| 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 |
| a12c | Eclipses: reptiles and fish | During an eclipse or at the sunset the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a reptile (a snake, a lizard, a dragon, a crocodile) or a fish |
| b69 | Chipmunk's back scratched: hence his stripes | To thank or to punish a small mammal like chipmunk or (ground) squirrel, animal or person scratches or paints it producing stripes on its back |
| c19 | Acquisition of the sun | The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again) |
| c2 | Deluge and conflagration combined | Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water |
| c23 | Tree eclipses sky-light | Growth and falling of giant tree defines the condition of the sky with luminaries on it (tree eclipses the light of the sun, can destroy the sky, tears the sun off the sky, etc.) |
| c30c | To swallow the ocean | Person must drink all the water in the sea (count all drops of sea water) but asks his opponent first to separate the sea water from the water of rivers that flow into it |
| 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 |
| e31a2 | That one is like her father, another is like her brother but this one is her husband | Only one of several men can marry a girl. The girl herself or somebody else explains that somebody among suiters is like a father to her, somebody else is like her brother and only one of the men suits the role of the girl’s husband |
| e31c | Rescuers of an abducted girl | Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal |
| e4 | Creation from dirt of the skin | Supernatural person creates the entire earth, human or other beings of dirt taken from his or her skin, from under the nails, etc. |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| g6 | Primeval tree | One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky) |
| g8d | Falling or growing up of a tree is dangerous to the world | To save the world (gods, king, etc.) certain persons or creatures try to cut or gnaw a tree (post, mountain) or do not permit the others to do. The notch disappears and the tree (post, etc.) becomes intact |
| h34g | One grain porridge | One cereal grain (cob, etc.) is enough to prepare a meal |
| h4 | The shed skin | Those who change their skin become young again |
| 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 |
| h49b | The faithful dog as security for a debt | A man gives his dog to another man. The dog proves to be brave and intelligent (drives off thieves, finds stolen treasure). The man who received the dog sends it back with a message of thanks. The owner, thinking the dog has run away, kills it and after this finds the letter |
| h49d | The poisoned fruit | A bird or a person brings fruit (seed, sprout) that makes people young (healthy). By chance or by evil intent the fruit becomes contaminated with poison. The man for whom the fruit had been brought kills (is going to kill) the helpful bird (person) and then discovers the truth |
| h5 | People and snakes | Reptiles or invertebrates possess the medicine of immortality; are contrasted with men as immortal with mortals and/or are responsible for originating of death; or a snake's bite inflicts the first death |
| 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 |
| h7d | The old man asks Death to help him to carry a load | An old man has to carry a heavy load of wood. Tired and exhausted, he wishes for death. When Death appears he asks her to help him with the load |
| i11 | Cosmic turtle or toad | A turtle, toad, or frog supports the earth (sky) or is its embodiment |
| i13c | Snake’s crown | Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head |
| i40 | Rainbow bow | Rainbow is a bow |
| i44 | Chthonic serpent | Giant serpent lies on the perimeter of the earth or supports the earth |
| i76a | Snake turns into dragon | After certain time a snake or fish turn into a dragon |
| i82a | Venus is male | Morning and/or Evening Star is a male personage |
| i8e1 | Four supports of the world | The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| j57 | Son of the Sun | A virgin girl is impregnated by the Sun and gives birth to a son or twin boys. When her son (or the twins) grows up, he (they) comes to his father |
| j62 | People turned into stones | Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones |
| j62a | People transformed into trees | Person transforms people who come to him or her into trees (or flowers). Hero escapes transformation and revives the victims |
| k100 | A faithful servant | A man gets to know about dangers that threaten another man (and often about turning into stone of anybody who would warn about these dangers). He helps the man to escape the dangers though his behavior seems strange or hostile |
| k116b | The girl in the box is replaced with ferocious dog | To get a girl in his possession, the antagonist creates a situation when her relations must put her in a box (barrel, bag, etc.) and then abandon, throw it into the river or give it to him. The girl is imperceptibly replaced with a ferocious dog or other animal. Usually when the antagonist opens the box, the animal kills or injures him |
| k116c | Father is persuaded to put his daughter into the box | To get a girl, a minister of religion persuades her father to put her into the box (barrel) and throw it into the river or abandon in a wilderness |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| k131b | Magic objects are exchanged and returned | A man loses a magic object that he got before but gets it back thanks to another object (a cudgel, a box with soldiers, etc.) that is exchanged for the first one or obtained by the man’s brother. The episode can be repeated several times |
| k131d | Seven-league boots | The boots (shoes, sandals) which allow the person wearing them to move with extraordinary speed are mentioned |
| k135 | Seven with one stroke | A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem |
| 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 |
| k14a | Thrown into the oven himself | An antagonist orders to kill the first one who will come in the morning to a certain place. The hero becomes late by chance, the antagonist or his wife or son come and are thrown into the fire |
| k15 | Embraced nobody bsides this beggar | A woman swears that she never embraced anybody besides (her husband and) the beggar who is among the people. The people do not know that her lover assumed the beggar’s image |
| 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 |
| k153 | Grateful animals, ungrateful man | Человек оказывает услугу нескольким (потенциально опасным) животным и другому человеку. Благодарные животные помогают ему, а человек предает и вредит |
| k154 | A skull with an inscription | A man picks up a skull with an enigmatic and ominous inscription on it. Later its meaning becomes clear |
| k155c | The virgin on the scales | Father regularly puts his daughter on the scales and understands that she is pregnant because she is heavier than before |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k16 | To get access to a girl in guise of a bird or an animal | Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house) |
| 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 |
| k174 | Fingering thrown into a pitcher | A person puts (usually inconspicuously) his or her fingering or other small personal object into a pitcher with which a servant (girl) has come to take water. The servant's mistress or master finds the ring and understands that the person is nearby |
| k176 | A man in search of the woman | A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| k25a1 | Magic wife finds her clothes | Magic wife abandons her mortal husband when she finds her clothes (often, her feathers if she is a bird-woman), makes herself the new clothes, receives them from her kin or her husband gives her her clothing believing that she will not abandon him. (Versions with magic wife abandoning her husband because she feels herself offended is not alternative to the “found clothes but in most of the texts these motifs are not combined) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k27n3b | Task-giver lives in the sky but is not the Sun, Moon, Thunder or Wind | Person who gives difficult tasks or tests to the hero or heroine lives in the sky but is not associated with the Sun, Moon, Thunder or Wind |
| 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 |
| k27r | To visit the world of the dead | A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead |
| k27r1 | The burnt person proves to be unharmed | The antagonist believes that the hero was burned but returned from the other world alive and prosperous therefore he asks burn him (her) or his representatives |
| 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) |
| k27z2 | Princess separated from her son averted incest with him | A noble young woman or girl who had to abandon her home gives birth to a son and is separated from him. The youth becomes adult and is going to marry a woman. At the last moment he understands that she is his mother. The woman gets back her high social position |
| 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 |
| k27z2c | Prince marries a girl to lock her up | A prince marries a poor girl only to lock her up in her room. She outwits him |
| 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 |
| k27zy | Hero between two ogresses | A youth (a girl) lives in the house of an ogress. To get rid of him (her) the ogress asks him (her) to bring some object from other ogres (often from her mother) who must kill him or her. The hero or heroine escapes and kills all the ogres |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k33d1 | The princess in the chest | The youth does not know that a beautiful girl hides inside an object that is brought to him |
| 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 |
| k35a3 | The master becomes the servant | To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions |
| k37 | Recognition-test | To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects |
| 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) |
| k38f1 | The cut off tongues | Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him) |
| 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). |
| 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 |
| k56a6 | Food asks to be eaten | On the way to the non-human world people or objects ask a child (a young girl) to taste certain food or to fulfill some work. The child (girl) does (rare: does not) what she was asked to do and thanks to this achieve his or her destination and safely returns |
| k56a8b | Girl’s hand in the snake’s den | A kind girl who usually is a daughter of a bitch wants to suicide and puts her hand into the den of a poisonous snake. The snake does not bite her but gives her a valuable gift |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| k73a2a | Baby child substituted with a piece of wood | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a piece of wood and/or inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a piece of wood |
| k73a3 | Baby child substituted with a doll | Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a doll or statue (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a doll) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| k8a | Jonah: swallowed by monster | Person gets into the belly of water being or into the belly of giant creature which appearance and living place remain vague. He kills the monster from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people) |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| l113 | The ogre bridegroom | A girl (rejects suitors for a long time but at last) falls in love with a handsome man who proves to be a demon or animal. Usually she eventually escapes from him |
| l128 | You are Deo but I am Mahadeo | When a demonic person or a predator animal gives his name, the hero or a herbivorous animal invents such a name for himself that suggests his superiority over his opponent |
| 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 |
| l16b | Eyes on the body | All the body of a person is covered with eyes |
| 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 |
| l23 | Proteus | Person gets hold of another. Trying to free himself, the latter turns into different materials, elements, animals or (Urarina and Setebo) orders different dangerous creature to attack the person |
| l23a | Transformation into the fire | Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, one of the transformations is into the fire (and also into the water) |
| l23e | Metamorphosis of the caught male person | Being seized by a person, a male person turns into different materials, elements or animals |
| l37c | Bad and Good Lucks | A man comes across persons who incorporate his own or somebody’s else Bad and Good Lucks. He gets to influence their behavior and change course of events (for himself) for better |
| 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 |
| l40 | Reflection and shadow | Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water |
| 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 |
| l44b | The blind got his sight, the lame got his legs | A blind man and a lame man live together and help each other. When they got mortally scared or became to fight with each other, their eyes and legs were cured |
| l57a | Hero's body part is returned by his companion | The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again) |
| l93a | Helpful fox | Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them |
| l94b1 | Demon puts the spilled treasure back into bag | A man receives a box or bag as a gift and is told that he should open it not before he comes to his place. The curious man opens it before time and everything that must make him rich (cattle, houses, etc.) falls out. A demon puts everything back but under certain condition. Usually the man does not understand that he promised to the demon his child |
| l96 | Sold in animal’s guise and comes back | Person can transform himself or herself into an animal or an object. Being sold in this guise, he or she achieves his or her aims and becomes a human again |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m114c | To protect from rain by his own body | Person cannot understand why the clothes (firewood, etc.) of another are dry after the rain – he protected them with his own body (during the rain was in a shelter) |
| m124 | A bull’s tail | Person buries a tail or head of a bull or other domestic animal with a tail or horns outside. He explains that the animal sank into the ground and usually asks the others to pull the tail (horns). When they are “torn off”, he tells that people are guilty of the animal being lost |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| m156a | Objects that give the answers | Dangerous animal seeks to kill a person or other animal who rescued it from captivity. The dangerous animal and its victim agree to ask somebody else if a good deed should be repayed with a bad one. Inanimate objects are among those who answer to this question |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| m171c | In exchange for a thorn | Somebody pulls out a thorn from a person’s body (cuts off the end of the animal’s tail, etc.) and throws it away or slightly injures the person. As a result the person is compensated with something more valuable than the lost object |
| m171d | The profitable exchange: gets a drum | Animal person gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable and ultimately gets a drum |
| m179 | A house of bark and a house of ice | Two animal persons live nearby, the house of one of them is destroyed, he asks another to let him in and usually drives the host out of his house. Strong animals are afraid of the intruder but a weak or small one succeeds to return the house to its original owner |
| 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 |
| m196a | Corpses that became to speak | Making a wager because of a trivial thing, spouses (or only one of them) lie without movement and are taken for dead. People bury them but at the last moment they become to speak, people run in panic |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m198b4 | The pretended diviner: names of the thieves | The pretended diviner thinks that his exposure is inevitable and pronounces words that reflect his emotional condition. The thieves who stand nearby understand some of these words as their personal names, believe that the diviner knows all about their crime and ask him not to betray them |
| m202 | Thorn removed from lion’s paw | Person removes a thorn from the paw (bone from the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or a demon, the animal (demon) is grateful |
| m29b | Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote |
| 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 |
| m29o | Trickster is a monkey | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a monkey |
| m29w2 | The tiger is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m33 | Anus closed | Person himself or somebody else stitches up or firmly stops his anus (with wax, clay, grass, etc.) |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| m45c | To plant the boiled tubers | Person gives advice that the right way to plant seeds or tubers is to cook them before |
| 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 |
| m57a1 | Flowers blossom where she puts her feet | Where the beautiful woman steps, treasure appears, flowers blossom, etc. |
| 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) |
| m63 | Body parts enumerated | Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated |
| 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 |
| m75b4 | The Trojan Horse: gaining of the woman | To gain a woman, a man hides inside a hollow figure or a carcass of a big animal (horse, bull, etc.). Person who guards the woman brings it to her. The man comes outside and becomes the woman’s lover. Or a woman hides inside the figure of the horse that is brought into the room of a man |
| m91b | The sold ashes | Using trick, a man sells or exchanges for treasure ashes. Another person tries to sell ashes and is ridiculed |
| 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 |