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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I98C In I98 family | Pleiades – a flock of birds. | The Pleiades - a flock of (flying) birds. | 11 | 10 |
| I100a In I100 family | Pleiades – family. | The Pleiades – a woman or man with children, members of the same family. | 25 | 33 |
| I100 | Pleiades – girls, young women, women. | Pleiades – a group of girls or women (with children). | 96 | 127 |
| I94 | Pleiades – holes. | The Pleiades are something holey. | 40 | 52 |
| M39a6h In M39 family | Pluck a goose, ATU 921F* | The king tells the commoner to pluck a goose (geese, shear a ram, etc.). He understands correctly: to rob the vizier. | 37 | 41 |
| L85c In L85 family | Polukurochka, B171.1, ATU 715. | A character with half a body – a hen, a chick. Sometimes it is only a name, and the character's appearance is more anthropomorphic. | 23 | 28 |
| M59a In M59 family | Porcupine at the crossing | After asking a large animal to transport it across the river, a porcupine kills or damages it. See M59 motif. | 18 | 1 |
| H34g In H34 family | Porridge from a grain. | One grain was enough to prepare a meal. | 41 | 85 |
| K118a In K118 family | Portrait of an unknown beauty. | Upon seeing the portrait of a beauty, a man strives to meet her. | 53 | 76 |
| F70 | Potiphar's Wife, K2111, T418, ATU 318. | A woman falsely accuses a man of assaulting her. | 105 | 139 |
| D8 | Predator and fire. | The first fire (or summer) is stolen from a large predator – a lion or leopard in Africa, a tiger in Asia, a bear in northern Asia and North America, and a jaguar in South America. | 28 | 33 |
| B48 | Predators become herbivores. | Harmless and herbivorous animals were or could become dangerous predators. | 53 | 64 |
| M101a In M101 family | Predators learn to fear humans, ATU 157A. | Learning that humans are supposedly stronger than him, a large predator finds a human and challenges him to a contest of strength. This ends badly for him. Cf. motif M101. | 67 | 62 |
| A32c1 In A32 family | Predatory beast on the moon. | The figure or imprint of a predatory mammal (fox, wolf, dog, coyote, jaguar, lion) is visible on the lunar disc. Either this animal is associated with the moon, belongs to it. See motif A34. | 33 | 34 |
| M75b2 In M75 family | Predetermined marriage: a bird tries to prevent | bird tries in vain to prevent the marriage, which she learned was inevitable when the future spouses were still children. | 17 | 16 |
| K145 | Predicted death by a wolf, ATU 934B*. | A person is predicted to be torn apart by a wolf or to die during a wedding. The prediction turns out to be true. In the case of a wedding, the bride turns into a wolf and kills the groom. | 19 | 16 |
| K144 | Predicted death by an animal, ATU 934A, 934B. | When the animal, object, or person that was supposed to cause the character's death has already died or is far away, the character's remains or images become the cause of death. | 26 | 30 |
| K82a In K82 family | Pregnancy from snake eggs. | A malevolent woman forces a woman to swallow a snake egg (snake, something else) so that a man will think that the woman is pregnant out of wedlock (rarely: so that snakes will suck the juices out of her). Cf. motif L89. | 22 | 30 |
| K169 | Pregnant doe. | The hunter spares the hunted animal, noticing that it is a pregnant female and remembering his own pregnant wife. | 6 | 5 |
| F3a In F3 family | Pregnant man. | A man carries a child like a woman. | 17 | 17 |
| M154a1 In M154 family | Pregnant wife on a pregnant mare. | A man who understands the language of animals hears the mare say that she is carrying four (three): she has a foal in her belly, and the woman in the saddle is also pregnant. | 11 | 11 |
| K27zz1 In K27 family | Preserving her child. | Several wives are thrown into a dungeon (banished), each gives birth to a child, but only one manages to save hers. The boy grows up and rescues the women. | 19 | 19 |
| M53f In M53 family | Pretending to be a monster, it eats supplies | The character is involved in preparing food supplies. After leaving under some pretext, he returns in the form of a monster or predator. Everyone runs away, the deceiver eats supplies, and then returns as usual. As a result, it was exposed. | 2 | 5 |
| M173 | Pretends to be dead several times. | A zoomorphic character pretends to be dead where a traveller carrying luggage is supposed to pass. The traveller passes by, but the deceiver quietly runs ahead and repeats his trick. The traveller puts his luggage on the ground and returns to pick up the first dead person (for the skin or meat), and the deceiver takes the luggage away. | 6 | 6 |
| K120 | Prevented incest (daughter and father), (ATU 510B, 510B*), 706C. | The girl's father (rarely: stepfather) intends to marry her (since she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid the marriage. | 64 | 98 |
| K120a In K120 family | Prevented incest (sister and brother), (ATU 313E). | A man is going to marry his sister (often it turns out that she is the only one who meets the requirements for a bride). Usually, the girl manages to avoid such a marriage. | 62 | 67 |
| I75 | Previous worlds. | Before the emergence of the present world or present humans, there were others (at least two worlds or races). | 31 | 68 |
| B3 | Primary swamp. | At first, the earth is soft, resembling a swamp. | 21 | 26 |
| B3a In B3 family | Primary waters, A810. | The waters are primary. The earth is lowered onto the water, appears above the water, grows from a piece of solid substance placed on the surface of the water or liquid mud, from an island in the ocean, is exposed when the waters recede, etc. | 300 | 674 |
| K66b In K66 family | Princesses given to companions. | Travelling from one place to another, the hero leaves one of his companions in each place (usually marrying them to the princesses he has received as a reward), and continues on his way. When he gets into trouble, his companions come to his aid. | 20 | 28 |
| C16 | Products of labour become animals, E161, E168. | Contrary to human desire, processed skins, tools, and (meat) food (again) turn into (those) animals (from whose body parts they were made). Cf. motif M84. | 64 | 83 |
| H29 | Progenitor of foreign tribes. | A woman mates with an animal. The people of a hostile tribe originate from or derive their culture from the descendants of this union, from the relatives of the animal or from the children of the woman's brothers. | 27 | 42 |
| E32 | Progenitor plants. | The first humans or the first woman (progenitor, goddess) are born from trees, emerge from a tree, stump, flower, or reed. | 90 | 155 |
| E1b1 In E1 family | Prohibited work for a daughter-in-law. | A man who has married an unusual girl is warned that she must not perform certain tasks or eat certain foods. Other members of his household ensure that the young woman breaks the prohibition, and as a result she dies or disappears. | 12 | 12 |
| I45c In I45 family | Prohibition on counting stars. | Those who count stars are destined for misfortune and illness. | 19 | 23 |
| K107b In K107 family | Prohibition on lighting candles. | One spouse forbids the other from seeing them. When the other willingly or unwillingly breaks the prohibition, the first disappears (gets into trouble). (In the Tuscan version, the prohibition is broken by the woman's mother). | 29 | 42 |
| K72a In K72 family | Prohibition on lighting fires. | The king notices that his prohibition on lighting fires at night has been violated. | 21 | 32 |
| C33 | Prometheus (the chained strongman). | A strongman-god-fighter is chained to a rock or a pillar for centuries. | 16 | 42 |
| L94 | Promised to the demon. | A demon or animal helps a person or agrees to let them go, but in return takes a promise to give them a daughter or son. | 151 | 328 |
| L23 | Proteus. | Trying to free himself, the captured character successively transforms into various substances, materials or animals, or (Urarina, Setebo) orders various dangerous animals to successively attack the person who captured him. (In some cases, only one variant of transformation is mentioned, but in the same context as in typical variants with a series of transformations). | 43 | 80 |
| F51c In F51 family | Provocative behaviour after incest. | Upon learning that her unknown lover is her own brother, the girl shows him her genitals or bare breasts, offering him what he so desired. After that, she runs away, and he rushes after her. | 9 | 12 |
| M5 | Provoked insult | Once in a situation where his life depends on the will of a demon or animal, the hero feels like insulting or hitting him. See M1 motif. | 11 | 95 |
| M202 | Pulling a splinter out of a lion's paw, ATU 156. | A man pulls a thorn out of the paw (a bone out of the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or demon, who is grateful. | 83 | 76 |
| I22h In I22 family | Pulsating Abyss. | The character must jump over a gap (abyss) beneath his feet, which alternately widens and narrows, or a river whose banks converge and diverge. | 9 | 10 |
| K76c In K76 family | Pumpkin child. | The son (rarely – daughter) or foster child of a married couple emerges from a pumpkin (rarely: watermelon, nut) or is found inside it. | 20 | 22 |
| K73b In K73 family | Punishment of the innocent. | A woman falsely accused of murdering her newborn child, or of giving birth to a puppy instead of a child, etc., is subjected to cruel and humiliating punishment or execution. See motif K73. | 66 | 86 |
| B32a In B32 family | Pursuers turn into aquatic mammals. | The enemies of a hero sailing the sea turn into seals or dolphins. | 2 | 3 |
| B43 | Purusha, D287.5. | Elements of the landscape or parts of the universe are created from the body of the original being. | 46 | 75 |
| K51a In K51 family | Pushes a rival into boiling water. | One woman comes to another in the absence of a man and kills her by pushing her rival's head into boiling liquid or pouring boiling water or hot fat into her ear. See motif K51. | 10 | 9 |
| K119d In K119 family | Puss in Boots. | A cat helps a poor young man marry a princess (a girl marry a prince). | 22 | 24 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.