Person tries to eclipse the Moon because the Moon has reported on the person’s crime
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)
Human being or imprint of human being is seen 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
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon
Dark spots on the lunar disc are dirt, blood, paint, traces of beating, burning, scratching, etc. on the Moon person's body or face (Kiliwa: spots on the Sun) and do not form any particular figure
To make the Moon less bright, some person tried to smear it with pitch
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
Magic mill is ordered to grind salt but not ordered to stop. It sinks into ocean and continues to work making the water salty
Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog
Cassiopea (the Lady in the Chair) is associated with the deer or elk
Hazel-grouse was big and dangerous. He is torn to pieces which are shared between other birds and animals. What remains is the present grouse
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
Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
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
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)
A skillful smith has a power to take and knead the hot iron with his bare hands producing the desired form. Usually the smith breaks some taboo and his power is lost
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.
Poisonous snake (snakes, scorpions) comes out of the mouth of a woman {Motif F9f1 and K100c are almost identical but F9f1 links to a cluster of etiological/cosmological motifs related to the idea of a dangerous woman while K100c is related to adventures}
A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her
A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest
A male person turns into woman and marries a man. He is either unmasked or abandons his "husband" by his own will
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
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
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
Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc.
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.)
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
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
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
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
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
An old man has to carry a heavy load of wood. Tired and exhausted, he wishes for death. When Death appears he asks her to help him with the load
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
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
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
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)
Properties of the cereals (usually the size of the spike) are defined by what the dog did in time of creation
Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
Rainbow drinks and together with water swallows fish, people, etc. Sometimes this fish falls on earth from the sky
World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster
Huge bull (rare: horse) is described: its head is in one field, its tail in another; a bathhouse on its tale, a lake on its back; person who is near the head walks a long time till he meets another neat the tail; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic Finnish traditions and in Russian bylina from Olonets area; by bird in most of southern traditions)
Animals use for shelter or transportation a small object related to the human world (skull, mitten, sieve, etc.)
The Pleiades are wild ducks, a nest or eggs of a wild duck
Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
(Belt of) Orion is (three) mowers or agricultural tools related to mowing and harvesting
A pig made of gold or having golden bristles is a treasure
Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.)
The Pleiades are a nest, a congestion of bees or wasps (or apiary, etc.)
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
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
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
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
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
A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back
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)
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
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
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
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
Because containers with alive and dead water (one makes one stronger, another weaker) are imperceptibly exchanged, during the battle the hero drinks the alive water and overcomes his enemy who drinks the dead water
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
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
Person flies (makes attempt to fly) away after sticking feathers to his or her body dropped by migratory birds that fly above in the sky
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
Person builds a bridge (usually of gold etc.) during a very short time
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
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
Hero is sent to get musical instrument, usually a (self-playing) psaltery
Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him
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
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
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
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
Flying person or creature abducts a woman but is ultimately killed or the woman escapes from him
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.
A girl (rare: boy) is walking to her or his relations or to her bridegroom. On the way the imposter lures her (him) to exchange clothes and takes her (his) place while the real girl (boy) is sent to look after crops or fee domestic fowl or animals. People hear her (his) song in which all the story is told. The deception is disclosed, the imposter killed
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
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
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
Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health
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
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)
In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded
To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions
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
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
Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
Mighty bird or other flying creature helps a man because he took care of its youngs feeding them, warming, decorating, etc.
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.)
Coming from the underworld to the earth, princess puts objects that she used (clothes, house, “kingdom”) into a small container (an egg, a ball, etc.) and brings them with her
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
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
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
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).
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
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
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.).
A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them appropriately. The first man does it again.
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
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
Young woman’s bridegroom or husband gets to believe that she is extraordinarily industrious. To conceal the deception, she herself or somebody else makes the man believe that because of hard work women become ugly or change into animals. The man prohibits his wife to work anymore
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)
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
Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
Being thrown out, put into certain places, born by primeval couple some beings turn into spirits of particular loci
Being thrown down (usually from the sky), some beings get to different places and turn into spirits or animals with particular functions and names
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
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
The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits property)
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
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
Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc.
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
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
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
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)
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)
The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon
Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world
A woman conceals from God part of her children (rare: all of them) or part of domestic animals that are under her care. The concealed children become poor people or non-human beings and the concealed domestic animals become wild
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
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
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)
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
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
The (step)mother kills or orders to kill her small (step)son, eats him or feeds his flesh to her husband. The son revives, usually in the form of a bird who tells about the crime.
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)
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)
Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
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
Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
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
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
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
. The hero or his companion eliminate the source of danger
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
To revive or to cure his friend (rare: himself) or to fulfill a vow person is ready to sacrifice his small (young) son (children). The son revives or the supernatural powers are satisfied with the very willingness of the person to commit sacrifice
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
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
Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
Wandering to the purpose of her or his travel person has to worn out her or his iron shoes or staff
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
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
Several brothers leave home immediately after their mother gives birth to a girl. Usually they do not want to have another brother and hope that this time a girl will be born but chance or by evil intent a signal is given that not a girl but a boy is born again. The brothers are disappointed and leave, the girl grows up and travels in search of them
Using a magic object or spell, hero makes people (and animals) attached to the object or to each other
Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
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
An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
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
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
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
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
Members of the girl’s family want to marry her to a man who should not be her marriage partner (usually it is her own brother). They ask her to name them as her in-laws or the girl herself tells that they are not anymore her mother, sister, etc. but her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc. or her worst enemies
It is written at a crossroad that following one of the paths person will safely return and following another it will not return (there is often a third path following which person either returns or not). Hero follows the dangerous path
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
An animal killed by a hunter revives. The animal itself or somebody else tells the hunter that there was a greater wonder (sorrow) with such and such a person. The story follows
A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again
A girl or young woman is bewitched to be mute or must keep silence for a period of time. Just when she has to be put to death, the period of her muteness is over and she is saved
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
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
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
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
A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
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
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)
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
To find the lost husband (and other men who were helpful or cruel to her), a woman demonstrates her portrait in a public place and calls to her everybody whose reaction shows that they recognized who was represented
Hero must bring hairs, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous person and does it thanks to the helps of a wife or (grand)mother of this person
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). A helpful genie appears and fulfills the boy’s wishes
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
An object that contains the life (soul) of a person is inside two or more creatures or other objects (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, etc.) or the zoomorphic soul container tries to escape and turns in succession to other animals (three or more transformations)
Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads
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
Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, the last transformations is into a spindle
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
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
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
A boy rides in a boat. The witch lures him to the shore and carries to her home. The boy escapes
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
When person sighs or utters an interjection, another one (usually a demon) emerges because his name is spelled like Ahh, Ohhoi, etc.
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
The hero and his bride get to escape from the pursuer. The youth goes to visit his home, leaving his bride behind for a time and forgets her. When the youth is going to marry another girl, the forgotten fiancée reawakens his memory by performing magic actions. Or the girl herself forgets her magic husband as soon as she gets to her parents’ home
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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)
A demonic being swallows a multitude of people and animals. When it is killed and cut open, the swallowed ones come out alive or are revived
Old man and woman make a child of clay (wood, straw). The doll becomes alive, devours everybody who comes across. Usually a goat (sheep) breaks it, swallowed people come our alive
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
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
Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
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
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return
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
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
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
Fool takes his own shadow for a person who pursues him and gives it his possessions
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
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
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
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
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)
Girl bewails the loss of her future child before she has any; thinking about an event that could have been tragic; is jealous of her sisters before any of them have fiancée; thinks out the name of her child that does not exist instead of coming to meet her fiancée.
When he spends his entire fortune, a man is going to hang himself but finds treasure (intentionally put in the corresponding place by his father)
An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so
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
An animal person pretends to be invited to be godfather or he gives names to different places along which he travels in a sledge, boat, etc. The names look strange but become understandable when other people or animals get to know that their companion has devoured all the supplies
An animal person pretends (several times) that he has to make a visit (that he has been invited to be godfather at a baptism or invited to a funeral or wedding) but instead eats secretly food supplies
To demonstrate that the thief who had eaten food supplies is somebody else or to declare somebody else as a victim to be eaten up, animal person smears his sleeping companion with remains of the food or body excretions (exchanges the excretions)
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
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
The young man takes the job of grazing animals and is warned not to cross the border of the ogre’s land. The hero ignores the warning and overcomes the ogre
Young man lives with an old man whose eye(s) were stolen by an ogre. The youth comes to the ogre, kills him, brings the stolen eyes and the old man gets to see again
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
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
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
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)
Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him
Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed
Man takes a pot from the fire but it is still boiling or he cooks the food beforehand and tells that his pot cooks it in no time (or that his stick touching ground creates the food). Another man buys the pot (the stick)
A weaker person asks the stronger one to take present to his or her kin and hides himself or herself in a bag. The stronger one brings the bag to the weaker one's relatives thinking that there are but some objects inside. Usually a girl deceives the ogre into carrying her sisters and then herself in a sack (chest) back to their home
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
Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
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
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
Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
Animal person covers his head with a milky substance or dough and convinces another that he has been so badly injured that his brains are coming out
A healthy animal tricks an injured one (a wolf, a bear) into carrying him on his back by pretending to be injured himself
Answering to a question what is the fatties, sweetest, swiftest, etc., the clever person names abstract notions and non-material values (and a fool names particular objects or creatures)
Somebody dies, animal person suggests to be a mourner, eats the corpse
Being in search of a baby-sitter (mourner, shepherd, etc.) person rejects those whose voice does not like. The one chosen by him or her has a nice voice but later eats up the baby (the deceased, sheep, etc.)
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
A liquid which usually should not be used for drinking or cooking once is used for these purposes. A person who is told that this liquid is neither from the earth must guess what is the source of this liquid
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
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
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
Fools carry sunlight (darkness, smoke) in bags, sieves, etc. and carry it into the room or out of it
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)
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)
Trickster pretends to be dead, sick or weak and is picked up by those who carry something edible in a cart (sledge, boat, bag, etc.). The trickster secretly eats the food, often after throwing it out of the cart (sledge, etc.)
Several different animals get into a pit (well) and cannot climb out from it, They eat each other up until only one (usually the fox) is left and escapes from the pit
A small bird or animal (chicken, cat, mouse, etc.) takes a trivial event (a leaf or an acorn falls, etc.) for a catastrophe (a war, the end of the world, the fall of the sky, etc.) and flees. Other animals share its fear and go along with it.
Fox blames his tail for being useless when escaping from the pursuers (usually he punishes his tail and gets killed himself as a result)
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.)
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
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
Person demands from the other to bring him an offspring or milk of a male animal
Animals (mostly domestic) and/or people attempt to do a job (usually to pull up a root crop). The first one cannot do it and ever more participants join him. The aim is achieved when the last one (who is usually the weakest) comes to help
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)
Person pretends to eat his own innards or flesh and persuades the other to do the same. Other believes and kills themselves
An animal person pretends to have no other interests than to fulfill religious rules and prescriptions (to confess his sins, to make a pilgrimage, to become vegetarian, etc.) and kills those who have believed him
Person or animal stays for a night and the next morning declares that his possessions (which value is none or negligible) are lost. Or other persons whom the trickster meets really use or spoil objects that the trickster gives them. Every time he receives in compensation objects or animals with ever bigger value, the last acquisition usually being a costly animal or a girl. (All texts with motifs M171A and M171C contain also the motif M171)
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
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
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
Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
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
A man and his wife make a wager: Whoever speaks first must do certain trivial work or get a bigger portion of some simple food. They or one of them continue to keep silence even being exposed to violence or taken by others as the dead
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
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
An ogre (devil, a strong animal, etc.) and a man (a weaker animal) carry a tree. The man tricks the ogre who carries the heavy bottom-end while the man sits on a branch or walks pretending to carry his burden
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
An ogre sends a man to bring water giving him an enormous skin. The man is unable to carry such an amount of water but does not reveal his weakness using a ruse (he is digging around the well and explains that he wants to carry all the water at once; or says that he brought the skin with the water but drank it already up, etc.)
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
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
Listeners of a story must answer whom they liked more: a husband who let his wife go to another man, a robber who did not harm her, or the other man who immediately sent her back to her husband
A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child
A man, stooping down to water, is caught and held by his beard, and has to give the promise in order to be relieved
Horsemen or horses symbolize luminaries or parts of the day cycle
A house that stands on one or several legs of a bird or small animal and/or is turning (capable to turn) is described
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
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.)
Person sees that food put for certain animals is inedible for them and corrects situation (usually gives to herbivorous animals food that was given before to predators and vice versa)
A youth or (rare) girl offends an elder woman. Her words make him or her to be overcome by desire to undertake something dangerous (usually to get a particular marriage partner)
An animal killed by a hunter revives. The animal itself or somebody else tells the hunter that there was a greater wonder (sorrow) with such and such a person. The story follows
Hero's adversary provokes him to touch an object that proves to be sticky. The hero sticks to it, sometimes has to cut off his finger
Against person's will, butchered, dried or cooked meat, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish and escape.
When a woman gives birth to a boy (twins), a mare (a bitch and/or other domestic animals) also gives birth to human boys. When the boys come of age. they leave for a journey
Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him
Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal
Person who remained alone in a house or got into the house of dangerous creatures hides turning into a needle or other weaving or spinning tool
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)
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.
A man sets off for a confrontation with dangerous adversary. On his way, he is suggested to fulfill difficult tasks and does it successfully. Usually the same tasks had been suggested before to another man who failed to fulfill them and was killed or imprisoned by the adversary
Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks
A man meets a dangerous giant (or serpent) who proves to be friendly to him. When another giant fights with the first one, the man helps his friend
A girl or a youth are disenchanted because the hero bravely spends three nights in a certain place being tortured or terrified by demons. The girl (youth) herself is helpful and not dangerous for the hero
To get rid of a baby child or of the magic cock, they throw him into enclosure for animals, but cows or other animals do not trample the child or cock down
A girl driven away from home or married to a poor man become prosperous
Person commits something shameful, obscene. Presumably, nobody could see him doing it. When he asks people, "What's the news?", they answer that so-and-so (this person) has done such a thing
A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
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)
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
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
A woman with her new-born child (or a woman pregnant with a boy) or a young girl and a young boy is put into a barrel (box, skin bag, boat) and thrown into the sea (river)
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)
Person cuts off and uses for his own needs a part of the body of predator animal or demonic creature. The demon (the animal) comes after it and usually kills or maims the person
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
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)
An ogre (a dragon, king of the sea) has not killed a man who descended to him as other people had thought but rewarded because the greeted him and/or gave a correct answer to his question
Somebody from the enemies’ camp is constantly weaving (forging) ever new warriors (rare: weapons)
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a tool (fire-stone, matches, tinder) creating an obstacle on the way of the pursuer. (A flint is considered as a fire-producing tool and ignored as a hard stone that turns into mountain or rock)
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
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
The youth does not know that a beautiful girl hides inside an object that is brought to him
Noble youth falls in love with a beautiful girl but does not recognize her as a kitchen maid whom he gave a harsh treatment. When he asks the beauty where she is from, he does not understand her cryptic answers related to corresponding episodes. Or younger brother gives a cryptic answer when his elder brothers first beat him and then do not recognize in a guise of a handsome hero
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
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
To cure a sick person or to save a household from misfortunes a toad or frog hidden in the house should be killed or removed
Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
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
Hero’s enemy is on the other bank of the river. Hero’s sister or mother helps him to cross the water and becomes his paramour
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
A king notices that his ban to kindle any light during the night is broken
When the kind girl returns home, a dog barks saying that everything is well with her and when the unkind girl returns (or her dead body is brought home), the dog barks that everything is bad
Using a bell (drum, etc.) an animal (usually a mouse) produces sounds which the antagonist who is blind or is outdoors takes for the sounds produced by the hero (heroine). Thanks to this the hero escapes
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
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
Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters
A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
A ruler gets to know from a young man that this man’s sister is extraordinary beautiful. On the way to the ruler beautiful girl is replaced by the ugly one. Usually the ruler thinks that the young man is a deceiver and throws him in prison
Young man carries his sister to her fiancé. The girl does not hear well what her brother tells her. The witch distorts his saying (she must jump into the water; must be blinded, etc.). After getting rid of the heroine, the witch replaces her with her own daughter
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
Two or more persons have only one eye for all
In an assembly of different animals one of them names the weakest one as having no relation to others (having an ugly name) and the latter is eaten up. The episode repeats with ever bigger animals being killed
Diseases are sisters (rare: brothers), usually children of evil spirit
Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together
Thunder is heard when a vehicle moves in the sky
Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
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
After certain time aAfter certain time or thanks to some particular activity a mouse turns into a bat mouse turns into a bat
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
Persons or animals dive or otherwise decend to the lower world to get a desired object and to bring it to earth (besides episodes in the fairytales, cf. motif k27x9)
An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom
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)
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
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
After eating a fish, the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
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
Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightings) are close relatives, spouses or in-laws
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
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
Enemy cuts hero’s body into pieces and ties them to his horse or the horse itself picks them up and brings to his master’s friends. They revive him.
Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime
Before coming in, a guest gets to notice that the housewife is with her lover. When the husband comes home, the guest pretends to possess magic object or the like that helps him to reveal where the good food and the lover are hidden
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
To accuse a guest of theft, a host plants a treasure into his guest’s bag
A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
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
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
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
When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to killl or to tame a dangerous animal or not to kill certain animal during a hunt, he (she) turns into this animal himself or transforms into it his daughter(s) or wife (husband)
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
A man whose feet were cut off lives with two others, one of whom lost his hands and another eyes (or with one of them). Acting in cooperation, they become health again
Supernatural person asks a girl to bath (to feed) his or her children. These are lizards, bugs, or wild animals. The girl does it well and is rewarded
The hero presses his adversary into the ground or both of them press each other (ankle-, waist-, breast-deep and the like)
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
An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
A man is going to kill but spares a giant bird. Later when the bird carries him high in the air it pretends to drop him or to abandon him on a rock. This way the bird wants him to feel the same terror that it felt when the man was going to kill it. Or the bird first drops and picks up a man and he later makes the bird feel a similar terror
Being asked where his soul (death) is located, person initially gives a false answer. The inquirer usually becomes to show concern to corresponding object or locus (decorates it, etc.)
Roots (belt) of rocks (stones, mountains) are mentioned in myths, riddles, proverbs, charms and songs as something that does not exist
A man saves (spares) a wounded bird. When the bird becomes strong again, it carries the man to a distant land (to the sky)
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
Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
Certain apples make their owner eternally young
A man goes away, comes across a deceiver and loses freedom and property. His wife comes unrecognized in the man’s guise, punishes the deceiver and saves her husband
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
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
Somebody (usually his sister or mother) puts a poisonous tooth (bone, nail, etc.) into the bed of the hero. The young man dies but is revived
A constellation is associated with a shoe, usually with a (worn-out) bast shoe
Person must fill a vessel (to cover a floor) with tears
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
To make a (lady)bird fly away, she is told that her house and/or children are on fire
Where the beautiful woman steps, treasure appears, flowers blossom, etc.
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)
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
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)
A fool does not know how to pull on his breeches (boots) and jumps down into them from a high place
When enemies come to deal with a man he pretends to be dead
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)
An imprisoned man is rescued and exalted because only he gets to resolve problems that trouble the king or to save the princess (prince, the king himself)
A fool buys wooden spoons and a table. He orders the table to walk because it has legs and throws the spoons away because they rattle when he is walking. Both episodes are usually found in the same story
A fool buys salt or sugar but throws them into a river to salt or to sweeten the water
A monster or a big animal dies when fire is kindled in its belly
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
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
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
To obtain a desired object, person catches a child or spouse of an animal person (bird, snake, crab) and promises to release it as soon as its parent (spouse)) brings the object
The heroine’s rival transforms her into a duck (goose). The duck makes attempts to contact her children or husband
After the heroine’s rival transforms her into a forest animal of medium size (lynx, wolf, deer), she makes attempts to contact her children or husband
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)
A supernatural person or creature asks a man (woman) to pass a message for an unknown adressée. The man does it or retells all the story to his family member. The story provokes such a reaction of another supernatural being (who usually lives in the man’s house) that is totally unexpected for the man
Fool thinks that tree stumps need caps and put pots on them
Two or three brothers live together (with their mother). One of them makes stupid actions like (all or some of them): lets free animals that got into a snare but kills his mother; cuts off the legs of domestic animals or flays them; thinks that a certain place on a head of a baby is a tumor, sucks baby's brains out; cuts a cloth into pieces and ties them to reeds of to branches of a tree; hearing a murmur of water throws food into the water; tries to build a hut not on a river bank but in the river
Fool thinks that tree stumps need caps and put pots on them
Hero’s enemy (often a demonic woman) hides inside a sea wave or is associated with it
A man should acquire a pair of shoes (or other objects) that would be identical to those in possession of a girl. These objects are either unique or it is not known how they look like. Making himself invisible, the man steels the objects (and the owner must acquire the new ones for herself) or becomes informed concerning their appearance
Person asks the smith to make his voice thin
A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him
During impossibly short time person must to realize all works of agricultural cycle and to present food made of new crops
An (adoptive) son is a crab. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man
A woman must fill a vessel or two with her teas (rare: blood). Usually after this the time of her punishment will come to the end or the punishment depends on which of the vessels will contain more tears
Hero’s dogs have names that tell about their strength and deftness
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
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
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
The hero (heroine) is in search of the place that is not achievable for common people. Only the frog (toad) knows the way (and helps to achieve destination)
In a remote country rivers of milk have banks of kissel. It is a sign of abundance
Person must fill a bag (bowl) with truth (falsehood, tales). He fulfills the demand telling a denunciating story
Tale and epic formula: a horse is galloping above trees (grass, surface of the earth) and below the sky (clouds)
Getting a magic sack into which any being must climb according to the wish of the owner, a man acquires power over the Death (Devil)
The Sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a cart driven by horses (equids)
Failed attempts to wake magic husband
After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
A poor man looks for a light for his fire. An old man gives him embers. When he takes them home, they turn to gold. An envious wealthy neighbor (brother) purposely extinguishes his fire and asks the old man to give him some coals. His homestead burns to ashes
Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
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
By his singing (threats, compliments) the wolf compels an old man to surrender his cattle (and members of his family)
The hero is fighting with a dragon and calls for help but he is not heard but when he throws his shoe (mitten) and his brothers (his horse) come and save him
Person gets to live a long life rich in events but eventually finds himself in the same place and moment from which the story begins.
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
The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again)
A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) comes to a well (see, etc.) where his mistress was pushed down and says that they sharpen knives and boil water to kill and cook him
To trap a desired woman, person lures her to a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and carries away
The pursuer cannot break with his hands obstacles created by heroes and must return home after the needed tools
After entering the ear of an animal (usually a horse or a cow) and coming back person becomes handsome (sated, well clad)
From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire
The younger prince marries a frog. When she is riding to his parents for the first time, thunderstorm begins. The rain means that she is bathing, the lightning that she is decorating herself, the thunder that she is coming, etc.
A man receives a box or bag as a gift and is told that he should open it not before he comes to his place. The curious man opens it before time and everything that must make him rich (cattle, houses, etc.) falls out. A demon puts everything back but under certain condition. Usually the man does not understand that he promised to the demon his child
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
Flies look like nails and prevent more nails being driven in
A raсe of people who were bigger, stronger or otherwise different from the present day people lived in the past. They dissapeared after commiting suicide
A monster with twelve heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
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
From the mouth of a horse fire is coming ot the horse itself is of fire
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
After meeting the supernatural person, the good human person receives valuables but the bad one after coming back home is burned
The enchanted person (a palace where he or she is) changes his (her, its) appearance gradually as far as the spells dissolve: becomes more human, turns white from black, beautiful from ugly, etc.
Husband notices imprints of finger-nails on his wife’s face and assembles all the men to recongize the culprit
A young man kills somebody and later gets to know that ut was his father
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.
A cannibal (old man, Gipsy, etc.) carries away a girl. He walks from village to village forcing her sing or dance. People recognize her (or her voice) and release her
To gain a woman, a man hides inside a hollow figure or a carcass of a big animal (horse, bull, etc.). Person who guards the woman brings it to her. The man comes outside and becomes the woman’s lover. Or a woman hides inside the figure of the horse that is brought into the room of a man
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
Killed and destroyed (often burned) person or creature (usually ogre, fierce animal, powerful shaman) turns into a multitude of biting insects or into other small molesting creatures
The denizens of the country at the horizon (where the sky and the earth meet) are dwarfs
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.
In the winter time a girl (rare: a boy) is sent to bring something that is available only in summer. She brings it
Human person becomes a wife (husband) of a demonic being. When they part with each other, the demon cuts (wants to cut) their offpring in two
To choose a companion, the youth suggests each of the candidates to make something simple (to eat the served food, to set off). The chosen one demonstrates that he cares for the hero while others keep in mind only their own interests
The hero finds the horse that fits his needs in a cellar (cave, tower, etc.) where it had been preserved for a long time
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
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
Light is seen that looks like the second Moon or the second Sun. It’s source is a beautiful woman
Demon claims form himself the harvest from the field possessed by a man. He agrees to renounce his rights if the man brings him an animal which he would be unable to recognize. The man brings his wife who is covered with tar (honey) and feathers, moves on her hands and knees backward, etc. The demon recognizes his defeat
The hero’s wife (mother, servant) does not know about the magic qualities of an object in their house and exchanges it for something that looks likes more expensive but actually has low value
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)
The bear (lion) takes a woman for sexual partner or the she-bear takes a man. They have children who look like humans or bear cubs. More rare the woman gives birth to her son in the bear den because being abducted by the bear she was pregnant
The unrecognized hero works as a groom for the powerful person
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
A fool (trickster) is told to slaughter any sheep (cow, ox) that will look at him, i.e. it’s all the same which one. He kills all the sheep because all of them looked in his direction
When the hero goes to fulfill a difficult task, his magic wife gives him her towel or handkerchief and orders to use only them (usually her relatives recognize him as their son-in-law when they see the object in question)
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.)
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)
Person obtains some wild animals (of two or more different species) who serve him like dogs
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
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
(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)
The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength
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)
Being smart and witty, the Gipsy overcomes strong adversaries
Mighty bird helps a man because he had given food to its nestlings
Mighty bird (more rare other creature/mythological person) helps a man (rare: a woman) because he (she) warms/covers from bad weather its/hers nestlings (children)
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
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
Wife of a powerful person gives birth to wonderful child(ren). Her envious sisters play a trick to make her husband order to get rid of her (usually to put her and her child into the barrel which is thrown into the sea). The wonderful son saves her and himself. Imperceptibly (usually in guise of an animal or an insect, or sending his brother who has guise of a puppy) he gets into his father’s house and listens in what people are are talking about
Among woman’s childen or among children of two women who live together are a boy and a puppy or woman’s son is substituted with a pup and thrown away. This puppy lives with the woman and helps her.
Person must quickly clean a stable or cattle-shed from dung accumulated there for a long time
After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
An (adoptive) son is a hedgehog. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man.
Every night somebody tramples down the grain field, steals hay, etc. The hero discovers that horses do it
Prince putы his ring on the beauty’s finger but does not know that she is the same girl who works in his kitchen. She plants the ring in a dish of food prepared for the prince and he recognizes it
To kill a boy (a girl), the antagonist first needs to get rid of his or her horse. When they are ready to kill the horse, the boy (the girl) rides on his horse away saving his or her life
A monster with nine heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
A river (wave, lake, basin) of milk that exists on earth (and not among the stars) is mentioned in narratives (in different context)
A demonic or animal person steals a boy and pretends to be his real mother or father. The boy gets to know the truth, leaves the false parent
An ogre's child or (rare) wife believes in what hero tells him (or her) and releases him. Usually the hero kills the child and puts its meat to cook in the very pot where the ogre planned to cook the hero
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
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)
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
A fool or a buffoon takes the door of the house and carries it on his back
In the first marriage night, the bride that has supernatural strength thrusts her weight upon her bridegroom to suffocate him
A strong she animal pursues a weaker one male but is stuck netweem trees or stones. The male taunts (usually rapes) her
Person commits something shameful, obscene. Presumably, nobody could see him doing it. When he asks people, "What's the news?", they answer that so-and-so (this person) has done such a thing
A woman who was thrown into the water is swallowed by a fish (whale) but ultimately saved
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
Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a
When a man puts his arm on the back of a horse, the horse gives way, falls. It is a sign of the man’s unusual strength
A girl with the cut off hands comes to the fruit tree (into the vegetable garden) to find food. A princes gets to see her there and marries her
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)
When the farmhand is sent to the place where he is expected to be killed by wild beasts, he subdues them, brings home and lets into the cattle-shed (stable), and the beasts destroy the master’s cattle (pigs, horse)
A man who gets to destroy the only (healthy) eye of the monstrous man or woman is a smith
A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation
A girl or a woman is prohibited to go outdoors and is abducted by the flying creature as soon as she does it
To maroon hero on a mountain, his companions destroy the rope or chain by which he climbed there or which he let down from there
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
The duck (or an aquatic bird similar to the duck) dives and brings a piece of earth that is transformed into the dry land (it is the only or the only successful diver)
Stakes with human head on them stand near the house of a dangerous person but one stake is empty. It is supposed that this one is prepared for the head of the hero
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
It is told about an ornithomorphic person or creature that he is sitting on several (three or more) trees
A princess or a fairy becomes the wife of a poor man. She weaves or embroiders a kerchief (or something else) and sends him to sell it. This is the first step to their ultimate success
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
An object that contains certain person’s soul / death is inside other object, the latter is in the third one (etc.). The last receptacle of the life is an egg
The adversary destroys in succession objects and creatures in which the hero is incorporated. The hero wins after he turns from a chip of wood into a waterfowl (a duck or a goose)
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
A tree that has grown up rapidly lets only her mistress to pluck its fruits and follows her when she is moving to live in another place
A girl mildly (allegorically) reproaches the person who suddenly entered the house or expresses her regret for having no dog to warn about the coming guest
The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place