The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
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 with a pitchfolk in hands is seen in the shadows of the lunar disc
Person who carries a bundle of brushwood or firewood 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
Spots on the lunar disc are dirt thrown into the Moon's face by his/her sister/brother or mother
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
Person or animal, bird teases, offends March or other month and are punished
Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart
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)
Several men take part in rescuing, creation or reanimation of a girl (rare: a bird) or several women take part in the reanimation of a dead man or they differetly express their grief. It is asked whose role was crucial (who behavior more noble) and/or who should be the spouse of the reanimated person. Or three men make something valuable and it is asked whose role in the corresponding enterprise was more important
When the winter ends and the spring begins certain month (usually March) borrows (rare buys, steals) several days from a neighbor month
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.
An old man needs a son to accomplish a man’s work or service. (Only the youngest) daughter sets to do it (successfully passing her father’s test and) guised as a man
Father sends his daughters or sons to carry out a difficult task. At the very beginning their courage is tested. Only the youngest son or the youngest daughter passes the test successfully. Usually father takes guise of a robber or a predator animal and charges but only the youngest son or the youngest daughter is not scared.
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
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
Death promises to take a man after he has finished a prayer. The man begins to pray but does not finish his prayer and the Death cannot take him
Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master
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
Milky Way is the way of St. Jacob (the way to Santiago de Compostela, etc.)
Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
Antagonist names numbers from one to seven or nine, every time asking what it is. The hero gives answers that the antagonist accepts as correct ones.
The Pleiades are a brooding hen, hen with its chickens, chickens
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
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
To get rid of a young man, his female antagonist uses a stratagem. She tells his sister (rare: tells directly him) about some wonderful objects and the girl is overcome with the desire to have them. An attempt to obtain these objects entails a risk for one’s life. The youth sets off to obtain the objects
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
A boy is born whose father or (rare) mother is unknown. He himself points at his parent who as a rule occupies the lowest social position. Usually many men (women) come together and everyone hopes that the boy points at him (her)
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 (rare: woman) gets into power of a demonic person related to the lower world (usually a siren, fish, sea monster, rarely wizard). The antagonists raises the prisoner above water (or earth) a restricted number of times (usually being provoked or bribed to do so) and thanks to this the prisoner escapes (usually flies away turning into the bird)
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
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 demand is brought up that a baby would be born the next day after conception or would talk immediately after the birth
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
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
A poor girl receives a doll (goose) that defecates money. An envious neighbor steals or borrows the doll but it soils her house and the doll is thrown out. The king (prince) uses the doll (goose) to wipe himself and it sticks to his backside (or bites him when he passes by). He announces that anyone who can release him will get a reward. Only the girl is able to do it and he marries her
The riddle refers to extraordinary or accidental events that happened to the person setting the riddle, and thus is unsolvable to outsiders
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.
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
Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
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)
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
An antagonist wants that a wonderful bird of the hero sing but it remains mute or cries differently. The bird begins to sing when the hero triumphs over his adversaries
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).
Two men have a similar defect (a hump, a lump). One spends a night in a place where spirits free him from his defect. Another comes to the same place but spirits double his defect giving him what they had taken off from the first man
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 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
A demon agrees to help a person (usually to fulfill some difficult work that a girl must do herself) if a person tells him his name. At the last moment the person gets know the name by chance, the demon disappears and the person is rewarded
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
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
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
The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits 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
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)
A woman who was falsely accused of killing her new-born child or giving birth to pups and the like is punished in such a way that she must suffer from filth and be taunted by passers by
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
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
An (adoptive) son is a snake who turns into handsome man. The snake is the magic spouse of princess, lost and returned
Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
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)
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
Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people 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
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
A man puts his children questions that seem easy to answer (how they love him, who is the elder in the family, etc.). The elder children flatter, the youngest daughter (rare: son) is reserved and her father drives her away or deprives of inheritance. Later her noble nature becomes evident to him
A girl answers her father (rare: brother) that she loves him like she loves salt (or that salt is the most valuable, etc.). He becomes angry (usually drives her away) but later satisfies himself that she was right
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
After eating a fish, the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
To have children, a woman eats a fish, apple or something else. A mare, a bitch or other domestic animals eat part of this food (often skin, broth, etc.). The woman gives birth to a boy (twins) a mare to colts, a bitch to puppies
Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
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
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
A man has to send several nights near the girl who died and became a dangerous demonic being. After this the girl is disenchanted
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
To hide truth, person buries an animal or an object and tells that it is the burial of a bride (wife, sister, children, etc.) of another
Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
Wandering to the purpose of her or his travel person has to worn out her or his iron shoes or staff
Magic bridegroom who comes as bird or other guise and then changes into a man meets regularly with a young woman. Her jealous sisters (stepmother, brother, etc.) wound him (usually putting knives of broken glass around the window). He disappears, the girl goes to find him.
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 woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who make laugh his wife or mother
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
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
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
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 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
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)
A youth breaks or overthrows a vessel of a woman or girl. This episode is a trigger for the narrative
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 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.
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
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
Several animals (often a lion, an eagle, an ant) argue because of an animal carcass or a living place. A man settles their argument, they give him capacity to acquire their form (their qualities)
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)
For finding the lost husband (wife, benefactor), person regularly assemble together the chance people to hear what they are saying (usually sets up an inn, bakery, bathhouse and the like where guests are stimulated to talk). One of the people proves to be the lost one or his or her story helps to find the lost one
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
A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid
Person kills girls (rare: his nephews or younger brothers of his wife) in succession (usually the male person kills his wives). The last of potential victims escapes, usually after finding remains of those who had been killed or imprisoned earlier
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
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 accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
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
An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house
Hero escapes from the demon's basket or bag letting stone (a piece of wood, some sand) instead of him
Person abducted by a demon suggests him or her to make a ladder of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils by which the demon could climb up to catch the person. The ladder is collapsed and the demon injured or killed
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
Person removes part of his or her body (head, scalp, lungs) and then puts it back
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
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
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.
In the absence of the host, the guest is told that the host is going to kill or to maim him. The guest runs away, the host runs after him with good intentions but the guest believes that the received warning had a reason
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 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 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
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)
Getting a task or by his own initiative, a trickster several times comes to a person (usually an ogre) and steals in succession objects in his possession or members of his family
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
Two or more persons have only one eye for all
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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 lion suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
The first and rejected or taken later wife acts using magic. Other wives try to imitate her but perish are maimed or disgraced
After the wedding a wife does not speak with her husband until he says particular words related to her origin (the name of her adoptive father, her own name that reveals her superhuman nature, and the like)
Two or several animated objects or small animals and live or travel together and perish one after another when they make the most simple acts
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
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
A fool is told to wash an old person with a warm water. He uses a boiling water killing the person
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
A man steals money or property. The owner gets his property back after he or his helper puts the theft in such a position when the best choice for him becomes to return what he has stolen (usually the first man kidnaps a child of the second one)
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.
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)
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
Where the beautiful woman steps, treasure appears, flowers blossom, etc.
An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so
Person gets one by one magic objects that bring food or treasure. Other people replace them with common objects or take them away by force. The person takes his property back (usually beating the thieves with magic cudgel or whip)
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
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
A blind trickster steals from (does not return some money to) a harmless man. The injured man follows the blind man and steals his whole hoard of money. Often he robs (tricks) several blind men
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
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
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
Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
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 man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep
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
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
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
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
Person eats a meal of eggs and leaves without paying. Some years later when he returns to pay his debt, the innkeeper claims the value of all chickens that would have hatched from the eggs in the meantime. On the day of the trial another person pretends to have cooked seeds for planting and the judge agrees that chicken could not be hatched from the boiled eggs
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
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
When an aged father is banned from the table and served his meals in a wooden cup by his son and his daughter-in-law, the little grandson starts to build a similar cup for his parents to use when they grow old. Thereupon the couple starts to reflect on their undignified behavior. Thinking of their own old age, they bring the old father back to the family table (previously type 980B). A son gives his father half a blanket (carpet, cape, cloth) to keep warm. Thereupon the little grandson keeps the other half of the blanket and explains that he will save it for his parents for when they are old (previously type 980A.). An aged father is abandoned by his son in the wilderness (abyss) in a cart (sledge, basket). The grandson keeps it in order to use it in the same way for his parents when they have grown old. They reflect on their behavior. (previously type 980C). The ungrateful son drags his old father out of the house. At the threshold the father says, "Do not drag me further; I dragged my own father only this far!". The son reflects on his bad behavior
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
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)
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
Predator animal/ogre blows and destroys a fragile house but cannot destroy a strong one. Usually two or three weak personages build three houses only one of which is strong enough.
The wolf or other wild animal gets into the cellar (storehouse, vineyard, etc.) and eats so much that cannot leave
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)
Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless
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.)
Getting into a well or pit and being unable to climb out animal person tricks another to descend and thanks to this gets out while the second person remains below
Getting to see a donkey (horse, deer) for the first time, a strong predator thinks that this animal is dangerous. His further interpretation of the herbivorous’ behavior supports this impression
The wolf (lion, etc.) is going to eat a horse (mule, etc.). The horse asks him to look at his hoof (for different reasons) or eat him from his hindquarters forward; then he kicks him
A man obtains knowledge of animal languages but if he reveals the secret, he must die. Once he hears animals talking and laughs. His wife thinks that he laughs at her or at her mother. The man is ready to open his secret and either does it and dies or hears how animals (usually a cock) blame him for being so foolish. So he keeps his secret.
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)
Person claims that a calf (colt, kid, etc.) was born (brought to the place) not by the cow (mare, etc.) of another person but by his own male animal (bull, stallion, etc.), his own animal of another species or by inanimate object (usually a cart)
Person demonstrates the absurdity of the claims of another person saying that he (or somebody else) was fishing on a hill, putting out a fire spilling straw, looking how the fish fly etc. or he is imitating such an activity. Either the place chosen for the activity or the means are irrational
A man finds a mortar (rare a bell, etc.) of gold (rare: of marble, etc.) and brings it to a powerful person. The latter is not thankful at all but orders the man to bring a pestle too (the bell’s clapper, etc.)
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.)
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
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 gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
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
In the presence of powerful person one of his subjects is plotting against the other. The other answers that the problem can be resolved if the first one would be maimed (usually a part of his body used as a medicine). The schemer is killed or injured
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)
Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl
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
A slow and a fast animals agree to race. The fast one is sure that he will win and is not in a hurry at all while the slow one is moving persistently to his aim and wins
A slow and a fast animals (or not flying bird) agree to race. The slow one imperceptibly sticks to the fast one’s body (or to a vehicle) and getting to the finish pretends to come there simultaneously with the fast one or before him
Birds, animals or fish compete as about who is the fastest or can fly higher than others. A weak one imperceptible sticks to the body of the fastest or strongest and wins
A snail (other mollusk, trepang, etc.) participates in the race and wins
The mice decide to tie a bell on the cat, so they can hear when the cat comes. Usually they cannot find anyone to tie it on her
A man feeds a snake (rare: a fish; does not do it any harm) and the snake makes him rich (is friendly). His son (rare: someone else or the man himself) injures the snake (kills its young) and dies (if son; because of the bite). The snake refuses to keep former friendship with the man: both of them remember the inflicted pain
To pass unnoticed dangerous animals on his or her way back, person crawls into a gourd, a big cattle, etc. and is rolling inside it along the road, or he walks transforming his appearance in a bizarre way
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
A dialogue is based on fact that the beard of the young men is black while the beard of the old men is grey. Usually a man answers the question why the hair of his head is grey and the hair of his beard is black. “The hair of the head is twenty years older than the beard”
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
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.
Person or animal puts food into a bag and hides it under his clothes. Cutting the bag open he pretends to disembowel himself. His adversary tries to do the same and kills himself
An elder man and a boy travel with one donkey (horse). They try all possible ways but are always blamed (a man rides on the donkey and the boy walks; the boy on the donkey and the man walks; both on the donkey; both walk or they carry the donkey).
A man himself or somebody else creates situation that demonstrates that his wife is not his best friend. Often a treacherous wife is contrasted with a true dog
A fool does not know how to pull on his breeches (boots) and jumps down into them from a high place
Hero’s dogs have names that tell about their strength and deftness
A boy climbs a tree to eat fruits. A demon asks him to share the fruits with her (him) but not to throw them to the ground but give them from hand to hand. The demon grabs the boy and carries him away
Being smart and witty, the crab overcomes strong adversaries
A cat marries a poor boy to a princess (poor girl to a prince)
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
Fool (or a person who pretends to be mad) sows salt (small objects) like grain
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
A cow (goat) magically spins or weaves: eats the yarn and extracts the thread, suggests to wind the yarn over its horns, etc.
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Body parts of a person or pieces of his flesh are thrown down one by one. (In American Indian versions those who are on the ground usually take them for game, honey, fish)
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)
When person sighs or utters an interjection, another one (usually a demon) emerges because his name is spelled like Ahh, Ohhoi, etc.
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
After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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
While travelling on earth, God (a saint) asks his companion to prepare a slaughtered animal (chicken). The companion secretly eats liver (heart, etc.) and explains that the animal did not have such an organ. He confesses his wrong deed when God (a saint) promises him a treasure
A young woman follows an enchanted man to his underground place, becomes pregnant but breaks a taboo and is chased away. She finds lodging in a rich house, her husband finds her and is disenchanted
To trap a desired woman, person lures her to a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and carries away
On his way to a dangerous being the hero (heroine) greases (oils) the gate (door) hinges. When the hero goes back the grateful gate does not agree to hold him despite the order of the dangerous being
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him
Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together
Supernatural beings kill and eat an animal and then put all the bones together (in the animal's skin). After the feast the animal becomes whole (and usually revives)
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 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
A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest
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
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
When demon tries to empty his bag, stones and not the hero fall out and break the cauldron
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 unrecognized hero works as a groom for the powerful person
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 the statue and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure
Person who represents something fat (a sausage, a piece of fat, etc.) prepares a rich soup adding to it its own fat. Another person tries to repeat the trick and dies
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
Some person makes a wish not taking in mind that his words can have other meaning or accidentally replacing one word with another. As a result, something quite undesirable takes place
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)
Each of three brothers carry to the princess some fruits (rare: fish, etc.).
She will marry a man whose fruits are better (more numerous) or can cure her. On their way two brothers treat roughly a person who possesses supernatural power and are punished while the youngest brother is polite and rewarded. He (after additional tests) marries the princess
Two animal persons work their land together and agree to share the profits. While one is working hard, another only pretends to be useful but claims for himself (greater) part of the harvest
An ogre catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way. The ogre comes back, this time carries the person to his home. Or the ogre catches a group of children, most of them escape on the way, one is brought to the ogre's place
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
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
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 finds a land where there is no death. Setting off to visit his home country, he does not come to this land again
Person called Poverty makes Death to promise him/her that he, the Death, will never come to him. Because of this poverty cannot be eradicated
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)
Coming back from the land of immortality, the hero should not touch the ground. However, he comes down from his horse to help an old man (old woman). It was Death in guise of an old man and he kills the hero on the spot. Rare: at the last moment the hero decides not to commit fatal acts and returns to the land of immortality
People suspect that a young man is a disguised girl and suggest tests to identify the real sex of this person
Wicked stepmother (aunt, a rival) blinds a young woman. The heroine returns her eyes (often gets them back in exchange for some values)
To punish an antagonist, he or she is burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the dangerous being is not a punishment but an effective way to get rid of him or her are not considered)
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 girl lets down her long hair and another person uses it as a rope to climb up to her
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)
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 woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
An (adoptive) son or daughter is a pig. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man (she marries a handsome man)
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
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
A woman is thrown into a well (pond, hole, etc.) or transformed into a water bird. Being in water, she gives birth to a son (children) or she had been thrown together with her baby. Ultimately she and her children are saved
A girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog
The hero must bring a small object (often a finger ring) from the bottom of a deep waterbody (often the sea)
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
A task: to bring objects (usually fruits) that act like people, i.e. dance, sing and the like
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)
A man does not know that his (new) wife (rare: mother) is an ogress/witch/evil woman. Thanks to her intrigues (former) wives (wife) are blinded and/or confined in an underground hole. A son of one of them overcomes the ogress and returns sight to his mother and aunts
Several imprisoned (driven out) co-wives give birth but only the son of the youngest woman survives. The boy saves the women
An object possessed by a girl (woman) is nice (useful) for her but getting to somebody’s hands it becomes harmful (dangerous)
A girl or her father (rare: mother) picks a plant (usually a flower) and because of this encounters a person who has non-human guise and/or is related to the underworld. The girl marries him. In some cases the flower is the person’s hair but more often it’s not so
Person dies and returns soon but people send him or her back, refuse to accept as a member of their community or bury again. Since then death becomes permanent
Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
As soon as a person plays his flute (fiddle, horn, etc.), people and animals become to dance and cannot stop without the person’s permission
A princess who lies or stands between two pretenders for her hand must choose one of them without seeing him. The bridegroom of low social position tricks the noble one to be smeared by filth and the princess turns to one who smells aromatically
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
A fool or a buffoon takes the door of the house and carries it on his back
A person (often a fool or buffoon) drops a (heavy) object from a tree. Those who are under the tree (usually robbers or demons) are frightened and run away abandoning their goods and valuables
A crab participates in the race and wins
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
When a girl is asked to prepare cloth from a handful of yarn, she asks to prepare for her weaving tools from a straw (chip, small stick, etc.)
Person must drink all the water in the sea (count all drops of sea water) but asks his opponent first to separate the sea water from the water of rivers that flow into it
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
A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
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
Hero is in search of his lost magic wife. One of the winds is just going to fly there because he must do there some work. The hero joins him
Getting to the world that is beyond the world of the human beings, a man marries there a woman. She gives him permission to visit his home but he must avoid particular words or deeds. He breaks the taboo triggering an (irretrievable) trouble
The antagonist (robber, wizard, witch) penetrates into the house of a girl or young woman hiding in a state (in cupboard, etc.) and/or putting her husband (guards) to sleep using a medicine. At the last moment he is destroyed
When a man or a woman promises to give his or her child to a demon, he or she does not try to save the child but help the demon to catch him or her. Despite all, the boy or girl escapes from the demon
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
A monster blocks sources of water (or sends floods) and usually gives some (promises not to send floods) in exchange for human victims or valuables. Hero kills the monster
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
Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
Person is sent to receive something of relatively low value. He asks to give him quite different object (to provide a service) and asks one who had sent him to confirm the demand. Usually a person or animal comes to a wife or a son of a powerful one and tells her or him that her (his) husband or father tells to give him food, to make love to him, to marry him, etc.
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
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
Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
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
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
Numskulls try to shovel nuts with a pitchfork. F stranger shows them how to do this work more easily with a shovel (a basket)
A man must recognize blindly the woman that he is eager to marry. He does it knowing that one of her fingers is absent or injured
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
Person asks a servant to bring another some food or object and to pass certain words which for the servant have no meaning. Hearing these words, the recipient understands that the servant had appropriated part of what he had to bring
A woman gives birth to a son after being impregnated by the sun(shine) or sun(beam)
Man marries monkey-woman; supernatural woman takes form of a monkey or the man pretends that the house-keeper is a monkey
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
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
Woman gives birth to three (and not two or more) wonderful children. They survive and triumph over their enemies
Woman gives birth to wonderful boy and girl. Being substituted with animals or objects and thrown away, they survive and triumph over their enemies
The heroine’s rival transforms her into a dove. The dove makes attempts to contact her children or husband
Person is bewitched (transformed into a bird, faints) when a pin or other sharp object is stuck into her (rare his) body
The hero is sent to bring a life-medicine. On his way back a friendly woman replaces the real medicine with a useless one or keeps part of it for herself. Using the medicine she revives the hero when he is treacherously killed
A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
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
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
A demon orders the hero (heroine) to eat some food that is prohibited for him. When the hero answers that he has eaten the food the demons asks it where it is at the present moment and the food answers him
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)
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a pair of scissors behind him or her creating an obstacle on the way of the pursuer
The supernatural person does not like the behavior of the unkind girl and punishes her making her ugly (disfigured)
Young woman finds herself in power of water dweller and if permitted to visit her home, a chain is tied to her leg. She can be released if the chain is cut through
After the death of her or his mother, a girl or a boy suggests her or his father to marry another woman who is her or his teacher, neighbor etc. and who usually persuaded the girl (boy) to give such an advice. As soon as she is married, the step-mother becomes to persecute her step-daughter (stem-son)
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)
Walking person creates a trace behind him or her throwing seeds, stones, etc. or the trace is produced because blood drops behind the person. The traces is destroyed unintentionally by birds, animals, wind etc.
In a series of three (rare: four) loci or objects that have high but different value the highest value is related to the precious stone (usually a diamond; crystal, glass)
The unrecognized hero works as a gardener at the powerful person
Young man gets a girl who is inside a fruit the citrus tree, usually an orange
Young man gets a girl who is inside a fruit of the pomegranate
Young man obtains several (usually three) fruits (eggs, pieces of reed). When he opens the first one, a girl who comes out from it immediately disappears because something was wrong (usually the drinking water for her is not available). Only the girl who has come out of the last fruit remains with the man. Cf. motif k33c7
When two foxes (wolves) meet, one of them asks another when their next meeting will be. Another one answers that at the bazaar where pelts are sold (at the fur-dresser, etc.)
Hero comes to an agreement with antagonist that he can take animals of particular appearance or with particular behavior and takes all or most of them
A man travels with his wife or daughter. Another woman or a demonic person replaces her when the man goes away for a short time or (rare) falls asleep
A woman becomes pregnant eating a fish. The fish bones (entrails, tail, etc.) are buried in a garden, and at this place grows something related to her son: either a weapon (a sword) or an object which appearance depends on her son’s wellbeing (a plant or a spring)
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a monkey (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a monkey)
Because of her simple-heartedness or by chance a young girl becomes a cause of her mother’s death
After her visit to the supernatural person the unkind girl gets ugly outgrowths on her face or head (tail, horns, warts, etc.)
The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place
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)