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
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)
Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
Magic mill is ordered to grind salt but not ordered to stop. It sinks into ocean and continues to work making the water salty
Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart
There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year
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
Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
Several men take part in rescuing, creation or reanimation of a girl (rare: a bird) or several women take part in the reanimation of a dead man or they differetly express their grief. It is asked whose role was crucial (who behavior more noble) and/or who should be the spouse of the reanimated person. Or three men make something valuable and it is asked whose role in the corresponding enterprise was more important
Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head)
A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her
The women dominated over the men in the past or in a far away land, were the active part in marriage relations, practiced activities which now are reserved of the men only. Or the women could obtained supremacy but failed to do it for some reason
The men of primeval community kill the women because of their unsocial behavior
The women of the ancestral community kill, try to kill or transform the men
The women and the men of the primeval community quarrel and abandon each other
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
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
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
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
Animal person who let lose the content of a container entrusted to him or her (darkness, insects, reptiles, etc.) still tries to pick up what was let lose (etiology of behavior of certain animal species)
The right way to dispose of container with stinging insects would be to throw it into the river or sea or bury in a far away place, but it was not done
Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened
A dog or other animal kills dangerous creature who was going to attack the child. The master thinks that the assailant was the pet and kills it
A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God
Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head
Person who points at the Moon or a star or looks intently at them will get sick or die or his pointing finger will rot or wither
It to point at the rainbow, pointing finger or entire arm will rot, wither or become crooked
The Pleiades are a brooding hen, hen with its chickens, chickens
The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children)
The Pleiades are a woman with her children
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
God transformed man into a cuckoo, his wife and children into the Pleiades
(Belt of) Orion is (three) mowers or agricultural tools related to mowing and harvesting
Two constellations (usually Ursa major and Ursa minor) are interpreted as twin objects of the same type (two animals, two carts, etc.)
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
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
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
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
Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
Person is ordered to bathe in a (boiling) milk or other hot liquid or to jump into fire. He remains unharmed but his adversary usually dies
A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
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
When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to killl or to tame a dangerous animal or not to kill certain animal during a hunt, he (she) turns into this animal himself or transforms into it his daughter(s) or wife (husband)
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.
To punish an antagonist, he or she is buried 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
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
Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health
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
For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
A serpent or water monster regularly devours or injures children of a bird or other flying creature (almost always nestlings of giant bird). The hero kills the serpent (monster)
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
A girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog
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).
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
A man loses an axe. A spirit or a powerful official suggests him a golden axe but the man does not accept it. The spirit (official) gives him axes of gold and silver as a reward for his honesty. Usually another man intentionally loses his axe, claims the golden one but receives nothing
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
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
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
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
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
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
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)
The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon
Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world
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
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
A boy born into a family or found by his adoptive parents has a strange guise (ball of meat, nut, bag, half of a man, an animal). He possesses magic power, becomes a handsome man and usually marries a girl of high social status. The magic spouse of a princess originally has a non-human or monstrous appearance
An (adoptive) son is a hedgehog. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man.
Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included)
Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds
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
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.
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.
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)
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)
Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
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
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
Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son
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
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
A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him
Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished
A woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who make laugh his wife or mother
Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again
A girl or young woman is bewitched to be mute or must keep silence for a period of time. Just when she has to be put to death, the period of her muteness is over and she is saved
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)
A man on a journey meets tree or two persons who are quarreling over the division of magic objects (a flying carpet, seven mile boots, etc.). The man promises to render a judgment, but he asks first to try our the objects or suggests the owners to run a race and uses opportunity to escape with the objects
A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon
Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person
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
An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in
A demonic being swallows a multitude of people and animals. When it is killed and cut open, the swallowed ones come out alive or are revived
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
Hero listens in conversation of demonic beings who plan to turn into something edible, attractive, etc. and to destroy those who touch them. The hero neutralize the demons beforehand
Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
A turtle (tortoise, toad, frog) behaves foolishly creating serious problems for himself
Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return
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)
A man sends another one to top of a mountain or a tree to obtain treasure for him. To go back is impossible but the man survives
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
It should be guessed the nature of a big animal or its skin, the content of a box. The correct answer is that the animal is a louse (or a flea), a louse is in the box
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
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
Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
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
A healthy animal tricks an injured one (a wolf, a bear) into carrying him on his back by pretending to be injured himself
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
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
Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc.
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
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
Animal person attaches a vessel or its part to his body, puts it into the water, the vessel is heavy and drags him into the water
Grain is harvested with inappropriate tools. Seeing sickle for the first time, people take it for a dangerous animal
Getting into a well or pit and being unable to climb out animal person tricks another to descend and thanks to this gets out while the second person remains below
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)
Two animals (an animal and a person, an ogre and a person, etc.) agree to divide a crop in such a way that one would take what is above the ground and another what is beneath ground. One of them (several times makes a wrong choice (takes turnip tops and wheat roots)
Person gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
The hare is in despair because he is afraid of all creatures but is delighted when he sees other animals (sheep, frogs, dusks) being afraid of him
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
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
Life of every man is related to certain thread. When the thread is cut, the man dies
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
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.)
Person travels across a forest with trees of two or more kinds of metal (copper, silver, etc.)
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
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
In the winter time a girl (rare: a boy) is sent to bring something that is available only in summer. She brings it
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
Young woman’s bridegroom or husband gets to believe that she is extraordinarily industrious. To conceal the deception, she herself or somebody else makes the man believe that because of hard work women become ugly or change into animals. The man prohibits his wife to work anymore
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
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
Person claims that a man or a male animal had given birth (or is menstruating) or that a female gave birth to a young of another species or that a woman gave birth to an animal
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.
A man and his wife make a wager: Whoever speaks first must do certain trivial work or get a bigger portion of some simple food. They or one of them continue to keep silence even being exposed to violence or taken by others as the dead
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
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)
A girl answers her father (rare: brother) that she loves him like she loves salt (or that salt is the most valuable, etc.). He becomes angry (usually drives her away) but later satisfies himself that she was right
Somebody suggests to guess what sort of material a certain object is made of. Another person (usually a monster) gets to know the secret and the hero or the heroin must do what they have promised
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
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
A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity
A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc.
Person builds a bridge (usually of gold etc.) during a very short time
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
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
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
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
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
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
A man escapes from his (her, theirs) pursuers and hides in a cave. A spider spins its web over the hiding place. When the pursuers see the spider web they think the cave is unoccupied and do not enter it
Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her
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
A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg
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
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
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
A blacksmith is (seems to be) able make people young, cure maimed people and animals
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
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
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
(Evening) Venus is associated with a predator animal, usually with a she-wolf
Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
A man (usually of high social position) learns by a prediction that a (newborn) girl will be his future wife or a girl from rich family gets to know that her future husband is a poor man. The man (the girl, something else) attempts to kill the predestined marriage partner but only wounds her or him. After the wedding it becomes clear that the prediction is fulfilled
Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone.
Person who carries a bundle of brushwood or firewood is seen in the moon.
Person who counts stars will suffer diseases and misfortunes
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
Alcor (a weak star near Mizar, the second star of the Big Dipper’s handle) is a rider, a driver
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.)
Antagonist names numbers from one to seven or nine, every time asking what it is. The hero gives answers that the antagonist accepts as correct ones.
An ogre (devil, etc.) challenges a man to a wrestling and/or running contest. The man sends his “relative” – a bear to wrestle and a hare to run
An ogre (devil, etc.) and a man take turns in carrying a horse. The ogre carries it on his back and is soon exhausted and the man “takes the horse between the legs”, i.e. rides it
Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.)
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him
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
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
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
A man gets to the powerful woman who lives in the world unreachable without the supernatural helpers, and then returns back. An imposter claims hero's deeds for himself. The powerful woman comes and finds the real hero, punishes (rejects) the imposter
A wolf is predicted to become a cause of death of a person or the person must die at his wedding day. The prophesy becomes true. If it is about the marriage, the bride herself turns into a wolf and kills her bridegroom
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)
A man saves a devil (snake, dangerous animal) who suffers from proximity of certain object or person. The grateful devil promises to enter a princess and abandon her as soon as the man comes to cure her. The man will get a reward but he should not try such a trick again. The man scares the devil forever telling him that the object or person of which the devil is afraid will be near soon
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
The servant is asked to prepare a goose (chicken, etc.), eats one leg and maintains that the goose had only one leg enforcing his point by showing geese who stand on one leg. The master shoots away the geese so that they use both legs. Usually the servant replies that if he had frightened the roasted goose, it would have showed its second leg as well
A man hides in a skin or carcass of a big animal. A bird carries it to its nest without knowing that the man is inside
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
Bat (rare: ostrich) makes attempts to join sometimes animals and sometime birds or is excluded from both categories
Two teenagers or young people are in search of each other, call each other (or one of them call another): a girl in search of her lost (or dead) brother or brother’s wife, a boy in search of his brother or sister, young parents in seach their child. One or both of them turn into birds with specific cry
The riddle refers to extraordinary or accidental events that happened to the person setting the riddle, and thus is unsolvable to outsiders
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)
Person demands from the other to bring him an offspring or milk of a male animal
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
A man finds a mortar (rare a bell, etc.) of gold (rare: of marble, etc.) and brings it to a powerful person. The latter is not thankful at all but orders the man to bring a pestle too (the bell’s clapper, etc.)
A girl asks a man who arrived by horse to tether it to the summer or to the winter, i.e. to a sleigh or to a cart
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
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
Человек оказывает услугу нескольким (потенциально опасным) животным и другому человеку. Благодарные животные помогают ему, а человек предает и вредит
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
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
Closing formula of the folktale: characters put the storyteller into a cannon or rifle and made the shot or he jumped onto a cannonball that has been shot from a cannon and so arrived at the place of performance
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
A fool loses his head (usually bitten off by a bear). His wife or companions cannot say had he his head before but remember that he certainly had a hat (beard)
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
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
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.
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
A task: to bring objects (usually fruits) that act like people, i.e. dance, sing and the like
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
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
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)
Animal person covers his head with a milky substance or dough and convinces another that he has been so badly injured that his brains are coming out
Person is covered with tar (honey) and feathers, moves on his or her hands and knees backward, etc. A demon believes that he sees un unknown animal. The persons is saved
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)
Hero hides in a smithy from a dragoness who pursues him. She destroys the door or wall (with her tongue) but the hero (smith) burns her (usually grips tight her tongue with his hot pincers or throws hot iron club in her mouth)
A man has to send several nights near the girl who died and became a dangerous demonic being. After this the girl is disenchanted
A lazy (stupid) boy releases a fish (frog, serpent, supernatural being) which gives him a power of making all his wishes come true; he marries a princess
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
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
A man (boy) and an ogre (devil, bear, etc.) have a screaming or whistling context. The man uses a trick (binds ogre’s eyes and strikes him on his head with a heavy object; blows a horn at the ogre’s ear; pretends to bind their heads that they would not break because of his whistling, etc.). The ogre acknowledges the man to be stronger than he
An animal or a person eats up the first book (writing, important document). (In some of European traditions the eating up of the book is not directly described but follows from the context)
Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime
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.
Closing formula of the folktale: the teller represents himself as being present at the wedding and/or feast, which were organized by characters of the tale
Using a magic object or spell, hero makes people (and animals) attached to the object or to each other
When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes)
One animal person promises to sew a fur coat (or boots) for another and asks to bring him ever more sheep. He eats the meat and sews nothing
The bear (wolf, lion, dragon) beliefes that vulva is a wound.
Old man and woman make a child of clay (wood, straw). The doll becomes alive, devours everybody who comes across. Usually a goat (sheep) breaks it, swallowed people come our alive
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
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
Hair of the head of a person turns into grass (thorns, bamboo, shrub)
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
Young man lives with an old man whose eye(s) were stolen by an ogre. The youth comes to the ogre, kills him, brings the stolen eyes and the old man gets to see again
The animals (usually dogs) got a certificate which was lost because of the cat (is swallowed by the cat, burned, eaten by mice). Since them dogs and cats are enemies, usually also cats and mice
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
The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits property)
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
Person (St. Peter), angry at carpents, wants another (Christ) to make wood (trees) with iron knots (branches, nails) but the latter makes the branches only of hard wood
The wolf (lion, etc.) is going to eat a horse (mule, etc.). The horse asks him to look at his hoof (for different reasons) or eat him from his hindquarters forward; then he kicks him
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
Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal
A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest
Fools carry sunlight (darkness, smoke) in bags, sieves, etc. and carry it into the room or out of it
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). A helpful genie appears and fulfills the boy’s wishes
Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless
Three (two, more) men find (rob) a treasure. One of them goes away for a while. Those who stay kill him when he returns but die later from eating food (drinking wine) which he had poisoned
Answering to a question what is the fatties, sweetest, swiftest, etc., the clever person names abstract notions and non-material values (and a fool names particular objects or creatures)
A dialogue is based on fact that the beard of the young men is black while the beard of the old men is grey. Usually a man answers the question why the hair of his head is grey and the hair of his beard is black. “The hair of the head is twenty years older than the beard”
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
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
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
Sons of a man neglect their father (daughters-in-law neglect their father-in-law). He pretends to be hiding something (counts money conspicuously, etc.). The sons believe that their father has considerable inheritance and become to look after him carefully. When the father finally dies they find nothing valuable in his chest
A youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid
Person imprisoned a dragon (demon, Thunder, etc.) and warns the other not to open a certain room (not to give water to the prisoner, etc.). The instruction is broken and the demon liberates himself that has undesirable consequences
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
A man himself or somebody else creates situation that demonstrates that his wife is not his best friend. Often a treacherous wife is contrasted with a true dog
An ogre sends a man to bring water giving him an enormous skin. The man is unable to carry such an amount of water but does not reveal his weakness using a ruse (he is digging around the well and explains that he wants to carry all the water at once; or says that he brought the skin with the water but drank it already up, etc.)
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)
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
Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
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)
Each of calender units (usually the months) that make the year is a separate object or person
Animals (mostly domestic) and/or people attempt to do a job (usually to pull up a root crop). The first one cannot do it and ever more participants join him. The aim is achieved when the last one (who is usually the weakest) comes to help
Failed attempts to wake magic husband
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
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.)
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.
A woman with her new-born child (or a woman pregnant with a boy) or a young girl and a young boy is put into a barrel (box, skin bag, boat) and thrown into the sea (river)
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)
Somebody from the enemies’ camp is constantly weaving (forging) ever new warriors (rare: weapons)
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
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
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
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
Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc.
Roots (belt) of rocks (stones, mountains) are mentioned in myths, riddles, proverbs, charms and songs as something that does not exist
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).
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
A glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as a an unusual (difficult to be reache) place
A woman who lives in the house of a supernatural person conceals the man who had come to her and puts questions to this person. The answers that are received and became known to the man are of great importance for him
The bat becomes an outcast among other creatures (usually after it makes attempts to join first animals and then birds or vice versa)
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
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
Devil is ready to make a man rich if he would not wash (and comb) himself for a long time. The man is willing, both fulfill their promise
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
Lightnings are fissures in the sky-vault and the sky light is seen through them for a moment
Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
On a certain moment, a crack, a window or the like opens in the sky vault (rains flows though it, the upper world is seen, communication with inhabitants of the upper world becomes possible)
In the pike’s head are (seen) tool used by people
A supernatural person or creature asks a man (woman) to pass a message for an unknown adressée. The man does it or retells all the story to his family member. The story provokes such a reaction of another supernatural being (who usually lives in the man’s house) that is totally unexpected for the man
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
An antagonist possesses a horse which can overtake any other. Hero obtains the brother (sister) of this horse who is the only one to win the race with the antagonist's horse
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
A youth comes to an old man (rare: old woman) who instructs him how to obtain magic wife hiding her feather-clothing. For the first time, the youth usually gives her her clothes back, the girl disappears and he lives with the old man till the next opportunity
An ogre (devil etc.) and a man compete to determine who can throw a stone higher or to a greater distance. The man throws not a stone but a bird.
Epics and folktales begin with an initial formula in which it is claimed that animals fulfilled social or economic roles of the people
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
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
Clouds are associated with cattle (and rain is the milk of the cloud coes)
A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him
The demon has to give the man a hat (boot, bag or other container) full of gold. The man plans his hat (pot etc.) with a hole in it in such a way that the gold falls out of the container as soon as it is put into it. The man gets enormous treasure
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
To get rid of a (female) demon or to make a (lady)bird fly away, they are told that their house and/or children are on fire
To make a (lady)bird fly away, she is told that her house and/or children are on fire
Getting a magic sack into which any being must climb according to the wish of the owner, a man acquires power over the Death (Devil)
After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
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
God charges a man with the task of magaging the weather. The man sends rain and heat in a due propotion but is unable to consider all relevant factors (usually forgets the wind). As a result, the man gets no harvest at all all the breads has a bad taste
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
The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again)
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
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
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
To climb a rock, person must insert into it bones and use them as a ladder
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
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
Person becomes a master of another after winning a game (game of chance or Intellectual game but not a sport tournament)
In a series of three (rare: four) loci or objects that have high but different value the highest value is related to the precious stone (usually a diamond; crystal, glass)
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)
Birds (usually storks or geese) carry small children to the other world or bring them from there
A monster with twelve heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
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
The enchanted person (a palace where he or she is) changes his (her, its) appearance gradually as far as the spells dissolve: becomes more human, turns white from black, beautiful from ugly, etc.
A conceited smith attempts to rejuvenate an old woman (man). His magic helper tries to save the victim but all that he do is to transform the woman into an animal, usually a monkey
A young man kills somebody and later gets to know that ut was his father
In the beginning of time or after the natural disaster brother and sister, mother and son, or father and daughters are the only human beings. They marry and the present day people are their descendents
Woman has no vagina and it is later made by bird or animal
The hero must bring a small object (often a finger ring) from the bottom of a deep waterbody (often the sea)
To gain a woman, a man hides inside a hollow figure or a carcass of a big animal (horse, bull, etc.). Person who guards the woman brings it to her. The man comes outside and becomes the woman’s lover. Or a woman hides inside the figure of the horse that is brought into the room of a man
A horse with a bigger number of legs or wings is faster than the horse that has lesser number of legs or wings
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
An (ostensibly) sick (ugly, weak, poorly clad) person remains at home when others go to the feast. The person comes by himself or herself looking like a handsome man or beautiful girl. The man (woman) does not recognize him (her) and feels against her (him) sexual interestю (All texts with motif k57, Chinderella, are also included into f62)
Prince brings a shoe to marry a girl whose foot it fits. To meet such a standard, some girls cut off their toes or heel
The bargain between two persons is to end when a bird whose call is related to particular time of a temporal cycle will be heard. In order to hasten the contract’s end, another person imitates the bird. The first one recognizes the trick
The unrecognized hero works as a gardener at the powerful person
Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.)
Person obtains some wild animals (of two or more different species) who serve him like dogs
A king (landlord, etc.) suggests a man whose name was Crab to guess what is in the box (on the plate under a cover, etc.). It is a crab (crabs) there. The man says that now you, Crab, is caught. People think that he gave the correct answer
Once in a year water for a short time acquires special qualities
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
The imprisoned supernatural person breaks his chains and escapes after they give him some water (or wine, etc.)
Big migratory birds who fly like a wedge (stocks, cranes, swans, geese; Zugvögel in German) are connected with the world beyond (bring babies from there, carry children away to the unhuman loci, possess the water of life and death, etc.)
A guard (courtier) agrees to open a man an access to a powerful person after a promise to share with him the expected reward. The man asks to be bitten (from the very beginning expected the punishment)
Being smart and witty, the Gipsy overcomes strong adversaries
A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back
When a deity (powerful person) attempts to pass some money to a certain man, he either gets it or not thanks to his fate while all other factors play no role
A princess who lies or stands between two pretenders for her hand must choose one of them without seeing him. The bridegroom of low social position tricks the noble one to be smeared by filth and the princess turns to one who smells aromatically
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
There is a treasure under the extremities of the rainbow
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
Going to the feast, party, etc., animal person borrows from another one a part of the body that must make him more attractive
A man gets into the dwelling of snakes and after a long time escapes or is permitted to go. In While in the dwelling of snakes, he usually licks a special stone that allows to live without water and food
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
Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
Numskulls try to shovel nuts with a pitchfork. F stranger shows them how to do this work more easily with a shovel (a basket)
When a man is dying, he leaves his son (each of his sons) something that does not have any significant value. The son comes to a country where the corresponding object or animal is unknown and sells it for great money
A man sells a cat (a cock) to the people who have never seen cats or chicken. When they get the marvellous creature they do not know what they should give it to eat and think that it eats people
An old man needs a son to accomplish a man’s work or service. (Only the youngest) daughter sets to do it (successfully passing her father’s test and) guised as a man
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
Woman gives birth to wonderful boy and girl. Being substituted with animals or objects and thrown away, they survive and triumph over their enemies
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
In the beginning of time or after the natural disaster brother and sister are the only human beings. They marry and the present day people are their descendents
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
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)
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
Fool sells property to a tree (stump, pole, a cross in the countryside) and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure