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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| F2 | Birth from the leg T541; V52. | The child is born from a tumour on the character's body, either placed there temporarily or emerging from blood that has flowed from a cut. | 111 | 171 |
| D2 | Birth of the sun/fire. | A woman gives birth to a son who is very hot. | 11 | 17 |
| F11 | Biting penis. | The penis burns, bites, eats food. | 21 | 22 |
| K90 | Black and red, (ATU 156B*). | A person sees two opposing monsters or animals (usually of contrasting colours: red and black, black and white) and helps one of them, or one of the combatants helps the person. (Cf. ATU 156B, 738). | 41 | 45 |
| B44d In B44 family | Black and white beast - night and day. | Night and day alternate because the slain beast was black and white, spotted. | 3 | 3 |
| M197f In M197 family | Black beard, grey head, ATU 921C. | The dialogue plays on the fact that in youth the beard is black, and in old age it is white. Usually a person explains why his head has turned grey but his beard has not: the beard is 20 years younger. | 10 | 6 |
| K101b1 In K101 family | Black becomes white. | The enchanted character (the castle where the action takes place) gradually changes its appearance over several days as the spell wears off: it acquires human features, turning from black to white, from ugly to beautiful. | 12 | 19 |
| B107 | Black oyster. | During the (world) fire, the oyster burns, which is why oyster shells are black. | 2 | 3 |
| K27zz2 In K27 family | Blind in one eye. | Several wives of one man (several sisters) go blind – the older ones in both eyes, and the younger one in one eye. | 6 | 6 |
| M81 | Blind people | Wandering, the hero finds himself in a place where blind or blind (two or more) live. | 103 | 133 |
| M81c In M81 family | Blind people in the sky | A person goes to heaven or (rarely) to the lower world, where he meets blind people (one or two), usually makes them sighted, and returns to earth himself. | 27 | 38 |
| K88a In K88 family | Blinded heroine, ATU 404. | The stepmother (aunt, rival) blinds a young woman. The latter regains her eyesight (often by exchanging them for some valuable item). | 42 | 48 |
| J6B In J6 family | Blinding of the victim. | The mother of the heroes is not killed, but loses her sight. | 4 | 4 |
| L4b In L4 family | Blood cannot be washed away. | The character learns about the violation of the prohibition to enter a certain room, as evidence of this has been preserved on the body of the heroine (hero) or on an object in her (his) hands (often blood on a key or an apple). | 29 | 42 |
| K107e1 In K107 family | Blood on the shirt. | When a magical husband leaves his earthly wife, his shirt is stained with blood. Only his new wife manages to wash it clean. | 6 | 5 |
| B42a In B42 family | Blood or fat sprinkled on the ground. | Hunters chase a bear across the sky and kill it in August-October. The bear's blood or fat falls to the ground in the form of dew or colours the foliage red. See motif B42. | 6 | 4 |
| C8 | Blood relatives give birth to people. | At the beginning of time or as a result of a catastrophe, the only human couple is a brother and sister (less often a mother and son, father and daughters). They marry and give birth to people. | 103 | 266 |
| B57 | Bloody sunset. | Blood spurting from a killed or wounded person or animal colours the sky (dawn, northern lights) or other natural objects (moon, vegetation) red. | 39 | 53 |
| K54a In K54 family | Blow to the legs. | A man and a friendly giant live together. The friendly giant fights another giant and asks the man for help. The help consists of the man damaging the enemy's legs. | 16 | 18 |
| L9g In L9 family | Bluebeard. | A man's hair or beard of an unusual colour is a sign of his demonic nature. | 8 | 8 |
| G7 | Blunt axes. | The first ancestors need to cut down a giant tree or (rarely) a rock. Their axes become blunt or break, and/or they obtain a special axe suitable for such work. If not otherwise: a tree with cultivated plants at the top, see motif G5A. | 16 | 31 |
| I22c In I22 family | Board from the stern of the Argo. | The character safely slips, sails or flies through the opening, which then slams shut, but the edge of the stern of the boat, the tail of an animal or bird, the body of a riding animal, the hero's companion or his own heel is crushed, torn off, etc. | 47 | 47 |
| J47a In J47 family | Bob to the sky, ATU 328A, 804A. | A plant (usually not a mighty tree, but a legume) grows unusually fast, and a character climbs it to reach the sky. | 34 | 65 |
| K138 | Body swap (king and vizier), ATU 678. | A person gains the ability to revive the dead by incarnating in their body. While they remain in it, their own body is dead. Another person takes the body of the first, leaving them with the body of an animal. | 12 | 13 |
| K66 | Bogatyrs with different abilities, ATU 513, 653, F601. | Each of several companions or brothers excels others in some way (sees, hears, runs, etc. better than anyone else). Cf. motif K2B, "Gorynya and Dubyna". | 162 | 287 |
| K73b2 In K73 family | Boil the kettle with a story. | It is necessary to boil the pot by telling an incredible but nevertheless true story. | 5 | 5 |
| M114d1 In M114 family | Boiled eggs: by morning there should be chicks. | The character demands that chicks be hatched (from boiled eggs), a chicken be raised, and it be cooked within a day. Another character responds with equally absurd demands. | 26 | 26 |
| M114d In M114 family | Boiled eggs: eaten a year ago, ATU 821B. | A man eats boiled eggs and leaves without paying. Much later, he returns to repay his debt. The owner demands payment for the chickens that would have hatched from those eggs, become hens, laid eggs themselves, and so on. Someone comes to court and pretends to be boiling seeds for sowing. The judge agrees that chickens cannot hatch from boiled eggs. | 45 | 30 |
| L55 | Boiling water in the mouth. | To neutralise a dangerous enemy, a caustic or boiling liquid is poured into one of the openings of its body. | 28 | 27 |
| K155a In K155 family | Bone in meat. | A man (usually a king) raises his daughter (less often his son) in a closed room, ordering her to be fed boneless meat. One day, a bone is found in the meat, and the girl (boy) uses it to make a hole in the wall and sees the outside world for the first time. | 16 | 18 |
| I25a In I25 family | Bones for cows. | The character gives herbivorous animals food intended for carnivores, and carnivores food intended for herbivores; the character sees that the animals have food that is inedible for them and corrects the situation. | 50 | 71 |
| B64 | Bony fish. | Bones in the bodies of fish are the result of fights, battles, military expeditions; they are arrows stuck in them (gill openings – from stuck arrows), or small bones – fragments of the original large bones. | 27 | 37 |
| K33a1 In K33 family | Born in a well, T581.2.0. | A woman is thrown into a well (pond, pit, etc.) or becomes a water bird. In the water, she gives birth to a child (twins, triplets) or is thrown into the water with her baby. She is rescued along with her children. | 32 | 37 |
| B33c In B33 family | Borrowed days. | The month on the border between winter and spring (usually March) takes (rarely: buys, steals) a few days from its neighbour. | 29 | 61 |
| M152a In M152 family | Bound together, ATU 78 | A strong predator (a giant cannibal) and a weak predator are tied together with a rope to feel more confident. The strong one flees and drags the weak one behind him. | 62 | 98 |
| J26a In J26 family | Boys and puppies. | Among children of a woman or two women living together, there is a boy and a puppy, or a puppy was placed with a woman, and her son was thrown out. The puppy lives with the woman and helps her. | 14 | 14 |
| B22a In B22 family | Boys and the tapir. | Boys climb a tree to eat fruit and refuse to throw the fruit down to the tapir, who tries to kill the boys. | 8 | 11 |
| K93b3 In K93 family | Boys, foals, puppies: born together. | To have a child, a woman eats fish, an apple or something else. Part of it (often the peel, broth, skin, etc.) is eaten by a mare, dog or other animals. The woman gives birth to a son (twins), the mare to a foal (foals), the dog to a puppy (puppies). | 53 | 77 |
| L23c In L23 family | Breaking an object in half. | Trying to free himself, the captured character sequentially changes his appearance. The last transformation is a small wooden object (usually a spindle). When this object is broken in half, the character permanently regains his human form. | 15 | 26 |
| K77b In K77 family | Bremen Town Musicians, ATU 130. | Having left their owners, domestic animals find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or predatory animals come there. Domestic animals attack or simply scare them away. Predators do not understand who they are facing and flee. | 75 | 74 |
| I25 | Bribed guards, B325.1, B567.1. | The path to the house or the entrance to the character's house is guarded by dangerous creatures. The hero appeases them with gifts or words, they let him pass back and forth, sometimes punished for this by the owner. | 110 | 174 |
| F5 | Brides for the first humans. | The character does not want to or cannot give all the suitors his daughters in marriage and turns them into girls of various animals. (Usually after the flood or at the beginning of time, men want to marry the only daughter of a deity or patriarch). | 23 | 21 |
| J58c In J58 family | Bridge of arrows. | A chain of arrows forms a bridge across a water barrier. | 10 | 10 |
| M56b In M56 family | Bring tears and skins | A weak character is tasked with bringing the skin (paw, tears, etc.) of animals that are stronger than him or are difficult to catch. He cunningly performs the task. Usually a rabbit or hare completes the task, but does not receive the reward he expected. {In the New World, the motive is from African Americans}. | 30 | 33 |
| L99 | Bring the skewer! | Having captured the character, the ogre orders him to bring wood or a spit to roast him. The character deliberately procrastinates, brings the wrong thing, or is helped to escape by some animal. | 20 | 19 |
| K27h1 In K27 family | Bringing fruit. | The character is tasked with bringing the fruits of a tree that is difficult to reach. | 15 | 19 |
| J7a In J7 family | Bringing lunch to father. | A girl (less often a boy) brings lunch to her father or brothers who are working in the field (in the forest), but encounters a demonic character. | 11 | 12 |
| K29c In K29 family | Brings a tree. | They hope to kill the hero by knocking a tree down on him or tying him to a tree. He comes back alive, dragging the tree behind him. | 10 | 14 |
| K52b In K52 family | Broken axe. | The hero comes to capture the daughter of a supernatural creature. He sees a slave breaking an axe (adze, wedge). The hero repairs the axe, and the slave helps him in return. See motif K52. | 6 | 3 |
| H43a In H43 family | Broken figures. | Having created the human body, the creator leaves. At this time, another character tries to break the figure, which has not yet come to life. | 21 | 29 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.