| Motif | Name | Description |
| a12 | Eclipses: monster’s attack | Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light |
| a12c | Eclipses: reptiles and fish | During an eclipse or at the sunset the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a reptile (a snake, a lizard, a dragon, a crocodile) or a fish |
| a2e | The Sun and the Moon are cut off heads | The Sun and/or the Moon are cut off heads of anthropomorphic beings |
| a32 | Figure on lunar disc | A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32) |
| a32d | Man in the Moon | Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon |
| a32m | The Gypsy Sun | The Moon is called the “Gypsy Sun” |
| b116 | The first book eaten up | An animal or a person eats up the first book (writing, important document). (In some of European traditions the eating up of the book is not directly described but follows from the context) |
| b125 | Animals exchange their organs | During the time of creation particular species of animals (rare: plants) exchanged certain organs or traits or one animal borrowed an organ from another one but never brought it back. Thence the characteristics of these animals now. In rare cases the back exchange and restoring of the initial situation or the passing of certain organ from one animal to another without compensation are described |
| b125a | Nightingale and blindworm | The nightingale (more rare somebody else) borrows the blindwoms’s eye and does not return them, the blindworm becomes blind |
| b2a | The female earth | The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman |
| b3a | Primeval waters | Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later |
| b3b | Earth grows big | Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance |
| b42f | Ursa major is an ungulate | Ursa major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.) |
| b42q | Ursa major is a carriage | Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart |
| b42t | Ursa major is a big mammal | Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog |
| b46 | Big Dipper is seven men | Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man |
| b46c | Big Dipper is seven persons or animals | Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal |
| b52b | Some earth is concealed | Person spits out earth that he swallowed or concealed otherwise. This way the broken landscape is created |
| b82 | The white raven | Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white |
| b91a | Eyes borrowed and never returned | (Animal) person who became blind borrows eyes but never returns them to the owner |
| e11 | The burned skin | Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned) |
| e31c | Rescuers of an abducted girl | Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal |
| e9h | Dove-wife | A man marries dove-woman |
| f30 | Snake paramour | A woman or a girl takes a snake, an eel (i.e. Pacific snake-eel), a lizard, or a worm for husband or paramour. People kill or badly injure him, the woman and/or her progeny or the woman herself is transformed into snake. Cf. motif k76b: the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man |
| f35a | Feeding with the kin’s meat | Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her |
| f39 | The time of women | The women dominated over the men in the past or in a far away land, were the active part in marriage relations, practiced activities which now are reserved of the men only. Or the women could obtained supremacy but failed to do it for some reason |
| f63 | Trickster poses as woman and marries man | A male person turns into woman and marries a man. He is either unmasked or abandons his "husband" by his own will |
| f71 | Susan and the old men (the innocent slandered maiden) | An innocent girl or young woman rejects a man who attempts to seduce her. The man accuses her of loose conduct, ultimately the truth comes to light |
| f86 | Conditional signal | Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself) |
| f87 | Transformed children of serpent’s wife | A serpent creates stuation when a girl must promise to marry him, and takes her to his realm. After some time she comes with her children to visit her relations. Her close kin (father, mother, brother) gets to know from her children how their mother calls her husband, summons the serpent with the same signal and kills him. Seeing her husband dead, the woman transforms her children (and herself) into birds or trees |
| f87a | Snake’s wife and her children: transformation into birds | A snake crawls on the clothes of a bathing girl and lets her take them not before she gives a promice to marry him. He takes her to the underwater world. She is happy and they have children. She visits her kin taking her children with her. Her relations summon the snake and kill him. After this his wife transforms their childred and/or herself into birds |
| f9g | Brunhilde | A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her |
| g6a | Tree of the year | Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc. |
| h40 | Dog is the guard of man | Dog guards (successfully or unsuccessfully) the (still unfinished) physical body of man or the entrance to paradise |
| h41 | Death and the dog | Dog is responsible for people being mortal or imperfect. Usually the antagonist bribes dog with a warm fur and the dog lets him spoil the half-ready human figures |
| h43 | One creates the body, another the soul | One supernatural creates the body of the first people, another revives them |
| h43aa | Figure of the first man smeared with filth | After making human body, creator goes away for a time. In his absence another person spits on the human figure that was not yet alive, smears it with filth, etc. |
| h55 | Sinners in other world | Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth |
| h6c | The immortal raven | Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.) |
| h6c1 | Valuables in exchange for the nestling | 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 |
| h7 | The personified Death | Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls |
| h7b | The Death is stuck to a tree or a bench | A man lures Death (Devil) to climb a tree or sit on a bench to which they are stuck and can free themselves not before the man gives them such a permission |
| i113 | Pig with the golden bristle | A pig made of gold or having golden bristles is a treasure |
| i120a | Entering animal’s ear | After entering the ear of an animal (usually a horse or a cow) and coming back person becomes handsome (sated, well clad) |
| i139 | Strong men throw an axe to each other | Two (rare: three) men or women regularly throw or give somthing to each other despite a significant distance between them. It is a sign of their strength, big size and dexterity |
| i27 | Chthonic canine | A dog is the lord, guard or guide of/to the land of the dead; or dogs live on the way to the land of the dead |
| i3 | Weapon of Thunder | The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being |
| i3a | Lightning is a whip | During the thunderstorm supernatural person beats somthing or somebody with a whip. This is the lightning |
| i4 | Thunder rides in the sky | Thunder is heard when a vehicle moves in the sky |
| i41 | Rainbow serpent | Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail |
| i41b | Rainbow drinks water | Rainbow drinks (soaks up) water |
| i87c | The hut in a mitten | Animals use for shelter or transportation a small object related to the human world (skull, mitten, sieve, etc.) |
| i90 | To follow the rolling ball of threads | To reach his or her destination, person follows a ball of threads (rare: some ball, apple) which is rolling in front of him or her |
| i92b | Treasure under the rainbow | There is a treasure under the extremities of the rainbow |
| i95 | The Pleiades are a sieve for grain | The Pleiades are a sieve to process agricultural products |
| i95c | Orion is a staff | Orion is a staff, a crook |
| i98b | The Pleiades are a duck’s nest | The Pleiades are wild ducks, a nest or eggs of a wild duck |
| j26 | Babies come out of the water | Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water |
| j32 | To identify the night thief | Some valuables (foals, hay, apples, etc.) are regularly stolen. Nobody (the elder brothers) is able to catch the thief and only the hero (the younger brother) finds who it is |
| j32a | To guard father’s grave | Before passing away a man asks his sons to guard his grave for a certain time or to bring something to his grave. The youngest son goes and obtains valuables |
| j32a1 | The night wreckers are horses | Every night somebody tramples down the grain field, steals hay, etc. The hero discovers that horses do it |
| j47a | Beanstalk to the sky | A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky |
| j47a1 | Goats possess the food | Person gets into a house inhabited by the goats. He secretly eats the food found there but is ultimately discovered |
| j62 | People turned into stones | Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones |
| k100f2 | After quenching his thirst, person breaks his chains | The imprisoned supernatural person breaks his chains and escapes after they give him some water (or wine, etc.) |
| k101a | The princess in the coffin | A man has to send several nights near the girl who died and became a dangerous demonic being. After this the girl is disenchanted |
| k102 | Woman associated with the hero conspires in favor of his enemy | A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him |
| k102a3 | The tooth of death | 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 |
| k102a4 | Wolf on the opposite bank | 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 |
| k102a5 | To fill a vessel with tears | 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 |
| k102c | Changing his appearance, the hero returns magic object that was stolen from him | The adversary receives magic object that protects the hero and kills him. The hero is revived, changes his appearance and provokes the adversary to put the object on the ground. He takes it back and kills the adversary |
| k103 | Helpful cow | Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble |
| k103a | Tree raises its branches | A plant (tree, vine, lotus) that has grown up rapidly does not let anybody besides the hero or the heroine to climb it or to pick its fruits (flowers) |
| k103b | Cow the spinner | A cow (goat) magically spins or weaves: eats the yarn and extracts the thread, suggests to wind the yarn over its horns, etc. |
| k103d | To enter an ear of the horse, to take something from an ear of the cow | An animal (a demonic being) asks the hero or heroine to take objects necessary for him (her) from its ear or to enter its ear to make himself or herself handsome, to sleep. etc. |
| k107a | Iron shoes to be worn out | Wandering to the purpose of her or his travel person has to worn out her or his iron shoes or staff |
| k107a1 | Head of the household is asked to bring presents | When the head of the household goes for a journey his daughter, those who remain at home ask to bring them presents. The elder ones want something practical (usually clothes or decorations) while the younger one asks for something unusual (a flower, a bird, etc.). Thanks to this object, the younger one attains great success though after overcoming great difficulties |
| k107a3 | The beauty and the beast | When a man sets off for the journey, his daughter asks him to bring her a certain flower (leave, etc.). The man picks it up in a garden of the enchanted prince who has monstrous appearance. The monster claims from the man his daughter and thanks to her acquires his real guise |
| k107b | Not to light a candle | One of the spouses prohibits another to see him or her. When the other breaks the taboo (intentionally or by chance) the first one disappears (is in trouble) |
| k107d | The girl cannot wake her fiancé | Failed attempts to wake magic husband |
| k108 | A revived wife betrays her husband | Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished |
| k118 | The prohibited room | Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition |
| k119a | The ungrateful master | An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it |
| k12 | Woman is lost and returned | By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back |
| k120a5 | Luring a woman to a ship | To trap a desired woman, person lures her to a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and carries away |
| k122 | Queen of the other world comes to identify the hero | A man gets to the powerful woman who lives in the world unreachable without the supernatural helpers, and then returns back. An imposter claims hero's deeds for himself. The powerful woman comes and finds the real hero, punishes (rejects) the imposter |
| k126 | Wolf pays for the eaten up horse | A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife) |
| k128 | Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman | A man had to graze animals or birds. If at least one is lost, the master would kill (not reward) him. Cf. K128B (ATU 570) |
| k128b | The rabbit-herd | King offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can herd (catch, tame, train) a particular number of rabbits (roosters, sheep, goats, geese, partridges) without losing any. A poor boy receives a magic whistle or other device with which he can summon the rabbits. In order to avoid the marriage, members (deputies) of the royal family (in disguise) try to but pne of his rabbits. The young man demands a degrading humiliating act and after the demands are fulfilled, the rabbit comes back to him. |
| k129 | The disenchanted beauty | Because of the female antagonist, a girl faints and is taken for dead but her body is not decomposed. A valuable marriage partner breaks the charms, she revives |
| k130 | Am I the most beautiful? | A woman (rare: a man) asks if she (he) is the most beautiful among female (men) folk and always receives a positive answer. It continues till she or he receives the negative one |
| k130a | Girl in house of several brothers | A group of young men live apart. A girl comes to them or is born magically. The men keep her as their sister. After some time she is separated from them and is in danger but ultimately she is rescued |
| k131 | Men fight over magic objects | A man on a journey meets tree or two persons who are quarreling over the division of magic objects (a flying carpet, seven mile boots, etc.). The man promises to render a judgment, but he asks first to try our the objects or suggests the owners to run a race and uses opportunity to escape with the objects |
| k131b | Magic objects are exchanged and returned | A man loses a magic object that he got before but gets it back thanks to another object (a cudgel, a box with soldiers, etc.) that is exchanged for the first one or obtained by the man’s brother. The episode can be repeated several times |
| k131d | Seven-league boots | The boots (shoes, sandals) which allow the person wearing them to move with extraordinary speed are mentioned |
| k135 | Seven with one stroke | A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem |
| k14 | Precious advices | A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble |
| k142 | Corpse buried many times | Person kills several people. asks somebody to bury only one and then tells that the dead man has returned. The grave-digger buries several people but believes that it was one and the same corpse |
| k14c | Man mistakes his son for his wife’s lover | Coming home after a long absence, a man understands that there is another man in his house but keeps patience and discovers that it is his own son or a close kin of his wife |
| k151 | The fisherman and his wife | Supernatural creature fulfills a poor man’s moderate request. After this he or his wife asks for ever bigger gifts till the angry helper punishes them (usually takes all his gifts away) |
| k152 | The devil is frightened and runs away | A man saves a devil (snake, dangerous animal) who suffers from proximity of certain object or person. The grateful devil promises to enter a princess and abandon her as soon as the man comes to cure her. The man will get a reward but he should not try such a trick again. The man scares the devil forever telling him that the object or person of which the devil is afraid will be near soon |
| k154a | Men in the harem | Solving a riddle, a boy or youth unmasks a daughter (wife, minister) of a powerful person: house-maids (or some of them) are men, the minister plans to kill his master) |
| k160 | Three hairs from the devil’s beard | 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 |
| k160a | Demon’s answers to his wife’s questions | A woman who lives in the house of a supernatural person conceals the man who had come to her and puts questions to this person. The answers that are received and became known to the man are of great importance for him |
| k161 | The liberated dragon | Person imprisoned a dragon (demon, Thunder, etc.) and warns the other not to open a certain room (not to give water to the prisoner, etc.). The instruction is broken and the demon liberates himself that has undesirable consequences |
| k165 | The youth who wanted to learn what fear is | A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid |
| k167a | The son of the king and the son of the smith | The king’s wife hates her son whom she should give birth and decides to get rid of him. As a result, the baby prince and the son of a commoner are interchanged. The prince is smart and inherits his father throne anyway |
| k173 | Placidas | A powerful and rich man loses everything that he has, is separated with his wife and children and they with each other. Later he obtains everything back, his family is united again |
| k176 | A man in search of the woman | A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife |
| k18d | A lazy boy and a fish | A lazy (stupid) boy releases a fish (frog, serpent, supernatural being) which gives him a power of making all his wishes come true; he marries a princess |
| k2 | The destroyed ladder | Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2) |
| k24 | Stolen clothes of supernatural woman | Women (rare: men) 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; rare: a girl of higher social status than the hero) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a person hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him (rare: her) |
| k24a | Supernatural male hides clothes of human girl | Supernatural male person (often a snake, a dragon) hides clothes of a human girl or sits on it. To return her clothes she had to become his wife |
| k24b | To dance in her magic clothes | Magic wife tricks her naive mother-in-law to give her back her supernatural clothes or other object thanks to which she is able to escape from the human world |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| k25a2 | Thrown down feathers | 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 |
| k27 (motif is not in the correlation table) | Competitions and difficult tasks | Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life |
| k27f | The task: to get a woman | A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman |
| k27hh | To sort grain | A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains |
| k27n1 | Task-giver is a king or a chief | Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being |
| k27nn | Envious minister | 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 |
| k27r | To visit the world of the dead | A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead |
| k27x1 | Invisible servant (“Bring don’t know what”) | Hero receives a difficult task (usually to bring an object or creature that have no particular indications and properties) and comes across an invisible person who is a powerful and well-disposed servant to anybody who becomes his master. The hero is kind with him and the person helps him |
| k27x3 | The man persecuted because of his beautiful bride | A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him |
| k27x8 | The frog directs to the aim | 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) |
| k27z1 | Bird, horse and princess | Helpful animal instructs the hero how to steal an object he needs to get but not to take anything else (bird, but not cage, horse but not bridle, etc.) The hero breaks prohibition, is caught but released on condition that he brings another wonderful object. Situation is repeated and the last task is to bring a girl. Ultimately the hero gets both the girl and all the objects |
| k27z2a2 | Unrecognized wife visits her husband | A man marries a woman but abandons her without consummating his marriage. She visits him in disguise and ultimately he gets to know who was his beautiful companion. Usually the wife gives birth to his son (three sons) and upon seeing the boy, the man realizes that it is his own child |
| k27z8 | Insolvable riddles | The riddle refers to extraordinary or accidental events that happened to the person setting the riddle, and thus is unsolvable to outsiders |
| k2a | Hero marooned in the underworld | 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 |
| k32 | The false wife | An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc. |
| k32g | Punishment: torn apart by horses | To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses) |
| k32h | Punishment: buried alive | To punish an antagonist, he or she is buried alive |
| k32j | Sister replaced by an ugly girl, brother accused of deception | 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 |
| k33 | Drowned woman remains alive | A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people |
| k33a2 | A witch distorts what was told | 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 |
| k33a4 | The heroine is transformed into a forest animal | 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 |
| k33g | Fruits of two kinds | One who eats certain fruit (leave, etc.) gets horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal. After eating another fruit (leave) person recovers his or her normal body |
| k33h | The cat, the dog and the magic object | A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before) |
| k35a | Hero brands his rivals | In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded |
| k35a3 | The master becomes the servant | To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions |
| k37 | Recognition-test | To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects |
| k37a | To recognize a man | Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals |
| k38e | Of copper, of silver, of gold | Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.) |
| k38e2 | The packed kingdom | 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 |
| k38f | The dragon-slayer | A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot |
| k38f4 | Fire-breathing monster | From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire |
| k38f7 | Wild animals are hero’s dogs | Person obtains some wild animals (of two or more different species) who serve him like dogs |
| k39 | Man feeds his own flesh to a creature who helps him | Person has to feed powerful creature (usually a giant bird) giving it regularly pieces of meat. When meat supply is exhausted, he cuts off a piece of his own flesh |
| k47b | Dog turns into handsome man | A girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog |
| k56 | The kind and the unkind girls | One of (step)sisters, co-spouses or young female neighbors meets a being that is able to reward and to punish. She behaves herself properly and is rewarded. Another (other) girl comes to the same being but behaves in a wrong way and is punished (not rewarded). |
| k56a | The unworthy girl fails, the worthy one succeeds | Two or three sisters are sent in succession to powerful person. The first or the first and the second sister behave in a wrong way, perish or do not succeed. The last one behaves correctly, gets a reward |
| k56a2b | To bath lizards and bugs | 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 |
| k56a4 | Dog the messenger | 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 |
| k56a5d | Conversation with the Frost | A person answers friendly to questions of the embodiment of the cold, praises him, is rewarded. Another person expresses his or her discontent and is punished |
| k56a6 | Food asks to be eaten | On the way to the non-human world people or objects ask a child (a young girl) to taste certain food or to fulfill some work. The child (girl) does (rare: does not) what she was asked to do and thanks to this achieve his or her destination and safely returns |
| k56a9 | Helpful mouse rings a bell | 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 |
| k56ac | A row of stones and a row of logs | A girl gets to the house in the forest. The bear comes and tells her to prepare him a bed of stones and logs |
| k56b | The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished | First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished |
| k56f | To divide a chicken | A divides the chicken among the members of a household (and guests) considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.). |
| k56f1 | To divide several chicken | 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. |
| k57 | Cinderella | A girl who conceals her beauty and/or is poor and oppressed by her stepmother puts on a splendid attire and comes incognito to a feast where a man of high status falls in love with her. He marries her after identifying her by an object given to her or lost by her or (rare) seeing how she changes her clothes |
| k57b | The girl’s shoe stuck to glue | To detain a beauty who runs away from the palace (church, etc.) the man who is in love with her smears the threshold (steps) with a glue (tar). The girl’s shoe remains stuck in it, all the girls are asked to put it on and it fits only to the heroine |
| k60a | How strong are these bonds? | Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds) |
| k62a | Quarrel of mouse and bird | A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a small bird quarrel because they cannot divide supplies for the winter. (Usually this episode initiates the story about the war between animals and birds) |
| k65 | Genii loci | Being thrown out, put into certain places, born by primeval couple some beings turn into spirits of particular loci |
| k65a | Spirits fall from the sky | Being thrown down (usually from the sky), some beings get to different places and turn into spirits or animals with particular functions and names |
| k66 | Extraordinary companions | Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity |
| k67a | A drowned wife | A man who has a low social position is a nuisance for persons of high position. He gets to know that they plan to drown him or his preperty (rare: to strangle him) and tricks them to drown instead one of them or their own property |
| k67b | Bargain not to become angry | Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee |
| k67c | Skin ribbon ripped off from the back | Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc. |
| k67d | Flight of the master with his goods in the bag | A master (ogre, devil, wife) tries to get away from his farmhand (her husband). The farmhand hides in the master’s bag (chest) so that the master unwittingly takes him along |
| k72 | Three maidens | Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status |
| k73 | Children of the youngest wife | A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman |
| k73a | Baby child substituted with object or animal | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object) |
| k73a4 | Baby child substituted with a pup | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup) |
| k73b1 | Mother and child in a barrel | 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) |
| k73b5 | But the mother also could eat her baby up | A woman is accused of doing something that she could not do by her very nature. To reject accusation, another example of something absurd and impossible is suggested or it is told that the person believes in impossible though rejects possibility of the possible |
| k73b7 | Hero saves magic wife from her enemy | Hero saves magic wife from her enemy when both, the future wife and the enemy, have the animal guise. Later the saved one turns into a woman |
| k74 | Hero, his companions and a dwarf | 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 |
| k74a | Only the hero gets to overcome the demon whose track he then follows | 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 |
| k75 | The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom) | A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities |
| k77b1 | The wolf flees from the wolf-head | When domestic animals meat the predators, they – deliberately or unintentionally – behave in such a way that the predators escape in panic |
| k79 | Snake serves an example of resuscitation | Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds |
| k80a | A bird or an object tell about a murder | An object or a creature that emerged from remains, decorations, etc. of a killed person tells about his or her fate. Usually a reed grows from the person's grave and a pipe made from the reed tells the story |
| k80a2 | Pipe tells about a murder | Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime |
| k80a3 | One who picks up more berries is killed | Members of the same household (children, young girls or women) go to the forest to pick up berries and kill one of them because she or he arouses their envy |
| k80a6 | Speaking pipe made from a recently grown plant | A pipe or other musical instrument is made from a plant that has grown on a place where certain person was killed (fell, touched ground). When the instrument plays, people hear a particular message |
| k80c2 | The treasure finders who murder one another | Three (two, more) men find (rob) a treasure. One of them goes away for a while. Those who stay kill him when he returns but die later from eating food (drinking wine) which he had poisoned |
| k81 | The handless girl | For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives) |
| k81a | The handless girl in the prince’ garden | 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 |
| k82 | Evil sister-in-law | Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her |
| k82a | Pregnancy from the snake eggs | An ill-disposed elder woman makes a young woman or girl to swallow snake eggs (a snake, something else). Her stomach becomes to swell and the man believes that the victim has become pregnant because of her dissoluteness (rare: to make snakes, worms, etc. to kill her from inside) |
| k84 | Sisters married to animals | Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him |
| k84a | To give a sister to the first male who comes marry her | On his deathbed, father orders his son to give his sister(s) in marriage to the first male(s) who come(s) to take her (them) |
| k85 | Horses-brothers | An antagonist possesses a horse which can overtake any other. Hero obtains the brother (sister) of this horse who is the only one to win the race with the antagonist's horse |
| k85d | A horse with a skin resistant to bites | Hero’s horse asks his master to cover him with skins (smear with pitch and sprinkle with sand, etc.) that makes him invulnerable to other horse’ bites |
| k88 | The two travellers (Truth and Falsehood) | Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes |
| k88b | Food exchanged for eyes | A companion promises to share water or food with a thirsty or hungry person on condition that he or she allows to blind him or her |
| k93 | Twin brothers and a woman | After a series of adventures and victories, the hero gets into trouble. His twin brother or the best friend follows his traces, gets across the same persons but overcomes the last enemy and revives (liberates) the hero |
| k93b1 | Conception from eaten fish | After eating a fish, the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins |
| k93b4 | Woman, mare, and bitch birth give birth to human boys | 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 |
| k94 | Bird of luck (eaten up head) | Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful |
| k97 | Now you are grieved as I was | 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 |
| k99 | Prophecy of future sovereiniy | A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son |
| k99a | The father will humble himself before the son | A lad or a girl (often after having a prophetic dream) claims that he (she) will achieve extraordinary social position (usually that his or her parents, brothers, sisters will demonstrate signs of high respect to him or her). The lad (girl) is expelled out of the family but the prophecy is fulfilled |
| l100d | The entrapped suitors | A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc. |
| l100f1 | Lover runs away from the husband | A farmhand (a young son of the peasant) arranges a situation a series of tricks to the love affair between the wife of his master and another man. The wife is going to bring food outdoor to her lover but gets to her husband. Seeing the master coming with an axe (stones, etc.), the lover believes, that he is going to attack him and runs away |
| l103b | Animals carry hero away from a demon | A girl or a boy gets to demonic person. Sitting on the back of domestic animal (usually a calf, a bull) the girl (boy) escapes from the demon who pursues her (him). Usually several different animals in succession try to carry the girl away but the demon overtakes them and only the last animal brings her home |
| l103b1 | A spurt of dung into the pursuer’s face | The Hero (heroine) flights from a demon riding a domestic animal (often a calf or a bull). When the demon is near, the animal spurts a portion of dung or intestinal gases into the face of the pursuer and the latter turns back |
| l104 | Fugitive and pursuer change guises | A fugitive turns in succession into different animals or objects. A pursuer does the same, every time becoming an animal or a person who is dangerous for the fugitive in his given guise |
| l106b | Journey to the other world in search of the lost object | In search of a lost object, usually carried away by water or wind, a girl or (rare) a boy comes to a powerful person, gets the object back and/or is rewarded. The object is related to the everyday life, it has no ritual significance and is not a weapon |
| l108 | The wolf and the kids | An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in |
| l108a | Goat kills the antagonist | A predator animal (ogre, ogress) swallows people or animals. The goat (rare: the sheep) punishes him or her and usually saves the victims (most often opens the ogre’s belly open and the swallowed ones come out alive) |
| l108b | The thin voice | To make himself unrecognizable by the victim, a predator or ogre modifies his throat or tongue mechanically (oils or burns it, asks blacksmith to remake it, etc.) |
| l114c | To exchange clothes with ogre's daughters | Children or youths (usually a group of brothers) exchange clothes (headgears, ornaments, blankets, sleeping places) with their enemy’s children. The enemy kills his or her own children by mistake. Usually brothers get to the ogre or ogress and the youngest advices to exchange places (clothes, etc.) with ogre’s daughters). Outside of Europe the actors can be animals |
| l120 | Snake-women turn into apple-trees | Hero listens in conversation of demonic beings who plan to turn into something edible, attractive, etc. and to destroy those who touch them. The hero neutralize the demons beforehand |
| l120a | Tongue of dragoness and the smith’s pincers | Hero hides in a smithy from a dragoness who pursues him. She destroys the door or wall (with her tongue) but the hero (smith) burns her (usually grips tight her tongue with his hot pincers or throws hot iron club in her mouth) |
| l131 | Your house is on fire! (all versions) | To get rid of a (female) demon or to make a (lady)bird fly away, they are told that their house and/or children are on fire |
| l131b | Your house is on fire! (appeal to a bird or ladybird) | To make a (lady)bird fly away, she is told that her house and/or children are on fire |
| l15d | The external soul | Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed |
| l17a1 | One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes | Persons or creatures with ever bigger number of eyes guard a man or a woman. The latter makes eyes asleep one by one but forgets about the last one |
| l19b | Beings with odd number of heads | 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 |
| l19b2 | The nine-headed monster | A monster with nine heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads |
| l19b3 | The twelve-headed monster | A monster with twelve heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads |
| l37a | To get know causes of problems | |
| l37a2 | Who will become the ferryman | Person comes to God (Fate, Sun, etc.) and puts questions that asked him to put those whom he met on the way. Somebody wanted to know for how long he must fulfill his duties. The answer: he or she must put other person on his or her place |
| l37b | Secrets accidentally overheard | Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes |
| l37b1 | Toad under a stone | 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 |
| l37c | Bad and Good Lucks | A man comes across persons who incorporate his own or somebody’s else Bad and Good Lucks. He gets to influence their behavior and change course of events (for himself) for better |
| l37c1 | Luck (good or bad) as a person | Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets |
| l42 | Hero carried to ogre’s home | An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes |
| l42b | Credulous children of the ogre | 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 |
| l42g | Hansel and Gretel | Step mother or more often father (persuaded by his wife) abandons children in a desolate place. Getting to the ogre or ogress, children (or at least one of them) survive and ultimately achieve success |
| l42g1 | Chops are heard, woodcutter is gone | Father (step mother) abandons children in the forest. He (she) hangs a plank (gourd, shoe, etc.) on a tree that is striking trunk under the wind. Children believe that he is still nearby cutting woods |
| l42i1 | The witch and the fisher-boy | A boy rides in a boat. The witch lures him to the shore and carries to her home. The boy escapes |
| l57b | Demon comes to get his body part back | 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 |
| l6 | Demon clings to person | A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back |
| l65b | Dogs save their master | A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon |
| l72 | The obstacle flight | Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer |
| l72a | Comb becomes a thicket | Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin) |
| l72e | Pursuer goes back to take his axe | The pursuer cannot break with his hands obstacles created by heroes and must return home after the needed tools |
| l73c | A towel opens or blocks the pass | Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.) |
| l81 | Demon’s fire | Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person |
| l90a | House on a bird's leg | A house that stands on one or several legs of a bird or small animal and/or is turning (capable to turn) is described |
| l93a | Helpful fox | Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them |
| l94 | Child promised to demon | 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 |
| l96 | Sold in animal’s guise and comes back | Person can transform himself or herself into an animal or an object. Being sold in this guise, he or she achieves his or her aims and becomes a human again |
| m106f | A guest from the paradise | A stranger tells a woman that he comes from the other world and had seen there her dead relative. The woman gives him money and goods for the latter. Usually when her husband goes after the trickster to retrieve the money, the trickster steals his horse |
| m106g | The cow is taken to the roof to graze | A cow (donkey, ox, etc.) is taken to the roof to graze grass that was grown there. Or the wife is raised with a rope on her neck |
| m106h | Holding down the hat | A man defecates, covers the pile with his hat and pretends that there is something valuable under it. Another man believes the deceiver and loses his money or property |
| m109 | The tail-fisher | 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 |
| m109a1 | Sham brains | 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 |
| m112 | Animals dig a well | An animal person refuses to dig or clean a source of drinking water together with other animals or birds but takes advantage of the results of the work |
| m113 | For certain bird water is taboo | During the hottest month of the summer or permanently birds of certain species are prohibited to drink from the water bodies. Usually they can quench their thirst only from rain drops and dew on leaves and cry calling for rain |
| m114 | Rope of sand | Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc. |
| m114b | Not clothed and not naked | When a person is suggested to make something and simultaneously not to make it or to make it differently than it could be made at all (to come clothed and naked, with and without a gift, etc.), he or she finds the solution |
| m114b1 | What is the fattest, sweetest, swiftest? | 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) |
| m114d1 | The boiled eggs: chicken should hatch tomorrow | Person wants another to receive chickens from (boiled) eggs (and grow a hen) during one day. The opponent suggests equally impossible task |
| m114i | Asked about their relatives, girl or boy answers with wit | When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person |
| m120a | Cannibal mourner | Somebody dies, animal person suggests to be a mourner, eats the corpse |
| m120b | Baby-sitter with a nice voice | 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.) |
| m127a | The quail makes the fox laugh | Trickster animal asks a bird to make him laugh. The bird sits on the head of a woman (child, cow, etc.), other person tries to kill the bird, hits the wife (breaks cow's horn, etc.). Or the bird distracts person attention to let the trickster steal the person’s food |
| m134 | A tower of wolves | Animals, demons or people stand one on another making a tower. The lowest one jumps off (bends, jerks), all the rest fall to the ground |
| m134b | Wolf measured by tailor | When a predator is going to eat a man, the latter asks permission first to measure him and beats with his (feigned) measuring tool |
| m136a | Sunlight carried in a bag | Fools carry sunlight (darkness, smoke) in bags, sieves, etc. and carry it into the room or out of it |
| m140 | The theft of fish | 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.) |
| m141 | Animals in a pit | 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 |
| m142 | Fox blames his tail | Fox blames his tail for being useless when escaping from the pursuers (usually he punishes his tail and gets killed himself as a result) |
| m146 | The fox gets bait from trap by luring wolf into it | An animal knows that food is in a trap or poisoned and tricks another to take it |
| m149 | Tell them that I am a stump | Strong antagonist is going to kill the hero (a person or a weak animal). Another person or animal pretends not to know about the situation and tells that the antagonist is in search to be killed. The hero is saved. Usually the latter asks the man not to give him out and answer that it is a stump, a log and the like near him. This opens possibility to treat the antagonist as a corresponding object (to cut it with an axe, to tie up, etc.) |
| m154b | The man who does his wife's work | Husband remains home instead of his wife (rare: son instead of his mother) but does everything wrong so as he suffers a series of accidents |
| m156 | The ungrateful one returned to captivity | An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again) |
| m157a6 | You imagine that you speak with the abbot | A man is not wise enough to answer questions put by a king (prince, etc.). His servant or friend takes his place and guise and gives clever answers. Usually one of the questions is like “What I think now?” and the answer, “You think that you speak with the abbot (minister, etc.) but I am a shepherd (a miller, etc.) |
| m157b | To take the one thing she holds dearest | Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her |
| m158 | Tops or buts | Two animals (an animal and a person, an ogre and a person, etc.) agree to divide a crop in such a way that one would take what is above the ground and another what is beneath ground. One of them (several times makes a wrong choice (takes turnip tops and wheat roots) |
| m162 | Eating his own innards | Person pretends to eat his own innards or flesh and persuades the other to do the same. Other believes and kills themselves |
| m166 | Piece among animals | To lure his potential victim down from a tree, a predator pretends not to be dangerous (usually announces that it has been decreed that all animals are united in piece). The victim is dubious and usually asks the predator to announce the same news to the dogs. The predator runs away |
| m171 | The profitable exchange: from a pea to a horse | 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) |
| m171c1 | In exchange for a bast-shoe | Person has only a bast-shoe (or later asserts that he/she had the bast-shoe with him/her). He/she asks for the night-lodge and in the morning tells that he/she had something more valuable. This way he/she continues a series of profitable exchanges |
| m173a | The thief drops matched objects | The thief drops first one, then the other, of a pair of matched objects (shoes, boots, sword and sheath, knife and folk) in the road. A person passes by the first object but, when he sees the second, he goes back for the first, leaving the animal (or other possessions) behind. The thief takes the animal |
| m176 | A test: to jump across an obstacle | (Animal) persons agree to jump across a brook, hole, fire or other obstacle or to walk upon a log, a rope and the like. One or all of them fall down |
| m178 | The lying goat | A man sends others one after the other to pasture the goat. Back home, the goat always complains it did not get anything to eat. The man angrily sends away or kills his shepherds (who usually are his family members). When he himself pastures the goat he realizes that it lies. He is going to kill the goat, usually skins it, but it escapes |
| m179 | A house of bark and a house of ice | Two animal persons live nearby, the house of one of them is destroyed, he asks another to let him in and usually drives the host out of his house. Strong animals are afraid of the intruder but a weak or small one succeeds to return the house to its original owner |
| m180 | Fox and crane invite each other | An animal person invites another and serves his food in such a way that he is unable to taste it. Then the other invites the first animal and puts him in similar situation |
| m182a | Wild animals stick to horse | Person smears with pitch a domestic animal (a stuffed animal, an object); wild animals or demons stick to it |
| m182a | Wild animals stick to horse | Person smears with pitch a domestic animal (a stuffed animal, an object); wild animals or demons stick to it |
| m182a1 | Captured wild animals ransom themselves | A man catches several wild animals but lets them go after they promise to bring him something valuable or to help him. The animals fulfill their promise |
| m182b | The wild animals on the sleigh | Wild animals ride on a sleigh, which breaks. To repair it the animals bring unsatisfactory material from the forest. When the sleigh owner goes for good material they eat the horse (or the bull) and build a dummy to replace it |
| m191c | The singing wolf | By his singing (threats, compliments) the wolf compels an old man to surrender his cattle (and members of his family) |
| m196 | The silence wager | 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 |
| m197e | The unknown animal | Person is covered with tar (honey) and feathers, moves on his or her hands and knees backward, etc. A demon believes that he sees un unknown animal. The persons is saved |
| m197e1 | Demons claims the harvest | 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 |
| m199 | Squeezing the (supposed) stone | A man or a weak animal and an ogre (giant, devil) have a contest to see which of them can squeeze a stone. The man squeezes a cheese (egg, turnip) and thus intimidates the ogre |
| m199c | Throwing a club | A man pretends that he had thrown or is going to throw a heavy object to the sky (to the clouds). His adversary asks him not to do it. |
| m199d | Wrestling and running contests | An ogre (devil, etc.) challenges a man to a wrestling and/or running contest. The man sends his “relative” – a bear to wrestle and a hare to run |
| m199f | Pulling the lake together | Person threatens the devils (water dwellers, etc.) that he will deprive them of their home (pull together or stir up a lake, dry the sea, build a church where the devils live, etc.). The devils (fish, etc.) fulfill person’s demands |
| m199i | Screaming or whistling context | A man (boy) and an ogre (devil, bear, etc.) have a screaming or whistling context. The man uses a trick (binds ogre’s eyes and strikes him on his head with a heavy object; blows a horn at the ogre’s ear; pretends to bind their heads that they would not break because of his whistling, etc.). The ogre acknowledges the man to be stronger than he |
| m199n | Counting out pay | The demon has to give the man a hat (boot, bag or other container) full of gold. The man plans his hat (pot etc.) with a hole in it in such a way that the gold falls out of the container as soon as it is put into it. The man gets enormous treasure |
| m203 | Great Pan is dead | 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 |
| m203a | Tell them that I am dead | Supernatural being asks a man to pass certain message for the unknown addressee. Back at home, the man tells what he has heard and does not know that the addressee is nearby and hears him. As a result, the man dies or is harmed |
| m21 | A protector hides fugitives | The protagonist pursued by an enemy comes across a person, an animal or an object to help him and receives help |
| m29b | Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote |
| m29b1 | The wolf is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29b2 | The bear is a failure/enemy | Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29z2 | The Gipsy wins thanks to his smartness | Being smart and witty, the Gipsy overcomes strong adversaries |
| m38c | Superb blacksmith | A blacksmith is (seems to be) able make people young, cure maimed people and animals |
| m38c1 | Old people forged into young ones: unhappy imitation | Person changes (forges, boils, cuts into pieces and joins them back) old (sick, dead) people into the young (healthy, alive) ones or pretends to do so. Another one unsuccessfully tries to imitate him |
| m39a1 | Misunderstood instructions: a step behind | Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one |
| m39a3 | Had your daughter horns? | Fool kills a person, throws the body into a pond or a well. His relation throws there a dead goat. Searching for the corpse in the pond, the fool asks if the killed person had horns, etc. People see that he is really crazy and do not suspect him of a crime |
| m39a4a | Fool’s customer is an animal or an object | A fool gives meat, a domestic animal, cloth etc. to an animal (plant, inanimate object) and thinks that the latter will pay him later or asks an animal to do some work. Claiming money or products of the work, he finds treasure |
| m39a4e | Fool’s customer is a tree | Fool sells property to a tree (stump, pole, a cross in the countryside) and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| m39a5a | The sausage rain | Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone. |
| m39a5a3 | Devils beat the landlord | A man understands that if his wife let out the truth, it would bring them trouble. He tells her that sounds that she hears are screams of the landlord (official, etc.) because devils (or somebody else) beat him (carry him to the hell, etc.). Being summoned to the official, she repeats what her husband had told her and considered mad |
| m39c | Pumpkin sold as a donkey’s egg | A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg |
| m39d | Series of clever unjust decisions | In succession and unintentionally a man causes a series of accedents. The injured parties bring him before a judge. In each case the judge makes decisions that are formally logical but patently unacceptable and saves the man |
| m39g | Girl bewails the loss of her child before she has any (Clever Elsie) | 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. |
| m39g1 | Jumping into the breeches | A fool does not know how to pull on his breeches (boots) and jumps down into them from a high place |
| m39h | Husband pretends to become blind (The faithless wife) | A married woman is eager to get rid of her husband and usually asks a spirit (God, saint, etc.) to make him blind. The husband hides in a tree, behind the alter, etc. and usually tells her that good food will make her husnad blind, or the husband himself tells his wife that the good food is dangerous for him. He pretends to become blind, kills the love (and his wife) |
| m74a | Strange names of the babies | 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 |
| m74aa | Theft of food by playing godfather | 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 |
| m74b | Who has eaten up the fat? | 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)
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| m75b | Hero inside carcass | A man hides in a skin or carcass of a big animal. A bird carries it to its nest without knowing that the man is inside |
| m75b1 | Marco the Rich | A respected man gets to know that a poor boy must inherit all his property or become a king and tries to prevent it, but the fate cannot be changed |
| m75b1a | The predestined wife | A man (usually of high social position) learns by a prediction that a (newborn) girl will be his future wife or a girl from rich family gets to know that her future husband is a poor man. The man (the girl, something else) attempts to kill the predestined marriage partner but only wounds her or him. After the wedding it becomes clear that the prediction is fulfilled |
| m75c | Treasure on mountain top | A man sends another one to top of a mountain or a tree to obtain treasure for him. To go back is impossible but the man survives |
| m83b | Whose dream is better? | Two (or more) (animal)-persons agree that whichever of them has the most wonderful dream may eat all the food. The first one tells about a feast that he participated in his dream. His companion answers that he was sure that after such a feast (after getting into the paradise, etc.) the first one would not need the food, so he has eaten it alone |
| m84 | Revived from bones | Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together |
| m85 | The fox bluffs | An animal person (usually a fox or a jackal) threatens to cut down a tree on which mother bird (squirrel) made its nest unless she will throw down one of her nestlings (squirrel children) or eggs. Another bird lets the mother bird know that the predator is unable to realize his threat |
| m90a5 | The golden apples | Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples |
| m91 | The killed corpse | Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward |
| m91b1 | The sold skin | A man goes to sell a skin of domestic animal and on his way, by trick or thanks to chance, gets a big sum of money. Usually coming back he explains that this was the price of the skin but when other people kill their animals they cannot sell skins for such a sum. (In India the hero sometimes pretends to sold cow meat to brahmins for whom it is forbidden) |
| m91c1 | Herd from the river bottom | 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 |
| m91c2 | Put into the bag | 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 |
| n14 | Storyteller on the wedding | Closing formula of the folktale: the teller represents himself as being present at the wedding and/or feast, which were organized by characters of the tale |
| n15 | It ran down onto my moustache, but didn’t get into my mouth | Closing formula of the folktale: the teller ate some food and/or drank some alcohol but it did not get into his mouth and/or stomach |
| n28a | The roots of rocks | Roots (belt) of rocks (stones, mountains) are mentioned in myths, riddles, proverbs, charms and songs as something that does not exist |
| n33 | Pressing adversary into the ground | The hero presses his adversary into the ground or both of them press each other (ankle-, waist-, breast-deep and the like) |