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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| E9n In E9 family | The magical wife – an aquatic mammal. | A man marries a female seal, seal or dolphin that has taken the form of a woman and lives with her among people. | 15 | 18 |
| K25e In K25 family | The magical wife – ancestor of humans. | Humans in general or a specific ethnic, tribal or social group are considered descendants of an earthly man and woman of supernatural origin. | 73 | 117 |
| E9j In E9 family | The magical wife – monkey. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a monkey, or the man hides the woman and pretends that the mistress is a monkey. | 20 | 24 |
| E9l In E9 family | The magical wife – mouse. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife) has the image of a mouse (rarely: a rat). | 14 | 13 |
| E9m In E9 family | The magical wife – the bear. | A man marries a bear (white or grizzly) that takes the form of a woman, or a woman who takes the form of a bear. | 16 | 29 |
| E9i4 In E9 family | The magical wife – the crane. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a crane. | 10 | 11 |
| E9d In E9 family | The magical wife – the dog. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a dog or puppy (wolf cub). | 40 | 70 |
| E9i2 In E9 family | The magical wife – the duck. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper, adopted daughter) takes the form of a duck. | 20 | 26 |
| E9b In E9 family | The magical wife – the elephant. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of an elephant (elephant tusk). | 7 | 8 |
| E9i3 In E9 family | The magical wife – the goose. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a goose. | 32 | 24 |
| E9f In E9 family | The magical wife – the parrot. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) has the image of a parrot. | 18 | 50 |
| E9i1 In E9 family | The magical wife – the swan. | Before meeting the hero, his beloved (wife, helper) takes the form of a swan. | 58 | 117 |
| K25 | The magical wife. | A man consciously marries a woman who belongs to the non-human world. | 422 | 1196 |
| M57a2 In M57 family | The male character exudes values | Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a | 92 | 125 |
| B11a In B11 family | The mammoth – creator of the landscape. | The mammoth, represented as an underground fish-like creature, creates rugged terrain on wet ground and digs river beds. | 15 | 13 |
| L98 | The man-eating owl. | The demon that carries off children and threatens heroes, people, etc., is the eagle owl; there is a race of owls that is hostile to humans. | 57 | 78 |
| L109 | The man-eating pumpkin. | The pumpkin turns out to be a monster-devourer and/or grows from the remains of a monster. | 29 | 38 |
| I31 | The master and mistress of the dead. | In the afterlife, the souls of the dead are met by a pair of mythological characters – a man and a woman, or the master of the dead appears to women in female form and to men in male form. | 10 | 11 |
| K35a3 In K35 family | The master becomes a servant. | In order to obtain the privileges enjoyed by the hero, the deceiver manages to swap status with him. | 32 | 44 |
| M179a In M179 family | The master is driven out of the house. | One character deceives another or, in the absence of the other, occupies his dwelling and refuses to return it. | 21 | 24 |
| M168a In M168 family | The master is taken seriously, ATU 93. | An animal or bird that regularly feeds on the fruits of a farmer's harvest or lives in his field continues to do so until the very last moment, when the threat to its life becomes obvious. Usually, a bird with chicks (a fox with fox cubs) does not leave the field (vineyard) where the harvest has ripened until the owner's children (workers) and he himself take up the sickle or begin to cut the vines. | 21 | 8 |
| M39a5a3 In M39 family | The master's devils were beaten | Realizing that a wife telling the truth will cause trouble for the family, the husband says that the sounds she hears are the screams of her master (official, etc.) who is beaten, dragged to hell, etc. She repeats this to the master (official), who declares her insane. | 17 | 18 |
| M51 | The meat is on the tree | One of the two characters gets meat. The weaker deceives the stronger one, hiding the meat in his absence to eat alone later. | 58 | 85 |
| K56a4 In K56 family | The messenger dog. | When a kind girl returns home, an animal or bird (usually a dog) announces that she is well, but when an unkind girl returns or when her dead body is brought back, the dog (rooster, crow) announces that something is wrong with her. | 40 | 74 |
| I84 | The Milky Way – a ski trail. | The Milky Way – ski tracks. | 31 | 68 |
| I102 | The Milky Way – a tree. | The Milky Way – a tree, the trace of a tree. | 12 | 14 |
| I61a In I61 family | The Milky Way – belt. | The Milky Way – the heavenly belt. | 14 | 11 |
| I59 | The Milky Way – scattered straw. | The Milky Way is associated with agriculture and scattered objects – straw, chaff, less commonly flour, hay, peas. | 46 | 95 |
| I43b In I43 family | The Milky Way – snake, fish. | The Milky Way is a reptile, fish or chain of fish. | 37 | 67 |
| I59b4 In I59 family | The Milky Way – snow, hoarfrost. | The Milky Way is associated with snow, hoarfrost, and cold. | 10 | 10 |
| I59b2 In I59 family | The Milky Way – St. James' Way. | The Milky Way – St. James' Way. | 15 | 19 |
| I93 | The Milky Way – the backbone of the sky. | The Milky Way – the backbone, support, pillar of the sky or world. | 26 | 20 |
| I116 | The Milky Way – the boundary between seasons. | The Milky Way separates the seasons of the year or worlds (dry from wet, sky from earth, etc.). | 18 | 19 |
| I60 | The Milky Way – the heavenly seam. | The Milky Way - a seam, a crack between the two halves of the sky. | 13 | 18 |
| I93A In I93 family | The Milky Way – the heavenly tail. | The Milky Way is the tail of a creature that is being pulled by its tail. | 2 | 2 |
| I58 | The Milky Way – the path of birds. | The Milky Way is called the bird path and is associated with migratory birds. | 51 | 84 |
| I59b3 In I59 family | The Milky Way – the road of salt traders. | The Milky Way – the road of salt traders, "Chumak Way". | 15 | 10 |
| I109 | The Milky Way – the road of the heavenly bodies. | The Milky Way – the road along which the Sun and Moon travel. | 4 | 4 |
| I59b1 In I59 family | The Milky Way – the road to a distant city. | The Milky Way – the road to a distant city, usually with religious significance (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.). | 29 | 52 |
| I63 | The Milky Way – the tapir's path. | The Milky Way is the tapir's trail; the tapir can be seen on the Milky Way. | 14 | 20 |
| B16c In B16 family | The mill grinds salt, ATU 565. | The magic mill is ordered to grind salt, but is not given the command to stop. The mill sinks into the sea, usually grinding salt to this day. | 46 | 32 |
| K119e In K119 family | The Miller: A Success Story. | The poor young man who was helped by an animal assistant, who presented him to the king as a rich man, is a miller or a miller's son. | 20 | 25 |
| H20a In H20 family | The mistress of the fish loses it. | A woman or several women keep fish or water in some kind of container; a man releases all the fish into rivers or the sea, releases the water. See motif H20. | 24 | 9 |
| J62b1 In J62 family | The mistress of the island turns men into animals. | A sorceress living on an island turns men into animals. | 4 | 4 |
| I87c In I87 family | The mitten house, ATU 283B. | Animals use a small object belonging to the human world (skull, mitten, jug, etc.) for shelter or transportation. Cf. motif I87: characters use an object (skull, animal shoulder blade, mitten) belonging to the world of giants as a shelter. | 19 | 39 |
| B61 | The mole's paw. | The mole had to hold up the fallen sky and sun. Since then, its paw (hand) has remained dislocated backwards. | 7 | 10 |
| A12f In A12 family | The Money Lender. | The stars fade because the moneylender demands that they repay their debt. | 21 | 24 |
| L93c In L93 family | The monkey helper. | The monkey, resorting to cunning, helps the hero or heroine, saves them. | 13 | 11 |
| K27w In K27 family | The monster kills the person giving the tasks. | The task giver demands that a dangerous creature be brought to him or that something belonging to a monster or deity be brought to him. The hero fulfils the task, but the beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task giver. See motif K27. | 53 | 49 |
| M116b In M116 family | The monstrous pursuer and the old man's advice. | A monster chases people. An old man gives advice on how to kill it from ambush. | 3 | 4 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.