Folklore Database · Browse
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| K77b1 In K77 family | Wolf's Head, ATU 125. | When they see predators, domestic animals consciously or accidentally behave in such a way that the predators flee in fear. | 59 | 65 |
| M29f In M29 family | Wolverine is a loser and a loser | As a result of its stupidity or antisocial behavior, the wolverine dies or suffers damage. See the motives in square brackets. | 30 | 24 |
| K19e In K19 family | Wolverine under a tree. | Returning from the sky to earth, a woman or two sisters encounter a male wolverine who tries to capture them. Usually, the women who have descended first find themselves in a tree. Some animals cannot or will not help them descend to the ground. The wolverine descends to take the sisters as wives; they run away from him. See motif K19B. | 14 | 11 |
| J15a In J15 family | Woman among the Jaguars. | Setting off on a journey (usually in search of a fiancé, husband, or relatives), a woman finds herself in the lair or settlement of large dangerous predators - pumas or jaguars. See motif J15. | 18 | 16 |
| K47a In K47 family | Woman and dog: the origin of humans. | A woman mates with a dog. Her children grow up to be humans and usually become the ancestors of certain ethnic groups. | 98 | 165 |
| J15b In J15 family | Woman at the toad's house. | While travelling, a woman finds herself in the house of a frog or toad. See motif J15. | 11 | 12 |
| D5 | Woman controls fire. | The original owner or inventor (but not the embodiment) of fire is a female character. | 68 | 119 |
| A12H In A12 family | Woman covers the sun. | Eclipses of the sun or moon are caused by a woman's attack. | 18 | 31 |
| F5a In F5 family | Woman from a tail, ATU 798. | God was going to make Eve from Adam's rib. The rib was stolen by a dog (cat, fox, monkey, devil). God (or an angel sent by him) chased after the thief, grabbed him by the tail and tore it off. God made Eve from this tail. Either God first made a woman from edible material and the dog ate this figure. He had to make a new one from Adam's rib. Or God cut off Adam's tail and made Eve from it. | 23 | 24 |
| F7 | Woman from the underwater world. | A man catches, grabs, meets, or receives a woman associated with the aquatic-chthonic world (a fish, mermaid, snake, crab, seal, etc.) and takes her as his wife. Cf. motifs E26 and K25. | 145 | 224 |
| F46a In F46 family | Woman in a tree. | Men (human-animals) discover a woman at the top of a tree and copulate with her there. | 10 | 14 |
| H24g In H24 family | Woman in a vessel. | A woman returned from the other world or obtained there disappears when a man opens the vessel in which she is kept prematurely. | 6 | 8 |
| L1d In L1 family | Woman kills a jaguar. | The jaguar-werewolf kills most people and is killed by the woman who survives. | 7 | 8 |
| K21a In K21 family | Woman returns from heaven. | A celestial being marries an earthly woman. She longs to return to earth and secretly descends from her husband. | 19 | 27 |
| K8b In K8 family | Woman – the soul of the whale. | A raven finds itself in the belly of a whale; the woman inside asks it not to touch a certain organ of the whale (usually the heart) or a burning lamp. The raven breaks the prohibition, the woman disappears, and the whale dies. | 8 | 9 |
| K56f2 In K56 family | Woman, two men, five eggs, ATU 1663. | In order to divide a certain number (often five) of eggs equally among people of different sexes, a cunning woman takes into account that each of the men already has two eggs. | 9 | 7 |
| D1 | Woman-fire. | A woman (usually elderly) is the embodiment of fire – alone or together with her husband, the master of fire. Cf. motif D5 (woman possesses fire). | 77 | 119 |
| B33 | Woman-wind. | There is a female character who embodies the wind or is considered the mother or mistress of the winds. | 48 | 74 |
| F38 | Women and secret knowledge. | Women were the keepers of secret knowledge, shrines, or ritual objects that are now forbidden to them; they attempted to regain this knowledge or these objects. | 65 | 135 |
| F43b In F43 family | Women hide underground. | Leaving the men, the women of the community of the first ancestors hide in a hole underground. | 5 | 11 |
| F43a In F43 family | Women kill men. | In the community of the first ancestors, women kill, attempt to kill, or transform men. | 19 | 28 |
| B31 | Women turn into aquatic mammals. | A woman (usually after coming into conflict with a man or being left alone), or a man and a woman (spouses, lovers, brother and sister) turn into aquatic mammals. | 42 | 55 |
| B32 | Women turn into fish. | As a result of conflict with their husbands, women turn into fish. | 6 | 10 |
| B113 | Women's backsides and men's knees. | Due to certain events during the time of creation, women have cold backsides (and men have cold knees, or vice versa). | 9 | 9 |
| F39 | Women's time. | In the past or in distant lands, women dominated men, were the active party in marital relations, and engaged in male activities. Men engaged in female activities. Later, the situation changed. Either women missed the opportunity to gain superiority. See motif F38. | 57 | 61 |
| K27g5 In K27 family | Wooden axe. | A person tries or must try to chop or dig with a wooden (lead, felt) tool instead of a steel one. Cf. motif L84. | 18 | 29 |
| E8 | Wooden people. | The first humans or the wife of the first ancestor were made of wood. | 66 | 84 |
| K31 | Wooden seal. | The character makes a marine mammal or fish out of wood. It kills his enemies or drags them out to the open sea. | 19 | 25 |
| E30 | Wooden substitute spouse. | A man has no wife or a woman has no husband, and uses a wooden substitute as a spouse. | 25 | 36 |
| K19f In K19 family | Working stars. | A star or many stars descend from the sky to work in the fields. See motif K19B. | 5 | 9 |
| I12 | World axis. | A tree, a pole with branches, rarely a smooth pole connects the tiers of the universe. The most distinct variants, according to which the tiers of the universe are strung on a tree, are marked in italics. | 50 | 81 |
| B3d In B3 family | Worm excrement. | The earth is obtained by a worm; it arises from worm excrement, extracted from the worm. | 18 | 40 |
| B42s In B42 family | Wounded by a spear. | The Big Dipper or Polar Star – a small animal (ermine, marten, forest marmot) or anthropomorphic character with animal features, struck by a spear or arrow. | 14 | 14 |
| K10c In K10 family | Wrapped in entrails. | The hero (twins) is weighed down with the blood-filled intestines of an animal. A bird pierces them with its claw, blood flows, the bird thinks its prey is dead, and brings the man to its nest. He kills the adult bird and either kills or transforms the chicks. Cf. motif M91A. | 11 | 20 |
| H30 | Wrong choice. | When meeting two women (together or one after the other), the hero must or may choose one. Usually, he chooses either the less beautiful or the dangerous one, bringing trouble or misfortune upon himself or upon people in general. | 22 | 27 |
| H15 | Yawning and whispering. | The dead or spirits cannot hear cries when the living call them, but they can hear whispers, yawns, gurgles, etc. See motif H12. | 12 | 22 |
| M157c In M157 family | You are hens, and I am a rooster. | To put a character in an awkward position, others present him with chicken eggs that they have prepared in advance, which the character does not have. (Usually, he crows and says that there are hens around him and only he is a rooster). | 16 | 17 |
| L128 | You are Lyuta, and I am Pra-Lyuta. | When a demonic character or predator reveals who he is, the hero or herbivorous animal responds by calling himself a name that implies his superiority over his opponent. | 17 | 18 |
| M157a6 In M157 family | You think you are looking at an abbot, ATU 922. | To help a person answer the ruler's questions, a servant or friend impersonates him and gives witty answers. Most often, the ruler asks, among other things, what he is thinking at the moment. Answer: you think you are looking at one person, but in fact it is another. | 45 | 41 |
| E10 | Young animals turn into children. | Characters who have shed their animal (plant, object) forms become the children of women or spouses who catch them off guard. | 31 | 39 |
| L131 | Your children are burning (all versions). | To get rid of a demonic creature or make a bird or ladybird fly away, they are told that the place where their home and/or children are located is engulfed in fire. | 23 | 47 |
| L131b In L131 family | Your children are burning: appeal to a bird or ladybird. | To make a bird or ladybird fly away, they are told that the place where their home and/or children are located is engulfed in fire. | 11 | 21 |
| L131a In L131 family | Your children are burning: appeal to the demon. | To get rid of a demonic character (usually a woman), they inform her that the place where her home and/or children are located is engulfed in flames. | 17 | 26 |
| I9a In I9 family | Zenith and nadir. | Zenith and/or nadir are considered together with the four cardinal directions as one (or two) more main directions. | 18 | 21 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.