Linked Motifs

Motif	Name	Description
a17	The Sun’s relax at the midday	After passing half of the its way across the sky (in the day time) or in the underworld (in the night time), the Sun stops to have a rest
a23c	Who will fly higher?	Birds argue who of them will fly higher. One who seemed to have less chances wins (he hides himself in feathers of a strong bird using it as a vehicle)
a29	The Sun and a demon compete for the hero	Two persons one of which is connected with the upper and another with the lower or middle world, both are eager to possess another person and pull him or her to his or her side. One or both rivals are female. Person connected with the upper world and/or the object of the competition are luminaries – the Sun, the Moon, or Venus
a3	Male sun and female moon	The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
a32	Figure on lunar disc	A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)
a32d	Man in the Moon	Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
a32d1	Cain and Abel in the Moon	Cain and Abel are related to the Moon, usually are seen (both or Cain only) in the shadows of the lunar disc
a32d2	Person with pitchfolk in the Moon	Person with a pitchfolk in hands is seen in the shadows of the lunar disc
a32e	Person with an object in hands	Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
a39a	Twelve months	Each of calender units (usually the months) that make the year is a separate object or person
a8b	The Sun in the land of the dead	When the Sun descends below the horizon, it shines to the anthropomorphic denizens of the netherworld (the dead, dwarfs, etc.)
b1	Two male creators	Two male anthropomorphic creators compete in producing things. One of them is or becomes master of the underworld and/or spirits while another is associated with humans
b109	Person turns into bear	Person turns into a bear (origin of bears)
b110	If by back, the ravines, if by head the red flowers	Person dragged on the ground disintegrates or touches the ground with different parts of her or his body producing particular features of landscape, different plants, etc.
b116	The first book eaten up	An animal or a person eats up the first book (writing, important document). (In some of European traditions the eating up of the book is not directly described but follows from the context)
b117	The dogs' certificate	The animals (usually dogs) got a certificate which was lost because of the cat (is swallowed by the cat, burned, eaten by mice). Since them dogs and cats are enemies, usually also cats and mice
b120	The hibernation of snottish people	There are creatures who hibernate having frozen snot under their noses
b125	Animals exchange their organs	During the time of creation particular species of animals (rare: plants) exchanged certain organs or traits or one animal borrowed an organ from another one but never brought it back. Thence the characteristics of these animals now. In rare cases the back exchange and restoring of the initial situation or the passing of certain organ from one animal to another without compensation are described
b2a	The female earth	The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
b33d1	Days of week are (demonic) persons	In folk narratives days of week (usually Friday and Wednesday) are (female) persons of more or less recognizable demonic nature
b33h	The mother of the Sun	The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place
b35a	Tree fulfills wishes and then transforms into bear	Tree grants a man the fulfillment of his wishes but ultimately transforms him into a bear
b3a	Primeval waters	Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
b3b	Earth grows big	Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
b40a	Missed opportunity to have horns	Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them
b42q	Ursa major is a carriage	Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart
b46	Big Dipper is seven men	Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man
b46c	Big Dipper is seven persons or animals	Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal
b50	Whose blood is sweeter?	An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people
b52b	Some earth is concealed	Person spits out earth that he swallowed or concealed otherwise. This way the broken landscape is created
b68b	One who tried to scare the God	(Animal) person who tried to scare the God (people) with his/its, behavior, strange look or sudden appearance is punished being transformed into an animal (of different characteristics than it was before)
b72	The thirsty cuckoo	Because children do not give water to their mother, she turns into a bird, usually a cuckoo, and flies away
b82	The white raven	Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
c25c	The Big Dipper and the end of the world	Change in configuration of the stars of certain constellation (usually Big Dipper) or its disappearance from the sky will be a signal of approaching world cataclysm
c26	Guardian at the border of the non-human world	Monsters or ghosts try to invade our world. Powerful person or creature is on guard and prevents the invasion
c28	Unconsidered promise	A demon obtains valuables essential for another person's (and for all the people) survival but is tricked to return the valuables
c32c (motif is not in the correlation table)	Beware of cut off nails	The cut off nails (and hair) have special significance for the fate of the soul in the beyond or for the future of the entire world
c33	Prometeus (the chained strong man)	A strong man who ventured to confront God is for a long time (for eternity) chained to a mountain or to a post
c33a	The restored chain	During a year somebody tries to break, to make thinner a chain or rope with which the person himself or somebody else is tied. In a certain day when the chain is almost broken it is restored or a post to which the person is tied sinks into the ground again
c5a	Bird-scouts	Birds or humans later changed to birds are sent to explore the earth (is it dry, are any survivals, to investigate why smoke rises to the sky, etc.) or to bring some soil to make the land that would be good for living
c6d	The aquisition of the earth from the lower world	The dry land (the earth) grows from a small amount of solid substance (sand, clay, dirt and the like) brought from the lower world (usually from the bottom of the ocean)
c6j	The acquiring of the earth linked to the creation of man	The acquiring of the earth from the sea bottom or from the lower world, the creation of humans and attempt to spoil it are successive episodes of the same narrative
c6j1	The earth is brought by the God's enemy	God sends his enemy to bring earth from the bottom of the waterbody. In the beginning, the enemy or also the god can have guise of birds. When the earth is brought up and dry land created, two persons, now always anthropomorphic, are engaged into confrontation
d1a4	The chat of two fires	Two fires from different dwellings meet each other and chat
d1b	Male spirit of fire	The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire)
d4a	Theft of fire	Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
e11	The burned skin	Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
e12	The animated drawing	Person draws an object or creature and it becomes alive
e1b	Person of unfit materials	Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
e31c	Rescuers of an abducted girl	Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal
e36	Hard covering of the body	Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head)
e8c	Woman hides in a chip	A woman hides in a chip of wood (in a twig) that was brought to house and comes out when nobody is nearby
e9	The mysterious housekeeper	Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
e9h	Dove-wife	A man marries dove-woman
e9o	Frog or toad-wife	Man marries frog- or toad-woman
f17	Misplaced genitalia	Originally, humans had (had to have; can have under some special confition) their genitals not on the place where they are now; the genitals were absent, or people did not know know their function and used for copulation other parts of the body
f22	Study of partner’s body	Person asks another person of the opposite sex about destination or place of her or his genitals. Usually it is made after putting questions about function of other body parts; or person tries to use for sex different parts of the partner's body or tests them before reaching the best place where the genitals should be put
f25	Origin of menses: girl smeared with blood	Woman is smeared with blood or red paint. Since then women menstruate
f30	Snake paramour	A woman or a girl takes a snake, an eel (i.e. Pacific snake-eel), a lizard, or a worm for husband or paramour. People kill or badly injure him, the woman and/or her progeny or the woman herself is transformed into snake. Cf. motif k76b: the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man
f35a	Feeding with the kin’s meat	Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her
f39	The time of women	The women dominated over the men in the past or in a far away land, were the active part in marriage relations, practiced activities which now are reserved of the men only. Or the women could obtained supremacy but failed to do it for some reason
f5	Brides for the first men	Person cannot or do not want to give his daughters in marriage to all the men who claim them for wives and transforms animals into girls. (Usually in the beginning of times or after the flood many men come to marry the only daughter of God or patriarch)transforms animals into girls
f54	Oedipus	A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest
f54e	Unintentional killing of father	A young man kills somebody and later gets to know that ut was his father
f5a	Woman created from a tail	When God intends to create Eve from Adam’s rib, an animal (dof, cat, monkey, fox, snake) or a devil steals it. God (or his angel) pursues it and catches its tail. The tail tears off, God creates Eve from it. Or God made Eve from edible material and a dog devoured it, so God had to make Eve from Adam’s rib. Or God cut off Adam’s tail and made Eve from it.
f62	Incognito at the feast	An (ostensibly) sick (ugly, weak, poorly clad) person remains at home when others go to the feast. The person comes by himself or herself looking like a handsome man or beautiful girl. The man (woman) does not recognize him (her) and feels against her (him) sexual interestю (All texts with motif k57, Chinderella, are also included into f62)
f63	Trickster poses as woman and marries man	A male person turns into woman and marries a man. He is either unmasked or abandons his "husband" by his own will
f65	The false burial	To realize his or her secret desire (illicit sex, refusal to share food with relations), person pretends to die and is abandoned at a burial place
f65a	Death feigned to meet paramour	Person pretends to die. His or her wife or husband abandons him or her on a burial place. He or she marries his or her paramour
f7	The underwater-maiden	Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
f70e	A girl turns into a man	A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
f70e1	A daughter instead of a son	An old man needs a son to accomplish a man’s work or service. (Only the youngest) daughter sets to do it (successfully passing her father’s test and) guised as a man
f71	Susan and the old men (the innocent slandered maiden)	An innocent girl or young woman rejects a man who attempts to seduce her. The man accuses her of loose conduct, ultimately the truth comes to light
f83a	Indecent proposal made through children	Animal person comes to children of a big predator and tells them that he will copulate with their mother (or that he will beat her)
f86	Conditional signal	Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
f87	Transformed children of serpent’s wife	A serpent creates stuation when a girl must promise to marry him, and takes her to his realm. After some time she comes with her children to visit her relations. Her close kin (father, mother, brother) gets to know from her children how their mother calls her husband, summons the serpent with the same signal and kills him. Seeing her husband dead, the woman transforms her children (and herself) into birds or trees
f9	A dangerous woman	For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
f9a1	The pike's mouth	A woman pretends that her vagina is a mouth with teeth. (It is not suggested that women’s genitals are really dangerous)
f9g	Brunhilde	A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her
g6a	Tree of the year	Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc.
h12	The alive person comes to the land of the dead after somebody’s death	The alive person comes to the land of the dead to bring back somebody who has recently died (besides stories about shamans who journey to the other world to bring back the soul of a sick person) or, having no particular aim, goes there in company of somebody who had recently died or following his or her tracks
h24	Container opened too early	Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
h24d	Still picks up what was let lose	Animal person who let lose the content of a container entrusted to him or her (darkness, insects, reptiles, etc.) still tries to pick up what was let lose (etiology of behavior of certain animal species)
h26	Mosquitoes had to be drowned	The right way to dispose of container with stinging insects would be to throw it into the river or sea or bury in a far away place, but it was not done
h27	Mosquitoes let lose	Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened
h33	Walking babies	Children walked or could walk from the very birth but this ability was lost or never obtained
h33a	Babies thrown across a hedge	A woman did not allow God to throw her baby across a hedge, roof, etc. Because of this babies lost or never got ability to walk from the very birth
h43	One creates the body, another the soul	One supernatural creates the body of the first people, another revives them
h43aa	Figure of the first man smeared with filth	After making human body, creator goes away for a time. In his absence another person spits on the human figure that was not yet alive, smears it with filth, etc.
h45	The abused bread	A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity
h46	The dog’s part	Somebody (usually God) is going to deprive humans of their staple food (usually cereals) but does not do it thanks to the dog (and/or cat; rare – birds)
h46a	The dog and the spike	Properties of the cereals (usually the size of the spike) are defined by what the dog did in time of creation
h48	Daughters of evil spirit	Diseases are sisters (rare: brothers), usually children of evil spirit
h51	The demonic horse	A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God
h52	The land of immortality	Person finds a land where there is no death. Setting off to visit his home country, he does not come to this land again
h52b	The search of immortality	Setting off in search of the land of immortality, the hero comes across persons or animals who are involved in activity that needs tremendous time to be completed. However the hero is eager to obtain not the long but the eternal life and he continues his search
h54	The eyelids of Viy	Eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) of personage hang long down over his eyes. To make the eyes widely opened, the eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) should be propped up with poles, folks, sticks, etc. (rare: cut off)
h54a	The old man’s hair-cut	Person comes across an old man (woman) whose face is completely covered with hair or snot. He or she cuts the hair (wipes the snot off) and receives compensation for his or her good deed
h54b	The glance of death	Person’s glance brings death (and destruction)
h55	Sinners in other world	Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
h55	Sinners in other world	Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
h55b	The robber who repents his misdeeds	A man who has visited hell (met the God) tells the robber about tortures prepared for him in the future. The robber accepts this news with resignation, does penance and ultimately is saved. Usually a hermit who decides that God is unjust in this case is punished
h6c	The immortal raven	Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.)
h6c	The immortal raven	Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.)
h7	The personified Death	Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls
h7a	The Death and a doctor	Man receives from Death (Fortune, some spirit) knowledge will the patient recover or die. He becomes a doctor and receives rich rewards. Usually he gets the ability to see Death near the bed of a patient and considering a particular place where Death stands, gets to know perspectives of recovering
h7b	The Death is stuck to a tree or a bench	A man lures Death (Devil) to climb a tree or sit on a bench to which they are stuck and can free themselves not before the man gives them such a permission
h7e	Humans knew the time of their death	In the year before they were to die, people neglected their responsibilities (they repair fences with temporary materials). Therefore, God decided that they should not know in advance when they will die
h7g	The life candle	Person gets to see a lot of burning candles or lamps. As soon as one of them goes out, somebody dies
i100	The Pleiades are girls	The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children)
i100d	Stars and kids	The Pleiades or stars in general are associated with kids or lambs
i108	The Pleiades are a person	The Pleiades are only one anthropomorphic being, not several persons
i110	Night sky agriculturalists	Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
i110a	The star plough	Orion (rare: other constellation) is a plough
i110b	Orion is mowers	(Belt of) Orion is (three) mowers or agricultural tools related to mowing and harvesting
i120a	Entering animal’s ear	After entering the ear of an animal (usually a horse or a cow) and coming back person becomes handsome (sated, well clad)
i131	The thread of life	Life of every man is related to certain thread. When the thread is cut, the man dies
i138	The glass mountain	A glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as a an unusual (difficult to be reache) place
i139	Strong men throw an axe to each other	Two (rare: three) men or women regularly throw or give somthing to each other despite a significant distance between them. It is a sign of their strength, big size and dexterity
i13b	A horned snake	Snake of natural size has horns on its head
i13c	Snake’s crown	Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head
i13d	Hibernating with snakes	A man gets into the dwelling of snakes and after a long time escapes or is permitted to go. In While in the dwelling of snakes, he usually licks a special stone that allows to live without water and food
i14	No-anus people	Person or creature has no anus opening
i20	The undeground dwarfs	Race of dwarfs lives under the ground (deep under the earth or in hills and rocks) or at the horizon where the earth and the sky meet
i20c2	Dwarfs live at the horizon	The denizens of the country at the horizon (where the sky and the earth meet) are dwarfs
i21	Red-haired people scorched by the sun	People who live in the underworld, at the sunrise or sunset (often dwarfs) are scorched by the Sun which moves by at a short distance from them. They are red-haired, dark-skinned, etc.
i22	Objects in permanent movement	There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate)
i22g	Clapping rocks	There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing
i25	The bribed guards	Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master
i3	Weapon of Thunder	The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
i35c	God the craftsman	One of mythological characters using his skills in crafts creates for the first time tools and valuable cultural and natural objects; is a patron of craftsmen (usually of blacksmiths)
i37d1	Mushrooms from St. Peter’s spittle	St. Peter eats bread (cake) secretly. When Chist talks to him he tries to hide what he ei eating and spits it out. Afterwards mushrooms grow from crumbs
i38	The dog-heads	Some beings are half-men and half-dogs (usually anthropomorphic with heads of dogs)
i4	Thunder rides in the sky	Thunder is heard when a vehicle moves in the sky
i41	Rainbow serpent	Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail
i41b	Rainbow drinks water	Rainbow drinks (soaks up) water
i41b1	Rainbow swallows fish	Rainbow drinks and together with water swallows fish, people, etc. Sometimes this fish falls on earth from the sky
i44	Chthonic serpent	Giant serpent lies on the perimeter of the earth or supports the earth
i45c	Not to count stars	Person who counts stars will suffer diseases and misfortunes
i46	Rainbow belt	Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
i48a	Falling down into the underworld	At the terminal part of the narrative the antagonist of the hero descends into the underworld
i4b	Thunder in trouble: fights with his enemy	A man helps Thunder who fights with his enemy
i50	Ungulate animal with more than four legs	An ungulate animal (a horse, an elk, a moose) with six or more legs is described or represented in art
i52	Fish the earth-holder	World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster
i57	Thunder pursues his enemy	Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
i59	Milky Way is spilled straw	Milky Way is a trace of people who spilled on their way something related to agriculture (straw, chaff, hay, more rare flour, peas)
i59b1	Milky Way is the road to a remote city	Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
i65	Milky Way of the dead	Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
i68a	Night of the magic water	Once in a year water for a short time acquires special qualities
i68a	Night of the magic water	Once in a year water for a short time acquires special qualities
i72	Stars are people	Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
i76a	Snake turns into dragon	After certain time a snake or fish turn into a dragon
i77	The lame thunder	Powerful person connected with thunder and rain is lame (usually after falling down from the sky)
i82b	Venus is female	Morning and/or Evening Star is a female personage
i82c	Venus is the Moon’s wife	Venus or some other bright star seen near the eastern or western horizon is female and wife of the Moon
i82f	Venus is the Wolf star	(Evening) Venus is associated with a predator animal, usually with a she-wolf
i85	Polaris is a pole, a nail	Polaris is a (tethering) pole or a nail
i87a2	What is Two?	Antagonist names numbers from one to seven or nine, every time asking what it is. The hero gives answers that the antagonist accepts as correct ones.
i87d	Men in the time of giants	The earth was inhabited by the giants. One of them finds a tiny person, brings him to his parents. Usually his father or mother esplains that this is one of those men who will live on the earth in the future instead of the present day giants
i87e	Dwarfs will replace people	In the future dwarfs will replace people on earth
i8c	The suspended earth	The earth does not fall down or swing because it is suspended to ropes
i8e1	Four supports of the world	The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
i90	To follow the rolling ball of threads	To reach his or her destination, person follows a ball of threads (rare: some ball, apple) which is rolling in front of him or her
i92	Rainbow transforms sex	Person who gets to walk under, over or through the rainbow changes his or her sex
i98a	The Pleiades are a hen with its chickens	The Pleiades are a brooding hen, hen with its chickens, chickens
j15	Woman gets to dangerous creatures	Walking in search of her husband, boyfriend, kinsmen, shelter woman or girl gets to the house of dangerous creatures where she is injured or killed
j23	A late son kills monsters	People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy or twins. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared
j23c	Youngest brother kills monsters	People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared
j27	Lodge-boy and Thrown-away	A small boy (several babies) was thrown away, born by the dead woman, lives in the water (in forest, etc.). Another boy lives with his father or mother. Ultimately the first boy comes to live in the locus of the second one. Often (see motif j25, Babies escape and return) during some time the boy who lives in the wilderness meets secretly with his brother (with other children, with pups that had been fed up by his mother) who lives with the people
j32	To identify the night thief	Some valuables (foals, hay, apples, etc.) are regularly stolen. Nobody (the elder brothers) is able to catch the thief and only the hero (the younger brother) finds who it is
j32a	To guard father’s grave	Before passing away a man asks his sons to guard his grave for a certain time or to bring something to his grave. The youngest son goes and obtains valuables
j32c	Demon comes to harm to the dead	At night a demonic person comes to the tomb to harm the dead
j32d	Princess in a tower (The glass mountain)	The girl will marry a man who (riding on a horse or otherwise) would quickly reach a place that is almost inaccessible (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top of a staircase, bridge, the bottom of a deep cavity, etc.). Usually the girl herself is in the corresponding place
j32f	The stolen apples	Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
j46	Enemy drowns	Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
j47	Pursuer falls from height	Person ascends to the sky (rare: descends from the sky; ascends the cliff) by a rope, a ladder, etc. Another person tries to follow him or her but the rope (the ladder) is broken or severed
j47a	Beanstalk to the sky	A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky
j62	People turned into stones	Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
j7	The changed signs	A woman or a girl is in search of her husband (lover) or kinsmen or a man sets out on a journey to his bride. She (he) loses her (his) way because signs that should direct her or him to the right place had been changed
k100	A faithful servant	A man gets to know about dangers that threaten another man (and often about turning into stone of anybody who would warn about these dangers). He helps the man to escape the dangers though his behavior seems strange or hostile
k100f1	The wild man	A man (usually a king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son frees the prisoner, is afraid of his father’s anger and leaves home or is driven away. The released prisoner helps him
k100h	The gratitude test	Supernatural person grants wishes of a man (or several men) and later visits him (each of them) again. The man or most of them demonstrate ingratitude and drive the person away. In response to this he deprives them of all that they got thanks to his generosity
k101	Night dances of girls	Every morning girl' or (rare) boy’s clothes are in disorder, the boy looks very tied. People spy on her (or on him) and discover that she or he spends nights in the non-human world
k101a	The princess in the coffin	A man has to send several nights near the girl who died and became a dangerous demonic being. After this the girl is disenchanted
k102	Woman associated with the hero conspires in favor of his enemy	A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him
k102a2	Conflict between mother and son	Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
k102c	Changing his appearance, the hero returns magic object that was stolen from him	The adversary receives magic object that protects the hero and kills him. The hero is revived, changes his appearance and provokes the adversary to put the object on the ground. He takes it back and kills the adversary
k103	Helpful cow	Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
k103a	Tree raises its branches	A plant (tree, vine, lotus) that has grown up rapidly does not let anybody besides the hero or the heroine to climb it or to pick its fruits (flowers)
k103d	To enter an ear of the horse, to take something from an ear of the cow	An animal (a demonic being) asks the hero or heroine to take objects necessary for him (her) from its ear or to enter its ear to make himself or herself handsome, to sleep. etc.
k107	Lost husband found	A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
k107a	Iron shoes to be worn out	Wandering to the purpose of her or his travel person has to worn out her or his iron shoes or staff
k107a1	Head of the household is asked to bring presents	When the head of the household goes for a journey his daughter, those who remain at home ask to bring them presents. The elder ones want something practical (usually clothes or decorations) while the younger one asks for something unusual (a flower, a bird, etc.). Thanks to this object, the younger one attains great success though after overcoming great difficulties
k107a3	The beauty and the beast	When a man sets off for the journey, his daughter asks him to bring her a certain flower (leave, etc.). The man picks it up in a garden of the enchanted prince who has monstrous appearance. The monster claims from the man his daughter and thanks to her acquires his real guise
k107b	Not to light a candle	One of the spouses prohibits another to see him or her. When the other breaks the taboo (intentionally or by chance) the first one disappears (is in trouble)
k107d	The girl cannot wake her fiancé	Failed attempts to wake magic husband
k107d1	Magic wife’s failed attempts to wake a youth	A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him
k107e1	Blood on the shirt	When supernatural husband abandons his human wife, his shirt becomes stained with blood and only his wife when she comes to him is able to make the shirt clean
k108	A revived wife betrays her husband	Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished
k113	The animal bride	Several young men (usually three brothers) decide to choose wives (usually shooting arrows or throwing objects on the off-chance). The wife of the youngest initially is ugly or non-human (a frog, a snake) but proves to be beautiful enchantress. She and her husband triumph. Or girls choose their husbands and the youngest one gets a youth who has guise of a snake
k113a	To take wife where arrow falls	A young man shoots an arrow or throws an object on the off-chance He finds the girl to be married or something that helps to obtain her at the place where his arrow (other object) falls
k117	Woman who never laughs (a bride)	A woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who would make laugh his daughter, mother or son
k117c	Magic fiddle makes people dance	As soon as a person plays his flute (fiddle, horn, etc.), people and animals become to dance and cannot stop without the person’s permission
k117d	Two bridegrooms in one bed with a princess	A princess who lies or stands between two pretenders for her hand must choose one of them without seeing him. The bridegroom of low social position tricks the noble one to be smeared by filth and the princess turns to one who smells aromatically
k118	The prohibited room	Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
k119	Animal helper marries a poor boy to a princess	To make a poor man rich (usually to marry him to a rich girl or to marry a poor girl to a prince), an animal makes other people believe that the groom is rich already. The man becomes prosperous indeed
k119	Animal helper marries a poor boy to a princess	To make a poor man rich (usually to marry him to a rich girl or to marry a poor girl to a prince), an animal makes other people believe that the groom is rich already. The man becomes prosperous indeed
k119a	The ungrateful master	An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
k119b	Wild animals presented to the king	Helpful trickster (usually the fox or the cat) deceives wild animals and brings them to the king saying that they are presented to him by a rich person
k119c	The Thunder king and the Lightning queen	The antagonist believes that he is attacked by the commander of thunder-storm (who married his daughter to a poor boy thanks to a stratagem of a helpful animal; see k119)
k119d	Puss in boots	A cat marries a poor boy to a princess (poor girl to a prince)
k12	Woman is lost and returned	By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
k120	The averted incest (daughter and father)	A man is going to marry his daughter (rare: his stepdaughter; sometimes certain conditions are put on his future marriage and only his daughter complies with them). The girl gets to escape
k120a	The averted incest (sister and brother)	A man is going to marry his sister (often puts certain condition on his future marriage, only his sister complies with them). The girl gets to escape
k120a1	Three dresses	In order to delay a wedding with an undesirable suitor (her own brother or father, a monster), a girl asks him to give her a dress (often three dresses in succession) of unusual material (like gold, of fly wings, etc.). He does it but the girl runs away
k122	Queen of the other world comes to identify the hero	A man gets to the powerful woman who lives in the world unreachable without the supernatural helpers, and then returns back. An imposter claims hero's deeds for himself. The powerful woman comes and finds the real hero, punishes (rejects) the imposter
k125	House utensil betrays its master	An enemy asks house utensils or personal objects where their master hid himself or herself or what direction he or she ran away. One of the objects, not treated by the master in a proper way, betrays him or her
k126	Wolf pays for the eaten up horse	A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife)
k127	Brothers transformed into animals	A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again
k128	Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman	A man had to graze animals or birds. If at least one is lost, the master would kill (not reward) him. Cf. K128B (ATU 570)
k128b	The rabbit-herd	King offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can herd (catch, tame, train) a particular number of rabbits (roosters, sheep, goats, geese, partridges) without losing any. A poor boy receives a magic whistle or other device with which he can summon the rabbits. In order to avoid the marriage, members (deputies) of the royal family (in disguise) try to but pne of his rabbits. The young man demands a degrading humiliating act and after the demands are fulfilled, the rabbit comes back to him.
k129	The disenchanted beauty	Because of the female antagonist, a girl faints and is taken for dead but her body is not decomposed. A valuable marriage partner breaks the charms, she revives
k130	Am I the most beautiful?	A woman (rare: a man) asks if she (he) is the most beautiful among female (men) folk and always receives a positive answer. It continues till she or he receives the negative one
k130a	Girl in house of several brothers	A group of young men live apart. A girl comes to them or is born magically. The men keep her as their sister. After some time she is separated from them and is in danger but ultimately she is rescued
k131	Men fight over magic objects	A man on a journey meets tree or two persons who are quarreling over the division of magic objects (a flying carpet, seven mile boots, etc.). The man promises to render a judgment, but he asks first to try our the objects or suggests the owners to run a race and uses opportunity to escape with the objects
k131b	Magic objects are exchanged and returned	A man loses a magic object that he got before but gets it back thanks to another object (a cudgel, a box with soldiers, etc.) that is exchanged for the first one or obtained by the man’s brother. The episode can be repeated several times
k132	Invincible chicken	Person of a small size (often a chicken) overcomes powerful adversary despite all attempts to destroy him thanks to objects and animals met on the way and preserved in his bag or inside his body
k135	Seven with one stroke	A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
k14	Precious advices	A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble
k142	Corpse buried many times	Person kills several people. asks somebody to bury only one and then tells that the dead man has returned. The grave-digger buries several people but believes that it was one and the same corpse
k145	The predestined death because of the wolf	A wolf is predicted to become a cause of death of a person or the person must die at his wedding day. The prophesy becomes true. If it is about the marriage, the bride herself turns into a wolf and kills her bridegroom
k14a	Thrown into the oven himself	An antagonist orders to kill the first one who will come in the morning to a certain place. The hero becomes late by chance, the antagonist or his wife or son come and are thrown into the fire
k14c	Man mistakes his son for his wife’s lover	Coming home after a long absence, a man understands that there is another man in his house but keeps patience and discovers that it is his own son or a close kin of his wife
k14e	The pretended inheritance	Sons of a man neglect their father (daughters-in-law neglect their father-in-law). He pretends to be hiding something (counts money conspicuously, etc.). The sons believe that their father has considerable inheritance and become to look after him carefully. When the father finally dies they find nothing valuable in his chest
k151	The fisherman and his wife	Supernatural creature fulfills a poor man’s moderate request. After this he or his wife asks for ever bigger gifts till the angry helper punishes them (usually takes all his gifts away)
k152	The devil is frightened and runs away	A man saves a devil (snake, dangerous animal) who suffers from proximity of certain object or person. The grateful devil promises to enter a princess and abandon her as soon as the man comes to cure her. The man will get a reward but he should not try such a trick again. The man scares the devil forever telling him that the object or person of which the devil is afraid will be near soon
k152a	The evil woman and the devil in one pit	A man throws his evil wife into the pit or well. The devil (snake, predator animal, etc.) who had been there before is grateful when the man pulls him to the surface or jumps our himself: even he is afraid of the shrewish woman
k157	Robbers killed one by one	Person tricks his enemies to leave their enclosure one by one and cuts off their head as soon as the next one appears before him. In rare cases the multi-headed enemy thrusts his heads on by one and the hero cuts them off
k159	Peas poured under the feet	When two persons are fighting, somebody wants one of them fall (while another be firm on his feet) and for this throws something under his feet
k15a	Substituted weapon	Hero substitutes powerful person's weapon or amulet with a fake
k160a	Demon’s answers to his wife’s questions	A woman who lives in the house of a supernatural person conceals the man who had come to her and puts questions to this person. The answers that are received and became known to the man are of great importance for him
k163	Aladdin and his lamp	A magician orders a boy to fetch a magic object (often a lamp). The boy finds the object (but refuses to give it to the magician), and the object fulfills the boy’s wishes
k164	Wife is not the best friend	A man himself or somebody else creates situation that demonstrates that his wife is not his best friend. Often a treacherous wife is contrasted with a true dog
k165	The youth who wanted to learn what fear is	A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid
k167a	The son of the king and the son of the smith	The king’s wife hates her son whom she should give birth and decides to get rid of him. As a result, the baby prince and the son of a commoner are interchanged. The prince is smart and inherits his father throne anyway
k168a	Food turns into cut off limbs	A man believes that he holds something edible in his hands (a head of an animal, bread, melon, etc.) but these objects turn into cut off human heads or limbs
k173	Placidas	A powerful and rich man loses everything that he has, is separated with his wife and children and they with each other. Later he obtains everything back, his family is united again
k175	The wind blows the flour away	A person carries some flour, the wind blows it away. The person appeals to a powerful person and usually gets compensation
k176	A man in search of the woman	A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
k177	The travelling heroine	A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
k18d	A lazy boy and a fish	A lazy (stupid) boy releases a fish (frog, serpent, supernatural being) which gives him a power of making all his wishes come true; he marries a princess
k2	The destroyed ladder	Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
k24a	Supernatural male hides clothes of human girl	Supernatural male person (often a snake, a dragon) hides clothes of a human girl or sits on it. To return her clothes she had to become his wife
k25	Magic wife	A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
k27 (motif is not in the correlation table)	Competitions and difficult tasks	Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life
k27e	Eating or drinking contest	Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
k27f1	To build a bridge	Person builds a bridge (usually of gold etc.) during a very short time
k27g	Ordeal: to bathe in a boiling liquid	Person is ordered to bathe in a (boiling) milk or other hot liquid or to jump into fire. He remains unharmed but his adversary usually dies
k27g4	To plow, to sow and to reap in one day	During impossibly short time person must to realize all works of agricultural cycle and to present food made of new crops
k27g5	The wooden axe	Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
k27g5	The wooden axe	Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
k27hh	To sort grain	A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains
k27n	Difficult tasks of the in-laws	A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
k27n1	Task-giver is a king or a chief	Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
k27q	Milk of the wild beast	Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
k27r	To visit the world of the dead	A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead
k27s	Contest: a race	Contest: a race
k27ss	To win a race with an (old) woman	A strong man has to race with a woman (often with an old woman). He cannot surpass her or does it with much difficulty
k27x1	Invisible servant (“Bring don’t know what”)	Hero receives a difficult task (usually to bring an object or creature that have no particular indications and properties) and comes across an invisible person who is a powerful and well-disposed servant to anybody who becomes his master. The hero is kind with him and the person helps him
k27x3	The man persecuted because of his beautiful bride	A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
k27x5	Helpful persons of different age	Setting off for a search of a woman or magic objects, a man comes across several (usually three) supernatural (often demonic) persons who help him. All the persons are similar but usually every next one is older (younger) than another
k27x6	The Sun, the Moon and the Wind direct the hero	Travelling in search of the marriage partner, the hero (heroine) comes in succession to several supernatural persons related to luminaries and atmospheric phenomena (the Sun, the Moon, Stars, Wind). The last of them gives him or her necessary information
k27x6a
k27x7	Master of animals calls them together to question them	Person in search of the remote and inaccessible place comes to the master (mistress) of animals (birds, fish) or demons who summon all of them and asks about the way to this place. Only (the last) one knows the way
k27z1	Bird, horse and princess	Helpful animal instructs the hero how to steal an object he needs to get but not to take anything else (bird, but not cage, horse but not bridle, etc.) The hero breaks prohibition, is caught but released on condition that he brings another wonderful object. Situation is repeated and the last task is to bring a girl. Ultimately the hero gets both the girl and all the objects
k27z2b	The killed doll	Complicated relations between a poor girl and a prince lead to his attempt to kill his bride in the nuptial night. The girl puts a doll in her bed, the prince pierces it with a sword and takes the sweet juice (honey, sugar) with which the doll was filled for the blood. He repents his deed but the real girl appears and the couple is happy
k27z8	Insolvable riddles	The riddle refers to extraordinary or accidental events that happened to the person setting the riddle, and thus is unsolvable to outsiders
k29a	Surviving in a fire	Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
k30	Flying enemy abducts woman	Flying person or creature abducts a woman but is ultimately killed or the woman escapes from him
k32	The false wife	An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.
k32a	Travelling man leaves his wife or daughter for a short time	A man travels with his wife or daughter. Another woman or a demonic person replaces her when the man goes away for a short time or (rare) falls asleep
k32g	Punishment: torn apart by horses	To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses)
k32h3	Punishment: burned alive	To punish an antagonist, he or she is burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the dangerous being is not a punishment but an effective way to get rid of him or her are not considered)
k33	Drowned woman remains alive	A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people
k33a	Younger brother transformed into animal	Siblings (most often younger brother and elder sister) leave their home. One of them (most often the brother, most rare several brothers) turn into animal (usually an ungulate) or (rare) a bird but (in the most cases) ultimately acquires his or her human form again
k33a5	The heroine is transformed into duck	The heroine’s rival transforms her into a duck (goose). The duck makes attempts to contact her children or husband
k33c	Girl from a fruit	Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
k33c5	Girl from the egg	Young man gets a girl who is inside the egg
k33c6	Only one girl is preserved	Young man obtains several (usually three) fruits (eggs, pieces of reed). When he opens the first one, a girl who comes out from it immediately disappears because something was wrong (usually the drinking water for her is not available). Only the girl who has come out of the last fruit remains with the man. Cf. motif k33c7
k33d	Peau d'asne	A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house
k33d	Peau d'asne	A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house
k33d1	The princess in the chest	The youth does not know that a beautiful girl hides inside an object that is brought to him
k33e	Disappeared and returned children	Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health
k33g	Fruits of two kinds	One who eats certain fruit (leave, etc.) gets horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal. After eating another fruit (leave) person recovers his or her normal body
k33h	The cat, the dog and the magic object	A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before)
k35	False husband	An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
k35a3	The master becomes the servant	To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions
k35c1	The best is one whom you love	A mighty person asks a man which of two women is prettier, what is the most beautiful thing, and the like. Giving a correct answer, the man is not killed like those who were before him but receives a reward
k35c2	Man descends to the sea bottom	A man rides a ship that stops suddenly and does not move for a long time. The man agrees to descend to the bottom, behaves himself in a proper way with the sea dwellers and returns to the ship
k35c3	The ship suddenly stops	Because of the reason that for some time remains unclear a ship stops in the middle of the sea (rare: a horse stops on the road)
k36	Bewitched into animal	Person is temporary transformed into animal (usually into a dog or coyote or into donkey, ox, etc.). When he acquires his human guise again, the antagonist suffers similar transformation. In some texts only the hero or only the antagonist is transformed
k37	Recognition-test	To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects
k37a	To recognize a man	Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
k38	Hero helps the nestlings	For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
k38e	Of copper, of silver, of gold	Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.)
k38e3	The diamond kingdom	In a series of three (rare: four) loci or objects that have high but different value the highest value is related to the precious stone (usually a diamond; crystal, glass)
k38f	The dragon-slayer	A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot
k38f1	The cut off tongues	Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him)
k38f4	Fire-breathing monster	From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire
k39	Man feeds his own flesh to a creature who helps him	Person has to feed powerful creature (usually a giant bird) giving it regularly pieces of meat. When meat supply is exhausted, he cuts off a piece of his own flesh
k48	Singing bird of the hero	An antagonist wants that a wonderful bird of the hero sing but it remains mute or cries differently. The bird begins to sing when the hero triumphs over his adversaries
k49	Dead mother returns to nurse her baby	A woman who is transformed into animal or driven out of the human world returns to her baby to feed and to care for him
k56	The kind and the unkind girls	One of (step)sisters, co-spouses or young female neighbors meets a being that is able to reward and to punish. She behaves herself properly and is rewarded. Another (other) girl comes to the same being but behaves in a wrong way and is punished (not rewarded).
k56a4a	The girl sends the demon to bring her new clothes	At night a girl remains alone in an isolated house (mill, bath-house, etc.). When a demon comes, she asks him to bring her ever new pieces of attire, jewelry, etc. till it dawns and the demon disappears
k56a4d	Ash turns to flour	The stepmother sends her stepdaughter to the house in the forest and gives, instead of edible products, ash, sand and the like. When the stepdaughter becomes to use them, they turn into flours, cereals, etc.
k56a4e	The unkind girl is burned	After meeting the supernatural person, the good human person receives valuables but the bad one after coming back home is burned
k56a5c	Conversation with Months	A person speaks friendly with embodiments of the weather peculiar for particular months and is rewarded. Another person scolds them and is punished
k56a5d	Conversation with the Frost	A person answers friendly to questions of the embodiment of the cold, praises him, is rewarded. Another person expresses his or her discontent and is punished
k56a6	Food asks to be eaten	On the way to the non-human world people or objects ask a child (a young girl) to taste certain food or to fulfill some work. The child (girl) does (rare: does not) what she was asked to do and thanks to this achieve his or her destination and safely returns
k56b	The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished	First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished
k56d	Broken leg of a nestling	A man cures injured bird, it brings him a seed from which something valuable grows. Another man intentionally injures and then cures a bird, kit brings him a seed from which something harmful grows
k56f	To divide a chicken	A divides the chicken among the members of a household (and guests) considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.).
k57	Cinderella	A girl who conceals her beauty and/or is poor and oppressed by her stepmother puts on a splendid attire and comes incognito to a feast where a man of high status falls in love with her. He marries her after identifying her by an object given to her or lost by her or (rare) seeing how she changes her clothes
k57b	The girl’s shoe stuck to glue	To detain a beauty who runs away from the palace (church, etc.) the man who is in love with her smears the threshold (steps) with a glue (tar). The girl’s shoe remains stuck in it, all the girls are asked to put it on and it fits only to the heroine
k57d	Poky shoe, cut off toes	Prince brings a shoe to marry a girl whose foot it fits. To meet such a standard, some girls cut off their toes or heel
k60a	How strong are these bonds?	Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds)
k60b	Invitation to coffin	Person is lured into a trap being invited to lie in a box or a hole to measure it. Being unable to liberate himself from the box etc., the person remains in power of his enemies
k62a	Quarrel of mouse and bird	A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a small bird quarrel because they cannot divide supplies for the winter. (Usually this episode initiates the story about the war between animals and birds)
k62a1	A man cures the wounded eagle	A man saves (spares) a wounded bird. When the bird becomes strong again, it carries the man to a distant land (to the sky)
k64	Escape from Polyphemos’ cave	Person gets into dwelling of master of animals or monstrous shepherd. The host can kill him. The hero escapes sticking to hair of one of the animals who are going out
k64a	Blinded cyclopes	Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
k65	Genii loci	Being thrown out, put into certain places, born by primeval couple some beings turn into spirits of particular loci
k65a	Spirits fall from the sky	Being thrown down (usually from the sky), some beings get to different places and turn into spirits or animals with particular functions and names
k65e	Midwife in the underworld	A woman is summoned to help supernatural beings as a midwife (to baptize a baby, to be a babysitter) and returns to the human world after rendering her assistance
k65f	With which eye do you see?	When person touches her or his eye with the magic substance, she or he sees supernatural beings unseen for the people. Usually the beings understand it and make this eye blind
k66	Extraordinary companions	Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity
k67a	A drowned wife	A man who has a low social position is a nuisance for persons of high position. He gets to know that they plan to drown him or his preperty (rare: to strangle him) and tricks them to drown instead one of them or their own property
k67b	Bargain not to become angry	Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee
k67c	Skin ribbon ripped off from the back	Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc.
k67d	Flight of the master with his goods in the bag	A master (ogre, devil, wife) tries to get away from his farmhand (her husband). The farmhand hides in the master’s bag (chest) so that the master unwittingly takes him along
k67e	The woman as cuckoo in the tree	The bargain between two persons is to end when a bird whose call is related to particular time of a temporal cycle will be heard. In order to hasten the contract’s end, another person imitates the bird. The first one recognizes the trick
k72	Three maidens	Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status
k73	Children of the youngest wife	A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman
k73a	Baby child substituted with object or animal	Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object)
k73a4	Baby child substituted with a pup	Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup)
k75	The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom)	A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities
k75c	Seven years without washing	Devil is ready to make a man rich if he would not wash (and comb) himself for a long time. The man is willing, both fulfill their promise
k76	A strange son	A boy born into a family or found by his adoptive parents has a strange guise (ball of meat, nut, bag, half of a man, an animal). He possesses magic power, becomes a handsome man and usually marries a girl of high social status. The magic spouse of a princess originally has a non-human or monstrous appearance
k76a	Frog as a marriage partner	Frog or toad marries a girl or a handsome youth marries a frog or road
k76b	Snake son and snake husband	An (adoptive) son is a snake who turns into handsome man. The snake is the magic spouse of princess, lost and returned
k76g	Son the crab	An (adoptive) son is a crab. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man
k77a	Small objects and animals defeat the ogre	Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
k77b	The animals in night quarters (Bremen town musicians)	Domestic animals abandon their masters. They find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or the predator animals come there. The domestic animals attack (or just frighten) them. The robbers (predators) do not understand who are their enemies, are scared and run away
k77c	Ones who hide in a house frighten dangerous enemy	Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included)
k79	Snake serves an example of resuscitation	Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds
k80	Repetitive reincarnation	Person (usually a young woman) turns into different objects or creatures which another person destroys one by one. However, the person is reincarnated again and again and ultimately acquires her or his original form
k80	Repetitive reincarnation	Person (usually a young woman) turns into different objects or creatures which another person destroys one by one. However, the person is reincarnated again and again and ultimately acquires her or his original form
k80a	A bird or an object tell about a murder	An object or a creature that emerged from remains, decorations, etc. of a killed person tells about his or her fate. Usually a reed grows from the person's grave and a pipe made from the reed tells the story
k80a1	Bird tells about a murder	A bird (that usually emerges from the remains of a murdered person or being incarnation of his or her soul) punishes the murderer or tells people about the crime
k80a2	Pipe tells about a murder	Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime
k80a3	One who picks up more berries is killed	Members of the same household (children, young girls or women) go to the forest to pick up berries and kill one of them because she or he arouses their envy
k80a5	A wild boar and the fratricide	Brothers who are rivals as bridegrooms or successors must kill a wild boar. The youngest does it. The elder brother kills him and takes the boar. The crime is uncovered
k80a6	Speaking pipe made from a recently grown plant	A pipe or other musical instrument is made from a plant that has grown on a place where certain person was killed (fell, touched ground). When the instrument plays, people hear a particular message
k80c	The cranes of Ibycus	Person becomes a victim of a murder. Just before dying he or she calls on some birds (celestial bodies, animals, plants, etc.) to bear witness for the crime. Getting to see these birds (this plant, the Sun, the Moon, etc.) the murderer reveals himself without thinking. Or the birds, being the only witnesses, bring the investigators to the murderers.
k80c1	The tell-tale calf’s head	A person brings to a king or has at his home something edible. At the decisive moment fruits or meat turn into human remains. The person imprisoned (and executed)
k80c2	The treasure finders who murder one another	Three (two, more) men find (rob) a treasure. One of them goes away for a while. Those who stay kill him when he returns but die later from eating food (drinking wine) which he had poisoned
k80c4	Mute witnesses of the crime	In a deserted place, a man kills another. After some time he is exposed thanks to circumstances and facts that do not seem important and do not report on the crime directly (the victim’s last words; objects or live beings that were or appeared on the place of the murder). (All texts that contain motifs K80c, K80c1, K80c3, K80c4, also contain a more general motif K80c4)
k81	The handless girl	For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives)
k82	Evil sister-in-law	Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
k83	The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father	To cure a sick person or to make him (rare: her) young again it is necessary to bring a remedy from a distant country. The medicine is brought and the sick person is cured (becomes young)
k84	Sisters married to animals	Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
k84a	To give a sister to the first male who comes marry her	On his deathbed, father orders his son to give his sister(s) in marriage to the first male(s) who come(s) to take her (them)
k85	Horses-brothers	An antagonist possesses a horse which can overtake any other. Hero obtains the brother (sister) of this horse who is the only one to win the race with the antagonist's horse
k85	Horses-brothers	An antagonist possesses a horse which can overtake any other. Hero obtains the brother (sister) of this horse who is the only one to win the race with the antagonist's horse
k85c	The four-legged horse is faster than the three-legged one	A horse with a bigger number of legs or wings is faster than the horse that has lesser number of legs or wings
k85d	A horse with a skin resistant to bites	Hero’s horse asks his master to cover him with skins (smear with pitch and sprinkle with sand, etc.) that makes him invulnerable to other horse’ bites
k88	The two travellers (Truth and Falsehood)	Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes
k88b	Food exchanged for eyes	A companion promises to share water or food with a thirsty or hungry person on condition that he or she allows to blind him or her
k8c	Jonah: swallowed by terrestrial animal	Person gets into the belly of ground animal or bird. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
k8c1	First swallowed by herbivorous animal and then by wolf	Tiny boy is first swallowed by chance by a big herbivorous animal and then carried away by a wolf began to eat the animal's offal
k93	Twin brothers and a woman	After a series of adventures and victories, the hero gets into trouble. His twin brother or the best friend follows his traces, gets across the same persons but overcomes the last enemy and revives (liberates) the hero
k93b5	A stratagem: hero turns into pup or kitten	Person gets into the place of his antagonists acquiring guise of a pup or a kitten. Usually one of his adversaries suspects the deception but other think that the animal is nice and harmless
k94	Bird of luck (eaten up head)	Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
k95	The twining branches (united in death)	Two persons who loved each other (usually a man and a girl) are buried in one grave or not far from each other. After the burial something related to this event takes place (two plants grow up and stretch their branches to each other, smoke of two funeral pyres is merged, two birds flu out from the grave, two stars appear on the sky, etc.)
k96	Fifty sons	Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters
k99	Prophecy of future sovereiniy	A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son
k99a	The father will humble himself before the son	A lad or a girl (often after having a prophetic dream) claims that he (she) will achieve extraordinary social position (usually that his or her parents, brothers, sisters will demonstrate signs of high respect to him or her). The lad (girl) is expelled out of the family but the prophecy is fulfilled
l100	Transformation flight	A youth and a girl who run away from pursuer transform themselves into a pair of persons, creatures or objects (pond and duck, church and priest, etc.) in order to escape detection by the pursuer
l100b1	Dialogue between the male and the female pigeons	The young man forgets his magic bride and meets another woman. At the last moment a bird tells the story about his real bride and he recalls everything. Usually two birds, a male and a female, have a dialogue in which the female can tell the male that he will be as cruel with her as this youth who has forgotten his bride.
l100d	The entrapped suitors	A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc.
l100f1	Lover runs away from the husband	A farmhand (a young son of the peasant) arranges a situation a series of tricks to the love affair between the wife of his master and another man. The wife is going to bring food outdoor to her lover but gets to her husband. Seeing the master coming with an axe (stones, etc.), the lover believes, that he is going to attack him and runs away
l100g	The goose with one leg	The servant is asked to prepare a goose (chicken, etc.), eats one leg and maintains that the goose had only one leg enforcing his point by showing geese who stand on one leg. The master shoots away the geese so that they use both legs. Usually the servant replies that if he had frightened the roasted goose, it would have showed its second leg as well
l103b	Animals carry hero away from a demon	A girl or a boy gets to demonic person. Sitting on the back of domestic animal (usually a calf, a bull) the girl (boy) escapes from the demon who pursues her (him). Usually several different animals in succession try to carry the girl away but the demon overtakes them and only the last animal brings her home
l103b	Animals carry hero away from a demon	A girl or a boy gets to demonic person. Sitting on the back of domestic animal (usually a calf, a bull) the girl (boy) escapes from the demon who pursues her (him). Usually several different animals in succession try to carry the girl away but the demon overtakes them and only the last animal brings her home
l104	Fugitive and pursuer change guises	A fugitive turns in succession into different animals or objects. A pursuer does the same, every time becoming an animal or a person who is dangerous for the fugitive in his given guise
l106b	Journey to the other world in search of the lost object	In search of a lost object, usually carried away by water or wind, a girl or (rare) a boy comes to a powerful person, gets the object back and/or is rewarded. The object is related to the everyday life, it has no ritual significance and is not a weapon
l108	The wolf and the kids	An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in
l108a	Goat kills the antagonist	A predator animal (ogre, ogress) swallows people or animals. The goat (rare: the sheep) punishes him or her and usually saves the victims (most often opens the ogre’s belly open and the swallowed ones come out alive)
l108b1	A smith makes the voice thin	Person asks the smith to make his voice thin
l113	The ogre bridegroom	A girl (rejects suitors for a long time but at last) falls in love with a handsome man who proves to be a demon or animal. Usually she eventually escapes from him
l114b	To bring ogre's property	Getting a task or by his own initiative, a trickster several times comes to a person (usually an ogre) and steals in succession objects in his possession or members of his family
l114b1	A task: to bring the ogre	Person has to bring a certain ogre and does it luring the ogre into a cage, a box, etc.
l114c	To exchange clothes with ogre's daughters	Children or youths (usually a group of brothers) exchange clothes (headgears, ornaments, blankets, sleeping places) with their enemy’s children. The enemy kills his or her own children by mistake. Usually brothers get to the ogre or ogress and the youngest advices to exchange places (clothes, etc.) with ogre’s daughters). Outside of Europe the actors can be animals
l120	Snake-women turn into apple-trees	Hero listens in conversation of demonic beings who plan to turn into something edible, attractive, etc. and to destroy those who touch them. The hero neutralize the demons beforehand
l125b	Spouse who eats the dead	Spying on his wife (her husband), the man (woman) gets to see that she (he) goes to eat the dead bodies
l128	You are Deo but I am Mahadeo	When a demonic person or a predator animal gives his name, the hero or a herbivorous animal invents such a name for himself that suggests his superiority over his opponent
l128	You are Deo but I am Mahadeo	When a demonic person or a predator animal gives his name, the hero or a herbivorous animal invents such a name for himself that suggests his superiority over his opponent
l129	Why so big teeth? (Little Red Riding Hood)	Person or animal is asked why his or her body parts or tools are such as they are. He or she gives the answers (or one who is asking answers for him). Ultimately one of them kills or badly injures the other
l129a	A person asks, the wolf gives explanations	Wolf or demon is asked why his body parts do look like they are. Every time the wolf gives the explanation
l131	Your house is on fire! (all versions)	To get rid of a (female) demon or to make a (lady)bird fly away, they are told that their house and/or children are on fire
l131a	Your house is on fire! (appeal to a demon)	To get rid of a (female) demon, she is told that her house and/or children are on fire
l15d	The external soul	Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
l15e1	The sword thrown into a lake	A powerful person tells his son, warrior or people depend on him to throw his blade (sword or sabre) into a sea or lake. The one to whom it was entrusted does not fulfil the order but declares that the blade was thrown into the water. The powerful person asks what happened when the blade had fallen and hears in response that there were no supernatural phenomena. He understands that his order has not been fulfilled and demands to do it. This time or after the situation was repeated the blade is really thrown into the sea / lake. The powerful person dies / moves into another world
l15e2	What happened when you had thrown the sword into the lake?	One person tells another to throw certain object (often a sword) into the water. Another tells that he had fulfilled the order but is unable to say what happened as a result, and it becomes clear that lies
l15i	Life in hairs	A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends that it is so) if (some) hair on his head is cut off
l17a1	One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes	Persons or creatures with ever bigger number of eyes guard a man or a woman. The latter makes eyes asleep one by one but forgets about the last one
l19b1	The seven-headed monster	Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
l23	Proteus	Person gets hold of another. Trying to free himself, the latter turns into different materials, elements, animals or (Urarina and Setebo) orders different dangerous creature to attack the person
l23b	Transformation into the spindle	Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, the last transformations is into a spindle
l23c	To break an object in two	Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, the last transformations is into a small wooden object (usually a spindle). As soon as this object is broken in two, person acquires forever the human guise
l23d	Metamorphosis of the caught female person	Being seized by a person, a female person turns into different materials, elements or animals (Urarina and Setebo: sends different dangerous creature to attack the one who caught her)
l37a	To get know causes of problems
l37a2	Who will become the ferryman	Person comes to God (Fate, Sun, etc.) and puts questions that asked him to put those whom he met on the way. Somebody wanted to know for how long he must fulfill his duties. The answer: he or she must put other person on his or her place
l37b	Secrets accidentally overheard	Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
l37b	Secrets accidentally overheard	Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
l37c	Bad and Good Lucks	A man comes across persons who incorporate his own or somebody’s else Bad and Good Lucks. He gets to influence their behavior and change course of events (for himself) for better
l37c1	Luck (good or bad) as a person	Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
l39	Hero is compelled to descend from a tree	When a person climbs a tree, a demon comes to it and carries the person away, or the person follows the demon to his world by his own will
l4	The unmasked murderer (Blue Beard)	Person kills girls (rare: his nephews or younger brothers of his wife) in succession (usually the male person kills his wives). The last of potential victims escapes, usually after finding remains of those who had been killed or imprisoned earlier
l42	Hero carried to ogre’s home	An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes
l42g	Hansel and Gretel	Step mother or more often father (persuaded by his wife) abandons children in a desolate place. Getting to the ogre or ogress, children (or at least one of them) survive and ultimately achieve success
l42g1	Chops are heard, woodcutter is gone	Father (step mother) abandons children in the forest. He (she) hangs a plank (gourd, shoe, etc.) on a tree that is striking trunk under the wind. Children believe that he is still nearby cutting woods
l42i	Sister sets out to save her little brother	A demon carries away a little boy but his sister finds him, takes and back escapes from the pursuer. Usually the boy has three sisters but only the youngest one is successful
l42i1	The witch and the fisher-boy	A boy rides in a boat. The witch lures him to the shore and carries to her home. The boy escapes
l4b	The stain of blood is impossible to wipe off	Person gets to know that the heroine has broken his or her prohibition to enter a certain room because the corresponding evidence is preserved on her body or on an object given to her (e.g. the blood on the key)
l52	Hero escapes from top of a tree	Hero hides in a tree from an ogre. Before the ogre gets to fell the tree, the hero flies away or a bird helps him to escape
l5c	Rolling head is a dangerous monster	Rolling head is a dangerous mobster (pursues celestial bodies, people etc.)
l65b	Dogs save their master	A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon
l72	The obstacle flight	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer
l72a	Comb becomes a thicket	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)
l73	Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts	The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
l73c	A towel opens or blocks the pass	Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.)
l81	Demon’s fire	Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person
l85	One-sided people	One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely
l93a	Helpful fox	Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
l94b	Give me what you do not know at home!	Person promises to give (sacrifice) to a supernatural the being that will be the first to come to him when he will return home (or something that he has never seen in his house, or an object that he will first see behind the door; etc.). The person thinks that it will be something insignificant but it is his own child
l96	Sold in animal’s guise and comes back	Person can transform himself or herself into an animal or an object. Being sold in this guise, he or she achieves his or her aims and becomes a human again
m101a	Animals learn to fear men	A big predator (bear, lion, tiger) boasts about being stronger than a man. Being told that it’s not so, he finds a man and suggests to struggle but is killed or badly injured as a result. Cf. motif M101
m101b	Three men: the former, the future, the present one	A big predator is eager to see a man. He comes across a boy but gets to know that he will be a man later, then an old person who is not a man anymore. The encounter with the real man (hunter, soldier) has for the animal the unpleasant consequences
m106	Meaningful name	Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
m106a	“Myself” and “Nobody” in demon’s house	After doing damage or inflicting injury, person lies that his name is Nobody, Myself or the like. Usually others believe that the injured one was the trouble-maker himself
m106e	For the long winter	A man has accumulated a store of provisions (saved some money, etc.) and tells his wife that it is for the long winter (Christmas, emergencies, etc.). A trickster (beggar) comes to the woman and tells her that his name is Long Winter, etc. She gives him the provisions
m106f	A guest from the paradise	A stranger tells a woman that he comes from the other world and had seen there her dead relative. The woman gives him money and goods for the latter. Usually when her husband goes after the trickster to retrieve the money, the trickster steals his horse
m106g	The cow is taken to the roof to graze	A cow (donkey, ox, etc.) is taken to the roof to graze grass that was grown there. Or the wife is raised with a rope on her neck
m106h	Holding down the hat	A man defecates, covers the pile with his hat and pretends that there is something valuable under it. Another man believes the deceiver and loses his money or property
m110	The forgotten liver	An animal is tricked to be carried across the water by those who are going to eat or to use as a medicine a part of its body. The animal tells that forgot to take just that part which is needed, is carried back to take it, escapes
m112	Animals dig a well	An animal person refuses to dig or clean a source of drinking water together with other animals or birds but takes advantage of the results of the work
m112b	Animals build a road	When animals build a rode, some of them (mole, shrew, earthworm) refuses to take part in the work and are punished: cannot live under the sunshine
m113	For certain bird water is taboo	During the hottest month of the summer or permanently birds of certain species are prohibited to drink from the water bodies. Usually they can quench their thirst only from rain drops and dew on leaves and cry calling for rain
m114d	The boiled eggs: eaten last year	Person eats a meal of eggs and leaves without paying. Some years later when he returns to pay his debt, the innkeeper claims the value of all chickens that would have hatched from the eggs in the meantime. On the day of the trial another person pretends to have cooked seeds for planting and the judge agrees that chicken could not be hatched from the boiled eggs
m114e	To tether a horse to the summer	A girl asks a man who arrived by horse to tether it to the summer or to the winter, i.e. to a sleigh or to a cart
m114i	Asked about their relatives, girl or boy answers with wit	When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person
m116	Wisdom of hidden old man saves kingdom	People are ordered to kill their fathers or (rare) mothers (the Nyoro: to deprive them of power and property; the Baluch: not to take them setting off for the journey). An old man concealed by his son helps to resolve difficult problem
m116a	Ungrateful son reproved by naive actions of own son	When an aged father is banned from the table and served his meals in a wooden cup by his son and his daughter-in-law, the little grandson starts to build a similar cup for his parents to use when they grow old. Thereupon the couple starts to reflect on their undignified behavior. Thinking of their own old age, they bring the old father back to the family table (previously type 980B). A son gives his father half a blanket (carpet, cape, cloth) to keep warm. Thereupon the little grandson keeps the other half of the blanket and explains that he will save it for his parents for when they are old (previously type 980A.). An aged father is abandoned by his son in the wilderness (abyss) in a cart (sledge, basket). The grandson keeps it in order to use it in the same way for his parents when they have grown old. They reflect on their behavior. (previously type 980C). The ungrateful son drags his old father out of the house. At the threshold the father says, "Do not drag me further; I dragged my own father only this far!". The son reflects on his bad behavior
m117	Head under wing	Fox or other predator asks a bird what does it do when the wind blows. When the bird demonstrates how it puts its head under its wing, the fox kills it
m118	Source of values is destroyed imprudently	Person or animal gets access to values that are inside an animal, a tree, a rock or other enclosure. Later he himself or more often somebody else tries to do the same but destroys source of values, blocks access to it or makes it too dangerous
m118a	Forty thieves and jars with oil	Chief of thieves (demonic person) brings his men (other demons) into some people’s yard hiding them in empty jars, casks, etc. The plan to kill members of the household at night. A girl (a young woman; rare: somebody else from the family) gets to know about the danger and kills the thieves one by one (usually pouring boiling water into the jars)
m124	A bull’s tail	Person buries a tail or head of a bull or other domestic animal with a tail or horns outside. He explains that the animal sank into the ground and usually asks the others to pull the tail (horns). When they are “torn off”, he tells that people are guilty of the animal being lost
m127a	The quail makes the fox laugh	Trickster animal asks a bird to make him laugh. The bird sits on the head of a woman (child, cow, etc.), other person tries to kill the bird, hits the wife (breaks cow's horn, etc.). Or the bird distracts person attention to let the trickster steal the person’s food
m127b	A jug as a trap	Animal person attaches a vessel or its part to his body, puts it into the water, the vessel is heavy and drags him into the water
m131	Biting tree-root	A stronger (animal)-person gets to seize a leg or tail of a weaker one. To get free the weaker one pretends that his pursuer got hold of a tree root, and the pursuer lets his enemy free
m134	A tower of wolves	Animals, demons or people stand one on another making a tower. The lowest one jumps off (bends, jerks), all the rest fall to the ground
m135a	The wolf's reverses	Wolf (more rare other predator animal) comes to different (more than two species) domestic animals (animals and people) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their requests and remains without his meal and usually becomes beaten (killed)
m136	Sickle as an unknown beast	Grain is harvested with inappropriate tools. Seeing sickle for the first time, people take it for a dangerous animal
m136a	Sunlight carried in a bag	Fools carry sunlight (darkness, smoke) in bags, sieves, etc. and carry it into the room or out of it
m136b	Cutting off the branch	Man sitting on branch of a tree cuts it off and similar variants (man climbs a rope and cuts it off; men cut a tree and climb on it to fell it; man climbs with difficulty on a dead branch of a tree, which breaks off)
m136c	The man takes seriously the prediction of death	Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless
m136d	The air castles	A person plans to turn his (future) possessions into a great wealth (milk, eggs, small money, animal to be killed, etc.) but imagining this wealth, he destroys what he already has (eggs are broken, the animal runs away, etc.). Or two persons are involved into quarrel about possessions that they do not yet have
m137	The weak predator imitates the strong one	The weak predator tries to imitate the strong one but is unable to accomplish actions that the strong one does easily
m142	Fox blames his tail	Fox blames his tail for being useless when escaping from the pursuers (usually he punishes his tail and gets killed himself as a result)
m143	Fox in a well	Getting into a well or pit and being unable to climb out animal person tricks another to descend and thanks to this gets out while the second person remains below
m149	Tell them that I am a stump	Strong antagonist is going to kill the hero (a person or a weak animal). Another person or animal pretends not to know about the situation and tells that the antagonist is in search to be killed. The hero is saved. Usually the latter asks the man not to give him out and answer that it is a stump, a log and the like near him. This opens possibility to treat the antagonist as a corresponding object (to cut it with an axe, to tie up, etc.)
m151a	Holding up the rock	(Animal) person pretends to hold up a rock, tree etc. and explains that otherwise it will fall
m152	Why only one wolf?	When a weak animal or a person gets to see a predator animal or an ogre, he says in a loud voice (or asks to say his wife or children) something that frightens the predator (ogre): why the predator (ogre) brought to him is lean (small; only one instead of several), or it is good that more food gets to his house, etc. The predator (ogre) runs away
m152b	Brave donkey and cowardly lion	Getting to see a donkey (horse, deer) for the first time, a strong predator thinks that this animal is dangerous. His further interpretation of the herbivorous’ behavior supports this impression
m153	Letter on the hoof	The wolf (lion, etc.) is going to eat a horse (mule, etc.). The horse asks him to look at his hoof (for different reasons) or eat him from his hindquarters forward; then he kicks him
m154	The animal language and the stubborn wife	A man obtains knowledge of animal languages but if he reveals the secret, he must die. Once he hears animals talking and laughs. His wife thinks that he laughs at her or at her mother. The man is ready to open his secret and either does it and dies or hears how animals (usually a cock) blame him for being so foolish. So he keeps his secret.
m156	The ungrateful one returned to captivity	An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again)
m157a6	You imagine that you speak with the abbot	A man is not wise enough to answer questions put by a king (prince, etc.). His servant or friend takes his place and guise and gives clever answers. Usually one of the questions is like “What I think now?” and the answer, “You think that you speak with the abbot (minister, etc.) but I am a shepherd (a miller, etc.)
m157b	To take the one thing she holds dearest	Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her
m158	Tops or buts	Two animals (an animal and a person, an ogre and a person, etc.) agree to divide a crop in such a way that one would take what is above the ground and another what is beneath ground. One of them (several times makes a wrong choice (takes turnip tops and wheat roots)
m160	Unkind words are more painful than wound	A strong predator animal and a man become friends. The animal hears how the man or his wife complains about him (e.g. criticizes the bad smell of his mouth) and asks the man to strike him with an axe, knife and the like. Later he comes to demonstrate his healed wound and explains that the physical wound can be healed unlike the psychological one. Or the animal dies because of his wounded feelings as soon as he understands that the man betrayed him
m165	Fur coat for the wolf	One animal person promises to sew a fur coat (or boots) for another and asks to bring him ever more sheep. He eats the meat and sews nothing
m166	Piece among animals	To lure his potential victim down from a tree, a predator pretends not to be dangerous (usually announces that it has been decreed that all animals are united in piece). The victim is dubious and usually asks the predator to announce the same news to the dogs. The predator runs away
m168	More cowardly than the hare	The hare is in despair because he is afraid of all creatures but is delighted when he sees other animals (sheep, frogs, dusks) being afraid of him
m173a	The thief drops matched objects	The thief drops first one, then the other, of a pair of matched objects (shoes, boots, sword and sheath, knife and folk) in the road. A person passes by the first object but, when he sees the second, he goes back for the first, leaving the animal (or other possessions) behind. The thief takes the animal
m178	The lying goat	A man sends others one after the other to pasture the goat. Back home, the goat always complains it did not get anything to eat. The man angrily sends away or kills his shepherds (who usually are his family members). When he himself pastures the goat he realizes that it lies. He is going to kill the goat, usually skins it, but it escapes
m179	A house of bark and a house of ice	Two animal persons live nearby, the house of one of them is destroyed, he asks another to let him in and usually drives the host out of his house. Strong animals are afraid of the intruder but a weak or small one succeeds to return the house to its original owner
m179a	The owner driven out of his house	Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
m182b	The wild animals on the sleigh	Wild animals ride on a sleigh, which breaks. To repair it the animals bring unsatisfactory material from the forest. When the sleigh owner goes for good material they eat the horse (or the bull) and build a dummy to replace it
m185	On the tail of the fast one (animals)	A slow and a fast animals (or not flying bird) agree to race. The slow one imperceptibly sticks to the fast one’s body (or to a vehicle) and getting to the finish pretends to come there simultaneously with the fast one or before him
m185a	On the tail of the winner (all versions)	Birds, animals or fish compete as about who is the fastest or can fly higher than others. A weak one imperceptible sticks to the body of the fastest or strongest and wins
m187c	A crab is a participant of the race	A crab participates in the race and wins
m191	Cat and wild animals	The fox (dog, squirrel) lives with the cat and poses him as a strong and dangerous animal. The wild predator animals are scared and bring him meat
m191a	Belling the cat	The mice decide to tie a bell on the cat, so they can hear when the cat comes. Usually they cannot find anyone to tie it on her
m191b	Ingratitude and injury are hard to forget	A man feeds a snake (rare: a fish; does not do it any harm) and the snake makes him rich (is friendly). His son (rare: someone else or the man himself) injures the snake (kills its young) and dies (if son; because of the bite). The snake refuses to keep former friendship with the man: both of them remember the inflicted pain
m193a	The fleeing pancake	Колобок
m197e	The unknown animal	Person is covered with tar (honey) and feathers, moves on his or her hands and knees backward, etc. A demon believes that he sees un unknown animal. The persons is saved
m198b	The pretended astrologer	A person who has not a bit of a skill to expose thieves and find the lost objects does it successfully thanks to a series of lucky coincidences
m199	Squeezing the (supposed) stone	A man or a weak animal and an ogre (giant, devil) have a contest to see which of them can squeeze a stone. The man squeezes a cheese (egg, turnip) and thus intimidates the ogre
m199c	Throwing a club	A man pretends that he had thrown or is going to throw a heavy object to the sky (to the clouds). His adversary asks him not to do it.
m199d	Wrestling and running contests	An ogre (devil, etc.) challenges a man to a wrestling and/or running contest. The man sends his “relative” – a bear to wrestle and a hare to run
m199e	Carrying the horse	An ogre (devil, etc.) and a man take turns in carrying a horse. The ogre carries it on his back and is soon exhausted and the man “takes the horse between the legs”, i.e. rides it
m199f	Pulling the lake together	Person threatens the devils (water dwellers, etc.) that he will deprive them of their home (pull together or stir up a lake, dry the sea, build a church where the devils live, etc.). The devils (fish, etc.) fulfill person’s demands
m199i	Screaming or whistling context	A man (boy) and an ogre (devil, bear, etc.) have a screaming or whistling context. The man uses a trick (binds ogre’s eyes and strikes him on his head with a heavy object; blows a horn at the ogre’s ear; pretends to bind their heads that they would not break because of his whistling, etc.). The ogre acknowledges the man to be stronger than he
m199l	Hero shows his enemy how well he can jump or fly	When an ogre exhales or lets go a bent down tree with a man on its top, the man is flung far away but explains that he jumped by his own will to repair the roof, to catch a bird, etc.
m199n	Counting out pay	The demon has to give the man a hat (boot, bag or other container) full of gold. The man plans his hat (pot etc.) with a hole in it in such a way that the gold falls out of the container as soon as it is put into it. The man gets enormous treasure
m202	Thorn removed from lion’s paw	Person removes a thorn from the paw (bone from the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or a demon, the animal (demon) is grateful
m204	Money gets one who is destined to get it	When a deity (powerful person) attempts to pass some money to a certain man, he either gets it or not thanks to his fate while all other factors play no role
m206	One half of the gift	A guard (courtier) agrees to open a man an access to a powerful person after a promise to share with him the expected reward. The man asks to be bitten (from the very beginning expected the punishment)
m207	The mouse in the jug	A poor married couple (a poor man) bemoans life’s harshness and blame Adam and Eve who through their disobedience and curiosity brought sin into the world. A powerful person hears their complaint and put them into the place where they can live in luxury. He stipulates only that they must not break certain taboo (usually to open a covered vessel). They break taboo and are returned to their old way of life
m21	A protector hides fugitives	The protagonist pursued by an enemy comes across a person, an animal or an object to help him and receives help
m26a	Ducks rise hunter into the air (threaded on a string)	Person catches birds by tying a bait to a string which they swallow and become tied one after another to the same string; or he immobilizes many birds with one bullet; or gives them liquor and ties to a string. Usually the birds all fly up at once and lift the man up in the air
m27	Coming back from the sky	A tree or a chain of reeds by which people have ascended to the sky is destroyed. On their way back they fall to the ground. Some of them remain in the sky for ever or longer than others
m29b	Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote	In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
m29b1	The wolf is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29b2	The bear is a failure/enemy	Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29g2	A crab wins thanks to his smartness	Being smart and witty, the crab overcomes strong adversaries
m29o	Trickster is a monkey	In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a monkey
m29w3	The lion is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the lion suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29z2	The Gipsy wins thanks to his smartness	Being smart and witty, the Gipsy overcomes strong adversaries
m30b	Birds give and take back their feathers	Birds first give their feathers to a certain person to make him be able to fly or to make him beautiful and then take them back
m38	Stupid imitation (all versions)	Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food
m38b2	Three daughters-in-law at the king's banquet	In the feasting hall, the heroine who has magic capacities throws food around (puts it under her bodice, etc.) but arouses admiration among the guests. Other women try to imitate her but only make the room and themselves look unsightly
m38c	Superb blacksmith	A blacksmith is (seems to be) able make people young, cure maimed people and animals
m38c1	Old people forged into young ones: unhappy imitation	Person changes (forges, boils, cuts into pieces and joins them back) old (sick, dead) people into the young (healthy, alive) ones or pretends to do so. Another one unsuccessfully tries to imitate him
m38d7	Sausage is a cook	Person who represents something fat (a sausage, a piece of fat, etc.) prepares a rich soup adding to it its own fat. Another person tries to repeat the trick and dies
m39a1	Misunderstood instructions: a step behind	Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
m39a3	Had your daughter horns?	Fool kills a person, throws the body into a pond or a well. His relation throws there a dead goat. Searching for the corpse in the pond, the fool asks if the killed person had horns, etc. People see that he is really crazy and do not suspect him of a crime
m39a4a	Fool’s customer is an animal or an object	A fool gives meat, a domestic animal, cloth etc. to an animal (plant, inanimate object) and thinks that the latter will pay him later or asks an animal to do some work. Claiming money or products of the work, he finds treasure
m39a4e	Fool’s customer is a tree	Fool sells property to a tree (stump, pole, a cross in the countryside) and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure
m39a5a	The sausage rain	Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone.
m39a5a3	Devils beat the landlord	A man understands that if his wife let out the truth, it would bring them trouble. He tells her that sounds that she hears are screams of the landlord (official, etc.) because devils (or somebody else) beat him (carry him to the hell, etc.). Being summoned to the official, she repeats what her husband had told her and considered mad
m39a6f	To sell a sheep and to bring the sheep and the money	Father tells his son to sell a sheep (goat) and to bring back both the sheep and the money. Usually a girl teaches the boy to sell the wool
m39a6g	Four coins (The sharing of bread and money)	Man explains that one part of his incomes he puts out at interest while another part is used to pay debts, i.e. he cares for his children and keeps up his parents
m39a6h	Plucking geese	King asks a commoner to pluck (skin, milk, cut) a goose (geese, other birds, animals) that he sends him. The commoner understands correctly that he is allowed to fleece a courtier
m39a9	Soup with parsley and onions	One person asks another to cook a soup with parsley and onions. The latter understands (pretends to understand) that he must cook a child or a dog whose names sound similarly
m39c	Pumpkin sold as a donkey’s egg	A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg
m39d	Series of clever unjust decisions	In succession and unintentionally a man causes a series of accedents. The injured parties bring him before a judge. In each case the judge makes decisions that are formally logical but patently unacceptable and saves the man
m39e1	The eaten up iron and the kidnapped child	A man steals money or property. The owner gets his property back after he or his helper puts the theft in such a position when the best choice for him becomes to return what he has stolen (usually the first man kidnaps a child of the second one)
m39e1a	The iron-eating mice	Person claims that iron or gold disappeared being eaten by mice
m39f	He had a hat, had he a head?	A fool loses his head (usually bitten off by a bear). His wife or companions cannot say had he his head before but remember that he certainly had a hat (beard)
m39g1	Jumping into the breeches	A fool does not know how to pull on his breeches (boots) and jumps down into them from a high place
m39h	Husband pretends to become blind (The faithless wife)	A married woman is eager to get rid of her husband and usually asks a spirit (God, saint, etc.) to make him blind. The husband hides in a tree, behind the alter, etc. and usually tells her that good food will make her husnad blind, or the husband himself tells his wife that the good food is dangerous for him. He pretends to become blind, kills the love (and his wife)
m57a	Beads discharged from the body	Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
m57c	Gold producing animal	An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so
m57d	Beat, cudgel!	Person gets one by one magic objects that bring food or treasure. Other people replace them with common objects or take them away by force. The person takes his property back (usually beating the thieves with magic cudgel or whip)
m57d1	Bird presents objects and fulfills wishes	A bird gives a man several magic objects in succession (or one object which helps to get others) or fulfills in succession a series of his wishes
m57d3	Wind grants a wish	Wind person grants a wish to a man
m57d4	Frost grants a wish	Frost grants a wish to a person
m63	Body parts enumerated	Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated
m74d	Who ate the lamb’s heart?	While travelling on earth, God (a saint) asks his companion to prepare a slaughtered animal (chicken). The companion secretly eats liver (heart, etc.) and explains that the animal did not have such an organ. He confesses his wrong deed when God (a saint) promises him a treasure
m75b	Hero inside carcass	A man hides in a skin or carcass of a big animal. A bird carries it to its nest without knowing that the man is inside
m75b1	Marco the Rich	A respected man gets to know that a poor boy must inherit all his property or become a king and tries to prevent it, but the fate cannot be changed
m75b1a	The predestined wife	A man (usually of high social position) learns by a prediction that a (newborn) girl will be his future wife or a girl from rich family gets to know that her future husband is a poor man. The man (the girl, something else) attempts to kill the predestined marriage partner but only wounds her or him. After the wedding it becomes clear that the prediction is fulfilled
m75c	Treasure on mountain top	A man sends another one to top of a mountain or a tree to obtain treasure for him. To go back is impossible but the man survives
m78	A tiny boy (Thumbling)	Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
m83b	Whose dream is better?	Two (or more) (animal)-persons agree that whichever of them has the most wonderful dream may eat all the food. The first one tells about a feast that he participated in his dream. His companion answers that he was sure that after such a feast (after getting into the paradise, etc.) the first one would not need the food, so he has eaten it alone
m85	The fox bluffs	An animal person (usually a fox or a jackal) threatens to cut down a tree on which mother bird (squirrel) made its nest unless she will throw down one of her nestlings (squirrel children) or eggs. Another bird lets the mother bird know that the predator is unable to realize his threat
m90	Snake gives a correct answer of what material the object is made	Somebody suggests to guess what sort of material a certain object is made of. Another person (usually a monster) gets to know the secret and the hero or the heroin must do what they have promised
m90a	To marry a man who would give a correct answer	A girl is promised to a man who would know her name or whose finger would fit her ring, or who would guess a material from which certain object is made or grown. Person finds a correct answer by deception
m90a1	The louse skin	It should be guessed the nature of a big animal or its skin, the content of a box. The correct answer is that the animal is a louse (or a flea), a louse is in the box
m90a5	The golden apples	Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
m91	The killed corpse	Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward
m91a	Simulated killing (a bag with blood)	Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
m91b1	The sold skin	A man goes to sell a skin of domestic animal and on his way, by trick or thanks to chance, gets a big sum of money. Usually coming back he explains that this was the price of the skin but when other people kill their animals they cannot sell skins for such a sum. (In India the hero sometimes pretends to sold cow meat to brahmins for whom it is forbidden)
m91c5	The wager that sheep are hogs	A man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep
m91c5	The wager that sheep are hogs	A man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep
m91c6	Hat alleged to be magic	A man pays in advance and invites his enemies to eat with him. When he turns his hat (throws it on the floor, etc.), they believe that it is the hat that makes the innkeeper say that the bill has been settled
n14	Storyteller on the wedding	Closing formula of the folktale: the teller represents himself as being present at the wedding and/or feast, which were organized by characters of the tale
n15	It ran down onto my moustache, but didn’t get into my mouth	Closing formula of the folktale: the teller ate some food and/or drank some alcohol but it did not get into his mouth and/or stomach
n16	The ice horse	Closing formula of the folktale: the teller had a horse and/or harness of wax, ice, flax, vegetables, etc. Usually they are melt, eaten, etc.
n18	Gifts are taken away	Closing formula of the folktale: the teller received food, drinks, money or other real-world objects from characters of the tale, but lost them because of a meeting with dogs or people (robbers, youths, children or his neighbor)
n27	The milk of birds	Bird’s (hen’s) milk is mentioned in fairy tales, riddles and proverbs as something very rare and difficult to obtain
n27b	The only thing missing is bird’s milk	It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk
n28a	The roots of rocks	Roots (belt) of rocks (stones, mountains) are mentioned in myths, riddles, proverbs, charms and songs as something that does not exist
n4	Ribs with no intervals	Strong men have ribs grown together to form a kind of an armor or shell
n8	Storyteller instead of a cannonball	Closing formula of the folktale: characters put the storyteller into a cannon or rifle and made the shot or he jumped onto a cannonball that has been shot from a cannon and so arrived at the place of performance

Warning! The followed motifs has no type selected:
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Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Lithuanians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Byelarusians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ukrainians: Eastern dialects
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Buryats: Western (Cis-Baikal)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Kashubians, Poles of Polish Pomorie
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Czech
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Slovenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Serbs, Monte Negro,
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Poles
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Germans: Northwest (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl. East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: French (northern France)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: Poles
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: Rusyns, Hutsuls
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ukrainians: Eastern dialects
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Georgians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Greeks (modern)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Ossetians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Ingush
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Germans: Northwest (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl. East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen