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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| B35 | The club-footed bear. | The bear hastily puts his left moccasin on his right foot and vice versa, which is why he is club-footed. | 8 | 8 |
| B38d In B38 family | Raven and owl. | The Raven and the Owl paint each other. | 8 | 11 |
| B42h2 In B42 family | Reddish star – arrow. | A large reddish star (Betelgeuse or Aldebaran) is identified with an arrow. | 8 | 13 |
| B45b In B45 family | The bull of cold. | The bull or cow is the embodiment of cold, the reason why winter is cold. | 8 | 15 |
| B7c In B7 family | Sprinkled water. | Fresh water, which its sole owner hides in a vessel or pond, is scattered throughout the world. | 8 | 9 |
| C15 | The walled-up jaguar. | A monstrous jaguar (puma) is locked in a cave or tree trunk. | 8 | 15 |
| C2b In C2 family | The Burnt Moon. | The Sun and the Moon are caught in a fire. The strong and intelligent Sun escapes, while the weak and foolish Moon is burned or consumed, but the Sun revives it. | 8 | 10 |
| C35a In C35 family | The good advisor is punished. | A zoomorphic character gives wise advice concerning the state of the Sun. The advice is accepted, but the advisor is punished by the Sun or is henceforth pursued by the Sun. | 8 | 9 |
| C35b In C35 family | Frogs – enemies of the sun. | The frog (toad) prevents more than one sun from shining in the sky. | 8 | 11 |
| C37 | The sloth's catastrophe. | The sloth causes a global catastrophe or saves people from it. | 8 | 8 |
| C6i In C6 family | Stuck mud turns into earth. | A zoomorphic character returns from the underworld covered in mud. He shakes himself off, or the mud is scraped off him, and earth emerges from it. | 8 | 12 |
| C9a In C9 family | The Flood: people turn into aquatic animals. | During the flood or when crossing a river, those who drowned or were saved turn into aquatic or amphibious animals. | 8 | 16 |
| D1a1 In D1 family | The old woman-fire takes the child away. | Because a woman offended the fire, its mistress takes her child away. | 8 | 11 |
| E16 | Oars with edges. | When rowing, the character first tries to push off with the edge rather than the flat side of the oar. | 8 | 9 |
| E41a In E41 family | How ticks were invented. | The first ticks were made as a result of observing animals (a dog's crossed paws, two snakes, snake jaws, etc.). | 8 | 10 |
| 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 |
| F22A In F22 family | Names of body parts. | The character repeatedly asks the woman about the names and/or functions of her body parts until he reaches the genitals. | 8 | 11 |
| F28A5 In F28 family | The penis and vulva as separate beings. | The penis and vulva (in the singular or plural) are separate beings and characters. | 8 | 6 |
| F43c In F43 family | Husbands of women - animals. | The husbands of the first women, Amazons or single women are small animals - usually flying foxes. | 8 | 12 |
| F55a In F55 family | Placing on the naked body (demon and woman). | A demonic character persuades a woman to expose a certain part of her body, because that is the only place where a certain object should be placed. The demon kills the woman, tearing off that part of her body. Usually, the woman uses or names various locations, and the character rejects each one in turn until he finds the right one. | 8 | 15 |
| F56a In F56 family | Shavings in the fire. | To see a woman's genitals, a man throws something that flashes brightly into the hearth. The woman recoils, exposing her genitals. | 8 | 8 |
| F57 | Persephone picks a flower. | A girl or her father (rarely: mother) picks a plant (usually a flower) and as a result encounters a character with a non-human appearance and/or inhabiting the underworld. The girl becomes the character's wife. In some cases, the picked plant is the character's hair, but more often there is no direct association of this kind. | 8 | 13 |
| F77a In F77 family | Penis bridge. | A huge penis serves as a bridge. | 8 | 9 |
| F93 | Talking penis, D1610.6.2. | After a person performs a certain action, his penis begins to speak (often repeating what the person has said). | 8 | 4 |
| F99 | An infant copulates with its mother. | An infant turns into an adult man, copulates with his mother, then returns to his former appearance. | 8 | 10 |
| G12c In G12 family | The fox brings plants from the sky. | The fox or coyote ascends to the sky and, upon returning, spreads plants across the earth that previously only existed in the sky. | 8 | 11 |
| G25 | Grains scattered over the world. | Cereal seeds are scattered across the world, fell to the ground, now people grow bread. | 8 | 9 |
| H24a In H24 family | Bag of stars. | Opening the bag, the character releases stars that rush chaotically into the sky. | 8 | 12 |
| H24e In H24 family | Scattered seeds. | Having brought the seeds of humanity into our world, the character drops or prematurely opens what he has brought. (Sometimes this explains the inequality of people and disorder in society). | 8 | 16 |
| H32b In H32 family | Lost abundance: the offended child. | A girl and/or boy, who are the children of a deity, come to live with humans, leading to an abundance of food/resources. Due to the hurt they have caused, the children return to their own world, and human life becomes difficult or meagre. | 8 | 2 |
| H37a In H37 family | Jumping over firewood, lighting a fire. | A character gives another the ability to easily light a fire. The latter uses it unnecessarily and loses it. | 8 | 6 |
| H40A In H40 family | A dog appears in times of danger. | At the moment of attack by a dangerous creature, a randomly thrown substance or object turns into a dog, which drives away the attacker. | 8 | 5 |
| H43ac In H43 family | The antagonist brings people to life instead of the creator. | The creator made human figures and left. By sneaking up on the figures, the antagonist brings them to life himself. That's why people are mortal and imperfect. | 8 | 11 |
| I100d In I100 family | Stars – kids. | Stars are associated with kids. | 8 | 7 |
| I133a In I133 family | The constellation of the great bird. | There is a constellation that represents a bird and corresponds to several large constellations in European traditions (mainly equatorial, rather than circumpolar). | 8 | 10 |
| I37d In I37 family | Mushrooms - excrement. | Mushrooms are the excrement of a mythological character. See motif I37. | 8 | 6 |
| i41b2 In i41 family | Rainbow from the mouth of an animal. | A rainbow emerges from the mouth of a reptile, amphibian or invertebrate animal. | 8 | 8 |
| I46e In I46 family | Rainbow sword. | Rainbow - sword, cutting weapon. | 8 | 10 |
| I82c1 In I82 family | The Moon's two wives. | The Moon has two wives (usually the Morning Star and the Evening Star). With the caring one, he grows fat, with the other, he starves and grows thin. | 8 | 7 |
| I87c1 In I87 family | Mouse in a boat. | A mouse makes itself a boat out of a small object. | 8 | 8 |
| J12c In J12 family | Acquaintance at a festival. | A girl meets her fiancé at a dance and then follows in his footsteps. See motif J12. | 8 | 1 |
| J58a In J58 family | Three wizards by the river. | To cross the river, each of the three men uses his own magical method. | 8 | 7 |
| K103c In K103 family | The bull-helper fights in the copper forest. | Sitting on a bull or a cow, a young man or woman runs away from their stepmother's house. Along the way, the bull fights other bulls (monsters), the last of which usually kills it. | 8 | 10 |
| K104 | The red swan. | The youngest of the brothers stays at home, wounds a red swan or duck, and follows its trail. | 8 | 6 |
| K10i In K10 family | The tree that opened up. | The tree opens its trunk and hides the hero fleeing from a man-eating bird. The monster that flies in after him is held tightly by the tree, which squeezes its trunk again. | 8 | 26 |
| K11 | The eyes of a monstrous bird: metamorphosis. | Brothers (brother and sister) kill a monstrous bird. Its eyes turn into heavenly bodies (among the Oaxacan Indians) or something else (among the present-day Condors of the Yokuts). | 8 | 11 |
| K111 | Animal suitors rejected, Sun accepted. | The girl's mother consistently rejects birds and animals that propose to her daughter, but accepts the proposal of a heavenly anthropomorphic character. | 8 | 10 |
| K127b In K127 family | Brothers turned into oxen. | A group of brothers are turned into bulls (oxen) and then enchanted. | 8 | 8 |
| K136d In K136 family | Two flutes. | A young man receives two flutes (pipes, horns) from a cow (buffalo), which produce different effects when played (joy and sorrow, prosperity and a call for help, etc.). | 8 | 9 |
| K1d In K1 family | The hero's wife's brothers abandon him. | The hero's wife's brothers try to kill him by leaving him on an island. | 8 | 14 |
Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.