieces fits into the hole | The character finds himself inside wood, stone, ice, etc. He or someone else makes a hole, but it's too small. Then he disassembles himself (or turns into fog), pushes these parts into the hole and reassembles it. | 12 | 16 |
| L101 | Discarded clothing distracts the pursuer. | While running away, a person gradually undresses and throws items of clothing behind them. The pursuer wastes time picking them up or destroying them. | 30 | 41 |
| B6a In B6 family | Discarded egg. | The first woman gives birth to several eggs. One or two of them remain unchanged for a long time and are thrown into the river, believing them to be spoiled. However, it is precisely from these eggs that characters of high status emerge (or should have emerged). | 4 | 4 |
| L72f In L72 family | Discarded entrails. | Fleeing for his life, the character throws behind him the entrails or stomach contents of an animal, which become an obstacle in the path of his pursuer. | 6 | 6 |
| K25a2 In K25 family | Discarded feathers. | An anthropomorphic character flies away or tries to fly away, attaching feathers shed by birds flying in the sky to his body. | 15 | 21 |
| L72i In L72 family | Discarded soap. | Fleeing for his life, the character throws soap behind him, which turns into an obstacle for his pursuer (a slippery mountain, river, etc.). | 15 | 18 |
| L15e1 In L15 family | Discarded weapon. | An ageing character and/or one who senses his death approaching instructs his son, a warrior, or his subjects to throw his cold weapon (sword, sabre or axe) into the sea, a lake or a river. Cf. motifs L15E and L15e2. | 8 | 7 |
| M31 | Discharged into water | A character who can't swim asks another to take him by water. He agrees, but throws the rider into the water. | 10 | 12 |
| H27a1 In H27 family | Diseases and reptiles from holes in the ground. | Reptiles and insects crawl out of holes in the ground, bringing disease. | 19 | 27 |
| 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 |
| B44 | Dispute about time, A1150, A1172. | The first ancestors (usually human-animals) argue about how long the year, winter, night, or other periods of time should last, and whether cold and darkness should be replaced by warmth and light. | 90 | 153 |
| B69a In B69 family | Dispute about time, Chipmunk participant. | A chipmunk or a similar small animal (weasel, shrew) argues with another animal character (bear, moose, puma, snake) about whether there should be light and warmth or darkness and cold. | 13 | 14 |
| M40 | Distorted instructions | The character is sent to get something relatively low in value. He asks for something else and shouts to whoever sent him to confirm the assignment. Usually, a weaker character comes to a stronger wife or son and tells her (him) that her husband (his father) told him to surrender to him, feed him, marry him, etc. {It is highly likely that American versions are borrowed after Columbus}. | 103 | 113 |
| K27k In K27 family | Dive long or deep. | Test: to dive underwater for a long time or deeply. See motif K27. | 26 | 15 |
| C6e In C6 family | Diver – crab, shrimp. | A crustacean retrieves earth from under water or from the underworld. | 14 | 18 |
| C6b In C6 family | Diver – muskrat (beaver, otter). | The desired object is brought up from the bottom by a muskrat (rarely a beaver or otter). | 44 | 92 |
| C6a In C6 family | Diver – turtle/frog. | A turtle or toad (frog) brings a desired object from the bottom or from the underworld. | 38 | 45 |
| M74e In M74 family | Divides by biting off piece by piece | Two characters ask the third to share something edible between them. He bites off a little bit from each of the halves, because one or the other is slightly larger. As a result, it eats everything. | 3 | 3 |
| K65c1 In K65 family | Division into servants and masters, (ATU 758). | A woman gives birth to many children, but hides some of them from God. Those who are hidden become the progenitors of people of low social status, and those who are shown become the progenitors of people of high status. {The definition of plot 758 in Uther 2004 largely coincides with ours, but the references also include traditions in which children hidden from God become spirits rather than people of low status}. | 18 | 20 |
| M194 | Division of a traveller's property. | Several animals take possession of items that belonged to a human. When distributing the spoils, one keeps the food for himself and gives the others items that are more valuable than food but are only useful to humans. The animals that receive these items perish or suffer damage. | 7 | 13 |
| 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 |
| K35a1 In K35 family | Do not pick up the feather of the firebird. | Setting off on a journey, a person (often against the advice of their horse) picks up a precious feather. Upon learning of this, an authoritative character gives them difficult tasks. | 38 | 55 |
| I45b In I45 family | Do not point at a rainbow, C843.1. | If you point your finger or stare intently at a rainbow, you will fall ill, or the finger you pointed with will rot or wither away. | 143 | 177 |
| K56a3 In K56 family | Do not tie shoelaces. | A wandering girl or young girl should not tie her shoelaces or the laces on her shoes or clothing. If she does so, she will get into trouble. | 12 | 11 |
| H21a In H21 family | Do not touch the big fish. | The fish are concentrated in a small container, from which the owner takes as many as he needs. Another character opens the container, breaking the rules, and the fish escape. | 13 | 28 |
| L116a In L116 family | Doe with golden horns. | While chasing a roe deer (fallow deer, deer), the hero finds himself in the lair of a demon or wizard; the roe deer is an enchanted person or demon. | 32 | 45 |
| D4e1 In D4 family | Dog and fire. | The thief or giver of fire, light or sun is the dog. See motif 4A. | 26 | 22 |
| A32c In A32 family | Dog and man on the moon. | The figures of a man and a dog are visible (or should have been visible) on the lunar disc. | 23 | 29 |
| M161 | Dog in a bag. | A character gives another a sack that is supposed to contain food, but in fact contains a dog; or frees a girl (boy) from a sack or chest and replaces her with a dog or other dangerous animal. The animal attacks the person who opened the sack. | 45 | 68 |
| L37b4 In L37 family | Dog meat has miraculous properties. | From a conversation between spirits or animals, a man learns that the meat (brain, blood) of a neighbouring shepherd's dog has miraculous properties. | 8 | 11 |
| B117 | Dog rights, ATU 200. | A document issued to animals (usually dogs) is lost through the fault of a cat (swallowed by a cat, burned, gnawed by mice). Since then, dogs and cats (usually also cats and mice) have been at enmity. | 30 | 29 |
| I103 | Dog Star. | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf. | 29 | 47 |
| B81 | Dog with a gun. | The creator and his opponent consider whether to give the dog the ability to shoot (with a bow or a gun). | 20 | 22 |
| I38 | Dog-headed creatures. | There are creatures that combine the characteristics of dogs and humans (usually people with dog faces or heads). | 54 | 83 |
| 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 |
| M149b In M149 family | Dogs in the stomach. | A person says that in his stomach (in a box) there are dangerous creatures that he has swallowed (put in a box) and that they may come out. A predator that is about to eat (bite) a person believes this and runs away. | 9 | 12 |
| L65b2 In L65 family | Dogs with talking names. | The hero's dogs have names that speak of their strength and agility (Wind, Ironbreaker, etc.). | 21 | 36 |
| I38a In I38 family | Dogs – husbands of women. | The husbands of human women are dogs or dog-headed creatures. | 11 | 17 |
| M81b In M81 family | Don't go after a stuck arrow | The character is warned not to try to reach an arrow if it gets stuck in a tree. He breaks the ban and gets into trouble. | 10 | 14 |
| M81e In M81 family | Don't herd cattle on giant land, ATU 314A, 321 | young man undertakes to herd cattle and is warned not to cross the borders of a giant, dragon, witch, etc. The young man violates the ban and kills a giant. | 40 | 47 |
| K27z1 In K27 family | Don't take the cage, don't take the bridle! ATU 550. | The assistant teaches how to steal the desired object, but not to take anything else (take the bird, but not the cage, the horse, but not the bridle, etc.). The character takes what he should not, is caught, released on the promise to deliver another object, then the girl. In the end, the hero keeps both the girl and everything he stole. {ATU 550 includes a much wider range of texts; in particular, the Indian, Burmese and Persian variants mentioned in Uther 2004 do not correspond to our definition}. | 70 | 65 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.