| Motif | Name | Description |
| a12 | Eclipses: monster’s attack | Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light |
| a4 | Female sun | The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female |
| b117 | The dogs' certificate | The animals (usually dogs) got a certificate which was lost because of the cat (is swallowed by the cat, burned, eaten by mice). Since them dogs and cats are enemies, usually also cats and mice |
| b16c | Salt-grinding mill | Magic mill is ordered to grind salt but not ordered to stop. It sinks into ocean and continues to work making the water salty |
| b33a | Person dies of cold in the spring | When it becomes warm, a person or animal (bird) decides that the winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze her animals) but dies of cold or the animals that had been deiven to the pasture die |
| b33c | The borrowed days | When the winter ends and the spring begins certain month (usually March) borrows (rare buys, steals) several days from a neighbor month |
| b3a | Primeval waters | Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later |
| b42n | Orion is one person | Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter |
| b42t | Ursa major is a big mammal | Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog |
| b46b | Seven star sisters | Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa major is a female person |
| b46c | Big Dipper is seven persons or animals | Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal |
| b50 | Whose blood is sweeter? | An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people |
| b51a | The snake is an enemy of the swallow | The snake is an enemy of the swallow (usually because swallow does not let snake to destroy people; the snake sends mosquito or other bloodsucking insect to get know whose blood is the most delicious; the insect flies back to report that human blood is the sweetest; swallow bites its tongue off and the snake gets to pull off feathers from the swallow's tail) |
| b76 | Waves turn into mountains | Waves of the sea petrified and turned into dry land with mountain chains |
| b87 | Alcor | Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object |
| c30a | A pound of flesh | A contract entitles the lender of a sum of money to cut a certain amount of flesh (or eye, head, limb, etc.) from the debtor’s body if the load is not repaid in time. The lender cannot cut out the flesh being unable to fulfill a condition that looks logical but is practically absurd |
| c31b | The wise owl | An owl proves to be smarter and wiser than other beings |
| e31a | Creators and rescuers of a girl | 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 |
| e31a1 | Three men construct a woman which becomes alive: to whom does she belong? | Three (rare two or four) men take part in creation of a girl: one cuts her body of wood, another puts clothes on her, the third one makes her alive. To whom does she belong? |
| e9 | The mysterious housekeeper | 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 |
| f2 | Pregnant limb | Child is born from a tumor or swelling on person's body (on thigh, knee, finger, etc.) or is temporarily placed there or child grows from blood that flew out from a cut |
| f3 | A man eats woman’s pregnancy medicine | A man gives birth after accidentally eating pregnency medicine. The child appears from a swelling on his leg or otherwise but the man remains alive |
| f35a | Feeding with the kin’s meat | Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her |
| f3a | The pregnant man | A man carries a child like a woman |
| f5 | Brides for the first men | Person cannot or do not want to give his daughters in marriage to all the men who claim them for wives and transforms animals into girls. (Usually in the beginning of times or after the flood many men come to marry the only daughter of God or patriarch)transforms animals into girls |
| f54 | Oedipus | A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest |
| f62 | Incognito at the feast | 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) |
| f65a | Death feigned to meet paramour | Person pretends to die. His or her wife or husband abandons him or her on a burial place. He or she marries his or her paramour |
| f70 | Potiphar's wife: false accusation of sexual abuse | Woman makes vain overtures to young man and/or falsely accuses him of sexual abuse. Her husband believes that the young man is guilty, kills or tries to kill him |
| f70a | Disordered clothes as evidence against innocent man | To accuse a man or boy of (sexual) abbuse, a woman tears her clothes, smears or scratches her body pretending to be attacked |
| f70b | Revenge of a rejected woman | A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part |
| f70c | The castrated youth becomes a man again | A young man is castrated but his member is restored by magic (and he marries happily) |
| f71 | Susan and the old men (the innocent slandered maiden) | An innocent girl or young woman rejects a man who attempts to seduce her. The man accuses her of loose conduct, ultimately the truth comes to light |
| f9 | A dangerous woman | For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man |
| f97 | The prohibited fruit: origin of sex | After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become sexually aware |
| f9g | Brunhilde | A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her |
| h27 | Mosquitoes let lose | Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened |
| h36 | The muddled message | Person is sent by god to bring instructions or certain objects but distorts, forgets or replaces them. This has fatal consequences for humans or for a certain species of animals. (Lithuanian case can be a mistification) |
| h45 | The abused bread | A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity |
| h49c | Faithful falcon killed | A tame bird (more rare: domestic animal) seems to be aggressive against its master (usually a falcon knocks the cup from the hand of a thirsty king). The master kills the bird (animal) only to find that the it saved his life |
| h56 | The prohibited fruit (origin of death) | After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become mortal (cf. motif F97: people become sexually aware) |
| h7 | The personified Death | Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls |
| h7a | The Death and a doctor | 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 |
| h7b | The Death is stuck to a tree or a bench | A man lures Death (Devil) to climb a tree or sit on a bench to which they are stuck and can free themselves not before the man gives them such a permission |
| h7c | The unfinished prayer | 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 |
| h7g | The life candle | Person gets to see a lot of burning candles or lamps. As soon as one of them goes out, somebody dies |
| i100 | The Pleiades are girls | The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children) |
| i100b | The Pleiades are a group of people | The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a) |
| i121 | Twin constellations | Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.) |
| i126 | Funerals in the sky | Ursa major or other circumpolar constellation is a stretcher on which a dead or sick person is carried, a dead body ready for the burial, a tomb |
| i138 | The glass mountain | A glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as a an unusual (difficult to be reache) place |
| i141 | The magic stick | A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation |
| i25 | The bribed guards | 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 |
| i25a | Bones to cows | Person sees that food put for certain animals is inedible for them and corrects situation (usually gives to herbivorous animals food that was given before to predators and vice versa) |
| i32a | Tree of human life | When a leave or a fruit of a certain tree drops, one of the people on the earth dies |
| i40 | Rainbow bow | Rainbow is a bow |
| i50a | Torn off legs of the helpful animal | Demon tears off or devours one by one legs of aт animal who helps the hero, usually of his riding horse |
| i51a | Bull the earth-holder | Big mammal supports the earth |
| i52 | Fish the earth-holder | World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster |
| i59 | Milky Way is spilled straw | Milky Way is a trace of people who spilled on their way something related to agriculture (straw, chaff, hay, more rare flour, peas) |
| i82b | Venus is female | Morning and/or Evening Star is a female personage |
| i82e | Star who sold her mother | It is told about Venus or other star that she sold her mother or father to have a beautiful attire |
| i82i | Venus is Zahra (Zuhra, Zura, etc.) | The name of an object of the night sky (usually Venus) is like Zakhra, Zukhra, Zura, etc. |
| i85b | Polaris is a person | Polaris is a person |
| i87a2 | What is Two? | 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. |
| i8g | Atlas | One giant supports the earth or the sky |
| i8i | Original earth unstable | Originally the earth was unstable and swung, then it was fixed up |
| i90 | To follow the rolling ball of threads | To reach his or her destination, person follows a ball of threads (rare: some ball, apple) which is rolling in front of him or her |
| i92 | Rainbow transforms sex | Person who gets to walk under, over or through the rainbow changes his or her sex |
| i95a | Orion is a balance | Orion is a balance, scales |
| j26 | Babies come out of the water | Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water |
| j32 | To identify the night thief | Some valuables (foals, hay, apples, etc.) are regularly stolen. Nobody (the elder brothers) is able to catch the thief and only the hero (the younger brother) finds who it is |
| j32 | To identify the night thief | Some valuables (foals, hay, apples, etc.) are regularly stolen. Nobody (the elder brothers) is able to catch the thief and only the hero (the younger brother) finds who it is |
| j32a | To guard father’s grave | Before passing away a man asks his sons to guard his grave for a certain time or to bring something to his grave. The youngest son goes and obtains valuables |
| j32d | Princess in a tower (The glass mountain) | 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 |
| j32f | The stolen apples | Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden |
| j47 | Pursuer falls from height | Person ascends to the sky (rare: descends from the sky; ascends the cliff) by a rope, a ladder, etc. Another person tries to follow him or her but the rope (the ladder) is broken or severed |
| j62 | People turned into stones | Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones |
| j62c | Sister asks her brother to obtain impossible | 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 |
| k100f | Youth lets the fish go | When an unusual fish (rare: bird or some water being) is caught, the (young) man lets it go. His father (the king) drives him away or the man goes away by his own initiative. The saved fish (bird) helps him |
| k100g | The son must be sacrificed | 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 |
| k102 | Woman associated with the hero conspires in favor of his enemy | A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him |
| k102a1 | The false grave | 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 |
| k102a2 | Conflict between mother and son | Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
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| k102b | To ride for the last time | To kill a boy (a girl), the antagonist first needs to get rid of his or her horse. When they are ready to kill the horse, the boy (the girl) rides on his horse away saving his or her life |
| k103 | Helpful cow | Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble |
| k107 | Lost husband found | A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again |
| k107a1 | Head of the household is asked to bring presents | When the head of the household goes for a journey his daughter, those who remain at home ask to bring them presents. The elder ones want something practical (usually clothes or decorations) while the younger one asks for something unusual (a flower, a bird, etc.). Thanks to this object, the younger one attains great success though after overcoming great difficulties |
| k107a4 | Daughter asks to bring magic bridegroom | When a man sets off for the journey, his daughter asks him to bring her an object or creature which is the incorporation of the magic bridegroom. The man does not understand what does it mean |
| k107c | Knives on the windowsill (the prince as bird) | 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. |
| k108 | A revived wife betrays her husband | Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished |
| k115 | Person saved thanks to the spider web | A man escapes from his (her, theirs) pursuers and hides in a cave. A spider spins its web over the hiding place. When the pursuers see the spider web they think the cave is unoccupied and do not enter it |
| k117a | To make a mute woman speak | A girl who keeps silence is promised to one who would make her speak; a man with much difficulty makes his magic wife speak |
| k117c | Magic fiddle makes people dance | 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 |
| k118a | A portrait of an unknown beauty | After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her |
| k12 | Woman is lost and returned | By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back |
| k120 | The averted incest (daughter and father) | 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 |
| k120a | The averted incest (sister and brother) | A man is going to marry his sister (often puts certain condition on his future marriage, only his sister complies with them). The girl gets to escape |
| k120a3 | Jewelry in a nut | Person gets a nut with valuables inside (precious clothes, jewelry, animal helpers, etc.) or he or she himself or herself puts valuable into a nut to use them later |
| k120a5 | Luring a woman to a ship | To trap a desired woman, person lures her to a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and carries away |
| k121 | Wanderer at a crossroad | It is written at a crossroad that following one of the paths person will safely return and following another it will not return (there is often a third path following which person either returns or not). Hero follows the dangerous path |
| k123 | Old woman’s curse | 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) |
| k123a | A broken vessel | A youth breaks or overthrows a vessel of a woman or girl. This episode is a trigger for the narrative |
| k125 | House utensil betrays its master | An enemy asks house utensils or personal objects where their master hid himself or herself or what direction he or she ran away. One of the objects, not treated by the master in a proper way, betrays him or her |
| k127 | Brothers transformed into animals | A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again |
| k128 | Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman | A man had to graze animals or birds. If at least one is lost, the master would kill (not reward) him. Cf. K128B (ATU 570) |
| k128b | The rabbit-herd | King offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can herd (catch, tame, train) a particular number of rabbits (roosters, sheep, goats, geese, partridges) without losing any. A poor boy receives a magic whistle or other device with which he can summon the rabbits. In order to avoid the marriage, members (deputies) of the royal family (in disguise) try to but pne of his rabbits. The young man demands a degrading humiliating act and after the demands are fulfilled, the rabbit comes back to him. |
| k129 | The disenchanted beauty | Because of the female antagonist, a girl faints and is taken for dead but her body is not decomposed. A valuable marriage partner breaks the charms, she revives |
| k130 | Am I the most beautiful? | A woman (rare: a man) asks if she (he) is the most beautiful among female (men) folk and always receives a positive answer. It continues till she or he receives the negative one |
| k130a | Girl in house of several brothers | A group of young men live apart. A girl comes to them or is born magically. The men keep her as their sister. After some time she is separated from them and is in danger but ultimately she is rescued |
| k131 | Men fight over magic objects | A man on a journey meets tree or two persons who are quarreling over the division of magic objects (a flying carpet, seven mile boots, etc.). The man promises to render a judgment, but he asks first to try our the objects or suggests the owners to run a race and uses opportunity to escape with the objects |
| k132 | Invincible chicken | 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 |
| k135 | Seven with one stroke | A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem |
| k14 | Precious advices | A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble |
| k142 | Corpse buried many times | Person kills several people. asks somebody to bury only one and then tells that the dead man has returned. The grave-digger buries several people but believes that it was one and the same corpse |
| k14b | A charge of stealing the knife | A man receives good advice never to act before he is insistently asked to do it. When he decides to be helpful and gives his knife (rare: other weapon) without being insistently asked for it, he is accused of a crime |
| k14c | Man mistakes his son for his wife’s lover | Coming home after a long absence, a man understands that there is another man in his house but keeps patience and discovers that it is his own son or a close kin of his wife |
| k14d | The make believe crime | To test his wife (friend, member of his household), a man pretends to commit a crime or his behavior seems to be strange and deserved to be punished. At the last moment he presents evidence that proves his innocence |
| k14e | The pretended inheritance | Sons of a man neglect their father (daughters-in-law neglect their father-in-law). He pretends to be hiding something (counts money conspicuously, etc.). The sons believe that their father has considerable inheritance and become to look after him carefully. When the father finally dies they find nothing valuable in his chest |
| k152 | The devil is frightened and runs away | A man saves a devil (snake, dangerous animal) who suffers from proximity of certain object or person. The grateful devil promises to enter a princess and abandon her as soon as the man comes to cure her. The man will get a reward but he should not try such a trick again. The man scares the devil forever telling him that the object or person of which the devil is afraid will be near soon |
| k152a | The evil woman and the devil in one pit | A man throws his evil wife into the pit or well. The devil (snake, predator animal, etc.) who had been there before is grateful when the man pulls him to the surface or jumps our himself: even he is afraid of the shrewish woman |
| k153 | Grateful animals, ungrateful man | Человек оказывает услугу нескольким (потенциально опасным) животным и другому человеку. Благодарные животные помогают ему, а человек предает и вредит |
| k155b | Climbing up to the girl by her hair | A girl lets down her long hair and another person uses it as a rope to climb up to her |
| k157 | Robbers killed one by one | Person tricks his enemies to leave their enclosure one by one and cuts off their head as soon as the next one appears before him. In rare cases the multi-headed enemy thrusts his heads on by one and the hero cuts them off |
| k157a | Vanished husband recognized by keeping inn | 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 |
| k160 | Three hairs from the devil’s beard | Hero must bring hairs, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous person and does it thanks to the helps of a wife or (grand)mother of this person |
| k165 | The youth who wanted to learn what fear is | A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid |
| k168 | An illusory life as long as a second | Person gets to live a long life rich in events but eventually finds himself in the same place and moment from which the story begins. |
| k17 | The ornitomorphic suitor | An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her |
| k173 | Placidas | A powerful and rich man loses everything that he has, is separated with his wife and children and they with each other. Later he obtains everything back, his family is united again |
| k176 | A man in search of the woman | A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife |
| k177 | The travelling heroine | 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 |
| k178 | The enchanted husband sings lullaby | 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 |
| k179 | Bride purchased for her weight in gold | An object (usually the bride) purchased for the sum of money equivalent (or bigger) than its weight in gold (silver) or a heap of valuables as high as the corresponding person |
| k18 | Infant picks out his unknown father | 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) |
| k1f | Conflict because of a woman | A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife |
| k2 | The destroyed ladder | Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2) |
| k22 | Dwarfs and cranes | Different from (common) people inhabitants of a distant land fight from time to time with non-human enemies who periodically attack them |
| k22a | Dwarfs attacked | Birds or other creatures which not dangerous for common people attack dwarfs who live in another world |
| k22b | Man helps inhabitants of other world | Inhabitants of a distant land who have different nature than (normal) human beings struggle from time to time with some non-human enemies. Man helps local dwellers because their enemies are not dangerous for the human beings |
| k23 | Battle with birds | Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land |
| k27 (motif is not in the correlation table) | Competitions and difficult tasks | Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life |
| k27f | The task: to get a woman | A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman |
| k27n | Difficult tasks of the in-laws | A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage |
| k27n | Difficult tasks of the in-laws | A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage |
| k27n1 | Task-giver is a king or a chief | Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being |
| k27nn | Envious minister | Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks |
| k27nn | Envious minister | Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks |
| k27q | Milk of the wild beast | Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person |
| k27u | Hide-and-seek | Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him |
| k27u1 | One day from conception to birth | A demand is brought up that a baby would be born the next day after conception or would talk immediately after the birth |
| k27x3 | The man persecuted because of his beautiful bride | A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him |
| k27x5 | Helpful persons of different age | Setting off for a search of a woman or magic objects, a man comes across several (usually three) supernatural (often demonic) persons who help him. All the persons are similar but usually every next one is older (younger) than another |
| k27x9 | To bring an object from the sea bottom | The hero must bring a small object (often a finger ring) from the bottom of a deep waterbody (often the sea) |
| k27z1 | Bird, horse and princess | Helpful animal instructs the hero how to steal an object he needs to get but not to take anything else (bird, but not cage, horse but not bridle, etc.) The hero breaks prohibition, is caught but released on condition that he brings another wonderful object. Situation is repeated and the last task is to bring a girl. Ultimately the hero gets both the girl and all the objects |
| k27z2a | A man and a girl who spent one night together | A young man and a girl live far away from each other. Supernatural beings transfer the man to the girl or vice versa and carry him or her back before morning. They do not understand what happened with them and are eager to be together again |
| k27z2a1 | Innocent woman is believed to be wanton | When a young woman becomes pregnant, her own kin or relations of her husband blame her for her improper behavior because they are sure that she had no opportunity to be impregnated by her husband or fiancé. After a lot of suffering the woman is united with the man who is her son’s father |
| k27z2a2 | Unrecognized wife visits her husband | A man marries a woman but abandons her without consummating his marriage. She visits him in disguise and ultimately he gets to know who was his beautiful companion. Usually the wife gives birth to his son (three sons) and upon seeing the boy, the man realizes that it is his own child |
| k27z2b | The killed doll | 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 |
| k27z3 | Cat with a lamp | 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 |
| k27z6 | The stone of pity | Being a victim of the injustice and after much suffering, a young woman speaks with a certain inanimate objects (often it is “the stone of pity”) telling it her sad story or her husband does it. The woman is rescued and the justice reinstated |
| k27z8 | Insolvable riddles | The riddle refers to extraordinary or accidental events that happened to the person setting the riddle, and thus is unsolvable to outsiders |
| k27zz | The witch and the blinded queens | 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 |
| k27zz1 | Only the youngest queen's child survives | Several imprisoned (driven out) co-wives give birth but only the son of the youngest woman survives. The boy saves the women |
| k28 | Father or uncle is rival and enemy | Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him |
| k2a | Hero marooned in the underworld | Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back |
| k32 | The false wife | An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc. |
| k32a | Travelling man leaves his wife or daughter for a short time | 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 |
| k32b | Mother-in-law substitutes her daughter | Mother-in-law of a man takes the appearance of her daughter to replace her |
| k32d | Sister sent to feed geese, servant taken for the sister | A girl (rare: boy) is walking to her or his relations or to her bridegroom. On the way the imposter lures her (him) to exchange clothes and takes her (his) place while the real girl (boy) is sent to look after crops or fee domestic fowl or animals. People hear her (his) song in which all the story is told. The deception is disclosed, the imposter killed |
| k32g | Punishment: torn apart by horses | To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses) |
| k32h3 | Punishment: burned alive | 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) |
| k33 | Drowned woman remains alive | A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people |
| k33a | Younger brother transformed into animal | 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 |
| k33a1 | Children born in a well | 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 |
| k33a6 | They sharpen knives and boil water already | A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) comes to a well (see, etc.) where his mistress was pushed down and says that they sharpen knives and boil water to kill and cook him |
| k33a8 | The heroine is transformed into a dove | The heroine’s rival transforms her into a dove. The dove makes attempts to contact her children or husband |
| k33b | Friends abandon a pretty girl | A girl goes with her friends to a river, into a forest, etc. Other girls return home but the heroine has to remain or to go back to the forest, etc. She has a narrow escape from a dangerous creature. marries a supernatural being or a chief, or dies but is avenged |
| k33c | Girl from a fruit | Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg |
| k33c3 | Girl from the orange | Young man gets a girl who is inside a fruit the citrus tree, usually an orange |
| k33c6 | Only one girl is preserved | 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 |
| k33d | Peau d'asne | 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 |
| k33e | Disappeared and returned children | Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health |
| k33f | Basin of honey and basin of oil | Two or more different kinds of valuable edible liquids like oil, honey, milk, etc. are available or imaginable. Cf. motif n34 |
| k33f1 | Fountain of oil is promised to be created | Person promises to create a fountain from which a valuable product (usually oil) is flowing and really creates it (rare: promises to share a large amount of such a product) |
| k33g | Fruits of two kinds | One who eats certain fruit (leave, etc.) gets horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal. After eating another fruit (leave) person recovers his or her normal body |
| k33h | The cat, the dog and the magic object | A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before) |
| k35a | Hero brands his rivals | In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded |
| k35a1 | Not to pick up a feather of fire-bird | On his way a man picks up a precious feather (often despite the warning of his magic horse). When a powerful person gets to know about the feather he tells the man to fulfill difficult tasks |
| k35a6 | The shining feather | Person finds an objects (usually a feather) with which he illuminates his room |
| k35c | Ogre in a well | An ogre (a dragon, king of the sea) has not killed a man who descended to him as other people had thought but rewarded because the greeted him and/or gave a correct answer to his question |
| k35c1 | The best is one whom you love | A mighty person asks a man which of two women is prettier, what is the most beautiful thing, and the like. Giving a correct answer, the man is not killed like those who were before him but receives a reward |
| k36 | Bewitched into animal | Person is temporary transformed into animal (usually into a dog or coyote or into donkey, ox, etc.). When he acquires his human guise again, the antagonist suffers similar transformation. In some texts only the hero or only the antagonist is transformed |
| k38 | Hero helps the nestlings | For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero |
| k38a | White and black rams | Getting to the underworld, hero should take a white ram (horse) which would carry him back to earth. By chance, he takes the black one which carries him even deeper to the lower level of the underworld. Or the hero grabs not the right but the left horn of the animal and because of this gets to the wrong place |
| k38b | The nestlings and the aggressive snake | A serpent or water monster regularly devours or injures children of a bird or other flying creature (almost always nestlings of giant bird). The hero kills the serpent (monster) |
| k38d | Monster blocks waters | 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 |
| k38d1 | A girl sacrificed to a dragon | To appease a water monster (water spirits, gods) or to put an end to the drought or flood, a girl is sacrificed or descends into the water by her own will |
| k38e | Of copper, of silver, of gold | Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.) |
| k38e3 | The diamond kingdom | 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) |
| k38f | The dragon-slayer | A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot |
| k39 | Man feeds his own flesh to a creature who helps him | Person has to feed powerful creature (usually a giant bird) giving it regularly pieces of meat. When meat supply is exhausted, he cuts off a piece of his own flesh |
| k48 | Singing bird of the hero | 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 |
| k56 | The kind and the unkind girls | One of (step)sisters, co-spouses or young female neighbors meets a being that is able to reward and to punish. She behaves herself properly and is rewarded. Another (other) girl comes to the same being but behaves in a wrong way and is punished (not rewarded). |
| k561 | The wise carving of the fowl | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again. |
| k56a2 | If asked to do in a bad way, do otherwise | Person (usually a girl) gets to the powerful person (usually an old woman) who asks her to act in a strange and harsh way (to put room in disorder, to bring unclean water, and the like). The person does not according to order but in a rationale and polite way and is recompensed. Another person acts according to the direct sense of the words and is punished |
| k56a5 | Old woman becomes a young beauty | An old or ugly woman is transformed into a young beauty or becomes rich. Usually another old woman tries to imitate her but dies or suffers a reverse |
| k56a5b | Any weather is good | A person speaks friendly with embodiments of the weather peculiar for particular times of the year (praises the corresponding weather) and is rewarded. Another person scolds them and is punished |
| k56a5c | Conversation with Months | A person speaks friendly with embodiments of the weather peculiar for particular months and is rewarded. Another person scolds them and is punished |
| k56a8c | The youth married to a dog | A young man brings to his place an animal, it turns into a girl. Another man marries a dog (pig) but it is nothing but an animal |
| k56b | The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished | First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished |
| k56c | Golden axe | A man loses an axe. A spirit or a powerful official suggests him a golden axe but the man does not accept it. The spirit (official) gives him axes of gold and silver as a reward for his honesty. Usually another man intentionally loses his axe, claims the golden one but receives nothing |
| k56e | Two humpbacks | 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 |
| k56f | To divide a chicken | A divides the chicken among the members of a household (and guests) considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.). |
| k56f1 | To divide several chicken | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them appropriately. The first man does it again. |
| k56f2 | One woman, two men and five eggs | To divide a certain (often five) number of eggs between people of different sex, a clever woman takes into consideration that every man has already two eggs |
| k57 | Cinderella | A girl who conceals her beauty and/or is poor and oppressed by her stepmother puts on a splendid attire and comes incognito to a feast where a man of high status falls in love with her. He marries her after identifying her by an object given to her or lost by her or (rare) seeing how she changes her clothes |
| k57c | A ring in the pie | 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 |
| k60a | How strong are these bonds? | Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds) |
| k60b | Invitation to coffin | 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 |
| k61e | Reward for making a supernatural laugh | When a powerful (supernatural) person gets to see a ridiculous situation, he or she laughs (and thus is cured from his disease). People involved into the situation are rewarded (saved from a danger) |
| k61f | The make-believe daughter (son) | Being afraid of her husband, a sterile woman pretends to give birth. In a due time the husband plans to marry his daughter or son. During the wedding ceremony a doll or an animal is in a sedan-chair but at the last moment a supernatural persons transforms it into a young woman or handsome youth |
| k64 | Escape from Polyphemos’ cave | 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 |
| k64a | Blinded cyclopes | Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her |
| k65c | The various children of Eve | A woman conceals from God part of her children (rare: all of them) or part of domestic animals that are under her care. The concealed children become poor people or non-human beings and the concealed domestic animals become wild |
| k65e | Midwife in the underworld | 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 |
| k65e1 | Midwife helps the toad-woman | A woman is summoned to help supernatural being as a midwife (to baptize a baby). In the human world, this being has a form of a toad or frog |
| k65f | With which eye do you see? | When person touches her or his eye with the magic substance, she or he sees supernatural beings unseen for the people. Usually the beings understand it and make this eye blind |
| k66 | Extraordinary companions | Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity |
| k66b | Hero presents the received princesses to his companions | Travelling from one place to another, hero lets his companions live there (usually presents to each one a princess that he received for his deeds) and continues his journey. When he gets into trouble, companions rescue him |
| k67a | A drowned wife | A man who has a low social position is a nuisance for persons of high position. He gets to know that they plan to drown him or his preperty (rare: to strangle him) and tricks them to drown instead one of them or their own property |
| k67b | Bargain not to become angry | Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee |
| k67c | Skin ribbon ripped off from the back | Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc. |
| k67d | Flight of the master with his goods in the bag | A master (ogre, devil, wife) tries to get away from his farmhand (her husband). The farmhand hides in the master’s bag (chest) so that the master unwittingly takes him along |
| k72 | Three maidens | Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status |
| k72a | A ban to kindle any light | A king notices that his ban to kindle any light during the night is broken |
| k73 | Children of the youngest wife | A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman |
| k73a | Baby child substituted with object or animal | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object) |
| k73a1 | Baby child substituted with inanimate object | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with inanimate object and/or inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a stone, broom, doll, etc. |
| K73a2 | Baby substituted with a broom | Rivals of the beloved wife hide or throw away her baby and substitute it with an inanimate object or (rare) a small animal (but not with a pup) and tell the husband that the woman gave birth to a broom, stone, etc. |
| k73a4 | Baby child substituted with a pup | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup) |
| k73a5 | Baby child substituted with a kitten | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a kitten (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a kitten) |
| k73a7 | The wonderful children: sister and her two brothers | Woman gives birth to three (and not two or more) wonderful children. They survive and triumph over their enemies |
| k73b4 | To fill a bag with truth | Person must fill a bag (bowl) with truth (falsehood, tales). He fulfills the demand telling a denunciating story |
| k73c | A girl in a bird's nest | A girl gets into a bird’s nest (usually the bird carries away a baby-girl). The bird cares for her like her parent, the girl becomes a beauty |
| k75 | The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom) | A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities |
| k75a | Thrown apple hits the chosen one | Boy or girl selects one person among many throwing an object (usually an apple) into him or her. This way a girl makes a choice of a husband, a young man of a bride, a boy identifies his father |
| k75a2 | The gardener | The unrecognized hero works as a gardener at the powerful person |
| k75a3 | The groom | The unrecognized hero works as a groom for the powerful person |
| k76 | A strange son | 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 |
| k77b2 | The goat's weapons | A predator animal asks a goat (a ram, etc.) about a purpose of certain parts of his body. The goat describes every part as a weapon able to injure his opponent or the goat really possesses weapons |
| k79 | Snake serves an example of resuscitation | Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds |
| k80 | Repetitive reincarnation | 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 |
| k80a | A bird or an object tell about a murder | An object or a creature that emerged from remains, decorations, etc. of a killed person tells about his or her fate. Usually a reed grows from the person's grave and a pipe made from the reed tells the story |
| k80a1 | Bird tells about a murder | 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 |
| k80b | My mother slew me, my father ate me | 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.
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| k80c4 | Mute witnesses of the crime | 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) |
| k80d | The stuck in pin | Person is bewitched (transformed into a bird, faints) when a pin or other sharp object is stuck into her (rare his) body |
| k81 | The handless girl | For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives) |
| k82a | Pregnancy from the snake eggs | An ill-disposed elder woman makes a young woman or girl to swallow snake eggs (a snake, something else). Her stomach becomes to swell and the man believes that the victim has become pregnant because of her dissoluteness (rare: to make snakes, worms, etc. to kill her from inside) |
| k83 | The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father | 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) |
| k83 | The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father | 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) |
| k84 | Sisters married to animals | Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him |
| k88 | The two travellers (Truth and Falsehood) | Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes |
| k88a | The blinded bride | Wicked stepmother (aunt, a rival) blinds a young woman. The heroine returns her eyes (often gets them back in exchange for some values) |
| k88b | Food exchanged for eyes | A companion promises to share water or food with a thirsty or hungry person on condition that he or she allows to blind him or her |
| k88c | The dog’s blood is a medicine for princess | Person gets to know that the blood (brain, etc.) of a dog who guards sheep nearby can cure the sick princess (prince). He applies this medicine and is rewarded |
| k90 | The black and the red ones | A man gets to see two fighting monsters or animals (usually of contrasted colors like red and black, black and white). He helps one of them and/or one of them helps him |
| k92 | King Lear | 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 |
| k92a | The princess responsible for her own fortune | A girl driven away from home or married to a poor man become prosperous |
| k92b | Love like salt | 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 |
| k92c | Wife is weaving, husband is selling | A princess or a fairy becomes the wife of a poor man. She weaves or embroiders a kerchief (or something else) and sends him to sell it. This is the first step to their ultimate success |
| k93b2 | Conception from eaten fruit | After eating a fruit (usually an apple, in Northern traditions also an egg), the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins |
| k93b2 | Conception from eaten fruit | After eating a fruit (usually an apple, in Northern traditions also an egg), the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins |
| k93b6 | The sword that grows in the garden | 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) |
| k94 | Bird of luck (eaten up head) | Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful |
| k95 | The twining branches (united in death) | Two persons who loved each other (usually a man and a girl) are buried in one grave or not far from each other. After the burial something related to this event takes place (two plants grow up and stretch their branches to each other, smoke of two funeral pyres is merged, two birds flu out from the grave, two stars appear on the sky, etc.) |
| k96 | Fifty sons | Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters |
| k99 | Prophecy of future sovereiniy | A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son |
| k99a | The father will humble himself before the son | A lad or a girl (often after having a prophetic dream) claims that he (she) will achieve extraordinary social position (usually that his or her parents, brothers, sisters will demonstrate signs of high respect to him or her). The lad (girl) is expelled out of the family but the prophecy is fulfilled |
| k99a1 | Smart man is rescued from prison | 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) |
| l100 | Transformation flight | 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 |
| l100b | Forgotten fiancée | 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 |
| l100b1 | Dialogue between the male and the female pigeons | The young man forgets his magic bride and meets another woman. At the last moment a bird tells the story about his real bride and he recalls everything. Usually two birds, a male and a female, have a dialogue in which the female can tell the male that he will be as cruel with her as this youth who has forgotten his bride. |
| l100d | The entrapped suitors | A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc. |
| l100e | The lover, the husband and the guest | 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 |
| l100f | Guest runs away from the host | 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 |
| l104 | Fugitive and pursuer change guises | A fugitive turns in succession into different animals or objects. A pursuer does the same, every time becoming an animal or a person who is dangerous for the fugitive in his given guise |
| l107 | The ear-sleepers | Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, etc.) |
| l108 | The wolf and the kids | An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in |
| l108a | Goat kills the antagonist | A predator animal (ogre, ogress) swallows people or animals. The goat (rare: the sheep) punishes him or her and usually saves the victims (most often opens the ogre’s belly open and the swallowed ones come out alive) |
| l108b | The thin voice | To make himself unrecognizable by the victim, a predator or ogre modifies his throat or tongue mechanically (oils or burns it, asks blacksmith to remake it, etc.) |
| l108b1 | A smith makes the voice thin | Person asks the smith to make his voice thin |
| l108c | The white hand | To make himself unrecognizable by the victim, a predator or ogre demonstrates clothes, limb, etc. that look like clothes or limb of his victim's mother, etc. |
| l110 | The devourer | A demonic being swallows a multitude of people and animals. When it is killed and cut open, the swallowed ones come out alive or are revived |
| l114 | The youngest one saves siblings from demon | A group of young people comes to a demon. The youngest brother of sister or a person whom others take for a sick, unpleasant, invalid one and who often accompanies the others against their wish saves them all |
| l114a | A child who stays awake | A member (usually the youngest) of a group of boys or girls gets with them to a cannibal. The cannibal plans to kill people when they fall asleep. The youngest boy or girl every time answers the cannibal why he or she is still awake and forces him or her to be engaged into different activities instead of killing the sleeping people. Brothers (sisters) run away and return home |
| l114b | To bring ogre's property | 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 |
| l114c | To exchange clothes with ogre's daughters | Children or youths (usually a group of brothers) exchange clothes (headgears, ornaments, blankets, sleeping places) with their enemy’s children. The enemy kills his or her own children by mistake. Usually brothers get to the ogre or ogress and the youngest advices to exchange places (clothes, etc.) with ogre’s daughters). Outside of Europe the actors can be animals |
| l116a | Doe with golden horns | Hunting a doe (a deer), hero gets to the place of a magician or demon; the doe is a bewitched person or demon |
| l125b | Spouse who eats the dead | Spying on his wife (her husband), the man (woman) gets to see that she (he) goes to eat the dead bodies |
| l15d | The external soul | Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed |
| l15d | The external soul | Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed |
| l15d1 | The feigned location of soul | Being asked where his soul (death) is located, person initially gives a false answer. The inquirer usually becomes to show concern to corresponding object or locus (decorates it, etc.) |
| l15e | Hero’s life in his sword | Hero's life is in certain object, usually in his weapon. When antagonist steals the object, the hero dies but revives after his friends or brothers find the object and bring it back |
| l15i | Life in hairs | A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends that it is so) if (some) hair on his head is cut off |
| l19b | Beings with odd number of heads | Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads |
| l37a | To get know causes of problems | |
| l37b | Secrets accidentally overheard | Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes |
| l37b4 | The magic medicine is in the body of a dog | Overhearing conversation of animals or ghosts, person gets to know that the meat (brain, blood) of a dog of a nearby shepherd has magic effect |
| l39 | Hero is compelled to descend from a tree | 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 |
| l4 | The unmasked murderer (Blue Beard) | 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 |
| l40 | Reflection and shadow | Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water |
| l40b | Absurd actions to lure person out | Somebody acts in absurd way to lure person out of his or her place. The person does not understand the deception and comes to explain how to act correctly |
| l42 | Hero carried to ogre’s home | An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes |
| l42b | Credulous children of the ogre | An ogre's child or (rare) wife believes in what hero tells him (or her) and releases him. Usually the hero kills the child and puts its meat to cook in the very pot where the ogre planned to cook the hero |
| l4a | The meat answers its master | 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 |
| l52 | Hero escapes from top of a tree | Hero hides in a tree from an ogre. Before the ogre gets to fell the tree, the hero flies away or a bird helps him to escape |
| l55 | Monster killed with hot liquid | To kill a dangerous animal or monster, acrid or hot liquid (boiling water, resin, soup, etc.) is poured into one of his body orifices |
| l65a | The cannibal sister | A girl born to the family or found proves to be a monster, devours people. Her brother escapes, (usually marries and returns home, finds that everybody had been eaten up), runs away, she pursues him but cannot get |
| l65a1 | Horse’ legs eaten off | A demonic person devours in succession parts of the hero’s horse, each time coming back to the hero and returning again to the horse. (Often asking the hero, if he has ridden on a three-. two-. one-legged horse) |
| l65b | Dogs save their master | A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon |
| l65b3 | The escape on the tree | Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree) |
| l72 | The obstacle flight | Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer |
| l72a | Comb becomes a thicket | Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin) |
| l72c | Obstacle flight: the thrown mirror | 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 |
| l73 | Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts | The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts |
| l85 | One-sided people | One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely |
| l85a | One-sided child | Person is born as half of a child or loses his or her half in an accident. The person does not belong to any category of supernatural beings and usually turns into normal girl or young man |
| l93a | Helpful fox | Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them |
| l94 | Child promised to demon | A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child |
| m101a | Animals learn to fear men | 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 |
| m106 | Meaningful name | Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly |
| m106e | For the long winter | 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 |
| m106f | A guest from the paradise | A stranger tells a woman that he comes from the other world and had seen there her dead relative. The woman gives him money and goods for the latter. Usually when her husband goes after the trickster to retrieve the money, the trickster steals his horse |
| m114b | Not clothed and not naked | When a person is suggested to make something and simultaneously not to make it or to make it differently than it could be made at all (to come clothed and naked, with and without a gift, etc.), he or she finds the solution |
| m114b1 | What is the fattest, sweetest, swiftest? | Answering to a question what is the fatties, sweetest, swiftest, etc., the clever person names abstract notions and non-material values (and a fool names particular objects or creatures) |
| m114j | All women are similar | 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 |
| m116a | Ungrateful son reproved by naive actions of own son | 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 |
| m118 | Source of values is destroyed imprudently | 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 |
| m118a | Forty thieves and jars with oil | 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) |
| m127 | Lost tail of the fox | After losing his tail (ear) an (animal) person tries to trick other animals of his species or other people of his group to lose their tails (ears) too |
| m127c | Frightened without reason | An animal person mistakes an object abandoned by chance or intentionally for an evidence of a danger and behaves inadequately |
| m13 | The short-sighted wish is granted | 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 |
| m130c | The mouse and the lion (the help of the weak) | When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes) |
| m131 | Biting tree-root | A stronger (animal)-person gets to seize a leg or tail of a weaker one. To get free the weaker one pretends that his pursuer got hold of a tree root, and the pursuer lets his enemy free |
| m134 | A tower of wolves | Animals, demons or people stand one on another making a tower. The lowest one jumps off (bends, jerks), all the rest fall to the ground |
| m134a | Three piglets | 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. |
| m134c | The wolf overeats in the cellar | The wolf or other wild animal gets into the cellar (storehouse, vineyard, etc.) and eats so much that cannot leave |
| m136b | Cutting off the branch | 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) |
| m136c | The man takes seriously the prediction of death | Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless |
| m136d | The air castles | A person plans to turn his (future) possessions into a great wealth (milk, eggs, small money, animal to be killed, etc.) but imagining this wealth, he destroys what he already has (eggs are broken, the animal runs away, etc.). Or two persons are involved into quarrel about possessions that they do not yet have |
| m151 | Hello, house! | Dangerous animal pretends to be an inanimate object, dead or absent. The potential victim sais aloud that the real dead (object, place) has to act in a particular way or to say particular words. The animal does accordingly betraying himself. |
| m152 | Why only one wolf? | 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 |
| m152a | Animal tied to another for safety | 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 |
| m153 | Letter on the hoof | 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 |
| m153a | The washed pig | The predator wants to eat a person or animal; the victim asks for a favor to let him first wash himself and escapes |
| m154 | The animal language and the stubborn wife | 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. |
| m154a | A donkey induces overworked ox to feign sickness | One of domestic animals (usually the donkey) induces another who is overworked to feign sickness. When the next day he must do the work of the “sick” one, he tells that the master has decided to slaughter the one who is unable to work and persuades him to stop being ill |
| m154b | The man who does his wife's work | Husband remains home instead of his wife (rare: son instead of his mother) but does everything wrong so as he suffers a series of accidents |
| m156 | The ungrateful one returned to captivity | An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again) |
| m157 | The impossible giving birth | 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 |
| m157a1 | Father is giving birth | Person proves the absurdity of the claims of another person saying that his or her father (or other man or a male animal) had given or is giving birth or is menstruating |
| m157a2 | Bull or cart gives birth | 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) |
| m157a6 | You imagine that you speak with the abbot | A man is not wise enough to answer questions put by a king (prince, etc.). His servant or friend takes his place and guise and gives clever answers. Usually one of the questions is like “What I think now?” and the answer, “You think that you speak with the abbot (minister, etc.) but I am a shepherd (a miller, etc.) |
| m157b | To take the one thing she holds dearest | Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her |
| m157c | You are hens and I am the cock | To put a person into an awkward position, others demonstrate chicken eggs that they prepared beforehand. (Usually, having no egg with him, the person says that he is the only cock while all the others are hens) |
| m158a | Dividing the harvest (The unjust partner) | 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 |
| m159 | The lion’s share | The strongest predator (usually a lion) suggests one of his companions to shares the booty. He is not satisfied by results and beats the companion. When another companion becomes to divide, he gives everything to the strongest one and explains that the injured one taught him the right way of sharing |
| m165 | Fur coat for the wolf | One animal person promises to sew a fur coat (or boots) for another and asks to bring him ever more sheep. He eats the meat and sews nothing |
| m166 | Piece among animals | To lure his potential victim down from a tree, a predator pretends not to be dangerous (usually announces that it has been decreed that all animals are united in piece). The victim is dubious and usually asks the predator to announce the same news to the dogs. The predator runs away |
| m167 | A tiger taken for a bull | During the night a strong predator (a tiger, a lion, etc.) and a thief not knowing about each other get into stable to steal a domestic animal. The thief takes the predator for domestic animal or for a person and acts accordingly |
| m167a | A tiger who is afraid of Twilight | A strong predator (usually a tiger) overhears a person saying that he fears something worse than a tiger The word is unknown to the tiger (twilight, etc). Thinking it must be a terrible thing he hides and then runs away |
| m169 | Medicine for the sick lion | 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 |
| m170 | Pilgrimage of the animals | An animal person pretends to have no other interests than to fulfill religious rules and prescriptions (to confess his sins, to make a pilgrimage, to become vegetarian, etc.) and kills those who have believed him |
| m171 | The profitable exchange: from a pea to a horse | Person or animal stays for a night and the next morning declares that his possessions (which value is none or negligible) are lost. Or other persons whom the trickster meets really use or spoil objects that the trickster gives them. Every time he receives in compensation objects or animals with ever bigger value, the last acquisition usually being a costly animal or a girl. (All texts with motifs M171A and M171C contain also the motif M171) |
| m171a | The profitable exchange: getting a girl | Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl |
| m173 | Pretending dead several times | An animal person pretends to be dead and lies down on a road in front of a traveler who carries something valuable. The traveler passes by but returns to pick up the animal when he sees another one, i.e. the same trickster who ran ahead. The trickster steals the possessions that the traveler abandoned for a time |
| m176 | A test: to jump across an obstacle | (Animal) persons agree to jump across a brook, hole, fire or other obstacle or to walk upon a log, a rope and the like. One or all of them fall down |
| m177 | But he had no heart at all | A weak predator eats part of a body of a killed animal and explain to the strong one that this animal did not have such a part at all |
| m182 | The tarbaby | The (animal) person threatens another to beat him and sticks to him with all his limbs in succession. Usually it is a figure smeared with some sticky substance that the person takes for somebody alive |
| m191b | Ingratitude and injury are hard to forget | 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 |
| m196 | The silence wager | A man and his wife make a wager: Whoever speaks first must do certain trivial work or get a bigger portion of some simple food. They or one of them continue to keep silence even being exposed to violence or taken by others as the dead |
| m197 | The effectiveness of fire | 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 |
| m197a | The pot has a child and dies | A borrower returns a cattle (pot) together with a small one, claiming that the cattle gave birth to a child. He borrows the pot again but does not return it, claiming that the pot dies |
| m198 | Wise brothers (the king is bastard) | When three brothers (rare: a person) are Invited to khan (judge, king, etc.) and served delicious food, they claim that the food and drink have a taste (smell) of a corpse, dog, goat etc. and/or their host is of a low descent or a bastard. Investigation confirms that their deduction was correct |
| m198a | Wise brothers (the strayed camel) | Three or four brothers (rare: one man) see the track of a domestic animal and are able to deduce how it looked like (lame, had no tale, carried oil and honey, etc.) or they deduce how the man who had stolen the animal looks like |
| m198a3 | Who did steal the ruby? | One of the brothers steals a treasure for which all of them have equal rights or he is a bastard. Brothers come to a powerful person and want him to say who of them is the thief or the bastard. Usually the person tells a story and discovers the guilty one considering his reaction |
| m198b | The pretended astrologer | 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 |
| m198b2 | Grasshopper by name, the astrologer | A king (landlord, etc.) suggests to guess what he has in his hand (in a box). It is an insect there (usually a grasshopper). The man says that now you, Grasshopper, is caught. People think that he gave the correct answer |
| m198b3 | Roof of the mosque falling in | A pretended diviner finds by chance stolen objects, he is generously rewarded. Once he, for some reason, pushes in the most impolite way the ruler (the people) out of the building. Immediately after this the roof of the building falls in. The prestige of the diviner becomes higher than ever |
| m200 | The miller, his son, and the donkey | 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). |
| m204 | Money gets one who is destined to get it | 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 |
| m206 | One half of the gift | 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) |
| m207 | The mouse in the jug | A poor married couple (a poor man) bemoans life’s harshness and blame Adam and Eve who through their disobedience and curiosity brought sin into the world. A powerful person hears their complaint and put them into the place where they can live in luxury. He stipulates only that they must not break certain taboo (usually to open a covered vessel). They break taboo and are returned to their old way of life |
| m23 | Mock plea | Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm |
| m29b | Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote |
| m29b1 | The wolf is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29b3 | The fox (jackal, coyote) is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29g | Trickster-hare or rabbit | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit |
| m29w1 | The leopard is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the leopard (panther) suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29x | The hyena is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the hyena suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m30 | Trickster falls down | Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return |
| m38 | Stupid imitation (all versions) | 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 |
| m38b | Stupid wives imitate magic one (the daughter of the Sun) | The first and rejected or taken later wife acts using magic. Other wives try to imitate her but perish are maimed or disgraced |
| m38b1 | Young wife is mute until her husband pronounces particular words | 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) |
| m39a1 | Misunderstood instructions: a step behind | Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one |
| m39a3 | Had your daughter horns? | Fool kills a person, throws the body into a pond or a well. His relation throws there a dead goat. Searching for the corpse in the pond, the fool asks if the killed person had horns, etc. People see that he is really crazy and do not suspect him of a crime |
| m39a4a | Fool’s customer is an animal or an object | A fool gives meat, a domestic animal, cloth etc. to an animal (plant, inanimate object) and thinks that the latter will pay him later or asks an animal to do some work. Claiming money or products of the work, he finds treasure |
| m39a4d | Fool’s customer is a lizard | Fool sells property a lizard and believes it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| m39a5b | Husband discredited by absurd truth | A woman plants fish in the field where her husband is sure to plow them up. He finds them and believes that the fish got there by itself. People take him for mad. |
| m39a6c | King the craftsman | A poor girl agrees to marry a prince only if he learns some craft. He does it, marries the girl and then gets into hands of some criminals. He promises them to produce valuable object that they can sell for good money. His wife or (rare) his father recognize his work (or read signs of the object). He is released, the criminals killed |
| m39a6d | A coded message | A person sends to his or her kinsmen or spouse through other persons a text or an object. Only the receiver understands the real meaning of words or of the object, saves the sender and/or destroys his enemies |
| m39a6f | To sell a sheep and to bring the sheep and the money | Father tells his son to sell a sheep (goat) and to bring back both the sheep and the money. Usually a girl teaches the boy to sell the wool |
| m39a6g | Four coins (The sharing of bread and money) | Man explains that one part of his incomes he puts out at interest while another part is used to pay debts, i.e. he cares for his children and keeps up his parents |
| m39a6h | Plucking geese | King asks a commoner to pluck (skin, milk, cut) a goose (geese, other birds, animals) that he sends him. The commoner understands correctly that he is allowed to fleece a courtier |
| m39a6i | Answer betraying a theft | 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 |
| m39a7 | Misunderstood instructions: to wash with the boiling water | A fool is told to wash an old person with a warm water. He uses a boiling water killing the person |
| m39c | Pumpkin sold as a donkey’s egg | A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg |
| m39d | Series of clever unjust decisions | In succession and unintentionally a man causes a series of accedents. The injured parties bring him before a judge. In each case the judge makes decisions that are formally logical but patently unacceptable and saves the man |
| m39e | What sort of a tree? | Asking about minor details of the case, a judge demonstrates that the plaintiff (or the defendant) lies because he does (not) know about them |
| m39e1 | The eaten up iron and the kidnapped child | 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) |
| m39e1a | The iron-eating mice | Person claims that iron or gold disappeared being eaten by mice |
| m39f | He had a hat, had he a head? | 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) |
| m39i | The treasure of the hanging man | When he spends his entire fortune, a man is going to hang himself but finds treasure (intentionally put in the corresponding place by his father) |
| m57a | Beads discharged from the body | 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 |
| m57a3 | Female person is the producer of valuables | 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 |
| m57d | Beat, cudgel! | 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) |
| m75b1 | Marco the Rich | A respected man gets to know that a poor boy must inherit all his property or become a king and tries to prevent it, but the fate cannot be changed |
| m75b1a | The predestined wife | A man (usually of high social position) learns by a prediction that a (newborn) girl will be his future wife or a girl from rich family gets to know that her future husband is a poor man. The man (the girl, something else) attempts to kill the predestined marriage partner but only wounds her or him. After the wedding it becomes clear that the prediction is fulfilled |
| m78 | A tiny boy (Thumbling) | Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres |
| m81f | Blind robber paid back | 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 |
| m84c | Guest of bush spirits | A man spends a night in a forest or desert where spirits live. One of them explains to the others that he has a guest (i.e. this same man) tonight |
| m85 | The fox bluffs | An animal person (usually a fox or a jackal) threatens to cut down a tree on which mother bird (squirrel) made its nest unless she will throw down one of her nestlings (squirrel children) or eggs. Another bird lets the mother bird know that the predator is unable to realize his threat |
| m90 | Snake gives a correct answer of what material the object is made | Somebody suggests to guess what sort of material a certain object is made of. Another person (usually a monster) gets to know the secret and the hero or the heroin must do what they have promised |
| m90a1 | The louse skin | 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 |
| m90a2 | From what did the plant grow? | It should be guessed that the plant grew from a part of the body of a man or a snake or from dirt scraped off from the body |
| m90a4 | The tree of gems | A tree which has gems or adornments instead of fruits is described; particular parts of the tree are made of different metals or precious stones |
| m90a5 | The golden apples | Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples |
| m90b | The sunrise in the West | Person was wrong being sure that the Sun cannot rise from the West |
| m91 | The killed corpse | Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward |
| m91b1 | The sold skin | A man goes to sell a skin of domestic animal and on his way, by trick or thanks to chance, gets a big sum of money. Usually coming back he explains that this was the price of the skin but when other people kill their animals they cannot sell skins for such a sum. (In India the hero sometimes pretends to sold cow meat to brahmins for whom it is forbidden) |
| m91c1 | Herd from the river bottom | Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him |
| m91c2 | Put into the bag | Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed |
| m95 | To bring a present for person's kin | 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 |
| m98 | Who are more numerous? | Person reckons up number of members in two enormous and alternative multitudes (alive trees and dead trees, men and women, etc.). Usually numbers prove to be equal but one member possesses the qualities of the both multitudes. Adding it to one of them, person demonstrates his case |
| m99 | Intention to exterminate birds | Person is going to exterminate birds but decides not to do thanks to a wise adviser |
| n11 | As snow and blood | Person is eager to get a child (spouse) who would be likened to blood and snow (milk) |
| n34 | Honey and oil | Streams of honey and oil (oil and milk, milk and blood) instead of streams of water are mentioned as a sign of generosity and prosperity. Cf. motif K33F |