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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| H18a In H18 family | The puppy releases the animals. | The owner of the hunting animals hides them underground; one of the first ancestors turns into a puppy, which is picked up by the owner's children, and releases the animals. See motif H18. | 0 | 0 |
| L100a In L100 family | The pursuer abandons the transformed fugitive. | The fugitive transforms into a small object (stick, stone) or hides in a similar object. The pursuer, in anger, throws the object far ahead, unwittingly helping the fugitive to escape. | 13 | 18 |
| J47 | The pursuer falls from a height. | A character climbs up to the sky using a rope, ladder, etc., or climbs a tree or rock, or descends from the sky to the ground, or rises to the ground from the underworld. Another character climbs after them, but the rope or ladder breaks or is cut, and the character falls. | 96 | 168 |
| L72e1 In L72 family | The pursuer hides the axe. | In order to destroy the obstacles created by the hero, the pursuer uses tools. Before continuing the chase, he is forced to spend time taking them home or hiding them, otherwise animals and birds will steal them. | 12 | 16 |
| L72e In L72 family | The pursuer returns for the axe. | In order to overcome the obstacles created by the fleeing hero, the pursuer is forced to return home for the necessary tools. | 17 | 29 |
| K62a In K62 family | The Quarrel of the Mouse and the Bird, ATU 222B. | A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a bird quarrel after failing to divide their winter supplies. (This episode usually serves as the beginning of a story about a war between birds and animals). | 38 | 43 |
| K122 | The queen of the other world finds the hero (ATU 551). | Having penetrated the world of a powerful woman, unattainable without the support of supernatural helpers, the man returns. The deceiver tries to take credit for the feat. The woman whom the hero met in her world finds him and punishes (rejects) the deceiver. | 45 | 72 |
| B40 | The rabbit as a substitute for the deer. | The hare/rabbit is a false deer, a former deer, a brother of the deer, a former or failed owner of antlers, its ears are false antlers. | 44 | 48 |
| D4j In D4 family | The rabbit obtains fire. | The thief, the thief's assistant, or the owner of fire is a rabbit, a hare, or (ofaye) a guinea pig. See motif D4A. | 28 | 11 |
| I47 | The rainbow as a stream of secretions. | The rainbow smells disgusting, is associated with foul-smelling animals, is a stream of excretions, is associated with the lower body, causes inflammation or skin diseases, and is associated with death. | 42 | 40 |
| I92 | The rainbow changes gender. | A person who has come into contact with a rainbow in a certain way (walked under it, drunk water where the rainbow drinks, etc.) changes their gender. | 41 | 56 |
| I41b In I41 family | The rainbow drinks water. | The rainbow drinks (draws into itself) water (and living creatures). | 60 | 90 |
| I46b In I46 family | The rainbow predicts the harvest. | The colour of the rainbow can be used to predict the harvest of individual crops. | 18 | 29 |
| I41b1 In I41 family | The rainbow swallows fish. | The rainbow drinks, swallowing fish, people, etc. along with the water. Sometimes this fish falls from the sky to the ground. | 16 | 22 |
| L13 | The raised monster. | People feed a dangerous creature, or it grows on its own in a man-made enclosure. Once it becomes big and strong, it starts to destroy people. | 66 | 97 |
| H36e In H36 family | The rat betrays man. | The rat is to blame for the fact that man is mortal. | 11 | 12 |
| B38c In B38 family | The raven and the loon adorn each other. | The raven and the loon paint each other. | 20 | 28 |
| H36ff In H36 family | The raven betrays man. | The raven (crow) or other large bird of prey tries to kill people and/or is responsible for the fact that humans (tigres: domestic animals) are mortal or susceptible to disease. | 39 | 57 |
| A13a In A13 family | The raven hides the sun. | The raven steals or hides the sun, or attempts to do so. | 12 | 15 |
| H19 | The raven interferes with hunting. | The raven hides game animals in a pen or cave or scares them away from hunters. See motif H18. | 29 | 40 |
| M123 | The raven marries the goose. | A bird of prey or scavenger (raven, owl, hawk, coyote) marries (or attempts to marry) a partner who (or whose brothers) are geese or other waterfowl. The marriage is disrupted or proves unsuccessful. | 24 | 33 |
| A13a1 In A13 family | The raven obtains the sun. | The raven rescues or obtains the hidden or stolen sun (daylight). | 31 | 64 |
| H36f In H36 family | The raven – an unsuccessful messenger. | The raven is sent to deliver an important item or message. He distorts the message or loses what has been entrusted to him. | 15 | 19 |
| M123d In M123 family | The raven – devourer of carrion. | A bird from the corvid family is rejected after its mate or relatives discover that it eats carrion or filth. | 15 | 14 |
| K32c In K32 family | The real wife becomes an owl. | The deceiver takes the place of the real wife, and the real wife becomes an owl. See motif K32. | 2 | 2 |
| F25 | The reason for menstruation: someone else's blood. | Women have been stained with someone else's or their own blood, or with blood-like paint, ever since women began menstruating. | 28 | 38 |
| B58 | The red neck of the turkey. | After the first ancestors steal the original fire, a forest bird the size of a partridge (Penelope sp.; Anhima cornuta; etc.; jacu, paujil) swallows a hot coal. As a result (except for the Andoc), its neck turns red. | 9 | 11 |
| F13 | The red penis of primates. | The genitals of humans or monkeys acquire their current shape and colour as a result of copulation with a girl who had a toothy womb or no vagina. | 8 | 15 |
| K104 | The red swan. | The youngest of the brothers stays at home, wounds a red swan or duck, and follows its trail. | 8 | 6 |
| J27a In J27 family | The rejected child kills his father. | One of the babies is abandoned and lives in a river, forest, etc.; the other remains at home; after the abandoned brother returns home, the brothers kill their father or his men. See motifs J19, J25. | 6 | 9 |
| K161 | The Released Dragon, (ATU 302C*). | A character who has deprived a dragon (demon, thunder) of its freedom orders others not to unlock the dungeon (not to enter a certain room, not to give the chained creature anything to drink, etc.). The prohibition is violated, the chained creature is freed, which leads to disaster. Cf. motif K100f1. | 42 | 58 |
| A21a In A21 family | The released moon. | The moon is an object that was accidentally released by its owners or stolen from them and ended up in the sky. | 6 | 10 |
| B108 | The remains of the deceased turn into snow. | An anthropomorphic character that has fallen apart into pieces turns into snow. | 3 | 6 |
| M162C In M162 family | The removed skin is eaten. | The fox persuades the bear to remove his skin, eats it, and the bear dies. | 2 | 3 |
| H55b In H55 family | The Repentant Robber, ATU 756B. | From a man who visited hell (and met a deity), the robber learns of his future fate, humbly accepts the inevitability of retribution in the afterlife, and is ultimately saved. The robber is usually contrasted with a self-confident righteous man who is punished for his pride. | 30 | 13 |
| K15b In K15 family | The replaced barrel of water. | By secretly switching the vessels containing living and dead (giving and taking away strength) water (rarely: oil, etc.), from which the combatants drink during a duel, the hero defeats his opponent. | 37 | 57 |
| K35 | The replaced man. | The deceiver pretends to be a hero in order to take his place (to possess his woman). (This motif includes all texts with motif K35a3). | 71 | 94 |
| K32d In K32 family | The replaced one grazes cattle. | As a result of the antagonist's intrigues, a noble girl (young woman) or boy (young man) is turned into a servant or servant, sent to graze cattle or chase birds in the field. Everything is revealed – usually after people hear a song in which the hero or heroine tells about the substitution. Most often, the hero or heroine goes to relatives or (less often) to the groom. The deceiver accompanies her or him and is accepted as a relative or bride. The deceiver is executed. Comoros: the deceiver becomes the mistress, turning the girl's parents into peacocks. | 44 | 62 |
| L31b In L31 family | The reptile crawls into the water. | Upon discovering a reptile on land, people touch it or sit on it, stick to it, and it crawls away with them into the water. See motif L31. | 17 | 3 |
| C33a In C33 family | The restored chain. | Throughout the year, someone tries to saw through or break the chain or rope that holds him or another character. On a certain day of the year, when the chain has become completely thin, it is restored to its former state, or the pole to which the chain is attached is reinserted into the ground. Cf. motif G8d. | 27 | 41 |
| G2 | The Return of Persephone. | A character embodying fertility and life, who first disappears and then (periodically) returns. | 70 | 93 |
| H13 | The returned dead come back to life. | The character comes to the underworld, brings back the dead person or brings back their remains. The dead person comes back to life and (for a while) remains among the living. | 37 | 47 |
| L74 | The Returned Hand. | A bear or other powerful character tears off and carries away another character's hand. A third character steals the hand and returns it to the one from whom it was torn off. | 11 | 17 |
| K107 | The Returned Husband, ATU 425A, 425B, 425D, 425E, 432. | A magical husband leaves his wife. She finds and returns him. | 112 | 217 |
| J41b In J41 family | The returned son burns his tormentors with magic. | The son returns, finds his mother, who was humiliated and tortured in his absence, and burns his tormentor and his men, summoning fire and heat with magic. | 10 | 12 |
| K108 | The revived wife cheats on her husband, ATU 612. | Wife dies, husband revives her, she leaves him for another man, punished. | 62 | 47 |
| L15c1 In L15 family | The righteous adversary suffers damage. | A dangerous character naively reveals what he fears or what his life consists of, and the hero takes advantage of this. | 12 | 14 |
| M170b In M170 family | The rim of a vessel on the neck. | A zoomorphic character stuck its head into a vessel, which broke, leaving the rim on its neck. The character uses this as proof of its high status. | 5 | 5 |
| K57c In K57 family | The ring in the pie. | The prince puts a ring on the finger of a beautiful girl, not knowing that she is the very girl who works in his kitchen. The girl slips the ring into the prince's food, and he recognises it. | 26 | 35 |
| H34b In H34 family | The river flows in both directions. | Somewhere there is or was a river that flowed or, according to the plan, was supposed to flow in two directions at once. | 25 | 30 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.