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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

Showing 51–100 of 3,494 · Page 2 of 70

Ref Title Summary Traditions ▲ Narratives
E1e In E1 family Son-stalk. The son of the first human couple initially takes the form of a small plant that has grown from the ground, a stalk. 2 3
E36a In E36 family Growing nails. Nails grow constantly, or the human body is covered with a hard crust only on the nails, because only they were washed with living water. 2 3
E42 The appearance of female breasts. Women have two breasts because the original breast was cut in half. 2 3
F72 Imitation of rape. A woman asks a man to tie her up before intercourse so that it looks like she is being raped. 2 3
F80C In F80 family The dead with genitals in their hands. In the afterlife, women carry the penises of their lovers, and men carry the vulvas of their lovers. See motif F80. 2 1
F80D In F80 family Genitals flew like geese. Female genitals flew like geese. 2 2
h36k In h36 family Trees try to destroy people. Trees try to prevent humans from appearing on earth, fearing that they will cut them down. 2 2
H49A In H49 family Husband, wife and innocently killed dog. A man does not understand that a dog or cat wanted to save his wife or preserve her honour and kills the animal. 2 2
H7h In H7 family Death follows man. Despite the warning, man goes to where Death is at that moment. Death enters his body or follows him, and since then, people have been mortal. 2 9
I11b In I11 family Sky supports made from animal legs. The pillars of the sky are made from the legs of a four-legged animal (usually a turtle). 2 9
I13F In I13 family Wintering with a bear. In autumn, a man falls asleep in a bear's den. When he wakes up, he thinks that the night has passed, but it is already spring. Usually, the bear gives him advice before parting. 2 2
I14a In I14 family Ejecting food through the mouth. People without anuses regurgitate what they have eaten through their mouths or other (marked) orifices. See motif I14. 2 2
I15a1 In I15 family Vertical slit eyes. The demonic character has vertical slits for eyes. 2 2
I4d1 In I4 family The stolen tendons of Grom, ATU 1148B. An enemy steals the tendons (heart and eyes) of a thunder god, who returns them and prevails over his enemy. Cf. motif L57A, "The hero's companion returns his organ." 2 4
I4F In I4 family Thunder – two combatants. The hero and his opponent engage in single combat and are still fighting in the sky. This is thunder. 2 3
I55b In I55 family The Sun Deer. The hero chases a deer or elk carrying the sun. 2 3
I93A In I93 family The Milky Way – the heavenly tail. The Milky Way is the tail of a creature that is being pulled by its tail. 2 2
J43 Bait for enemies. To destroy his antagonists, the hero creates edible bait for them, usually a fruit tree on the other side of the river. 2 4
K131c In K131 family The kidnapped woman runs away while the archers compete. A woman offers her captors to shoot arrows – she will marry the winner. While they are figuring out whose arrow flew farther, the kidnapped woman runs away. 2 2
K27n3a1 In K27 family The hero in battle with the elements. In the course of his courtship, the hero enters into a struggle with characters (more than two) who embody the elements, celestial bodies, and parts of the universe. 2 5
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
K38f3 In K38 family Sword strike from a pit. To kill the dragon, the hero digs a pit and hides in it. When the dragon crawls nearby or over the pit, the hero strikes it with a fatal blow of his sword. 2 4
K56b3 In K56 family Stench instead of fragrance. A man's intestinal gases become fragrant. An envious person tries to achieve the same result, but the outcome is the opposite. 2 2
L21A In L21 family Live and dead mice. A character sitting in a tree throws small animals (snakes, mice) down, distracting the attention of a cannibal who is trying to catch them. When he throws dead animals instead of live ones, the cannibal grabs him. 2 2
L85e In L85 family Temporarily splits in two. The character is temporarily split vertically into two halves and then rejoined. 2 3
M152f In M152 family Whose voice is quieter, we will eat. Animals agree to eat the one among them who has the quietest voice. 2 5
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
M3b In M3 family A severed rabbit tail Trying to grab a hare, another animal tears off (bites) its tail. It's been short ever since. 2 5
M45b In M45 family Animals at the trough, ATU 179B* The old man carries a trough and lies down to rest, covered with it. The animals take the trough to the table and bring food. The old man gets up, the animals run away, the old man gets the food. 2 2
M53f In M53 family Pretending to be a monster, it eats supplies The character is involved in preparing food supplies. After leaving under some pretext, he returns in the form of a monster or predator. Everyone runs away, the deceiver eats supplies, and then returns as usual. As a result, it was exposed. 2 5
M60b1 In M60 family The crow eats fish The crow promises to cure the fish, and eats it herself. 2 5
M61a4 In M61 family He tells everyone that the other is dying character lies to each of the spouses as if the other had a misfortune. They run to each other in panic. 2 2
M84b3 In M84 family Eaten and revived goose (Wondrous wondrous). 2 4
M97B In M97 family A woman asks the trees 2 2
N33A In N33 family Trampled into the ground The character's opponents trample him into the ground. 2 3
A23E In A23 family The first to rise has the best voice. Two birds argue about who will get up first, or agree to consider the one who gets up first to be the better singer. The bird that sings the most melodious trills wins, and the one with a shrill or hoarse voice loses. 3 2
A26 The sun bird. The bird embodies the sun, daylight; it can be caught, released, killed. 3 18
A47A In A47 family The lizard finds the sun. The lizard or iguana is associated with the appearance of the sun. 3 7
A8 The sun, moon and stars – three siblings. The sun, moon and stars – three brothers or three sisters. 3 5
B108 The remains of the deceased turn into snow. An anthropomorphic character that has fallen apart into pieces turns into snow. 3 6
B109a In B109 family Bear from the sky. Originally, the (human) bear lived in the sky, then descended to earth (and became a bear). 3 7
B119 The husband of a magical wife turns into a rooster. A woman of non-human nature agrees to live with a man, but leaves him upon learning of his real or imagined infidelity. 3 4
B28c In B28 family Lice drag a person into the water. Lice grab a person and drag him into the sea. 3 2
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
B48d In B48 family Pike swallows people. People or objects swallowed by a pike become part of its body (bones in its head, liver). 3 4
B86B In B86 family Remove the bottom brick. When building a tower, there are not enough prepared modules (bricks, logs). The character removes the bottom one to put it on top, and the structure collapses. 3 7
C32 A ship made of nails. Demonic characters will make a ship out of nail clippings. 3 3
C33b In C33 family Ancient windlessness. The demise of the first race is associated with the appearance of wind. 3 8
C40 Stones fall from the sky. At first, stones fell from the sky and crushed people. 3 4
C6i1 In C6 family A mound of earth rises above the water. There is water everywhere. Earth is raked up from the bottom into a mound, its top rises above the water and turns into dry land. 3 3

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Tradition and narrative counts are the stored catalogue totals for each entry.