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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| C31c In C31 family | The wise bat. | The bat turns out to be smarter and wiser than other living creatures. | 12 | 15 |
| K561 | The wise carving of the fowl | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again. | 0 | 0 |
| C31 | The wise hedgehog (cosmology). | The hedgehog is wiser or more cunning than all the gods and animals; it possesses knowledge that is vital for human existence. | 23 | 40 |
| C31b In C31 family | The wise owl. | The owl is wiser and more intelligent than other living creatures. | 28 | 31 |
| K33a2 In K33 family | The witch distorts what is said. | A brother takes his sister to her fiancé. She cannot hear her brother's words, and the witch distorts them (as if the brother is telling his sister to throw herself into the water, to blind her, etc.). Having got rid of the heroine, the witch replaces her with her own daughter. | 10 | 14 |
| K102a4 In K102 family | The wolf across the river. | A hostile young character is located behind a water barrier. The young man's sister or mother helps him cross and becomes his lover. | 12 | 17 |
| M140b In M140 family | The wolf adorns the bird. | The fox cunningly ties up the wolf. The bird unties him, and the grateful wolf adorns her plumage. See motifs b97, b97a. | 9 | 6 |
| L108 | The Wolf and the Kids, ATU 123. | Each time the departed character returns, he or she sings a song or gives a signal to a relative (usually a child) or friend who remained at home, who then lets him or her in. The antagonist pretends to be the departed person, imitating his or her voice, showing his or her hand, etc. Cf. motif L27a. | 142 | 228 |
| M29b1 In M29 family | The wolf is a loser and a loser | As a result of his stupidity or antisocial behavior, the wolf dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 162 | 168 |
| K126 | The wolf pays for the horse it ate. | A predatory beast or demon eats the hero's horse, but in return is forced or voluntarily helps him. | 31 | 37 |
| M135b In M135 family | The wolf regrets his own stupidity. | The wolf (rarely a bear, jackal, or fox) approaches various domestic animals in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil their request, remains hungry and usually beaten, and in conclusion blames himself ("Am I a mullah to read?" etc.). In the Persian version, the fox tells him this. | 44 | 49 |
| M94b In M94 family | The wolf under the mill wheel | The character is lured to look under the mill wheel, he dies or is maimed. | 17 | 32 |
| M94b1 In M94 family | The wolf under the mill wheel | The character is lured to look under the mill wheel, he dies or is maimed. | 12 | 14 |
| M146 | The wolf was lured into a trap, ATU 35B*. | Knowing that the meat is in a trap or poisoned, or that there is a trap ahead, a zoomorphic character provokes another to try the meat first or to go ahead. | 38 | 44 |
| H53 | The wolf – lord of the dead. | The wolf participates in the creation of the earth or is the brother of the creator and/or conqueror of the demons of the underworld. He dies and/or is considered the first to die and/or becomes the lord of the land of the dead. | 13 | 28 |
| M135a In M135 family | The wolf's misfortunes, ATU 122A. | A wolf (or, less commonly, another predator) approaches various (more than one type of) domestic animals (animals and humans) in order to eat them, but, agreeing to fulfil the request, remains hungry and is usually beaten. | 71 | 81 |
| M191c In M191 family | The wolf's song, ATU 163. | Through singing (threats, pleasantries), the wolf (less often, the bear) gradually forces the old man to give him his domestic animals (and family members). | 11 | 6 |
| B16b In B16 family | The wolverine makes the sea salty. | The sea is salty because a wolverine or a fox bathed in it or urinated in it. | 6 | 8 |
| L1a In L1 family | The woman became a bear. | A young woman turns into a bear (in Asia, a tigress) and attacks her close relatives or husband. | 51 | 71 |
| H14 | The woman flies back. | A woman who has returned from the world of the dead flies back, becoming a bird or a fly. | 10 | 9 |
| K105 | The wonderful son and the rat children. | A despised wife gives birth to miraculous children, while other wives give birth to animals. | 7 | 7 |
| M108b In M108 family | The woodpecker helper. | The deceiver takes away someone else's property in a boat or carries it away. A bird (usually a woodpecker) deceives him and returns the property to its owners. | 11 | 7 |
| C2a In C2 family | The Woodpecker's Fire. | Two characters meet a woodpecker and receive an object from it, which causes the ground to catch fire upon contact. The stronger and smarter of the two characters escapes, while the weaker and stupider one is burned or burned to death. | 7 | 12 |
| K112 | The worker takes revenge on the Sun. | A man accuses the Sun and other characters responsible for the weather, wild animals, etc. of causing him to lose his property; he punishes his offenders. | 23 | 23 |
| M166 | The world among animals, ATU 62. | A predator suggests that its potential prey, which is sitting in a tree, come down (usually telling a bird that there is peace among the animals and there is no need to be afraid). The prey is in no hurry to come down and usually advises the approaching dogs to spread the word about the peace among the animals. The predator runs away. | 71 | 47 |
| C24 | The world is in danger of falling. | Someone is gnawing or chopping at the pillar supporting the sky or the earth; certain creatures are trying to destroy the barrier separating their world from the world of humans; if the work is completed, humans will perish. | 12 | 17 |
| F91 | The worm grower. | A man finds or breeds monstrous worms to eat his wife. | 10 | 19 |
| F29a In F29 family | The worm is scalded with boiling water. | To kill a woman's lover, who has the appearance of a worm or snake and crawls into her vagina from under the ground, boiling water, resin or hot coals are poured on him. | 12 | 17 |
| K56 | The worthy are rewarded, the unworthy are punished, ATU 480, 480D*. | One of the girls, young women or young girls (wives of one man) meets a character who is able to reward and punish. She behaves correctly and receives a reward. Another (others) tries to repeat everything, but behaves incorrectly and is punished (rarely: not rewarded). | 187 | 449 |
| K56b In K56 family | The worthy are rewarded, the unworthy are punished. | Two men take turns meeting a character who can reward and punish. One behaves correctly and is rewarded, the other (or two others) behave incorrectly and are punished (rarely: not rewarded). | 200 | 366 |
| K136 | The young man and the cows. | The young man turns out to be the owner and leader of a herd of cattle, and with his herd of cows or buffaloes he is summoned to the king (usually after his hair is found by the princess). | 12 | 15 |
| K100f In K100 family | The young man releases the fish. | A man catches an unusual fish (rarely: a bird or some kind of aquatic creature). His son (a worker) releases it. For this, the father (king) drives him away, or the one who released the fish leaves on his own. The rescued fish helps him. | 32 | 41 |
| M38b1 In M38 family | The young woman is waiting for her husband to guess | After the wedding, the wife is silent until her husband says certain words that indicate her origin. {In North Africa, the Pyrenees and the Arabs of Western Asia, the motive is very popular, which suggests that the list of traditions in which it is known may include some records that have so far been supported only with links to pointers, but not by the texts themselves}. | 20 | 15 |
| J23c In J23 family | The younger brother defeats the monster, ATU 312D. | People in general or older brothers (siblings, older sister) disappear one after another. A woman raises a boy from infancy or, left alone, miraculously conceives a son or finds a baby. He defeats the antagonists, usually reviving or freeing the missing ones. | 107 | 122 |
| L114 | The younger brother saves from the werewolf. | A group of young men or women arrives at the demon's lair. The younger brother or sister, or a character who is considered sick, unpleasant, unfit, and often goes with others against their will, saves them all. See motif L113. | 70 | 85 |
| K75a1 In K75 family | The younger brother-in-law's place is in the barn. | The ruler orders his youngest daughter (and her chosen husband) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her status. He does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch, as he seems, but a mighty warrior and a handsome man. | 42 | 44 |
| K75 | The younger daughter agrees, ATU 433B. | The girl (usually the youngest of the sisters) does not reject the hero, who temporarily takes the form of an animal, a freak, an old man, a poor man, or a loser, or she picks up the hero's remains and he comes back to life. After some time, the hero reveals his true nature. | 250 | 432 |
| L65d In L65 family | The younger sister of the cannibal. | When the older sister becomes a cannibal, the younger sister (temporarily) escapes. Cf. motifs L1B, L65C. | 34 | 40 |
| D4a In D4 family | Theft of fire, A1415. | Fire is stolen from its original owner, returned to people by the thief, or (the motif of theft is not expressed) brought with difficulty from a distant place. | 294 | 627 |
| N27a In N27 family | There is even bird milk | It is said that somewhere there is (or was) even bird’s milk | 16 | 13 |
| M39f In M39 family | There was a hat, a head - I don't remember, ATU 1225 | A fool is left headless (usually trying to get into a bear's den). When asked whether the deceased had a head, wife or someone else, they say that there was a hat (beard), but they definitely do not remember the head. | 51 | 34 |
| G8b In G8 family | They cut down a tree to get the one who climbed it. | A person hides in a tree or (Kazakhs) hides behind walls. Another tries to cut down the tree (break down the walls) to get the person, but the cut tree grows back (or the already felled tree rises, the wall is restored). | 48 | 65 |
| G8c In G8 family | They cut down a tree to get valuables. | The first ancestors try to cut down a tree (less often a high rock) to get useful plants hanging on the branches (at the top) or water or fish in the trunk. The damage disappears as soon as the workers are distracted from their work, or periodically. | 22 | 37 |
| H1bb In H1 family | They did not spare the dog. | One character refuses to resurrect another's beloved dog, and this conflict is linked to the loss of the ability to resurrect people. | 5 | 5 |
| L103a In L103 family | They did not unlock the door for their daughter. | A girl, a young woman, runs away from a demonic character; she manages to run home, but her relatives do not open the door. The pursuer finds and eats her. (A musical instrument is made from her hair or intestines). (Overview of variants in Rakhno 2016: 475-484). | 7 | 13 |
| I19 | They feed on the smell of food. | Anthropomorphic creatures satisfy their hunger with the vapours of food being prepared. See motifs I14 (people without anuses), I15 (people without mouths). | 57 | 56 |
| M30a In M30 family | They relieve the need for a fallen person | The character flying over the village falls, is tied up, and defecated on him. | 9 | 7 |
| M39b1 In M39 family | They row in both directions, ATU 1276 | Once in the boat, some people row in one direction and others in the opposite direction, the boat remains in place. | 17 | 12 |
| N23 | They stayed there and I came back here | fairy-tale text ends with a formula that says that the characters stayed or left where the action took place, and the narrator returned home and/or came to the place fairy tale performances. | 15 | 52 |
| B77b In B77 family | They touched the sky with a long object. | The sky moved away and/or the connection between people and the deity ceased after the sky or the heavenly deity was touched or struck with a long object (a pestle, a broom, etc.) during work. Cf. motifs B77b1 and B77b2. | 32 | 64 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.