Linked Motifs

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
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
a12a	Eclipses: a predator animal	During an eclipse or at other circumstances the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a predator animal (a bear, a feline, a canine, a racoon)
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
a14	Eclipses: relations between the Sun and the Moon	Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
a23c	Who will fly higher?	Birds argue who of them will fly higher. One who seemed to have less chances wins (he hides himself in feathers of a strong bird using it as a vehicle)
a3	Male sun and female moon	The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
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
a32d1	Cain and Abel in the Moon	Cain and Abel are related to the Moon, usually are seen (both or Cain only) in the shadows of the lunar disc
a32dd	Firewood-carrier in the moon	Person who carries a bundle of brushwood or firewood is seen in the moon.
a32e	Person with an object in hands	Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
a32h	The Moon plant	A tree or bush is seen in the moon
a32k	First to the Sun, then to the Moob	Person seen in the Moon initially had to get to the Sun or the Sun and the Moon argue who of them should get the person
a39a	Twelve months	Each of calender units (usually the months) that make the year is a separate object or person
a45	The insulted Moon	Person who teases or insults the Moon is punished
b109	Person turns into bear	Person turns into a bear (origin of bears)
b125	Animals exchange their organs	During the time of creation particular species of animals (rare: plants) exchanged certain organs or traits or one animal borrowed an organ from another one but never brought it back. Thence the characteristics of these animals now. In rare cases the back exchange and restoring of the initial situation or the passing of certain organ from one animal to another without compensation are described
b125a	Nightingale and blindworm	The nightingale (more rare somebody else) borrows the blindwoms’s eye and does not return them, the blindworm becomes blind
b2a	The female earth	The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
b33a	Person dies of cold in the spring	When it becomes warm, a person or animal (bird) decides that the winter is over (most often an old woman goes to graze her animals) but dies of cold or the animals that had been deiven to the pasture die
b33a1	The offended March	Person or animal, bird teases, offends March or other month and are punished
b33b	A bird of march	In the late winter or early spring a bird (usually a thrush) flies out before time and dies of cold or her nestlings die of cold
b33c	The borrowed days	When the winter ends and the spring begins certain month (usually March) borrows (rare buys, steals) several days from a neighbor month
b33d	The old woman of winter	Old woman is incarnation of winter, is associated with snow, or there are several cold days between winter and spring (or fall) associated with a certain old woman
b33e1	To freeze an embryo in the womb	To describe the extreme cold, it is said that it is able to frees boiling water, an embryo in its mother womb and the like
b42q	Ursa major is a carriage	Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart
b42t	Ursa major is a big mammal	Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog
b50	Whose blood is sweeter?	An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people
b51a	The snake is an enemy of the swallow	The snake is an enemy of the swallow (usually because swallow does not let snake to destroy people; the snake sends mosquito or other bloodsucking insect to get know whose blood is the most delicious; the insect flies back to report that human blood is the sweetest; swallow bites its tongue off and the snake gets to pull off feathers from the swallow's tail)
b68b	One who tried to scare the God	(Animal) person who tried to scare the God (people) with his/its, behavior, strange look or sudden appearance is punished being transformed into an animal (of different characteristics than it was before)
b71	Aurora borealis	Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
b87c	Alcor is a rider	Alcor (a weak star near Mizar, the second star of the Big Dipper’s handle) is a rider, a driver
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)
c25b	A spinner in the Moon	In the sky, on the Moon (rare: on the Sun), i.e. somewhere outside of our world certain person is spinning, weaving, plaiting, or embroidering
c30a	A pound of flesh	A contract entitles the lender of a sum of money to cut a certain amount of flesh (or eye, head, limb, etc.) from the debtor’s body if the load is not repaid in time. The lender cannot cut out the flesh being unable to fulfill a condition that looks logical but is practically absurd
d4a	Theft of fire	Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
d4h	Swallow obtains fire	Swallow steals fire for people
d4h1	Robin obtains fire	A small singing bird (robim, wren) steals fire for people
d4l	Fire from the sky	First fire is sent to earth from the sky or the ancestors ascend to the sky and bring from there fire or warmth
e9l	Mouse-wife	Man marries mouse-woman
e9o	Frog or toad-wife	Man marries frog- or toad-woman
f28a4	Plants (fruits) as penises	Penises are fruits or shoots of plants
f35	Feeding with the paramour’s meat	Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
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
f54e	Unintentional killing of father	A young man kills somebody and later gets to know that ut was his father
f5a	Woman created from a tail	When God intends to create Eve from Adam’s rib, an animal (dof, cat, monkey, fox, snake) or a devil steals it. God (or his angel) pursues it and catches its tail. The tail tears off, God creates Eve from it. Or God made Eve from edible material and a dog devoured it, so God had to make Eve from Adam’s rib. Or God cut off Adam’s tail and made Eve from it.
f65	The false burial	To realize his or her secret desire (illicit sex, refusal to share food with relations), person pretends to die and is abandoned at a burial place
f65a	Death feigned to meet paramour	Person pretends to die. His or her wife or husband abandons him or her on a burial place. He or she marries his or her paramour
f7	The underwater-maiden	Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
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
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
f70e	A girl turns into a man	A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
f71	Susan and the old men (the innocent slandered maiden)	An innocent girl or young woman rejects a man who attempts to seduce her. The man accuses her of loose conduct, ultimately the truth comes to light
f83a	Indecent proposal made through children	Animal person comes to children of a big predator and tells them that he will copulate with their mother (or that he will beat her)
f83b	The stuck between trees she animal is rapes	A strong she animal pursues a weaker one male but is stuck netweem trees or stones. The male taunts (usually rapes) her
f86	Conditional signal	Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
f9	A dangerous woman	For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
f9a1	The pike's mouth	A woman pretends that her vagina is a mouth with teeth. (It is not suggested that women’s genitals are really dangerous)
h33	Walking babies	Children walked or could walk from the very birth but this ability was lost or never obtained
h46	The dog’s part	Somebody (usually God) is going to deprive humans of their staple food (usually cereals) but does not do it thanks to the dog (and/or cat; rare – birds)
h46a	The dog and the spike	Properties of the cereals (usually the size of the spike) are defined by what the dog did in time of creation
h52	The land of immortality	Person finds a land where there is no death. Setting off to visit his home country, he does not come to this land again
h52a	Death tricks a person to touch the ground	Coming back from the land of immortality, the hero should not touch the ground. However, he comes down from his horse to help an old man (old woman). It was Death in guise of an old man and he kills the hero on the spot. Rare: at the last moment the hero decides not to commit fatal acts and returns to the land of immortality
h52b	The search of immortality	Setting off in search of the land of immortality, the hero comes across persons or animals who are involved in activity that needs tremendous time to be completed. However the hero is eager to obtain not the long but the eternal life and he continues his search
h54	The eyelids of Viy	Eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) of personage hang long down over his eyes. To make the eyes widely opened, the eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) should be propped up with poles, folks, sticks, etc. (rare: cut off)
h54a	The old man’s hair-cut	Person comes across an old man (woman) whose face is completely covered with hair or snot. He or she cuts the hair (wipes the snot off) and receives compensation for his or her good deed
h55b	The robber who repents his misdeeds	A man who has visited hell (met the God) tells the robber about tortures prepared for him in the future. The robber accepts this news with resignation, does penance and ultimately is saved. Usually a hermit who decides that God is unjust in this case is punished
h7	The personified Death	Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls
h7a	The Death and a doctor	Man receives from Death (Fortune, some spirit) knowledge will the patient recover or die. He becomes a doctor and receives rich rewards. Usually he gets the ability to see Death near the bed of a patient and considering a particular place where Death stands, gets to know perspectives of recovering
h7b	The Death is stuck to a tree or a bench	A man lures Death (Devil) to climb a tree or sit on a bench to which they are stuck and can free themselves not before the man gives them such a permission
h7b2	The immortal Poverty	Person called Poverty makes Death to promise him/her that he, the Death, will never come to him. Because of this poverty cannot be eradicated
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
h7e	Humans knew the time of their death	In the year before they were to die, people neglected their responsibilities (they repair fences with temporary materials). Therefore, God decided that they should not know in advance when they will die
i102	Milky Way is a tree	Milky Way is a tree or a trace of a tree
i103	The dog star	Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf
i110	Night sky agriculturalists	Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
i110a	The star plough	Orion (rare: other constellation) is a plough
i110b	Orion is mowers	(Belt of) Orion is (three) mowers or agricultural tools related to mowing and harvesting
i121	Twin constellations	Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.)
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
i25b	To clean an oven with her own hair	It is told about women who had no tools at all and were using parts of their body instead
i25b1	They use their own hair instead of a rope	It is told about women who use their own hair instead of a rope to lift bucket with water from a well
i25d	To grease and oil gates and doors	On his way to a dangerous being the hero (heroine) greases (oils) the gate (door) hinges. When the hero goes back the grateful gate does not agree to hold him despite the order of the dangerous being
i35a2	Thunder is rolling stones or vessels	Thunder is heard when stones or big vessels are rolled, dragged, overthrown in the sky
i37f	Fungi are ears	Fungi or mushrooms are named “ears”
i39	Rainbow road or bridge	Rainbow is a road, a bridge or a ladder
i41b	Rainbow drinks water	Rainbow drinks (soaks up) water
i41b1	Rainbow swallows fish	Rainbow drinks and together with water swallows fish, people, etc. Sometimes this fish falls on earth from the sky
i45c	Not to count stars	Person who counts stars will suffer diseases and misfortunes
i46b	Rainbow predicts future harvest	Intensity of particular colors of rainbow predicts good or bad harvest of particular crops
i59a	Thief in the sky	Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with a story of a stealing and the value of the stolen objects is low (straw, firewoods, cabbage, etc.)
i59b1	Milky Way is the road to a remote city	Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
i59b2	Milky Way is the way of St, Jacob	Milky Way is the way of St. Jacob (the way to Santiago de Compostela, etc.)
i65	Milky Way of the dead	Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
i82g	Venus is the star of the shepard	Venus or other bright star (Arcturus, Sirius, etc.) is the star of the shepard (herdsman, swine-herd, etc.)
i86a	Down turns into snow	Snow is created from bird's down when certain bird in the sky shakes itself or certain person shakes his or her clothes made of bird down
i92	Rainbow transforms sex	Person who gets to walk under, over or through the rainbow changes his or her sex
i92b	Treasure under the rainbow	There is a treasure under the extremities of the rainbow
i98a	The Pleiades are a hen with its chickens	The Pleiades are a brooding hen, hen with its chickens, chickens
j1	The vengeful heroes	Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
j26	Babies come out of the water	Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
j32	To identify the night thief	Some valuables (foals, hay, apples, etc.) are regularly stolen. Nobody (the elder brothers) is able to catch the thief and only the hero (the younger brother) finds who it is
j32f	The stolen apples	Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
j4	Revenge for the death of the male relatives	Heroes avenge the murder or captivity of the male relatives: (grand)father, uncles, or the elder relatives in general, the loss of the males being the most traumatic
j46	Enemy drowns	Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
j47a	Beanstalk to the sky	A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky
j51	One piece is missing	Person or animal is eaten up or destroyed otherwise. His bones are put together and he or it is revived. Because one bone was broken, swallowed or lost (or a drop of blood, a small piece of flesh lost), the person or animal cannot be revived or being revived misses some part of his or its body
j51a	Ladder made of bones	To climb a rock, person must insert into it bones and use them as a ladder
j51a1	Helpful girl is dismembered and revived	When it is necessary to get an object from a place that is difficult to reach, a girl asks to cut her into pieces (or only to cut off her fingers and toes) and then to put pieces together again. She revives
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
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
k100b	A grateful dead	A young man helps to bury a man (pays the debts of the dead man, honors a saint). When the young man sets off for a journey, the grateful dead (the saint) in guise of a stranger becomes his protector
k100f1	The wild man	A man (usually a king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son frees the prisoner, is afraid of his father’s anger and leaves home or is driven away. The released prisoner helps him
k100g	The son must be sacrificed	To revive or to cure his friend (rare: himself) or to fulfill a vow person is ready to sacrifice his small (young) son (children). The son revives or the supernatural powers are satisfied with the very willingness of the person to commit sacrifice
k101	Night dances of girls	Every morning girl' or (rare) boy’s clothes are in disorder, the boy looks very tied. People spy on her (or on him) and discover that she or he spends nights in the non-human world
k101b	Three nights of suffering	A girl or a youth are disenchanted because the hero bravely spends three nights in a certain place being tortured or terrified by demons. The girl (youth) herself is helpful and not dangerous for the hero
k102a2	Conflict between mother and son	Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
k103	Helpful cow	Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
k103a	Tree raises its branches	A plant (tree, vine, lotus) that has grown up rapidly does not let anybody besides the hero or the heroine to climb it or to pick its fruits (flowers)
k106	Thrown to cows	To get rid of a baby child or of the magic cock, they throw him into enclosure for animals, but cows or other animals do not trample the child or cock down
k107	Lost husband found	A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
k107a	Iron shoes to be worn out	Wandering to the purpose of her or his travel person has to worn out her or his iron shoes or staff
k107a1	Head of the household is asked to bring presents	When the head of the household goes for a journey his daughter, those who remain at home ask to bring them presents. The elder ones want something practical (usually clothes or decorations) while the younger one asks for something unusual (a flower, a bird, etc.). Thanks to this object, the younger one attains great success though after overcoming great difficulties
k107a3	The beauty and the beast	When a man sets off for the journey, his daughter asks him to bring her a certain flower (leave, etc.). The man picks it up in a garden of the enchanted prince who has monstrous appearance. The monster claims from the man his daughter and thanks to her acquires his real guise
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
k108	A revived wife betrays her husband	Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished
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
k117	Woman who never laughs (a bride)	A woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who would make laugh his daughter, mother or son
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
k117b	Stuck together	Using a magic object or spell, hero makes people (and animals) attached to the object or to each other
k117c	Magic fiddle makes people dance	As soon as a person plays his flute (fiddle, horn, etc.), people and animals become to dance and cannot stop without the person’s permission
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
k118a	A portrait of an unknown beauty	After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
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
k119b	Wild animals presented to the king	Helpful trickster (usually the fox or the cat) deceives wild animals and brings them to the king saying that they are presented to him by a rich person
k119d	Puss in boots	A cat marries a poor boy to a princess (poor girl to a prince)
k119e	A success story of a miller	A poor boy whom his animal helper has made rich passing him off as a rich man at the king’s court, is a miller or son of a miller
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
k120a1	Three dresses	In order to delay a wedding with an undesirable suitor (her own brother or father, a monster), a girl asks him to give her a dress (often three dresses in succession) of unusual material (like gold, of fly wings, etc.). He does it but the girl runs away
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
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
k128	Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman	A man had to graze animals or birds. If at least one is lost, the master would kill (not reward) him. Cf. K128B (ATU 570)
k128b	The rabbit-herd	King offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can herd (catch, tame, train) a particular number of rabbits (roosters, sheep, goats, geese, partridges) without losing any. A poor boy receives a magic whistle or other device with which he can summon the rabbits. In order to avoid the marriage, members (deputies) of the royal family (in disguise) try to but pne of his rabbits. The young man demands a degrading humiliating act and after the demands are fulfilled, the rabbit comes back to him.
k129	The disenchanted beauty	Because of the female antagonist, a girl faints and is taken for dead but her body is not decomposed. A valuable marriage partner breaks the charms, she revives
k12b	Husband of magic wife breaks her taboo	Getting to the world that is beyond the world of the human beings, a man marries there a woman. She gives him permission to visit his home but he must avoid particular words or deeds. He breaks the taboo triggering an (irretrievable) trouble
k130	Am I the most beautiful?	A woman (rare: a man) asks if she (he) is the most beautiful among female (men) folk and always receives a positive answer. It continues till she or he receives the negative one
k131a	Hero settles argument of animals	Several animals (often a lion, an eagle, an ant) argue because of an animal carcass or a living place. A man settles their argument, they give him capacity to acquire their form (their qualities)
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
k132	Invincible chicken	Person of a small size (often a chicken) overcomes powerful adversary despite all attempts to destroy him thanks to objects and animals met on the way and preserved in his bag or inside his body
k135	Seven with one stroke	A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
k14	Precious advices	A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble
k142	Corpse buried many times	Person kills several people. asks somebody to bury only one and then tells that the dead man has returned. The grave-digger buries several people but believes that it was one and the same corpse
k146	Life-medicine brought by the hero is used to revive him	The hero is sent to bring a life-medicine. On his way back a friendly woman replaces the real medicine with a useless one or keeps part of it for herself. Using the medicine she revives the hero when he is treacherously killed
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
k14c	Man mistakes his son for his wife’s lover	Coming home after a long absence, a man understands that there is another man in his house but keeps patience and discovers that it is his own son or a close kin of his wife
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
k151	The fisherman and his wife	Supernatural creature fulfills a poor man’s moderate request. After this he or his wife asks for ever bigger gifts till the angry helper punishes them (usually takes all his gifts away)
k155b	Climbing up to the girl by her hair	A girl lets down her long hair and another person uses it as a rope to climb up to her
k157	Robbers killed one by one	Person tricks his enemies to leave their enclosure one by one and cuts off their head as soon as the next one appears before him. In rare cases the multi-headed enemy thrusts his heads on by one and the hero cuts them off
k157a	Vanished husband recognized by keeping inn	For finding the lost husband (wife, benefactor), person regularly assemble together the chance people to hear what they are saying (usually sets up an inn, bakery, bathhouse and the like where guests are stimulated to talk). One of the people proves to be the lost one or his or her story helps to find the lost one
k160	Three hairs from the devil’s beard	Hero must bring hairs, feathers, scales, etc. of a dangerous person and does it thanks to the helps of a wife or (grand)mother of this person
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
k165	The youth who wanted to learn what fear is	A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid
k17	The ornitomorphic suitor	An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
k173	Placidas	A powerful and rich man loses everything that he has, is separated with his wife and children and they with each other. Later he obtains everything back, his family is united again
k176	A man in search of the woman	A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
k177	The travelling heroine	A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
k18	Infant picks out his unknown father	A boy is born whose father or (rare) mother is unknown. He himself points at his parent who as a rule occupies the lowest social position. Usually many men (women) come together and everyone hopes that the boy points at him (her)
k1f	Conflict because of a woman	A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
k2	The destroyed ladder	Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
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
k25a4	Escape from the mermaid	A man (rare: woman) gets into power of a demonic person related to the lower world (usually a siren, fish, sea monster, rarely wizard). The antagonists raises the prisoner above water (or earth) a restricted number of times (usually being provoked or bribed to do so) and thanks to this the prisoner escapes (usually flies away turning into the bird)
k25e	Magic wife is an ancestor	All humans, members of a particular ethnic or social group or a ruling dynasty are believed to descend from a mortal man and a woman of supernatural origin
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
k27g2	The roof of feathers	Person has to build a house of the birds’ feathers or to make roof of feathers
k27g5	The wooden axe	Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
k27n	Difficult tasks of the in-laws	A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
k27n1	Task-giver is a king or a chief	Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
k27nn	Envious minister	Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks
k27o1	Head used as ball	Severed human heads are compared with balls or used as balls
k27r2	The dancing apples	A task: to bring objects (usually fruits) that act like people, i.e. dance, sing and the like
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
k27x6	The Sun, the Moon and the Wind direct the hero	Travelling in search of the marriage partner, the hero (heroine) comes in succession to several supernatural persons related to luminaries and atmospheric phenomena (the Sun, the Moon, Stars, Wind). The last of them gives him or her necessary information
k27x7	Master of animals calls them together to question them	Person in search of the remote and inaccessible place comes to the master (mistress) of animals (birds, fish) or demons who summon all of them and asks about the way to this place. Only (the last) one knows the way
k27x9	To bring an object from the sea bottom	The hero must bring a small object (often a finger ring) from the bottom of a deep waterbody (often the sea)
k27z1	Bird, horse and princess	Helpful animal instructs the hero how to steal an object he needs to get but not to take anything else (bird, but not cage, horse but not bridle, etc.) The hero breaks prohibition, is caught but released on condition that he brings another wonderful object. Situation is repeated and the last task is to bring a girl. Ultimately the hero gets both the girl and all the objects
k27z2f	The biting doll	A poor girl receives a doll (goose) that defecates money. An envious neighbor steals or borrows the doll but it soils her house and the doll is thrown out. The king (prince) uses the doll (goose) to wipe himself and it sticks to his backside (or bites him when he passes by). He announces that anyone who can release him will get a reward. Only the girl is able to do it and he marries her
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
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
k29a	Surviving in a fire	Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
k2a	Hero marooned in the underworld	Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back
k32	The false wife	An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.
k32a	Travelling man leaves his wife or daughter for a short time	A man travels with his wife or daughter. Another woman or a demonic person replaces her when the man goes away for a short time or (rare) falls asleep
k32d	Sister sent to feed geese, servant taken for the sister	A girl (rare: boy) is walking to her or his relations or to her bridegroom. On the way the imposter lures her (him) to exchange clothes and takes her (his) place while the real girl (boy) is sent to look after crops or fee domestic fowl or animals. People hear her (his) song in which all the story is told. The deception is disclosed, the imposter killed
k32g3	What punishment deserves one who did it?	The evel doer is asked what punishment should be allotted for the corresponding crime? He (she) does not understand that they speak about him (her) and determines the way of his (her) execution
k32h3	Punishment: burned alive	To punish an antagonist, he or she is burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the dangerous being is not a punishment but an effective way to get rid of him or her are not considered)
k33	Drowned woman remains alive	A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people
k33a	Younger brother transformed into animal	Siblings (most often younger brother and elder sister) leave their home. One of them (most often the brother, most rare several brothers) turn into animal (usually an ungulate) or (rare) a bird but (in the most cases) ultimately acquires his or her human form again
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
k33c	Girl from a fruit	Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
k33c6	Only one girl is preserved	Young man obtains several (usually three) fruits (eggs, pieces of reed). When he opens the first one, a girl who comes out from it immediately disappears because something was wrong (usually the drinking water for her is not available). Only the girl who has come out of the last fruit remains with the man. Cf. motif k33c7
k33d	Peau d'asne	A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house
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)
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
k35	False husband	An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
k35a	Hero brands his rivals	In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded
k35a1	Not to pick up a feather of fire-bird	On his way a man picks up a precious feather (often despite the warning of his magic horse). When a powerful person gets to know about the feather he tells the man to fulfill difficult tasks
k35a3	The master becomes the servant	To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions
k35a4	Thrown into the sea	To get rid of the hero and to get his social and family position, the imposter pushes him into the sea or maroons him on a faraway island. The hero survives and comes back {The circum-Pacific versions which are geographically remote from the Western European ones are excluded. See motif K1E}
k35a5	Token to be shown to the protector	Powerful person leaves a token (letter) for a small boy to demonstrate it when he becomes adult and comes to him
k35a7	The fertile feather	Person finds a feather that has a quality to make alive beings healthy and handsome
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
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
k37a	To recognize a man	Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
k37b	To recognize a woman by her missing finger	A man must recognize blindly the woman that he is eager to marry. He does it knowing that one of her fingers is absent or injured
k38e	Of copper, of silver, of gold	Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.)
k38e1	Forest of metal trees	Person travels across a forest with trees of two or more kinds of metal (copper, silver, etc.)
k38f	The dragon-slayer	A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot
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)
k38f4	Fire-breathing monster	From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire
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
k48	Singing bird of the hero	An antagonist wants that a wonderful bird of the hero sing but it remains mute or cries differently. The bird begins to sing when the hero triumphs over his adversaries
k52c	The flood in a dwelling	A shaman, wizard or other character with magical powers demonstrates his skill. The dwelling in which he and other people are situated begins to fill with water. It is sometimes said that this water is an illusion and that the people also see animals (waterfowl, fish or marine mammals) swimming around
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).
k56a4a	The girl sends the demon to bring her new clothes	At night a girl remains alone in an isolated house (mill, bath-house, etc.). When a demon comes, she asks him to bring her ever new pieces of attire, jewelry, etc. till it dawns and the demon disappears
k56a4f	The unkind girl becomes ugly	The supernatural person does not like the behavior of the unkind girl and punishes her making her ugly (disfigured)
k56a7	Strawberries under the snow	In the winter time a girl (rare: a boy) is sent to bring something that is available only in summer. She brings it
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
k56e	Two humpbacks	Two men have a similar defect (a hump, a lump). One spends a night in a place where spirits free him from his defect. Another comes to the same place but spirits double his defect giving him what they had taken off from the first man
k56e1	Singers mention days of the week	A man gets to see dwarfs (ghosts, witches) who dance and sing. They mention some days of the week in their song. The man joins the singing and mentions other days of the week which the dwarfs like. He receives a reward. (Usually another man tries to receive the same reward but mentions days of the week which the dwarfs do not like 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
k57a	Beauty from Soap country	Noble youth falls in love with a beautiful girl but does not recognize her as a kitchen maid whom he gave a harsh treatment. When he asks the beauty where she is from, he does not understand her cryptic answers related to corresponding episodes. Or younger brother gives a cryptic answer when his elder brothers first beat him and then do not recognize in a guise of a handsome hero
k57c	A ring in the pie	Prince putы his ring on the beauty’s finger but does not know that she is the same girl who works in his kitchen. She plants the ring in a dish of food prepared for the prince and he recognizes it
k60a	How strong are these bonds?	Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds)
k60b	Invitation to coffin	Person is lured into a trap being invited to lie in a box or a hole to measure it. Being unable to liberate himself from the box etc., the person remains in power of his enemies
k61c	To name a demon	A demon agrees to help a person (usually to fulfill some difficult work that a girl must do herself) if a person tells him his name. At the last moment the person gets know the name by chance, the demon disappears and the person is rewarded
k61c1	Listen in secret of demon	Person will be ruined if he or she would not find an answer for a riddle of a demon. The answer is found accidentally when the person or somebody else hears how the demon talks by himself or with another demon. See motif C29
k64	Escape from Polyphemos’ cave	Person gets into dwelling of master of animals or monstrous shepherd. The host can kill him. The hero escapes sticking to hair of one of the animals who are going out
k64a	Blinded cyclopes	Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
k64b	Object sticks to person	Hero's adversary provokes him to touch an object that proves to be sticky. The hero sticks to it, sometimes has to cut off his finger
k65e	Midwife in the underworld	A woman is summoned to help supernatural beings as a midwife (to baptize a baby, to be a babysitter) and returns to the human world after rendering her assistance
k65f	With which eye do you see?	When person touches her or his eye with the magic substance, she or he sees supernatural beings unseen for the people. Usually the beings understand it and make this eye blind
k66	Extraordinary companions	Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity
k66a	The land and water ship	The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits property)
k66c	The bear takes human spouse	The bear (lion) takes a woman for sexual partner or the she-bear takes a man. They have children who look like humans or bear cubs. More rare the woman gives birth to her son in the bear den because being abducted by the bear she was pregnant
k66d	The bear’s (adopted) son	The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength
k67b	Bargain not to become angry	Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee
k67b	Bargain not to become angry	Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee
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)
k73a7	The wonderful children: sister and her two brothers	Woman gives birth to three (and not two or more) wonderful children. They survive and triumph over their enemies
k73a8	The wonderful children: brother and sister	Woman gives birth to wonderful boy and girl. Being substituted with animals or objects and thrown away, they survive and triumph over their enemies
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
k73b4	To fill a bag with truth	Person must fill a bag (bowl) with truth (falsehood, tales). He fulfills the demand telling a denunciating story
k75	The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom)	A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities
k75a	Thrown apple hits the chosen one	Boy or girl selects one person among many throwing an object (usually an apple) into him or her. This way a girl makes a choice of a husband, a young man of a bride, a boy identifies his father
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
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
k80b	My mother slew me, my father ate me	The (step)mother kills or orders to kill her small (step)son, eats him or feeds his flesh to her husband. The son revives, usually in the form of a bird who tells about the crime.
k80c	The cranes of Ibycus	Person becomes a victim of a murder. Just before dying he or she calls on some birds (celestial bodies, animals, plants, etc.) to bear witness for the crime. Getting to see these birds (this plant, the Sun, the Moon, etc.) the murderer reveals himself without thinking. Or the birds, being the only witnesses, bring the investigators to the murderers.
k80c4	Mute witnesses of the crime	In a deserted place, a man kills another. After some time he is exposed thanks to circumstances and facts that do not seem important and do not report on the crime directly (the victim’s last words; objects or live beings that were or appeared on the place of the murder). (All texts that contain motifs K80c, K80c1, K80c3, K80c4, also contain a more general motif K80c4)
k80d	The stuck in pin	Person is bewitched (transformed into a bird, faints) when a pin or other sharp object is stuck into her (rare his) body
k81	The handless girl	For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives)
k81a	The handless girl in the prince’ garden	A girl with the cut off hands comes to the fruit tree (into the vegetable garden) to find food. A princes gets to see her there and marries her
k83	The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father	To cure a sick person or to make him (rare: her) young again it is necessary to bring a remedy from a distant country. The medicine is brought and the sick person is cured (becomes young)
k83	The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father	To cure a sick person or to make him (rare: her) young again it is necessary to bring a remedy from a distant country. The medicine is brought and the sick person is cured (becomes young)
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
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
k93	Twin brothers and a woman	After a series of adventures and victories, the hero gets into trouble. His twin brother or the best friend follows his traces, gets across the same persons but overcomes the last enemy and revives (liberates) the hero
k93a	Sword of chastity	Sleeping in one bed with a woman, man puts a sharp or thorny object between them as a sign of chastity (sometimes the woman herself puts the sword)
k93b1	Conception from eaten fish	After eating a fish, the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
k93b3	Boys, colts and puppies are born the same day	To have children, a woman eats a fish, apple or something else. A mare, a bitch or other domestic animals eat part of this food (often skin, broth, etc.). The woman gives birth to a boy (twins) a mare to colts, a bitch to puppies
k93b6	The sword that grows in the garden	A woman becomes pregnant eating a fish. The fish bones (entrails, tail, etc.) are buried in a garden, and at this place grows something related to her son: either a weapon (a sword) or an object which appearance depends on her son’s wellbeing (a plant or a spring)
k94	Bird of luck (eaten up head)	Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
k95	The twining branches (united in death)	Two persons who loved each other (usually a man and a girl) are buried in one grave or not far from each other. After the burial something related to this event takes place (two plants grow up and stretch their branches to each other, smoke of two funeral pyres is merged, two birds flu out from the grave, two stars appear on the sky, etc.)
k95a	Thorny bush between roses	Two lovers are buried in one grave or nearby. Two plants that grow up on the place stretch their branches to each other but a thorn grows in between them as an incarnation or symbol of a person who prevented the happy marriage
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
l100	Transformation flight	A youth and a girl who run away from pursuer transform themselves into a pair of persons, creatures or objects (pond and duck, church and priest, etc.) in order to escape detection by the pursuer
l100b	Forgotten fiancée	The hero and his bride get to escape from the pursuer. The youth goes to visit his home, leaving his bride behind for a time and forgets her. When the youth is going to marry another girl, the forgotten fiancée reawakens his memory by performing magic actions. Or the girl herself forgets her magic husband as soon as she gets to her parents’ home
l100c	Duped visitors of a chaste woman	When a man comes to a beautiful woman she tricks him by asking to finish some trivial task, keeping him by her magic in an awkward or ridiculous position until daylight. Episode is repeated next nights with other or (rare) the same suitor. Usually the first suitor being ashamed tells the other that everything was nice, so all of them are humiliated the same way
l100c	Duped visitors of a chaste woman	When a man comes to a beautiful woman she tricks him by asking to finish some trivial task, keeping him by her magic in an awkward or ridiculous position until daylight. Episode is repeated next nights with other or (rare) the same suitor. Usually the first suitor being ashamed tells the other that everything was nice, so all of them are humiliated the same way
l100e	The lover, the husband and the guest	Before coming in, a guest gets to notice that the housewife is with her lover. When the husband comes home, the guest pretends to possess magic object or the like that helps him to reveal where the good food and the lover are hidden
l100f	Guest runs away from the host	In the absence of the host, the guest is told that the host is going to kill or to maim him. The guest runs away, the host runs after him with good intentions but the guest believes that the received warning had a reason
l104	Fugitive and pursuer change guises	A fugitive turns in succession into different animals or objects. A pursuer does the same, every time becoming an animal or a person who is dangerous for the fugitive in his given guise
l108b1	A smith makes the voice thin	Person asks the smith to make his voice thin
l108c	The white hand	To make himself unrecognizable by the victim, a predator or ogre demonstrates clothes, limb, etc. that look like clothes or limb of his victim's mother, etc.
l114b	To bring ogre's property	Getting a task or by his own initiative, a trickster several times comes to a person (usually an ogre) and steals in succession objects in his possession or members of his family
l114b1	A task: to bring the ogre	Person has to bring a certain ogre and does it luring the ogre into a cage, a box, etc.
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
l118	Caught in a split log	(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
l125	Demonic wife recognized	A man marries a beauty but catches her in a situation when her not human nature is revealed. After this their marriage breaks down
l129	Why so big teeth? (Little Red Riding Hood)	Person or animal is asked why his or her body parts or tools are such as they are. He or she gives the answers (or one who is asking answers for him). Ultimately one of them kills or badly injures the other
l129a	A person asks, the wolf gives explanations	Wolf or demon is asked why his body parts do look like they are. Every time the wolf gives the explanation
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
l15e1	The sword thrown into a lake	A powerful person tells his son, warrior or people depend on him to throw his blade (sword or sabre) into a sea or lake. The one to whom it was entrusted does not fulfil the order but declares that the blade was thrown into the water. The powerful person asks what happened when the blade had fallen and hears in response that there were no supernatural phenomena. He understands that his order has not been fulfilled and demands to do it. This time or after the situation was repeated the blade is really thrown into the sea / lake. The powerful person dies / moves into another world
l15e2	What happened when you had thrown the sword into the lake?	One person tells another to throw certain object (often a sword) into the water. Another tells that he had fulfilled the order but is unable to say what happened as a result, and it becomes clear that lies
l15h1	Person’s soul is in the egg	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 an egg
l17a1	One-Eye, Two-Eyes, Three-Eyes	Persons or creatures with ever bigger number of eyes guard a man or a woman. The latter makes eyes asleep one by one but forgets about the last one
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
l19b1	The seven-headed monster	Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
l37a	To get know causes of problems
l37a2	Who will become the ferryman	Person comes to God (Fate, Sun, etc.) and puts questions that asked him to put those whom he met on the way. Somebody wanted to know for how long he must fulfill his duties. The answer: he or she must put other person on his or her place
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
l37b1	Toad under a stone	To cure a sick person or to save a household from misfortunes a toad or frog hidden in the house should be killed or removed
l39c	Quickly grown fruit tree	A boy (rare: girl) climbs a fruit tree that is recently grown up (usually from a seed thrown by the boy) to eat fruits. An ogress tries to make him (her) descend to the ground
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
l41	Hero escapes on the way	An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house
l41a	Stone in basket	Hero escapes from the demon's basket or bag letting stone (a piece of wood, some sand) instead of him
l41a1	The broken cauldron	When demon tries to empty his bag, stones and not the hero fall out and break the cauldron
l42b1	Ladder of pots and pans	Person abducted by a demon suggests him or her to make a ladder of pots, pans and other kitchen utensils by which the demon could climb up to catch the person. The ladder is collapsed and the demon injured or killed
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
l42g1	Chops are heard, woodcutter is gone	Father (step mother) abandons children in the forest. He (she) hangs a plank (gourd, shoe, etc.) on a tree that is striking trunk under the wind. Children believe that he is still nearby cutting woods
l43	Dangerous persons eat filth	Persons who are dangerous for the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) take for something pleasant and edible those objects, creatures or matters (excrements, snakes, insects, etc.) that are disgusting (not edible)
l4b	The stain of blood is impossible to wipe off	Person gets to know that the heroine has broken his or her prohibition to enter a certain room because the corresponding evidence is preserved on her body or on an object given to her (e.g. the blood on the key)
l65b2	Dogs with the meaningful names	Hero’s dogs have names that tell about their strength and deftness
l65b5	Hero’s dogs at the princess’ marriage party	Despite obstacles, dogs of the hero or other animals who are his helpers come to the princess at the very moment when she is forced to marry a deceiver
l70	Fruit falls and kills	Person or animal is killed or injured with a heavy object dropped from a tree (or rock, etc.). The person or the animal knows that the objects will fall but has falls ideas about its character and weight
l72	The obstacle flight	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer
l72a	Comb becomes a thicket	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)
l73	Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts	The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
l85	One-sided people	One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely
l85a	One-sided child	Person is born as half of a child or loses his or her half in an accident. The person does not belong to any category of supernatural beings and usually turns into normal girl or young man
l85c	Half-chicken	Person with half of a body is a chicken (sometimes only by name)
l93a	Helpful fox	Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
l94	Child promised to demon	A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child
l94b	Give me what you do not know at home!	Person promises to give (sacrifice) to a supernatural the being that will be the first to come to him when he will return home (or something that he has never seen in his house, or an object that he will first see behind the door; etc.). The person thinks that it will be something insignificant but it is his own child
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
l9g	A man with a blue beard	The beard or hair of a man are of unusual color. This is a sign of his demonic nature
m101a	Animals learn to fear men	A big predator (bear, lion, tiger) boasts about being stronger than a man. Being told that it’s not so, he finds a man and suggests to struggle but is killed or badly injured as a result. Cf. motif M101
m101b	Three men: the former, the future, the present one	A big predator is eager to see a man. He comes across a boy but gets to know that he will be a man later, then an old person who is not a man anymore. The encounter with the real man (hunter, soldier) has for the animal the unpleasant consequences
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
m106a	“Myself” and “Nobody” in demon’s house	After doing damage or inflicting injury, person lies that his name is Nobody, Myself or the like. Usually others believe that the injured one was the trouble-maker himself
m106e	For the long winter	A man has accumulated a store of provisions (saved some money, etc.) and tells his wife that it is for the long winter (Christmas, emergencies, etc.). A trickster (beggar) comes to the woman and tells her that his name is Long Winter, etc. She gives him the provisions
m106f	A guest from the paradise	A stranger tells a woman that he comes from the other world and had seen there her dead relative. The woman gives him money and goods for the latter. Usually when her husband goes after the trickster to retrieve the money, the trickster steals his horse
m106g	The cow is taken to the roof to graze	A cow (donkey, ox, etc.) is taken to the roof to graze grass that was grown there. Or the wife is raised with a rope on her neck
m106h	Holding down the hat	A man defecates, covers the pile with his hat and pretends that there is something valuable under it. Another man believes the deceiver and loses his money or property
m109	The tail-fisher	Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
m112	Animals dig a well	An animal person refuses to dig or clean a source of drinking water together with other animals or birds but takes advantage of the results of the work
m113	For certain bird water is taboo	During the hottest month of the summer or permanently birds of certain species are prohibited to drink from the water bodies. Usually they can quench their thirst only from rain drops and dew on leaves and cry calling for rain
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
m114d	The boiled eggs: eaten last year	Person eats a meal of eggs and leaves without paying. Some years later when he returns to pay his debt, the innkeeper claims the value of all chickens that would have hatched from the eggs in the meantime. On the day of the trial another person pretends to have cooked seeds for planting and the judge agrees that chicken could not be hatched from the boiled eggs
m114i	Asked about their relatives, girl or boy answers with wit	When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person
m114k	Water which is not from the earth and not from the sky	A liquid which usually should not be used for drinking or cooking once is used for these purposes. A person who is told that this liquid is neither from the earth must guess what is the source of this liquid
m116	Wisdom of hidden old man saves kingdom	People are ordered to kill their fathers or (rare) mothers (the Nyoro: to deprive them of power and property; the Baluch: not to take them setting off for the journey). An old man concealed by his son helps to resolve difficult problem
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)
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
m13	The short-sighted wish is granted	Some person makes a wish not taking in mind that his words can have other meaning or accidentally replacing one word with another. As a result, something quite undesirable takes place
m130c	The mouse and the lion (the help of the weak)	When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes)
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
m135a	The wolf's reverses	Wolf (more rare other predator animal) comes to different (more than two species) domestic animals (animals and people) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their requests and remains without his meal and usually becomes beaten (killed)
m136b	Cutting off the branch	Man sitting on branch of a tree cuts it off and similar variants (man climbs a rope and cuts it off; men cut a tree and climb on it to fell it; man climbs with difficulty on a dead branch of a tree, which breaks off)
m136c	The man takes seriously the prediction of death	Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless
m140	The theft of fish	Trickster pretends to be dead, sick or weak and is picked up by those who carry something edible in a cart (sledge, boat, bag, etc.). The trickster secretly eats the food, often after throwing it out of the cart (sledge, etc.)
m154	The animal language and the stubborn wife	A man obtains knowledge of animal languages but if he reveals the secret, he must die. Once he hears animals talking and laughs. His wife thinks that he laughs at her or at her mother. The man is ready to open his secret and either does it and dies or hears how animals (usually a cock) blame him for being so foolish. So he keeps his secret.
m154a1	A pregnant wife on a pregnant mare	A man who understand language of animals hears how a pregnant mare says that she carries four (three) persons because the woman on her back is also pregnant
m154b	The man who does his wife's work	Husband remains home instead of his wife (rare: son instead of his mother) but does everything wrong so as he suffers a series of accidents
m156	The ungrateful one returned to captivity	An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again)
m157a2	Bull or cart gives birth	Person claims that a calf (colt, kid, etc.) was born (brought to the place) not by the cow (mare, etc.) of another person but by his own male animal (bull, stallion, etc.), his own animal of another species or by inanimate object (usually a cart)
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
m157a6	You imagine that you speak with the abbot	A man is not wise enough to answer questions put by a king (prince, etc.). His servant or friend takes his place and guise and gives clever answers. Usually one of the questions is like “What I think now?” and the answer, “You think that you speak with the abbot (minister, etc.) but I am a shepherd (a miller, etc.)
m161	A dog in the bag	Person gives another (often a fox) a bag putting inside a dog instead of food; or he makes free a girl who was kept in the bag and replaces her with a dog. The dog attacks the one who opened the bag
m164	All tracks going into the den and none coming out	Animal person refuses to enter the den of a strong predator seeing that all tracks go into it but none come out
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
m166	Piece among animals	To lure his potential victim down from a tree, a predator pretends not to be dangerous (usually announces that it has been decreed that all animals are united in piece). The victim is dubious and usually asks the predator to announce the same news to the dogs. The predator runs away
m168a	The master taken seriously	An animal or a bird who makes use of a peasant’s property (lives in his field) does it till the very moment when the danger becomes critical. Usually a mother fox or bird does not command her children to leave a field (vineyard) until the master himself (and not his sons, farmhands, etc.) comes to cut the vines or to harvest the field
m169	Medicine for the sick lion	In the presence of powerful person one of his subjects is plotting against the other. The other answers that the problem can be resolved if the first one would be maimed (usually a part of his body used as a medicine). The schemer is killed or injured
m178	The lying goat	A man sends others one after the other to pasture the goat. Back home, the goat always complains it did not get anything to eat. The man angrily sends away or kills his shepherds (who usually are his family members). When he himself pastures the goat he realizes that it lies. He is going to kill the goat, usually skins it, but it escapes
m179a	The owner driven out of his house	Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
m180	Fox and crane invite each other	An animal person invites another and serves his food in such a way that he is unable to taste it. Then the other invites the first animal and puts him in similar situation
m183	A race: one against many	Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss
m184	The slow one is ahead of the sleeping one	A slow and a fast animals agree to race. The fast one is sure that he will win and is not in a hurry at all while the slow one is moving persistently to his aim and wins
m185	On the tail of the fast one (animals)	A slow and a fast animals (or not flying bird) agree to race. The slow one imperceptibly sticks to the fast one’s body (or to a vehicle) and getting to the finish pretends to come there simultaneously with the fast one or before him
m185a	On the tail of the winner (all versions)	Birds, animals or fish compete as about who is the fastest or can fly higher than others. A weak one imperceptible sticks to the body of the fastest or strongest and wins
m187	Snail is a participant of the race	A snail (other mollusk, trepang, etc.) participates in the race and wins
m191a	Belling the cat	The mice decide to tie a bell on the cat, so they can hear when the cat comes. Usually they cannot find anyone to tie it on her
m191b	Ingratitude and injury are hard to forget	A man feeds a snake (rare: a fish; does not do it any harm) and the snake makes him rich (is friendly). His son (rare: someone else or the man himself) injures the snake (kills its young) and dies (if son; because of the bite). The snake refuses to keep former friendship with the man: both of them remember the inflicted pain
m197	The effectiveness of fire	Seriously or demonstrating absurdity of the situation, a person tries to cook something using a fire (a source of light) that is far away from the object to be cooked
m198b	The pretended astrologer	A person who has not a bit of a skill to expose thieves and find the lost objects does it successfully thanks to a series of lucky coincidences
m198b2	Grasshopper by name, the astrologer	A king (landlord, etc.) suggests to guess what he has in his hand (in a box). It is an insect there (usually a grasshopper). The man says that now you, Grasshopper, is caught. People think that he gave the correct answer
m199	Squeezing the (supposed) stone	A man or a weak animal and an ogre (giant, devil) have a contest to see which of them can squeeze a stone. The man squeezes a cheese (egg, turnip) and thus intimidates the ogre
m199c	Throwing a club	A man pretends that he had thrown or is going to throw a heavy object to the sky (to the clouds). His adversary asks him not to do it.
m199c1	Throwing contest	An ogre (devil etc.) pretends to throw a stone or other heavy object so far that it will destroy people beyond the sea (mountains, etc.) (where ogre’s relatives live)
m199f	Pulling the lake together	Person threatens the devils (water dwellers, etc.) that he will deprive them of their home (pull together or stir up a lake, dry the sea, build a church where the devils live, etc.). The devils (fish, etc.) fulfill person’s demands
m199g1	Carrying a tree with an ogre	An ogre (devil, a strong animal, etc.) and a man (a weaker animal) carry a tree. The man tricks the ogre who carries the heavy bottom-end while the man sits on a branch or walks pretending to carry his burden
m199h	The disemboweled ogre	Person or animal puts food into a bag and hides it under his clothes. Cutting the bag open he pretends to disembowel himself. His adversary tries to do the same and kills himself
m199o	Making a hole in a tree	A man and his adversary have a contest to see who can make a (deeper) hole in a tree (stump) with his finger (fist, penis, head). The man cuts the hole beforehand with an instrument and replaces it with a bark or leaves (makes a cut in a tree)
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).
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
m207	The mouse in the jug	A poor married couple (a poor man) bemoans life’s harshness and blame Adam and Eve who through their disobedience and curiosity brought sin into the world. A powerful person hears their complaint and put them into the place where they can live in luxury. He stipulates only that they must not break certain taboo (usually to open a covered vessel). They break taboo and are returned to their old way of life
m23	Mock plea	Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
m26a	Ducks rise hunter into the air (threaded on a string)	Person catches birds by tying a bait to a string which they swallow and become tied one after another to the same string; or he immobilizes many birds with one bullet; or gives them liquor and ties to a string. Usually the birds all fly up at once and lift the man up in the air
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
m29b2	The bear is a failure/enemy	Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29b3	The fox (jackal, coyote) is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29k	The turtle (tortoise, toad, frog) wins thanks to his smartness	Being smart and persistent, the turtle (toad, frog) overcomes strong adversaries
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
m38c	Superb blacksmith	A blacksmith is (seems to be) able make people young, cure maimed people and animals
m38c1	Old people forged into young ones: unhappy imitation	Person changes (forges, boils, cuts into pieces and joins them back) old (sick, dead) people into the young (healthy, alive) ones or pretends to do so. Another one unsuccessfully tries to imitate him
m38c2	Cuts the horse’ leg off to iron it	To iron a horse or a donkey, Jesus (a saint) cuts its leg off, irons it and puts the leg back, the horse is not injured. Another person imitates him with no success
m38d2	The bean, the straw and the coal	Several (usually three) small animated objects travel but fail to cross a river (usually perish attempting to cross it)
m39a	Fool takes off boots from animals’ legs	Two or three brothers live together (with their mother). One of them makes stupid actions like (all or some of them): lets free animals that got into a snare but kills his mother; cuts off the legs of domestic animals or flays them; thinks that a certain place on a head of a baby is a tumor, sucks baby's brains out; cuts a cloth into pieces and ties them to reeds of to branches of a tree; hearing a murmur of water throws food into the water; tries to build a hut not on a river bank but in the river
m39a2	Fool puts a needle into the hay	Fool puts a small sharp object (needle, pin, nail) in a place when it is impossible later to find it (a cart-load of hay, a bag of flour. etc.)
m39a3a	The oiled ground	Fool gets to see objects that are cracked (stumps, ground, ice) and oils them with sympathy
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
m39a4f	Fool’s customer is a statue	Fool sells property to the statue and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure
m39a6g	Four coins (The sharing of bread and money)	Man explains that one part of his incomes he puts out at interest while another part is used to pay debts, i.e. he cares for his children and keeps up his parents
m39a8	A fool carries a door on his back	A fool or a buffoon takes the door of the house and carries it on his back
m39a8a	Fool drops an object from a tree	A person (often a fool or buffoon) drops a (heavy) object from a tree. Those who are under the tree (usually robbers or demons) are frightened and run away abandoning their goods and valuables
m39g	Girl bewails the loss of her child before she has any (Clever Elsie)	Girl bewails the loss of her future child before she has any; thinking about an event that could have been tragic; is jealous of her sisters before any of them have fiancée; thinks out the name of her child that does not exist instead of coming to meet her fiancée.
m39g2	Shoveling nuts with a pitchfork	Numskulls try to shovel nuts with a pitchfork. F stranger shows them how to do this work more easily with a shovel (a basket)
m57a	Beads discharged from the body	Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
m57a3	Female person is the producer of valuables	Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a
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
m60	Sham doctor: finished off enemy	Hero wounds dangerous enemy (a monster, a robber) and then, in guise of a doctor, comes to him and kills his patient instead of curing him
m74a	Strange names of the babies	An animal person pretends to be invited to be godfather or he gives names to different places along which he travels in a sledge, boat, etc. The names look strange but become understandable when other people or animals get to know that their companion has devoured all the supplies
m74aa	Theft of food by playing godfather	An animal person pretends (several times) that he has to make a visit (that he has been invited to be godfather at a baptism or invited to a funeral or wedding) but instead eats secretly food supplies
m74d	Who ate the lamb’s heart?	While travelling on earth, God (a saint) asks his companion to prepare a slaughtered animal (chicken). The companion secretly eats liver (heart, etc.) and explains that the animal did not have such an organ. He confesses his wrong deed when God (a saint) promises him a treasure
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
m77	A soiled bed	While person is asleep, another smears with excrements or something that reminds excrements his or her bed or clothes. The ashamed person runs away or agrees to make what the trickster wants in exchange of his silence
m78	A tiny boy (Thumbling)	Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
m78b	Too many children	A woman who is eager to have a child gives birth to a great number of tiny boys. She or her husband kill them or throw them away but one remains and helps his parents
m81e	Not to graze animals on the ogre's land	The young man takes the job of grazing animals and is warned not to cross the border of the ogre’s land. The hero ignores the warning and overcomes the ogre
m91a	Simulated killing (a bag with blood)	Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
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)
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
m91c4	Pot that does not need fire to cook	Man takes a pot from the fire but it is still boiling or he cooks the food beforehand and tells that his pot cooks it in no time (or that his stick touching ground creates the food). Another man buys the pot (the stick)
m91c5	The wager that sheep are hogs	A man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep
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
n10	The transparent body	A woman (rare: a man) with transparent body is described. This transparence is an evidence of the beauty
n10b	The transparent neck	A girl (rare: a youth) with transparent neck is described, food or drinks swallowed by her or him are seen. Such a neck is an evidence of the beauty
n11	As snow and blood	Person is eager to get a child (spouse) who would be likened to blood and snow (milk)
n12	Cloak of beards	A powerful person makes or orders to make for him a cloak or a mantle from human beards and/or moustaches
n30	Crying while looking in one direction and laughing while looking in another	The formula that describes the confusion of feelings: when a person looks in one direction, he or she cries, when in another – begins to laugh or smile; or one eye of a person laughs and another laughs; or person laughs looking at one object and weeps looking at another; or one of two persons who share the same fate laughs and another smiles, etc.
n38	Which key is better	Person asks which key is better: the old one that was lost and found or the new one. By this the marriage partner is meant

Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: Italians: Northwest (Mentona, Ticino, Valle-d’Aosta, Piemont, Liguria, Lombardia, Emilia–Romagna)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Wallons, Picardie
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Italians: Northeast (Trentino – Alto Adige, Veneto, Venezia Giulia, Southern Tirol, Friuli, Istria)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Portuguese
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Scotland
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Estonians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Italians: Southern (Abruzzo, Campania, Molise, Basilicata, Apulia, Calabria)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Serbs, Monte Negro,
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Occitanie (southern France): Limousin, Auvergne, Provence, Aquitaine, Albret, Gers, Aveyron (Rouerge), Armagnac, Landes, Gascogne, Vivarés, Roussillon, Pyrénées, Bearne, Guyenne, Bigorre, Ain, Hautes Alpes, Ariège, Vienne, Aude, French part of Swiss
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Latvians

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ingush
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ossetians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: England
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ukrainians: Western dialects to the East of Carpathians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Rusyns, Hutsuls
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Chuvash
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Germans: Northwest (Low- and Central German dialects): Schleswig-Holstein, Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony, incl. East Frisia and Oldenburg), Nordrhein-Westfalen, Hessen, Rheinland-Pfalz, Thüringen, Saxony-Anhalt, Sachsen
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Italians: Northwest (Mentona, Ticino, Valle-d’Aosta, Piemont, Liguria, Lombardia, Emilia–Romagna)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Bretagne