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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| M85 | Fox is bluffing, ATU 56A | character unable to climb a tree threatens to knock it down or climb a trunk if a bird or squirrel does not drop a cub or egg. The third character explains that the threat is untenable. | 88 | 159 |
| M147a In M147 family | Foxes meet at the market. | When the foxes (wolves) meet and one of them (one of the wolves) asks when they will see each other again, the other replies that it will be at the fur market (at the furrier's, etc.). | 14 | 13 |
| 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 |
| B33e1 In B33 family | Freezing in the womb. | It is said that the cold, which is stronger than anything else, can freeze boiling water, a foetus in the womb, etc. | 11 | 10 |
| K33b In K33 family | Friends abandon a beautiful woman. | A girl goes with her friends to the forest, to the river; everyone returns home, but she is forced to stay or return. She escapes from a dangerous creature, becomes the wife of a supernatural character, a leader, etc., or dies, but is avenged. | 36 | 56 |
| M39a4b In M39 family | Frog strands | foolish woman thinks that frogs will make yarn or cloth for her, or buy yarn and throw the material into the water. | 13 | 14 |
| G22 | Frog/toad and cultivated plants. | The frog/toad is associated with humans acquiring cultivated plants. | 9 | 13 |
| J17 | Frogs in the hair. | Instead of lice in the character's hair, there are other creatures, or he pretends that such creatures live in his hair. | 58 | 73 |
| C35b In C35 family | Frogs – enemies of the sun. | The frog (toad) prevents more than one sun from shining in the sky. | 8 | 11 |
| K27u1 In K27 family | From conception to birth day. | Some people demand that the child be born the morning after conception or speak immediately after birth. | 16 | 18 |
| K61d In K61 family | From work became a beetle, ATU 501. | A young woman accidentally gives her fiancé, husband or mother-in-law the impression that she works a lot. To prevent the deception from being revealed, she or someone else makes others believe that women's work makes them ugly or turns them into animals. The husband forbids his wife to work. | 41 | 36 |
| M57d4 In M57 family | Frost donor | A person receives a reward from a character who is associated with frost. | 14 | 15 |
| K27l1 In K27 family | Frozen in ice. | Voluntarily subjecting himself to trials, the character allows himself to be frozen in ice and cannot free himself. | 12 | 22 |
| B33a In B33 family | Frozen in spring. | Deciding that it has become (or will soon become) warm, the character believes that winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze cattle), but dies from the cold or the cattle driven out to pasture perish. Cf. motif I84A ("The frozen son of God"). | 40 | 80 |
| B76 | Frozen waves. | The sea waves instantly petrified, forming land with mountains on it. | 9 | 10 |
| L42b1 In L42 family | Frying pans are placed on top of each other. | A character kidnapped by a demon advises him to stack pots, pans and other kitchen items on top of each other and climb up them. He does so, falls and breaks. | 6 | 10 |
| L1c In L1 family | Fugitives turn into stars. | Those fleeing from the monstrous bear ascend to the sky and turn into stars. | 12 | 18 |
| A39B In A39 family | Full moon and crescent moon. | The full moon and the crescent moon are different characters. | 2 | 2 |
| H3 | Funeral games end in death. | Death is sent to people as punishment for excessive sympathy for a dead animal or for funeral games, during which they bury an animal, tree, etc. | 14 | 16 |
| N4 | Fused ribs | Fused ribs are a sign of heroic strength. {The motive was highlighted and the material was collected by Kostyantin Rahno}. | 23 | 35 |
| M16a In M16 family | Gains sight by diving. | A character (usually a loon) restores a person's sight and/or health by diving into the water with them. See motif M16. | 19 | 11 |
| K27z In K27 family | Gambling for life and death. | A character gains power over another by winning a game of chance or an intellectual game (not a sporting competition). The motif includes all texts with motif K27z4. | 67 | 71 |
| M53 | Game dances around the hunter, K826 | The character invites others to gather around him, focusing on an activity (usually dancing with their eyes closed or lowered), and then kills the crowd (usually one at a time). | 58 | 162 |
| H21 | Game or fish kills a boy. | The character controls animals or fish; a boy, young man or girl knows his secret or serves as bait themselves; another character forces the boy (girl) to reveal the secret and/or help him in the same way that he or she helped the first character, or leads the boy to go fishing but kills him, or the boy himself starts hunting, breaking the rules; as a result, the boy or girl is killed or carried away by animals or fish. See motif H18. | 15 | 22 |
| K75a2 In K75 family | Gardener. | Appearing incognito to an authoritative figure, the hero works for him as a gardener. | 39 | 52 |
| F80D In F80 family | Genitals flew like geese. | Female genitals flew like geese. | 2 | 2 |
| F17 | Genitals out of place, A1313.3. | Human genitals were initially located, should have been located, or could have been located under certain circumstances not where they are now; either there were no genitals initially, or people did not know their purpose and copulated using other parts of the body. | 39 | 51 |
| H7b1 In H7 family | Get into the bag. | Having received a magic bag, into which any creature can be forced against its will at the owner's discretion, a person gains power over Death or devils. | 26 | 33 |
| K27f2 In K27 family | Get the same shoes. | A girl demands that her fiancé get her the same pair of shoes (or other items) as hers. These items either exist in a single copy, or it is not known what they look like. Having become invisible, the hero either steals the items (and the owner has to make new ones herself), or finds out what they look like. | 9 | 14 |
| K27x2 In K27 family | Getting an egg from under a bird, ATU 1525H 1 . | The character is able to get an egg or chick (and put them back) from under a bird in a nest, or change the bird's feathers (pluck feathers), or get a fruit from an animal's womb so that the bird or animal does not notice. | 45 | 47 |
| K160 | Getting Satan's Hair, ATU 461. | The hero is given the task of bringing back the hair, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous character. He does this with the help of the character's wife or mother. | 34 | 43 |
| A25 | Getting used to light. | When coming out onto the earth (for the first time or after a global catastrophe) or witnessing the first sunrise, people should not look directly at the light. | 9 | 26 |
| I8G1 In I8 family | Giant at the pillar of the world. | At the foot of the world pillar is an anthropomorphic character, or a character identified with a tree or pillar on which the world rests, or a character holding ropes on which the world is suspended. | 20 | 26 |
| B68 | Giant hazel grouse. | The giant hazel grouse became small – it was usually torn into pieces, which turned into the current hazel grouse. | 23 | 42 |
| L42g3 In L42 family | Gingerbread house. | In the forest or in the sky, the character sees a house that is made entirely or partially of edible materials. | 19 | 23 |
| F51d In F51 family | Ginseng child. | Ginseng roots – boys or girls who help the hero. | 6 | 8 |
| I20b In I20 family | Girding under the armpits. | People in the upper world are different from those on earth and gird themselves below or above the waist. | 9 | 12 |
| K33c In K33 family | Girl found inside a foetus, (ATU 408). | A young man obtains a girl who is inside a fruit or (rarely) a flower, stem, leaf, or egg. | 57 | 95 |
| I132a In I132 family | Girl on the swings of the sun. | A girl sits on a swing and it lifts her up to the sky. | 5 | 5 |
| K38d1 In K38 family | Girl sacrificed to the dragon. | Fearing a monster living in the water or wishing to end a flood or drought, a girl is sacrificed or voluntarily hides in the waters. | 63 | 90 |
| F70e In F70 family | Girl turns into a man, ATU 514. | A girl pretends to be a man, magically acquires male nature and lives with his wife. Cf. motif K137 (in Uther 2004, plot 514 mistakenly includes a Karakalpak text with our motif K137). | 45 | 35 |
| N13 | Girl with scissors | A girl, a girl is associated with scissors (and a boy, a boy with a knife or an ax). | 9 | 13 |
| F18c In F18 family | Girls across the river, K1391. | The character sees a girl on the other side of the river and copulates with her in an unusual way (sends his penis across the river; turns it into a bridge for the girl to cross the river; into a dam that blocks the river in front of her; dives, swimming up to the girl underwater; sends an object into the girl's vagina). See motif F18B. | 28 | 26 |
| F27 | Girls and water spirits. | It is dangerous for girls or women to approach water (water creatures drag them away or swallow them; a girl who approaches water dies; she becomes pregnant by a snake; through her fault, a flood or other disaster occurs; water spirits themselves come to a girl who has her first period). | 49 | 86 |
| J12 | Girls in search of a husband. | A girl or two sisters wander, usually in search of a suitable groom or husband who has left or lives far away. Along the way or upon reaching their destination, they encounter false suitors. (Traditions in which two heroines travel rather than one are highlighted in bold (motif j13). | 117 | 205 |
| L39d In L39 family | Give an apple to someone. | A boy climbs a tree to pick fruit. A demonic character asks him to share, but not to throw the fruit on the ground, but to pass it from hand to hand. He grabs the boy and carries him away. | 22 | 30 |
| L94b In L94 family | Give back what you don't know at home! | A person promises to give to a supernatural character the first thing that comes their way (either something they have not yet seen in their own home, or something that is behind the door, etc.). The person thinks that they will have to give something of little value, but it turns out to be their own child. | 55 | 117 |
| L44a In L44 family | Give me your liver! | The demon demands that the man hiding in the shelter give him parts of his body. The man gives the demon parts of the body of a dead animal. The demon does not understand the deception and dies, giving parts of his own body in return. | 17 | 29 |
| I138 | Glass Mountain. | The glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as an unusual (inaccessible) locus. | 36 | 62 |
| K35a6 In K35 family | Glowing feather. | The character illuminates the room with a light-emitting object (usually a feather) that he has found. | 9 | 11 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.