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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| k56a4f In k56 family | The evil girl becomes ugly. | After meeting a supernatural character, the unkind girl becomes ugly. | 40 | 52 |
| k32n In k32 family | The false wife - a supernatural character. | The false wife, who replaces the real one, is a supernatural character - a zoomorphic creature, a deceased woman, a female spirit, etc. See motif K32. | 82 | 58 |
| c4a In c4 family | The Flood: Salvation on a Tree. | During the flood, those who climbed trees were saved. | 41 | 71 |
| l73a1 In l73 family | The fugitive creates fog. | Throwing some object behind him, the fleeing character creates fog or darkness in the path of his pursuer. | 22 | 21 |
| k33c9 In k33 family | The girl in the apple. | A young man obtains a girl who is inside an apple. | 7 | 9 |
| k33c3 In k33 family | The girl in the orange. | A young man obtains a girl who is inside an orange or other citrus fruit. | 26 | 42 |
| l93d In l93 family | The hedgehog as helper. | The hedgehog, resorting to cunning, helps the hero and saves him. | 4 | 5 |
| e9i5 In e9 family | The magical wife - the snail. | Before meeting the hero, his wife takes the form of a snail. | 4 | 8 |
| a35b1 In a35 family | The moon hinders the thief. | The criminal tries to make the moon dim because its light annoys him or prevents him from committing crimes. | 10 | 18 |
| l15h2 In l15 family | The soul of a character in a bird. | The object in which the character's life is contained is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final repository of the soul is a bird (a chick, several birds or chicks). | 22 | 28 |
| l15h3 In l15 family | The soul of a character in an insect (worm). | The object in which the character's life is concentrated is enclosed in another, which is enclosed in a third (and so on). The final vessel of the soul is an insect or worm. | 11 | 14 |
| k73a9 In k73 family | The talking bed. | Lying on the marital bed, the deceiver, who has taken the place of the real wife, hears the conversation of her rival or her children, and in the morning orders the bed to be destroyed. | 11 | 10 |
| k27z2a2 In k27 family | The unrecognised wife visits her husband, ATU 891. | The husband leaves his wife without agreeing with her. The wife visits her husband incognito, and in the end he realises who is with him. Usually, the wife spends the night with her husband, gives birth to a son (three children), and the husband is convinced that the son is his. | 42 | 39 |
| j4c In j4 family | The young man from the egg. | An egg remains from the deceased water character. The young hero who emerges from it avenges his father. | 5 | 6 |
| k136a1 In k136 family | The young man's hair carried away by the water. | Seeing the young man's hair carried away by the water, a woman decides to marry the owner of the hair. | 15 | 17 |
| k117c1 In k117 family | To play before death. | A man sentenced to death asks to be given something from his possessions, usually a musical instrument. Once he has it, he gains power over those gathered and is saved. | 12 | 12 |
| k14c1 In k14 family | Treasures in a pomegranate. | A man who has gone away to work sends his wife a pomegranate, unaware of its value. His wife finds treasures in the pomegranate. | 6 | 6 |
| h36k In h36 family | Trees try to destroy people. | Trees try to prevent humans from appearing on earth, fearing that they will cut them down. | 2 | 2 |
| k56a4g In k56 family | Ugly girl: growths on the face. | After meeting a supernatural character, growths (tail, horns, warts, etc.) appear on the face (back of the head) of an unkind girl. | 17 | 23 |
| k32g3 In k32 family | What does the perpetrator deserve? . | The villain is asked what punishment he deserves for committing the crime in question. Not knowing that they are talking about him, he decides for himself how he should be executed. | 8 | 13 |
| e8b In e8 family | Woman hides in a fruit. | A woman hides inside a fruit brought into the house and comes out when no one is around or when the fruit is cut open. | 19 | 22 |
| e8c In e8 family | Woman hides in a splinter. | A woman hides inside a splinter or branch brought into the house and comes out when no one is around. | 27 | 33 |
| M106a In M106 family | "I Myself" and "No One" in the Demon's House. | The character who caused the damage calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Nobody," "I Myself," etc. Usually, others decide that the victim himself is to blame for what happened. | 31 | 46 |
| M106b In M106 family | "Last Year" in the demon's house. | The character who caused harm to the antagonist calls himself by a fictitious name such as "Last Year," and the other antagonists understand this to mean that everything happened a long time ago and there is no point in looking for the culprit. | 13 | 20 |
| K7 | "Like your wife's pubic area." | A man compares a certain object to the genitals of another man's wife. The offended man takes revenge. Usually, a man who climbs a tree to get chicks from a nest compares them to the genitals of the wife or sister of the man waiting below; the latter throws away the ladder. | 8 | 8 |
| M53b In M53 family | A bag with songs | Trickster claims he's carrying songs in his bag. See M53 motif. | 0 | 0 |
| K38c In K38 family | A bird carries a hero. | After the hero helps the bird (usually by doing good to its chicks), it takes him to the place he desires, or instructs its chicks to do so. (This does not involve movement between levels of the universe; in the Sumerian version, the bird gives the hero the ability to move with lightning speed and directs him to his goal). | 60 | 72 |
| 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 |
| K38b2 In K38 family | A bird carries away the hero, the hero kills the snake. | A character (almost always a giant bird) brings the hero to its nest, after which the hero accidentally or at the bird's request kills the monster that was devouring the character's children (usually chicks). | 8 | 11 |
| K10d In K10 family | A bird carries the hero away to an island. | A flying monster carries the hero away to a distant island. The hero kills the monster and uses a boat, bridge or rope made from part of the monster's body to return. | 15 | 24 |
| B79a In B79 family | A bird laid an egg. | At the beginning of time, a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, and various objects or creatures hatch from them. | 21 | 26 |
| K80a In K80 family | A bird or object tells of a crime, ATU 720, 780, 780B. | An object or creature that has emerged from the remains, jewellery, etc. of the murdered person tells about the murder, exposing the criminal. The East Slavic texts in this section were mainly provided by K.Y. Rakhno. | 87 | 194 |
| M113a In M113 family | A bird sees blood instead of water. | A certain type of bird cannot drink water from rivers and lakes because instead of water it sees blood, fire, etc. | 7 | 8 |
| K38b1 In K38 family | A bird steals foals, a hero kills a snake. | Every time a mare gives birth to a wonderful foal, a bird carries it away. Setting out in search of the foals, the hero kills the snake that was devouring the bird's chicks. The bird returns the foals. | 5 | 4 |
| M81f In M81 family | A blind liar is robbed, ATU 1577 | blind beggar robs an honest man. He watches him and, when he enters the house, takes everything the blind man has accumulated. He often takes money accumulated by other blind people as well. | 15 | 8 |
| M97 | A blind man asks trees, D1313.4. | Blinded or far from the target, the character walks, bumping into trees of various species and asking everyone a question or request. He eventually achieves his goal. | 32 | 43 |
| M38d3 In M38 family | A blurred lump of earth | The character, who is a lump of earth (oatmeal, salt), blurred in the rain or after going to get water. | 8 | 12 |
| I91 | A body of water at the foot of a tree. | At the foot or around the base of a tree connecting the tiers of the universe or of gigantic size and considered the main tree of the world, there is a spring or water body, the water of which usually has unusual properties. | 17 | 18 |
| I87ac In I87 family | A bone in the eye. | Something huge gets into a person's eye, which he mistakes for a speck of dust. Usually, a bird carries away an animal or fish and drops a bone into the man's eye. It is difficult to find and remove (to do this, they get into a boat and float it inside the eye, throw a net into the eye, pull it out with oxen, etc.). | 17 | 29 |
| M46b In M46 family | A born infant | The character turns into a tiny object or creature, swallowing or touching which a woman (usually a virgin) becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy. He steals valuables or gets along with a woman. See M46 motif. | 40 | 45 |
| D1a2 In D1 family | A borrowed object does not burn. | The house of the person who insulted the fire burns down, but the property inside it or the child of another person (or that person himself) who treated the fire with respect is not harmed. | 10 | 9 |
| K18c In K18 family | A boy urinates on his father's hands. | The man in whose arms the boy urinates will be recognised as his father. See motif K18. | 12 | 4 |
| M144B In M144 family | A burnt tiger becomes striped. | The stripes on the tiger's skin appeared after it was burned. | 7 | 9 |
| K13b In K13 family | A caiman bites off a leg. | A man crosses a body of water on the back of a caiman. The caiman bites off his leg. The cripple undergoes a metamorphosis, turning into a constellation or an animal. | 9 | 14 |
| M1b In M1 family | A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey. | A caiman/crocodile carries a monkey across a river. She manages to jump ashore and runs away from the caiman. | 11 | 13 |
| F100a In F100 family | A chaste woman revives a man. | In order to revive a man or remove an arrowhead (bullet) from his body, a chaste girl or woman must touch (step over) the dead or wounded man. | 4 | 4 |
| J25a1 In J25 family | A child born in a grave saves his mother. | A woman dies, but remains incorrupt and gives birth to a child in the grave. He is found and brings his mother back to life. | 5 | 4 |
| K73a6 In K73 family | A child turns into a tree. | Malicious women kill (throw away) her wonderful children. Trees (flowers) grow from their remains, later reincarnating into humans. | 24 | 24 |
| K68 | A clot of blood protects the father. T541.41.1. | A strong man takes food from a weak man and forces him to work for him (usually a son-in-law mistreats his father-in-law). A boy appears in the house of the wronged man from a clot of animal blood that has been collected. He kills the offender. | 13 | 23 |
| M165 | A coat for a wolf, ATU 102. | One zoomorphic character promises another to sew a coat (boots), asks him to bring sheep, eats them, and does not sew anything. | 38 | 46 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.