Germans – Southwest: Alsace (Elsass), Baden-Württemberg, Swabia, Switzerland



Tradition title rus: 
Эльзас, Баден-Вюртенберг, Швабия, Швейцария
Areal ID: 
3.3.5.6
Tradition analysis result motif count all: 
213.00
Tradition analysis result motif count cosmo: 
55.00
Motifs: 

Motif

a12


Name_eng: 
Eclipses: monster’s attack
Description: 

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




Motif

a12a


Name_eng: 
Eclipses: a predator animal
Description: 

During an eclipse or at other circumstances the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a predator animal (a bear, a feline, a canine, a racoon)




Motif

a32


Name_eng: 
Figure on lunar disc
Description: 

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)




Motif

a32d


Name_eng: 
Man in the Moon
Description: 

Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon




Motif

a32dd


Name_eng: 
Firewood-carrier in the moon
Description: 

Person who carries a bundle of brushwood or firewood is seen in the moon.




Motif

a32e


Name_eng: 
Person with an object in hands
Description: 

Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)




Motif

a45


Name_eng: 
The insulted Moon
Description: 

Person who teases or insults the Moon is punished




Motif

b33


Name_eng: 
Mother of wind
Description: 

Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.




Motif

b42q


Name_eng: 
Ursa major is a carriage
Description: 

Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart




Motif

b87


Name_eng: 
Alcor
Description: 

Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object




Motif

b90


Name_eng: 
Master of wolves
Description: 

There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year




Motif

b115a


Name_eng: 
Knots put in wood
Description: 

Person (St. Peter), angry at carpents, wants another (Christ) to make wood (trees) with iron knots (branches, nails) but the latter makes the branches only of hard wood




Motif

b116


Name_eng: 
The first book eaten up
Description: 

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)




Motif

c25b


Name_eng: 
A spinner in the Moon
Description: 

In the sky, on the Moon (rare: on the Sun), i.e. somewhere outside of our world certain person is spinning, weaving, plaiting, or embroidering




Motif

e9h


Name_eng: 
Dove-wife
Description: 

A man marries dove-woman




Motif

e11


Name_eng: 
The burned skin
Description: 

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)




Motif

f62


Name_eng: 
Incognito at the feast
Description: 

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)




Motif

h7


Name_eng: 
The personified Death
Description: 

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




Motif

h7a


Name_eng: 
The Death and a doctor
Description: 

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




Motif

h7b1


Name_eng: 
Devil (Death) captured in sack
Description: 

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)




Motif

i13b


Name_eng: 
A horned snake
Description: 

Snake of natural size has horns on its head




Motif

i13c


Name_eng: 
Snake’s crown
Description: 

Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head




Motif

i20


Name_eng: 
The undeground dwarfs
Description: 

Race of dwarfs lives under the ground (deep under the earth or in hills and rocks) or at the horizon where the earth and the sky meet




Motif

i20c1


Name_eng: 
Dwarfes live in hills and rocks
Description: 

Dwarfs live not deep under the earth but in hills and rocks, usually come from there to the earth




Motif

i45b


Name_eng: 
Not to point at the rainbow
Description: 

It to point at the rainbow, pointing finger or entire arm will rot, wither or become crooked




Motif

i59a


Name_eng: 
Thief in the sky
Description: 

Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with a story of a stealing and the value of the stolen objects is low (straw, firewoods, cabbage, etc.)




Motif

i59b1


Name_eng: 
Milky Way is the road to a remote city
Description: 

Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)




Motif

i87d


Name_eng: 
Men in the time of giants
Description: 

The earth was inhabited by the giants. One of them finds a tiny person, brings him to his parents. Usually his father or mother esplains that this is one of those men who will live on the earth in the future instead of the present day giants




Motif

i95c


Name_eng: 
Orion is a staff
Description: 

Orion is a staff, a crook




Motif

i98a


Name_eng: 
The Pleiades are a hen with its chickens
Description: 

The Pleiades are a brooding hen, hen with its chickens, chickens




Motif

i110


Name_eng: 
Night sky agriculturalists
Description: 

Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)




Motif

i110a


Name_eng: 
The star plough
Description: 

Orion (rare: other constellation) is a plough




Motif

i110b


Name_eng: 
Orion is mowers
Description: 

(Belt of) Orion is (three) mowers or agricultural tools related to mowing and harvesting




Motif

i121


Name_eng: 
Twin constellations
Description: 

Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.)




Motif

i138


Name_eng: 
The glass mountain
Description: 

A glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as a an unusual (difficult to be reache) place




Motif

j32


Name_eng: 
To identify the night thief
Description: 

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




Motif

j51


Name_eng: 
One piece is missing
Description: 

Person or animal is eaten up or destroyed otherwise. His bones are put together and he or it is revived. Because one bone was broken, swallowed or lost (or a drop of blood, a small piece of flesh lost), the person or animal cannot be revived or being revived misses some part of his or its body




Motif

k2


Name_eng: 
The destroyed ladder
Description: 

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)




Motif

k2a


Name_eng: 
Hero marooned in the underworld
Description: 

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




Motif

k24


Name_eng: 
Stolen clothes of supernatural woman
Description: 

Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him




Motif

k25


Name_eng: 
Magic wife
Description: 

A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world




Motif

k25a1


Name_eng: 
Magic wife finds her clothes
Description: 

Magic wife abandons her mortal husband when she finds her clothes (often, her feathers if she is a bird-woman), makes herself the new clothes, receives them from her kin or her husband gives her her clothing believing that she will not abandon him. (Versions with magic wife abandoning her husband because she feels herself offended is not alternative to the “found clothes but in most of the texts these motifs are not combined)




Motif

k27d


Name_eng: 
Ordeal: chamber with dangerous beings
Description: 

An ordeal: to remain alive in a closed room full of beasts of prey, poisonous or other dangerous creatures




Motif

k27e


Name_eng: 
Eating or drinking contest
Description: 

Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food




Motif

k27g


Name_eng: 
Ordeal: to bathe in a boiling liquid
Description: 

Person is ordered to bathe in a (boiling) milk or other hot liquid or to jump into fire. He remains unharmed but his adversary usually dies




Motif

k33e


Name_eng: 
Disappeared and returned children
Description: 

Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health




Motif

k27 (motif is not in the correlation table)


Name_eng: 
Competitions and difficult tasks
Description: 

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




Motif

k37


Name_eng: 
Recognition-test
Description: 

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




Motif

k38f


Name_eng: 
The dragon-slayer
Description: 

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




Motif

k38f1


Name_eng: 
The cut off tongues
Description: 

Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him)




Motif

k56


Name_eng: 
The kind and the unkind girls
Description: 

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).




Motif

k56b


Name_eng: 
The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished
Description: 

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




Motif

k57


Name_eng: 
Cinderella
Description: 

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




Motif

k57b


Name_eng: 
The girl’s shoe stuck to glue
Description: 

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




Motif

k61c


Name_eng: 
To name a demon
Description: 

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




Motif

k61c1


Name_eng: 
Listen in secret of demon
Description: 

Person will be ruined if he or she would not find an answer for a riddle of a demon. The answer is found accidentally when the person or somebody else hears how the demon talks by himself or with another demon. See motif C29




Motif

k66


Name_eng: 
Extraordinary companions
Description: 

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




Motif

k66a


Name_eng: 
The land and water ship
Description: 

The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits property)




Motif

k72a


Name_eng: 
A ban to kindle any light
Description: 

A king notices that his ban to kindle any light during the night is broken




Motif

k73


Name_eng: 
Children of the youngest wife
Description: 

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




Motif

k73a4


Name_eng: 
Baby child substituted with a pup
Description: 

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)




Motif

k75


Name_eng: 
The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom)
Description: 

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




Motif

k76a


Name_eng: 
Frog as a marriage partner
Description: 

Frog or toad marries a girl or a handsome youth marries a frog or road




Motif

k80a


Name_eng: 
A bird or an object tell about a murder
Description: 

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




Motif

k80b


Name_eng: 
My mother slew me, my father ate me
Description: 

The (step)mother kills or orders to kill her small (step)son, eats him or feeds his flesh to her husband. The son revives, usually in the form of a bird who tells about the crime.




Motif

k81


Name_eng: 
The handless girl
Description: 

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)




Motif

k83


Name_eng: 
The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father
Description: 

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)




Motif

k84


Name_eng: 
Sisters married to animals
Description: 

Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him




Motif

k88


Name_eng: 
The two travellers (Truth and Falsehood)
Description: 

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




Motif

k92b


Name_eng: 
Love like salt
Description: 

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




Motif

k92


Name_eng: 
King Lear
Description: 

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




Motif

k100b


Name_eng: 
A grateful dead
Description: 

A young man helps to bury a man (pays the debts of the dead man, honors a saint). When the young man sets off for a journey, the grateful dead (the saint) in guise of a stranger becomes his protector




Motif

k100f1


Name_eng: 
The wild man
Description: 

A man (usually a king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son frees the prisoner, is afraid of his father’s anger and leaves home or is driven away. The released prisoner helps him




Motif

k101b


Name_eng: 
Three nights of suffering
Description: 

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




Motif

k103


Name_eng: 
Helpful cow
Description: 

Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble




Motif

k107a1


Name_eng: 
Head of the household is asked to bring presents
Description: 

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




Motif

k113


Name_eng: 
The animal bride
Description: 

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




Motif

k117


Name_eng: 
Woman who never laughs (a bride)
Description: 

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




Motif

k117b


Name_eng: 
Stuck together
Description: 

Using a magic object or spell, hero makes people (and animals) attached to the object or to each other




Motif

k117c


Name_eng: 
Magic fiddle makes people dance
Description: 

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




Motif

k118


Name_eng: 
The prohibited room
Description: 

Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition




Motif

k120


Name_eng: 
The averted incest (daughter and father)
Description: 

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




Motif

k122


Name_eng: 
Queen of the other world comes to identify the hero
Description: 

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




Motif

k127


Name_eng: 
Brothers transformed into animals
Description: 

A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again




Motif

k128


Name_eng: 
Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman
Description: 

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)




Motif

k128b


Name_eng: 
The rabbit-herd
Description: 

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.




Motif

k131a


Name_eng: 
Hero settles argument of animals
Description: 

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)




Motif

k135


Name_eng: 
Seven with one stroke
Description: 

A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem




Motif

k151


Name_eng: 
The fisherman and his wife
Description: 

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)




Motif

k176


Name_eng: 
A man in search of the woman
Description: 

A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife




Motif

l4


Name_eng: 
The unmasked murderer (The Blue Beard)
Description: 

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




Motif

l19b


Name_eng: 
Beings with odd number of heads
Description: 

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




Motif

l19b1


Name_eng: 
The seven-headed monster
Description: 

Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи




Motif

l37a


Name_eng: 
To get know causes of problems
Description: 



Motif

l37a2


Name_eng: 
Who will become the ferryman
Description: 

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




Motif

l37b


Name_eng: 
Secrets accidentally overheard
Description: 

Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes




Motif

l72


Name_eng: 
The obstacle flight
Description: 

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




Motif

l72a


Name_eng: 
Comb becomes a thicket
Description: 

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)




Motif

l94


Name_eng: 
Child promised to demon
Description: 

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




Motif

l94b


Name_eng: 
Give me what you do not know at home!
Description: 

Person promises to give (sacrifice) to a supernatural the being that will be the first to come to him when he will return home (or something that he has never seen in his house, or an object that he will first see behind the door; etc.). The person thinks that it will be something insignificant but it is his own child




Motif

m38d


Name_eng: 
Animated objects perish one after another
Description: 

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




Motif

m84


Name_eng: 
Revived from bones
Description: 

Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together




Motif

m84a


Name_eng: 
Goat resuscitated
Description: 

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)




Motif

m106


Name_eng: 
Meaningful name
Description: 

Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly




Motif

m106e


Name_eng: 
For the long winter
Description: 

A man has accumulated a store of provisions (saved some money, etc.) and tells his wife that it is for the long winter (Christmas, emergencies, etc.). A trickster (beggar) comes to the woman and tells her that his name is Long Winter, etc. She gives him the provisions




Motif

m106f


Name_eng: 
A guest from the paradise
Description: 

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




Motif

m106g


Name_eng: 
The cow is taken to the roof to graze
Description: 

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




Motif

m114b


Name_eng: 
Not clothed and not naked
Description: 

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




Motif

m136b


Name_eng: 
Cutting off the branch
Description: 

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)




Motif

m154b


Name_eng: 
The man who does his wife's work
Description: 

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




Motif

m158


Name_eng: 
Tops or buts
Description: 

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)




Motif

m185


Name_eng: 
On the tail of the fast one (animals)
Description: 

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




Motif

m185a


Name_eng: 
On the tail of the winner (all versions)
Description: 

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




Motif

m187


Name_eng: 
Snail is a participant of the race
Description: 

A snail (other mollusk, trepang, etc.) participates in the race and wins




Motif

m199


Name_eng: 
Squeezing the (supposed) stone
Description: 

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




Motif

m199b


Name_eng: 
Not a stone but a bird is thrown
Description: 

An ogre (devil etc.) and a man compete to determine who can throw a stone higher or to a greater distance. The man throws not a stone but a bird.




Motif

m199h


Name_eng: 
The disemboweled ogre
Description: 

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




Motif

m200


Name_eng: 
The miller, his son, and the donkey
Description: 

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).




Motif

b104a


Name_eng: 
Meat springs as toad on the face of an ungrateful son
Description: 

A couple (son) intends to eat a roasted chicken (meat). When the man’s old father passes by unexpectedly, they hide the chicken in order not to share it with him. When the old man continues on his way and they replace the chicken on the table, it has turned into a toad (snake) and humps onto the son’s face where it stays until his death




Motif

f35a


Name_eng: 
Feeding with the kin’s meat
Description: 

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




Motif

h24


Name_eng: 
Container opened too early
Description: 

Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear




Motif

h55b


Name_eng: 
The robber who repents his misdeeds
Description: 

A man who has visited hell (met the God) tells the robber about tortures prepared for him in the future. The robber accepts this news with resignation, does penance and ultimately is saved. Usually a hermit who decides that God is unjust in this case is punished




Motif

i3


Name_eng: 
Weapon of Thunder
Description: 

The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being




Motif

i35a2


Name_eng: 
Thunder is rolling stones or vessels
Description: 

Thunder is heard when stones or big vessels are rolled, dragged, overthrown in the sky




Motif

i41b


Name_eng: 
Rainbow drinks water
Description: 

Rainbow drinks (soaks up) water




Motif

i59b2


Name_eng: 
Milky Way is the way of St, Jacob
Description: 

Milky Way is the way of St. Jacob (the way to Santiago de Compostela, etc.)




Motif

i86a


Name_eng: 
Down turns into snow
Description: 

Snow is created from bird's down when certain bird in the sky shakes itself or certain person shakes his or her clothes made of bird down




Motif

i107


Name_eng: 
Stars are nails
Description: 

Stars are nails in the firmament or pegs, or stars are nailed to the sky




Motif

j17


Name_eng: 
Frogs in hair
Description: 

Instead of lice, there are other (bigger or dangerous) creatures in the hair of some persons or he or she pretends that his or her hair is infested with them




Motif

k8c


Name_eng: 
Jonah: swallowed by terrestrial animal
Description: 

Person gets into the belly of ground animal or bird. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)




Motif

k8c1


Name_eng: 
First swallowed by herbivorous animal and then by wolf
Description: 

Tiny boy is first swallowed by chance by a big herbivorous animal and then carried away by a wolf began to eat the animal's offal




Motif

k16


Name_eng: 
To get access to a girl in guise of a bird or an animal
Description: 

Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)




Motif

k17


Name_eng: 
The ornitomorphic suitor
Description: 

An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her




Motif

k27s


Name_eng: 
Contest: a race
Description: 

Contest: a race




Motif

k27z


Name_eng: 
Game of chance for life and death
Description: 

Person becomes a master of another after winning a game (game of chance or Intellectual game but not a sport tournament)




Motif

k27z3


Name_eng: 
Cat with a lamp
Description: 

A man trains a cat (monkey, dog) to hold lighted candle (lamp) on its head or to extinguish the light by a signal. When a mouse (a rat) runs through the room, the cat drops the candle (forgets about the lamp) and chases the mouse




Motif

k29b


Name_eng: 
Posthole murder
Description: 

Hero is asked to climb into a hole or pit. When he does it, they fill it with soil or throw down a post, a stone, etc. The hero demonstrates his magic capacities coming back uninjured




Motif

k32h3


Name_eng: 
Punishment: burned alive
Description: 

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)




Motif

k29b


Name_eng: 
Posthole murder
Description: 

Hero is asked to climb into a hole or pit. When he does it, they fill it with soil or throw down a post, a stone, etc. The hero demonstrates his magic capacities coming back uninjured




Motif

k33d


Name_eng: 
Peau d'asne
Description: 

A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house




Motif

k35a4


Name_eng: 
Thrown into the sea
Description: 

To get rid of the hero and to get his social and family position, the imposter pushes him into the sea or maroons him on a faraway island. The hero survives and comes back
{The circum-Pacific versions which are geographically remote from the Western European ones are excluded. See motif K1E}




Motif

k38f6


Name_eng: 
The fire-creature
Description: 

A creature that consists of fire is mentioned




Motif

k48


Name_eng: 
Singing bird of the hero
Description: 

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




Motif

k57c


Name_eng: 
A ring in the pie
Description: 

Prince putы his ring on the beauty’s finger but does not know that she is the same girl who works in his kitchen. She plants the ring in a dish of food prepared for the prince and he recognizes it




Motif

k65e


Name_eng: 
Midwife in the underworld
Description: 

A woman is summoned to help supernatural beings as a midwife (to baptize a baby, to be a babysitter) and returns to the human world after rendering her assistance




Motif

k66d


Name_eng: 
The bear’s (adopted) son
Description: 

The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength




Motif

k74


Name_eng: 
Hero, his companions and a dwarf
Description: 

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




Motif

k76


Name_eng: 
A strange son
Description: 

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




Motif

k77b


Name_eng: 
The animals in night quarters (Bremen town musicians)
Description: 

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




Motif

k80a1


Name_eng: 
Bird tells about a murder
Description: 

A bird (that usually emerges from the remains of a murdered person or being incarnation of his or her soul) punishes the murderer or tells people about the crime




Motif

k80c


Name_eng: 
The cranes of Ibycus
Description: 

Person becomes a victim of a murder. Just before dying he or she calls on some birds (celestial bodies, animals, plants, etc.) to bear witness for the crime. Getting to see these birds (this plant, the Sun, the Moon, etc.) the murderer reveals himself without thinking. Or the birds, being the only witnesses, bring the investigators to the murderers.




Motif

k80c4


Name_eng: 
Mute witnesses of the crime
Description: 

In a deserted place, a man kills another. After some time he is exposed thanks to circumstances and facts that do not seem important and do not report on the crime directly (the victim’s last words; objects or live beings that were or appeared on the place of the murder). (All texts that contain motifs K80c, K80c1, K80c3, K80c4, also contain a more general motif K80c4)




Motif

k99a1


Name_eng: 
Smart man is rescued from prison
Description: 

An imprisoned man is rescued and exalted because only he gets to resolve problems that trouble the king or to save the princess (prince, the king himself)




Motif

k120a1


Name_eng: 
Three dresses
Description: 

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




Motif

k127a


Name_eng: 
Temporarily mute heroine
Description: 

A girl or young woman is bewitched to be mute or must keep silence for a period of time. Just when she has to be put to death, the period of her muteness is over and she is saved




Motif

k128a


Name_eng: 
Best apples for the princess
Description: 

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




Motif

k153


Name_eng: 
Grateful animals, ungrateful man
Description: 

Человек оказывает услугу нескольким (потенциально опасным) животным и другому человеку. Благодарные животные помогают ему, а человек предает и вредит




Motif

k160a


Name_eng: 
Demon’s answers to his wife’s questions
Description: 

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




Motif

k174


Name_eng: 
Fingering thrown into a pitcher
Description: 

A person puts (usually inconspicuously) his or her fingering or other small personal object into a pitcher with which a servant (girl) has come to take water. The servant's mistress or master finds the ring and understands that the person is nearby




Motif

l4b


Name_eng: 
The stain of blood is impossible to wipe off
Description: 

Person gets to know that the heroine has broken his or her prohibition to enter a certain room because the corresponding evidence is preserved on her body or on an object given to her (e.g. the blood on the key)




Motif

l6


Name_eng: 
Demon clings to person
Description: 

A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back




Motif

l37b1


Name_eng: 
Toad under a stone
Description: 

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




Motif

l42g


Name_eng: 
Hansel and Gretel
Description: 

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




Motif

l42g2


Name_eng: 
Birds destroy the trace
Description: 

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.




Motif

l42g3


Name_eng: 
Edible house
Description: 

In a far-away place person comes across a house that is made, completely or partly, of edible matter




Motif

l57b


Name_eng: 
Demon comes to get his body part back
Description: 

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




Motif

l65b


Name_eng: 
Dogs save their master
Description: 

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




Motif

l65b1


Name_eng: 
To exchange sheep for dogs
Description: 

A man exchanges his sheep (goats) for dogs. The deal looks like unprofitable but the dogs help him to reach success




Motif

l65b2


Name_eng: 
Dogs with the meaningful names
Description: 

Hero’s dogs have names that tell about their strength and deftness




Motif

l65b3


Name_eng: 
The escape on the tree
Description: 

Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)




Motif

l124


Name_eng: 
Treacherous gift of a demon
Description: 

Person pulls out a sinew (spinal cord, intestine, ribbon of skin) from the body of a demon or receives from the demon a belt as a gift. He applies it not to his own or other person’s body but to a tree. The tree is cut to pieces or burnt




Motif

l124a


Name_eng: 
The cutting girdle
Description: 

Being applied to a tree or a person, a girdle (sinew, intestine, etc.) cuts it or him through or burns




Motif

m38


Name_eng: 
Stupid imitation (all versions)
Description: 

Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food




Motif

m38a


Name_eng: 
The bungling host
Description: 

Being on a visit to other people or (more often) animals, an (animal)-person sees them act using magic or according to their animal nature. Back at home, he imitates their actions and gets in trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and mostly refer to providing and cooking food




Motif

m38d2


Name_eng: 
The bean, the straw and the coal
Description: 

Several (usually three) small animated objects travel but fail to cross a river (usually perish attempting to cross it)




Motif

m39a1


Name_eng: 
Misunderstood instructions: a step behind
Description: 

Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one




Motif

m39c


Name_eng: 
Pumpkin sold as a donkey’s egg
Description: 

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




Motif

m91


Name_eng: 
The killed corpse
Description: 

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




Motif

m91b1


Name_eng: 
The sold skin
Description: 

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)




Motif

m91c2


Name_eng: 
Put into the bag
Description: 

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




Motif

m114j


Name_eng: 
All women are similar
Description: 

When a (married) man cultivate a (married) woman she demonstrates him that all women are alike (like eggs painted in different colors). The man is ashamed and let the woman in piece




Motif

m116


Name_eng: 
Wisdom of hidden old man saves kingdom
Description: 

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




Motif

m118a


Name_eng: 
Forty thieves and jars with oil
Description: 

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)




Motif

m141b


Name_eng: 
The animals flee in fear of the end of the world
Description: 

A small bird or animal (chicken, cat, mouse, etc.) takes a trivial event (a leaf or an acorn falls, etc.) for a catastrophe (a war, the end of the world, the fall of the sky, etc.) and flees. Other animals share its fear and go along with it.




Motif

m157


Name_eng: 
The impossible giving birth
Description: 

Person claims that a man or a male animal had given birth (or is menstruating) or that a female gave birth to a young of another species or that a woman gave birth to an animal




Motif

m157a2


Name_eng: 
Bull or cart gives birth
Description: 

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)




Motif

m173a


Name_eng: 
The thief drops matched objects
Description: 

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




Motif

m197


Name_eng: 
The effectiveness of fire
Description: 

Seriously or demonstrating absurdity of the situation, a person tries to cook something using a fire (a source of light) that is far away from the object to be cooked




Motif

m197f


Name_eng: 
The black beard and the grey head
Description: 

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”




Motif

m199c1


Name_eng: 
Throwing contest
Description: 

An ogre (devil etc.) pretends to throw a stone or other heavy object so far that it will destroy people beyond the sea (mountains, etc.) (where ogre’s relatives live)




Motif

a4


Name_eng: 
Female sun
Description: 

The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female




Motif

a6


Name_eng: 
The Sun and the Moon are females
Description: 

Both the Sun and the Moon are considered to be females (incl. cases when the gender is not directly specified but both emerge from parts of the body of a female person)




Motif

m206


Name_eng: 
One half of the gift
Description: 

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)




Motif

m204


Name_eng: 
Money gets one who is destined to get it
Description: 

When a deity (powerful person) attempts to pass some money to a certain man, he either gets it or not thanks to his fate while all other factors play no role




Motif

l42


Name_eng: 
Hero carried to ogre’s home
Description: 

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




Motif

l108


Name_eng: 
The wolf and the kids
Description: 

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




Motif

l108a


Name_eng: 
Goat kills the antagonist
Description: 

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)




Motif

l108b


Name_eng: 
The thin voice
Description: 

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.)




Motif

j32a1


Name_eng: 
The night wreckers are horses
Description: 

Every night somebody tramples down the grain field, steals hay, etc. The hero discovers that horses do it




Motif

j32a1


Name_eng: 
The night wreckers are horses
Description: 

Every night somebody tramples down the grain field, steals hay, etc. The hero discovers that horses do it




Motif

e9


Name_eng: 
The mysterious housekeeper
Description: 

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




Motif

k86


Name_eng: 
Weeping child stolen
Description: 

Because a small child is ignored or punished by its parents (usually it cries late in the evening), bush spirit or animal carries it away




Motif

i92b


Name_eng: 
Treasure under the rainbow
Description: 

There is a treasure under the extremities of the rainbow




Motif

k2b


Name_eng: 
The Mountain-man and the Oak-man
Description: 

The pastimes or only names of the hero’s companions are unusual and different but their specific qualities that they must possess considering their names are irrelevant for the plot. Cf. motif K66, “Extraordinary companions”




Motif

k81a


Name_eng: 
The handless girl in the prince’ garden
Description: 

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




Motif

m39g2


Name_eng: 
Shoveling nuts with a pitchfork
Description: 

Numskulls try to shovel nuts with a pitchfork. F stranger shows them how to do this work more easily with a shovel (a basket)




Motif

e9o


Name_eng: 
Frog or toad-wife
Description: 

Man marries frog- or toad-woman




Motif

i87a2


Name_eng: 
What is Two?
Description: 

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.




Motif

i141


Name_eng: 
The magic stick
Description: 

A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation




Motif

k107a3


Name_eng: 
The beauty and the beast
Description: 

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




Motif

k73a7


Name_eng: 
The wonderful children: sister and her two brothers
Description: 

Woman gives birth to three (and not two or more) wonderful children. They survive and triumph over their enemies




Motif

l65b5


Name_eng: 
Hero’s dogs at the princess’ marriage party
Description: 

Despite obstacles, dogs of the hero or other animals who are his helpers come to the princess at the very moment when she is forced to marry a deceiver




Motif

k84a


Name_eng: 
To give a sister to the first male who comes marry her
Description: 

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)





Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 7 Tradition: Germans: Northwest (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl. East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition:
French (northern France)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition:
Poles
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Catalan
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Ukrainians: Eastern dialects
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Czech
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Germans: Northeast (Brandenburg, Meklenburg, Rügen, Pommern, Silesia, Posen)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Lithuanians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Udmurt
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Estonians

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition:
Germans: Northwest (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl. East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Latvians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
French (northern France)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Italians: Northern (Mentona, Ticino, Valle-d’Aosta, Piemont, Liguria, Lombardia, Southern Tirol, Emilia–Romagna, Veneto, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Trentino–Alto Adige)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Lithuanians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Frisians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition:
Transylvanian Saksons
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Danes
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Finns
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition:
Bulgarians