The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
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)
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
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
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
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.
A 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
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 girl marries an animal or brings an animal to her home, the animal turns into a handsome man. Her sister or friend tries to do the same but perishes or suffers a reverse
A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities
A 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
A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
Person of a small size (often a chicken) overcomes powerful adversary despite all attempts to destroy him thanks to objects and animals met on the way and preserved in his bag or inside his body
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
A man hides in a shelter. An ogre wants him to demonstrate certain parts of his body. The man demonstrates or parts of the body of an animal or some objects. The ogre believes that his adversary is a powerful creature
Two cripples with different injuries quarrel and fight after overcoming a demon that makes them unexpectedly healthy
A woman gives birth to disfigured child because she offended a powerful supernatural being (Rain, Sun, etc.). Her child is provided with magic power and eventually obtains normal body
When a demonic person or a predator animal gives his name, the hero or a herbivorous animal invents such a name for himself that suggests his superiority over his opponent
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Being smart and persistent, the turtle (toad, frog) overcomes strong adversaries
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
Animal person promises to take care of another animal's children but do not fulfill obligations and usually eats the young ones
When a weak animal or a person gets to see a predator animal or an ogre, he says in a loud voice (or asks to say his wife or children) something that frightens the predator (ogre): why the predator (ogre) brought to him is lean (small; only one instead of several), or it is good that more food gets to his house, etc. The predator (ogre) runs away
A stronger and a weaker predator animals (ogre and an animal) tie together for safety. When the stronger one runs away, he drags the weaker one along with him
Animal person is highly respected by others after he changes his looks by chance; is smeared with a paint or gets a necklace-like object around his neck which he is unable to pull off
A person who has not a bit of a skill to expose thieves and find the lost objects does it successfully thanks to a series of lucky coincidences
The pretended diviner overhears a talk, otherwise he would be unable to find the lost object
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
On its way to the Beyond, a soul has to defend itself or divert attention of guards who wait for it giving presents to them
A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
Еhe tiger (lion) and another animal make a competition whose voice is louder. The tiger’s voice is louder but ultimately he loses
A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation
A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
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 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
A youth (a girl) lives in the house of an ogress. To get rid of him (her) the ogress asks him (her) to bring some object from other ogres (often from her mother) who must kill him or her. The hero or heroine escapes and kills all the ogres
Several imprisoned (driven out) co-wives give birth but only the son of the youngest woman survives. The boy saves the women
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
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
When the day of a person’s death is near, he hopes that Death will be in search of him on the earth and makes attemt to live on or under the water. But Death finds him
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
A man marries a woman who can acquire the image of an elephant or appears from the elephant’s tusk
Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
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
The heroine’s rival transforms her into a turtle. The turtle makes attempts to contact her children or husband
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
A tree that has grown up rapidly lets only her mistress to pluck its fruits and follows her when she is moving to live in another place
A woman hides in a fruit that was brought to house and comes out when nobody is nearby