| Motif | Name | Description |
| a32 | Figure on lunar disc | A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32) |
| a32d | Man in the Moon | Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon |
| a4 | Female sun | The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female |
| 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 |
| b33f | Night that unwinds her yarn | Thanks to activity of a person (usually the old woman who winds or unwinds yarn, threads, etc.), the night and the day alternate with each other |
| b82 | The white raven | Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white |
| b98 | The bat between birds and animals | Bat (rare: ostrich) makes attempts to join sometimes animals and sometime birds or is excluded from both categories |
| b98a | Bat becomes an outcast | The bat becomes an outcast among other creatures (usually after it makes attempts to join first animals and then birds or vice versa) |
| e11 | The burned skin | Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned) |
| 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? |
| e36 | Hard covering of the body | Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head) |
| 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 |
| e9h | Dove-wife | A man marries dove-woman |
| e9o | Frog or toad-wife | Man marries frog- or toad-woman |
| 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 |
| f20 | A strong embrace | Man and woman embrace each other forever or for a long time |
| 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 |
| g23 | Alive being turns into many objects | Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered) |
| 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) |
| h36f | Raven is a failed messenger | Raven is sent to deliver important object or message. It distorts message, loses object |
| h36ff | Death and the raven | Raven is responsible for introduction of permanent death |
| h45 | The abused bread | A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity |
| h49 | Pet defends master’s child | A dog or other animal kills dangerous creature who was going to attack the child. The master thinks that the assailant was the pet and kills it |
| 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 |
| i141 | The magic stick | A stick is a tool to initiate processes which results have no rational explanation |
| i22 | Objects in permanent movement | There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate) |
| i22g | Clapping rocks | There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing |
| 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 |
| i41 | Rainbow serpent | Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail |
| i41a | Rainbow from anthill or termite nest | Rainbow rises from an anthill |
| 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 |
| i82i | Venus is Zahra (Zuhra, Zura, etc.) | The name of an object of the night sky (usually Venus) is like Zakhra, Zukhra, Zura, etc. |
| 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 |
| j42 | Waters split apart | When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k102a5 | To fill a vessel with tears | A woman must fill a vessel or two with her teas (rare: blood). Usually after this the time of her punishment will come to the end or the punishment depends on which of the vessels will contain more tears |
| 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 |
| k107b | Not to light a candle | One of the spouses prohibits another to see him or her. When the other breaks the taboo (intentionally or by chance) the first one disappears (is in trouble) |
| 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. |
| k107d | The girl cannot wake her fiancé | Failed attempts to wake magic husband |
| k108a | After murdering his wife, the man loses everything | A man acquires a magic wife. Another woman agrees to marry him if he abandons or kills his first wife. The man does it and loses everything |
| k113 | The animal bride | Several young men (usually three brothers) decide to choose wives (usually shooting arrows or throwing objects on the off-chance). The wife of the youngest initially is ugly or non-human (a frog, a snake) but proves to be beautiful enchantress. She and her husband triumph. Or girls choose their husbands and the youngest one gets a youth who has guise of a snake |
| k113a | To take wife where arrow falls | A young man shoots an arrow or throws an object on the off-chance He finds the girl to be married or something that helps to obtain her at the place where his arrow (other object) falls |
| k114 | Brothers leave home after their sister is born | Several brothers leave home immediately after their mother gives birth to a girl. Usually they do not want to have another brother and hope that this time a girl will be born but chance or by evil intent a signal is given that not a girl but a boy is born again. The brothers are disappointed and leave, the girl grows up and travels in search of them |
| 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 |
| k118 | The prohibited room | Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition |
| k119 | Animal helper marries a poor boy to a princess | To make a poor man rich (usually to marry him to a rich girl or to marry a poor girl to a prince), an animal makes other people believe that the groom is rich already. The man becomes prosperous indeed |
| k119a | The ungrateful master | An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it |
| 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 |
| k120a2 | Not my mother but my mother-in-law | Members of the girl’s family want to marry her to a man who should not be her marriage partner (usually it is her own brother). They ask her to name them as her in-laws or the girl herself tells that they are not anymore her mother, sister, etc. but her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc. or her worst enemies |
| 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 |
| k120a4 | To fill a vessel with tears | Person must fill a vessel (to cover a floor) with tears |
| 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 |
| k122 | Queen of the other world comes to identify the hero | A man gets to the powerful woman who lives in the world unreachable without the supernatural helpers, and then returns back. An imposter claims hero's deeds for himself. The powerful woman comes and finds the real hero, punishes (rejects) the imposter |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k132a | Husband's cock and wife's hen | Husband (rare: wife) sends his cock to earn money and the cock brings it. Wife (husband) sends her hen (cat, her half of a cock, etc.) and it brings filth. Or the cock brings to the wife not money but something bad or does not bring anything |
| k134 | The planted treasure | To accuse a guest of theft, a host plants a treasure into his guest’s bag |
| k136a | Girl’s hair picked up from a river | A man finds the woman’s hair that was carried by water and decides to marry its owner |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k153 | Grateful animals, ungrateful man | Человек оказывает услугу нескольким (потенциально опасным) животным и другому человеку. Благодарные животные помогают ему, а человек предает и вредит |
| k155 | Prince grown up in seclusion | A man (usually a king) isolates his son (daughter) in a closed room, Once the boy (girl), usually because of some chance event gets to see the world outside and his (her) isolation comes the end |
| k155a | Bone in the meat | A man (usually a king) keeps his daughter (rare: his son) in a closed room, servants bring the girl (boy) meat without bones. Once she or he finds a bone in the meat, uses it to make an opening in the wall and gets to see the world outside |
| k160 | Three hairs from the devil’s beard | Hero must bring hairs, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous person and does it thanks to the helps of a wife or (grand)mother of this person |
| k160a | Demon’s answers to his wife’s questions | A woman who lives in the house of a supernatural person conceals the man who had come to her and puts questions to this person. The answers that are received and became known to the man are of great importance for him |
| k163 | Aladdin and his lamp | A magician orders a boy to fetch a magic object (often a lamp). The boy finds the object (but refuses to give it to the magician), and the object fulfills the boy’s wishes |
| 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. |
| k168a | Food turns into cut off limbs | A man believes that he holds something edible in his hands (a head of an animal, bread, melon, etc.) but these objects turn into cut off human heads or limbs |
| 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 |
| k2 | The destroyed ladder | Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2) |
| k24 | Stolen clothes of supernatural woman | Women (rare: men) who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons; rare: a girl of higher social status than the hero) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a person hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him (rare: her) |
| k24b | To dance in her magic clothes | Magic wife tricks her naive mother-in-law to give her back her supernatural clothes or other object thanks to which she is able to escape from the human world |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| k27g4 | To plow, to sow and to reap in one day | During impossibly short time person must to realize all works of agricultural cycle and to present food made of new crops |
| k27hh | To sort grain | A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k27w | Monster brought by the hero kills the task-giver | Task-giver asks to bring him dangerous being or object possessed by a moster or deity. Hero fulfills the task. The beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task-giver |
| 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 |
| k27z | Game of chance for life and death | Person becomes a master of another after winning a game (game of chance or Intellectual game but not a sport tournament) |
| 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 |
| k27z4 | The trained animal of the gambler | Person always wins a game thanks to a cat (or a mouse) who carries the lamp (or puts the light out in a certain moment). The hero releases a mouse (or correspondingly a cat), the cat runs after it and the person loses the game |
| 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 |
| k2b | The Mountain-man and the Oak-man | The pastimes or only names of the hero’s companions are unusual and different but their specific qualities that they must possess considering their names are irrelevant for the plot. Cf. motif K66, “Extraordinary companions” |
| 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. |
| k32g2 | The executed dauther’s meat is sent to her mother | When powerful person marries a girl, an evil woman replaces her with her own daughter. The false wife is exposed and executed, and her cooked meat is sent to her mother as a special gift |
| 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) |
| k32i | Two sitters at the bed of a sleeping prince | A girl finds a body of a sleeping youth who will wake up at a certain time and marry the girl who would sit nearby. Usually at the last moment the girl goes away for a time and the impostor takes her place. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k33e | Disappeared and returned children | Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health |
| k33h1 | To exchange the old ring for the new one | The hero’s wife (mother, servant) does not know about the magic qualities of an object in their house and exchanges it for something that looks likes more expensive but actually has low value |
| k35a | Hero brands his rivals | In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| k38c | Bird brings the hero to his destination | After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination) |
| k38f6 | The fire-creature | A creature that consists of fire is mentioned |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| k56b | The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished | First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished |
| k56f | To divide a chicken | A divides the chicken among the members of a household (and guests) considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.). |
| k56f1 | To divide several chicken | A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them appropriately. The first man does it again. |
| 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 |
| k72 | Three maidens | Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status |
| k73 | Children of the youngest wife | A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman |
| k73a | Baby child substituted with object or animal | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object) |
| k73a4 | Baby child substituted with a pup | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup) |
| 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) |
| k73a5a | Baby child substituted with a monkey | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a monkey (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a monkey) |
| k73b | Innocent woman punished | A woman who was falsely accused of killing her new-born child or giving birth to pups and the like is punished in such a way that she must suffer from filth and be taunted by passers by |
| k74 | Hero, his companions and a dwarf | The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon |
| k74a | Only the hero gets to overcome the demon whose track he then follows | Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world |
| k75 | The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom) | A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities |
| k75b | Three melons from the three daughters | To show their father that he must marry them, his daughters of different age send him fruits of the same kind but of different degree of ripeness (or bread that is differently baked) |
| 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 |
| k76a | Frog as a marriage partner | Frog or toad marries a girl or a handsome youth marries a frog or road |
| k77b | The animals in night quarters (Bremen town musicians) | Domestic animals abandon their masters. They find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or the predator animals come there. The domestic animals attack (or just frighten) them. The robbers (predators) do not understand who are their enemies, are scared and run away |
| k77b1 | The wolf flees from the wolf-head | When domestic animals meat the predators, they – deliberately or unintentionally – behave in such a way that the predators escape in panic |
| k77c | Ones who hide in a house frighten dangerous enemy | Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included) |
| 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 |
| k80a2 | Pipe tells about a murder | Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime |
| k80c1 | The tell-tale calf’s head | A person brings to a king or has at his home something edible. At the decisive moment fruits or meat turn into human remains. The person imprisoned (and executed) |
| 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 |
| k82 | Evil sister-in-law | Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her |
| k82a | Pregnancy from the snake eggs | An ill-disposed elder woman makes a young woman or girl to swallow snake eggs (a snake, something else). Her stomach becomes to swell and the man believes that the victim has become pregnant because of her dissoluteness (rare: to make snakes, worms, etc. to kill her from inside) |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| k8d | Jonah: swallowed by anthropomorphic being | Person (often an animal-person) gets into the belly of anthropomorphic being. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people) |
| k91 | The invisible battle | Hero's dogs or horse or (rare) he himself fight with his adversary in the underworld (under the water). Those who are waiting for the outcome of the combat understand who overcomes whom by the color of water or foam that rises to the surface, or the color animal who comes first to the surface |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k94 | Bird of luck (eaten up head) | Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| l103c | A dog tries in vain to defend its masters against the ogres | A dog (cat, hare) tries to drive away a demon (usually an old ogres). The demon (or her victims themselves being unaware of the danger) cut off or break one by one the animal’s body parts and ultimately kills it that gives her the power over her victims |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| l15f | Heroine’s life in her necklace, ATU 412 | A young woman or (rare) a youth falls dead when her necklace (rare: an organ) is stolen from her and revives again as soon as she gets it back or when the antagonist takes it off |
| l15h | The external soul: three or more objects one inside the other | An object that contains the life (soul) of a person is inside two or more creatures or other objects (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, etc.) or the zoomorphic soul container tries to escape and turns in succession to other animals (three or more transformations) |
| l15h2 | Person’s soul is in a bird | An object that contains certain person’s soul / death is inside other object, the latter is in the third one (etc.). The last receptacle of the life is a (small) bird (a nestling, several nestlings of birds) |
| l37a | To get know causes of problems | |
| l37a1 | Wolf should eat a fool | A man travels to get know why he is poor (unlucky). Other persons, animals, plants ask him to investigate the reason of their own misfortunes. God (fate) tells that the wolf (bear, lion) should eat the most stupid man. Other problems can be resolved if the queen gets a husband, a treasure is taken from under the fruit tree, etc. The man does not use opportunity to become a king, to receive gold, etc. because did not receive direct instructions to do it. The wolf decides that the man is a real fool and he must eat him |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| l42g | Hansel and Gretel | Step mother or more often father (persuaded by his wife) abandons children in a desolate place. Getting to the ogre or ogress, children (or at least one of them) survive and ultimately achieve success |
| 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 |
| l5f | Helpful skull | A bodiless head, face, or skull is a woman's husband, suitor or son. He is not dangerous but a good provider, saves people from hunger, etc. |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| l81 | Demon’s fire | Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person |
| l81a | Cat brings a misfortune | Because a girl or young woman offends a cat (rare: a dog, a cock), it plays a trick that brings the girl a misfortune (usually extinguishes the fire and in search of it the girl gets to a demon) |
| l81a2 | Demon comes to drink blood of a girl | While the men of the household are not at home, a demonic person comes to drink blood of a girl or young woman or make her harm other way. Initially the men do not understand why the girl becomes thin |
| l81a3 | Demon with a golden spoon | A girl meets a demon who is disgusting and terrible. When the demon gets to see her again, he (or she) asks her what had she told about him (what had she seen). The girl answers that the demon was beautiful (clad in gold, etc.). Usually at the last meetings the girl tells the demon truth. He is enraged and the men who hide nearby kill him |
| 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 |
| l85c | Half-chicken | Person with half of a body is a chicken (sometimes only by name) |
| l93c | Helpful monkey | Cunning monkey saves person, helps him or her |
| 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 |
| m109b | Sick animal carries the healthy one | A healthy animal tricks an injured one (a wolf, a bear) into carrying him on his back by pretending to be injured himself |
| m110 | The forgotten liver | An animal is tricked to be carried across the water by those who are going to eat or to use as a medicine a part of its body. The animal tells that forgot to take just that part which is needed, is carried back to take it, escapes |
| m114 | Rope of sand | Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc. |
| m114b | Not clothed and not naked | When a person is suggested to make something and simultaneously not to make it or to make it differently than it could be made at all (to come clothed and naked, with and without a gift, etc.), he or she finds the solution |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m149 | Tell them that I am a stump | Strong antagonist is going to kill the hero (a person or a weak animal). Another person or animal pretends not to know about the situation and tells that the antagonist is in search to be killed. The hero is saved. Usually the latter asks the man not to give him out and answer that it is a stump, a log and the like near him. This opens possibility to treat the antagonist as a corresponding object (to cut it with an axe, to tie up, etc.) |
| m151a | Holding up the rock | (Animal) person pretends to hold up a rock, tree etc. and explains that otherwise it will fall |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m157a4 | To fish on a hill | Person demonstrates the absurdity of the claims of another person saying that he (or somebody else) was fishing on a hill, putting out a fire spilling straw, looking how the fish fly etc. or he is imitating such an activity. Either the place chosen for the activity or the means are irrational |
| m157b | To take the one thing she holds dearest | Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her |
| m158 | Tops or buts | Two animals (an animal and a person, an ogre and a person, etc.) agree to divide a crop in such a way that one would take what is above the ground and another what is beneath ground. One of them (several times makes a wrong choice (takes turnip tops and wheat roots) |
| 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 |
| m160 | Unkind words are more painful than wound | A strong predator animal and a man become friends. The animal hears how the man or his wife complains about him (e.g. criticizes the bad smell of his mouth) and asks the man to strike him with an axe, knife and the like. Later he comes to demonstrate his healed wound and explains that the physical wound can be healed unlike the psychological one. Or the animal dies because of his wounded feelings as soon as he understands that the man betrayed him |
| m164a | Stinking mouth of the lion | The lion asks animals does his mouth stink (or his den dirty) and kills both those who answer, Yes, and flatterers who answer, No. The smart one tells that he has the sniffles and is unable to answer |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m23 | Mock plea | Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm |
| m25 | Banquet in the sky | To take part in a feast or to visit God or celestial object, person ascends to the sky. To return, he either uses a rope but falls before reaching ground or jumps (falls) down from the sky and is badly hurt, dead, and/or transformed |
| 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 |
| m29o | Trickster is a monkey | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a monkey |
| m29w1 | The leopard is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the leopard (panther) 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) |
| 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 |
| m39a4c | Conversation of the fool with a bird | Hearing the cry of a bird (often, an owl) and thinking that the bird speaks with him, the fool eventually finds treasure |
| m39a5a | The sausage rain | Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| m57a2 | Male person is the producer of valuables | Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a |
| 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 |
| m57c | Gold producing animal | An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so |
| 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) |
| m57d3 | Wind grants a wish | Wind person grants a wish to a man |
| m75b | Hero inside carcass | A man hides in a skin or carcass of a big animal. A bird carries it to its nest without knowing that the man is inside |
| m75b1 | Marco the Rich | A respected man gets to know that a poor boy must inherit all his property or become a king and tries to prevent it, but the fate cannot be changed |
| m75b1a | The predestined wife | A man (usually of high social position) learns by a prediction that a (newborn) girl will be his future wife or a girl from rich family gets to know that her future husband is a poor man. The man (the girl, something else) attempts to kill the predestined marriage partner but only wounds her or him. After the wedding it becomes clear that the prediction is fulfilled |
| m75c | Treasure on mountain top | A man sends another one to top of a mountain or a tree to obtain treasure for him. To go back is impossible but the man survives |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m99 | Intention to exterminate birds | Person is going to exterminate birds but decides not to do thanks to a wise adviser |