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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| L92 | Imaginary help to a cannibal. | A demon, a cannibal, chops down a tree or rock on top of which the hero has climbed. Another character offers the cannibal a rest and takes over the chopping, but only spoils his work or (among the Athapaskans) kills him as soon as the cannibal hands him his axe. (African variants are clearly borrowed from Eurasia). | 30 | 48 |
| K168 | Imaginary life in an instant, ATU 664*, 681. | A person experiences an eventful long period of life. Everything turns out to be an illusion, and he finds himself back in the same place and at the same moment in time from which the story began. | 30 | 37 |
| M91a In M91 family | Imaginary murder (blood bubble) | The character pierces a container of animal blood or other red liquid, simulating murder or suicide. Cf. motifs K10C (wrapped in giblets) and M199H (Giant's ripped belly). | 90 | 117 |
| M60 | Imaginary physician: finished off enemy, K824, K1955 | After injuring a demon (robber), the hero goes to his locus. There he, or (rarely) his assistant, pretends to be a doctor and finishes off an opponent. | 38 | 64 |
| E31 | Imaginary Pygmalion. | A man makes a wooden doll and behaves as if it were alive. It does not come to life, or comes to life only partially or temporarily. A real woman replaces the figure and marries the carver. | 14 | 19 |
| F73 | Imaginary wound. | The character mistakes the vulva or anus for a wound. See motifs F73A, F73B. (In the traditions of South and Central America, it is impossible to distinguish local variants from European borrowings). | 59 | 59 |
| M38a1 In M38 family | Imitates relatives or wives, ATU 552B, J2411.3. | The character imitates the sisters' sons-in-law or husbands, or the wife's brothers (shoshone's) or wives (comox and chalkomel). {ATU combines a motive with another}. | 26 | 36 |
| F84 | Imitation of chastity. | A guest or younger brother has sexual intercourse with the wife of the host or older brother. Wanting to demonstrate long abstinence, the character sprinkles ash on the head of his penis or smears it with fruit juice. | 4 | 5 |
| F72 | Imitation of rape. | A woman asks a man to tie her up before intercourse so that it looks like she is being raped. | 2 | 3 |
| L118a In L118 family | Imitation: knife to the throat. | In order to get rid of a dangerous but foolish character, a person performs certain actions, which the character imitates, not realising that he is harming himself. | 20 | 18 |
| H7b2 In H7 family | Immortal poverty. | A man named Poverty makes Death swear that it will never come to him. Therefore, poverty is inevitable in the world. | 10 | 16 |
| L117 | Imposed companions. | A man is going to get married. An evil spirit, animal, etc. imposes itself on him as a companion (usually helping, feeding, or simply saying that it will then demand half of the wife). After the wedding, it takes or tries to take the bride or demands to share her. In the Gola text, a man obtains a wife for the spirit and demands to share her. | 14 | 16 |
| M157 | Impossible births, (ATU 875E). | The character claims that a man, male animal or object gave birth (or had a period), or that an animal of one species gave birth to a young of another species, or that a woman gave birth to an animal or inanimate object. | 154 | 234 |
| C30 | Impossible condition. | In order to free himself from an obligation, the character sets a condition that is formally logical and uncomplicated, but in reality impossible to fulfil. | 60 | 68 |
| F49B In F49 family | In a distant land, they do not know how to give birth. | The hero comes to a people whose women do not know how to give birth. See motif F49. | 5 | 3 |
| M87 | In a house where you can't see the owners | The character comes to a place that is abandoned or seems to have been abandoned by the inhabitants. He tries to take or touch things, but invisible owners prevent him from doing so, or the things themselves hurt him. | 24 | 30 |
| M171c1 In M171 family | In exchange for a bast shoe. | The character has only a bast shoe with him (or he pretends that he had a bast shoe). He asks for a place to stay for the night, and in the morning he claims that he had something more valuable with him. At each new place to stay, he continues to exchange something less valuable for something more valuable. | 12 | 14 |
| M171c In M171 family | In exchange for a thorn, ATU 2034F. | At the request of a character, another character removes a thorn from his body (cuts off the tip of his tail, etc.). The thorn (tip of the tail) disappears, or when it is removed, the character is wounded. As a result, he receives something more valuable than what he has lost. | 20 | 23 |
| K52 | In pursuit of the kidnapped to the bottom of the sea. | A woman or young man who approaches the shore is carried away by predatory sea creatures to the bottom of the sea; a character descends to rescue the kidnapped person and brings him or her back with the help of cunning and shamanic powers. | 17 | 23 |
| B73b In B73 family | In search of a family member. | Two teenagers or young people are looking for each other, calling out to each other (or one of them is calling the other): a girl is looking for her missing (deceased) brother or brother's wife; a brother is looking for his sister or brother; young parents are looking for their child; one or both of those calling out turn into birds with a characteristic call. | 29 | 45 |
| B73a In B73 family | In search of a horse. | A girl (a young man, a girl with her brother; two little brothers) searches for a lost horse, cow, sheep and, as a result (alone or with her brother; both brothers), turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo) with a characteristic call. | 10 | 17 |
| A19b In A19 family | In summer on a snail, in winter on a bird. | Moving across the sky, the sun changes its mounts depending on the season – in summer it rides on a slow animal, in winter – on a fast one. Or in winter the sun is carried by a young man, and in summer – by an old man. | 8 | 6 |
| A19a In A19 family | In the morning on an ox, in the evening on a horse. | Moving daily across the sky, the sun changes its riding animals (usually in the morning it rides on an animal that moves slowly, and in the evening on another that runs faster). | 10 | 10 |
| H34 | In the past, there was no need to work. | Work did not require effort. Some people do not believe that this is possible, or do not consider it to be right, or do not fulfil the necessary conditions, which is why people have to work. See motifs H34A – H34H; H34 contains only texts that are not classified in more detail. | 96 | 151 |
| F82 | Incest with mother-in-law, T417. | The son-in-law resorts to trickery to sleep with his mother-in-law, or the mother-in-law with her son-in-law. Usually, the son-in-law insists that his mother-in-law, rather than his wife, accompany him on a hunt. | 35 | 36 |
| F64 | Incestuous parent, T411.1.1. | The character is presented as another person in order to mate with a close relative in the descending or (less commonly) ascending line. | 81 | 121 |
| F64b In F64 family | Incestuous woman. | A woman pretends to be someone else in order to seduce her son, brother, daughter or grandson. See motif F64. | 14 | 20 |
| M62a In M62 family | Incitement to quarrel (action) | The hero quietly damages each of the two characters; they accuse each other, quarrel, fight. | 73 | 69 |
| M61 | Incitement to quarrel (by words), K1084, ATU 1577 | The character provokes a quarrel by telling each of his opponents how one of them allegedly used hostile or offensive language towards the other. | 53 | 51 |
| F62 | Incognito at a festival. | A (supposedly) sick (weak, unattractive, poorly dressed) character is left alone when others leave for the festival; he (she) arrives there later in the guise of a handsome man or beautiful woman; those who arrived earlier do not recognise him (her) and take an interest in him (her). (This motif is also found in texts containing the motif k57, Cinderella). | 112 | 198 |
| K65d In K65 family | Incorrect marriage rites and the birth of spirits. | The first human couple initially only have miscarriages, or their children are spirits or unpleasant and dangerous animals. After performing a formal marriage ceremony or repeating it according to new rules, the woman gives birth to real people or gods. | 7 | 16 |
| F69 | Indecent invitation. | A woman's husband (male relative) invites her through her children to come and make love to him; the invitation is made in a veiled form; the woman comes. | 9 | 8 |
| B124 | Indentation on the foot. | Ever since a piece of flesh was torn from a person's foot, a hollow has formed between the toe and the heel. | 9 | 8 |
| M32 | Indigestion | The character swallows food or water, or his own entrails, pieces of flesh flow out and fall out of his ass. | 28 | 35 |
| M38 | Inept imitation | Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food | 203 | 348 |
| M38a In M38 family | Inept imitation: visiting, Th J2425 | On a visit, the character sees how the owner acts with magic or techniques that suit his nature (in Africa, too, deception). He imitates their actions but fails. Actions are not tests or competitions and are not related to performing feats. This is mainly getting or preparing food. | 150 | 265 |
| B122 | Infants and birds. | Birds (cranes/storks, geese or crows) carry children away to another world or bring them back from there. See motif H6c3, "The Immortal Stork". | 5 | 12 |
| J26 | Infants from the river. | The character or that from which he arises is found in a river, lake, sea, or on the riverbank. The future hero emerges from the body of water into which he was thrown. | 208 | 291 |
| J25 | Infants hide and return. | Heroes (one, two or one of two), while still infants or embryos, disappear or are thrown away (often into water). To bring them back to the world of humans, they are lured, persuaded or (with difficulty) caught. | 92 | 131 |
| M163b In M163 family | Inheritance brings good luck. | A father leaves his son (each of his sons) something of little value as an inheritance. The son goes to a country where such objects or animals are unknown and sells what he has received for a large sum of money. | 23 | 24 |
| M153 | Inscription on a hoof, ATU 47B. | A hoofed animal asks a predator to examine its hoof under various pretexts, and then kills or maims it with a kick. | 98 | 121 |
| K154 | Inscription on a skull. | A person finds a skull on which a mysterious and gloomy prophecy is written or which utters it. Then it becomes clear what it means. | 16 | 24 |
| M121 | Insects as spies. | A louse or other similar creature (flea, tick, firefly) is sent to follow a certain character. | 7 | 8 |
| L42c In L42 family | Inside the house, outside the house. | The character hides from someone stronger, sometimes inside the house, sometimes outside, and the stronger character cannot catch him. | 18 | 20 |
| F83a In F83 family | Insult conveyed through children, ATU 36. | One character asks the children of another to convey an insult to their mother or father – usually announcing his intention to make love to their mother. {ATU data is included in the correlation table, but not in the text}. | 21 | 23 |
| B33a1 In B33 family | Insulted March. | A person (animal, bird) teases or insults March or another calendar month and is punished as a result. | 27 | 48 |
| I35a1a In I35 family | Insulting a deity. | The character considers himself equal to the deity, imitating him, mocking him or trying to kill him. | 23 | 42 |
| M75b1a In M75 family | Intended wife, ATU 930A | A high-ranking person finds out that a (just born) poor or ugly girl is intended for him, or the girl herself finds out that she is destined to become a man's wife of high origin. A betrothed or someone else tries to kill a girl, but only hurts her and the prediction is fulfilled; if the girl is ugly, she becomes beautiful. | 33 | 39 |
| F45a In F45 family | Intentional conception by the wind. | A woman or female animal conceives by deliberately exposing her genitals to the wind. | 19 | 41 |
| H4a In H4 family | Interrupted renewal. | People no longer rejuvenate (usually, they do not change their skin), because they were disturbed at the moment of renewal or were not recognised as the same person after renewal. See motif H4. | 32 | 36 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.