| 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 |
| a18 | The Sun boat | During the day and/or the night (in the underworld, beyond the horizon etc.) the Sun and/or the Moon regularly travel in a boat. |
| a19c | The sun horse | The Sun is associated with a horseman or rides in a cart driven by horses (equids) |
| a19c1 | The sun cart | The sun or the moon moves in a cart or sledge |
| 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) |
| a2a | The sun is a source of distructive heat | The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns had (will) appear(ed) simultaneously; or the only sun was too hot (or bright) |
| a2c | Extra suns are children of the present one | Extra suns who almost burned or could burn the world are children of the present one |
| a2c1 | The Sun abandons his marriage plans | The Sun plans to have children. One of the animals sais that if the Sun (marries and) has children, the earth will burn. The Sun has to abandon his plans. |
| 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 |
| a42 | Phaethon: false Sun fails to fulfill his duty | Person comes to the sun, attempts to fulfill the sun's duty but intentionally or because of a lack of skill does it wrong and the earth suffers from heat etc.
(Cf. Earth burned because the bearer of the sun came too low, Boas 2002: 664)
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| a42a | The Sun’s imitator falls to earth (Phaethon) | When a person arrives to the sky his attempt to fulfill the sun's duty fails and he falls to earth (is thrown down to earth) |
| b111 | Bees emerge from the bull | Bees or wasps fly out of the corpse the body of a big animal (lion, bull). Usually the episode explains the origine of bees |
| b1a | Three worlds: the universe divided between gods | Anthropomorphic persons agree to divide between them levels of universe (upper world, earth, lower world) |
| 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 |
| b2d | Marriage of the sky and the earth | The male Sky (the Sun, the Thunder, the creator of the sky) marries the female Earth (or its female creator) or the female Sky marries the male Earth |
| b2f | Difficult funerals | (While the earth is still absent or liquid), a bird buries its relative in its own head that usually explains its appearance (a swell on its beak, a crest of feathers) or unpleasant smell |
| b2f1 | Buried in a head | (While the earth is still absent or liquid), a bird buries its relative in its own head that usually explains its appearance (a swell on its beak, a crest of feathers) or unpleasant smell |
| b32a | Pursuers turn into water mammals | Enemies of a person who rides a ship turn into seals or dolphins |
| b33 | Mother of wind | Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc. |
| 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 |
| b33h | The mother of the Sun | The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place |
| b3a | Primeval waters | Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later |
| b40a | Missed opportunity to have horns | Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them |
| b42 | Cosmic hunt | Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue |
| b42n | Orion is one person | Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter |
| b42p | Ursa major is a bear | Ursa major is identified with a bear |
| 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 |
| b46a | Stolen star of the Pleiades | One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from others (usually abducted) by stars of Big Dipper and now is seen among them) |
| b75a | Sounds of the time of creation: voice of a person | Voice of a person who lived in the bygone times is still heard (most often it is an echo) |
| b77 | Primeval sky close to earth | Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up |
| b79 | Cosmic egg | From the primeval egg, eggs, or egg-like ball emerge the earth, the sky, sky bodies, different animals (all or part of the items of this list) |
| b82 | The white raven | Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white |
| b85b | Bag of winds | Wind was or is in a particular enclosure (bag, cave, etc.). It was released from it or comes out from time to time |
| b86 | Babylonian tower | To reach the sky (the Sun, Moon, particular star), people build a ladder or tower that consists of separate modules (bricks, logs, sticks, etc.). This construction collapses |
| b87 | Alcor | Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object |
| b90 | Master of wolves | There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year |
| 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 |
| c11 | Divine father avenges his son | Person uses his supernatural powers to destroy a large group of people who have offended or insulted his son |
| c2 | Deluge and conflagration combined | Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water |
| c26 | Guardian at the border of the non-human world | Monsters or ghosts try to invade our world. Powerful person or creature is on guard and prevents the invasion |
| c30c | To swallow the ocean | Person must drink all the water in the sea (count all drops of sea water) but asks his opponent first to separate the sea water from the water of rivers that flow into it |
| c33 | Prometeus (the chained strong man) | A strong man who ventured to confront God is for a long time (for eternity) chained to a mountain or to a post |
| c33a1 | A bird comes to peck the enchained man | Every day a predator bird comes to peck inner organs of the enchained man. During the day the organs are restored and everything repeats again |
| c35 | Cosmic marriage cancelled | It becomes known that if the Sun or the Sky marry, great calamity is inevitable. The marriage plans are given up |
| c35b | Frog is the enemy of the Sun | The frog (toad) prevents situation in which more than one Sun there were in the sky |
| c36 | The final battle | Gods fight with their powerful adversaries at the decisive battle that changes fate of the world |
| c9 | Warning about the coming flood | God, animal, some person warns one of the people about the catastrophy (usuallly the flood) that will become soon and in which most of the people must perish |
| d1 | Female spirit of fire | Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire |
| d4a | Theft of fire | Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before |
| d4b | Retribution for using fire | Person or people who have stolen fire or asked its owner to share the fire are punished by God |
| 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 |
| e25 | Arachne (the spider-weaver) | The art of weaving people get from a spider or from a person who turns into spider afterwards; a spider is weaving for people |
| e30b | Pygmalion | A man makes or receives a figure of a woman. It becomes alive and he marries her |
| e31 | False Pygmalion | Man makes a wooden doll and pretends that it is alive. Really it is not or it is half-alive. A real woman takes place of a doll, marries the master |
| f101 | The rival woman tries to prevent the heroine to give birth | Using magic, the rival woman tries to prevent the heroine to give birth |
| f11 | Biting penis | Penis is biting, stinging, eats food |
| f14 | Son of a man and a rock | Hero is born by a rock that was impregnated by a man |
| f14a | Birth from a rock | Anthropomorphic person appears from a rock, is born by a it |
| f2 | Pregnant limb | Child is born from a tumor or swelling on person's body (on thigh, knee, finger, etc.) or is temporarily placed there or child grows from blood that flew out from a cut |
| f34 | Land animal paramour | Certain woman or a group of women takes for a paramour a big land animal. Husbands, brothers or (adoptive) children kill or maim paramour and (sometimes) the woman |
| f34b | The paramour is not a human being | A girl (a woman, a group of women) intentionally takes a penis-being, a snake, an eel, a lizard, a worm, a big water animal or water monster or a big terrestrial mammal for paramour. People kill or maim the paramour, the woman and/or her progeny or she is transformed herself into an animal. She is blamed for her behavior |
| 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 |
| f43 | The women disappear | The women of the ancestral community kill or abandon the men |
| f43a | The women kill the men | The women of the ancestral community kill, try to kill or transform the men |
| f44 | Women and men separate | The women and the men of the primeval community quarrel and abandon each other |
| f45 | The Amazons | There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages |
| f45a | Conception from wind | A woman or a female animal is impregnated deliberately exposing her genitals to the wind |
| f54 | Oedipus | A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest |
| f54e | Unintentional killing of father | A young man kills somebody and later gets to know that ut was his father |
| f57 | Persephone picks a flower | A girl or her father (rare: mother) picks a plant (usually a flower) and because of this encounters a person who has non-human guise and/or is related to the underworld. The girl marries him. In some cases the flower is the person’s hair but more often it’s not so |
| 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 |
| f70a | Disordered clothes as evidence against innocent man | To accuse a man or boy of (sexual) abbuse, a woman tears her clothes, smears or scratches her body pretending to be attacked |
| f70b | Revenge of a rejected woman | A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part |
| f98 | God and a cow | Anthropomorphic god descends from the sky and copulates with a cow |
| f9d | Scorpions in the genitals | Small creatures in female or male genitals are dangerous for the partner |
| g2 | The return of Persephone | Person who is the incarnation of fertility and life first disappears and then (reriodically) returns |
| g25 | Cereals spilled over the earth | Seeds of cereals have been spilled over the earth, now people cultivate them |
| g6a | Tree of the year | Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc. |
| h12 | The alive person comes to the land of the dead after somebody’s death | The alive person comes to the land of the dead to bring back somebody who has recently died (besides stories about shamans who journey to the other world to bring back the soul of a sick person) or, having no particular aim, goes there in company of somebody who had recently died or following his or her tracks |
| h12c | Orpheus: to return the dead wife | Husband follows his dead wife to the other world but is unable to bring her back or succeeds to do it but loses her once again |
| h16b | The basin of milk | A river (wave, lake, basin) of milk that exists on earth (and not among the stars) is mentioned in narratives (in different context) |
| h24 | Container opened too early | Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear |
| h24c | Death in container | People open container with death or disease inside and become mortal |
| h27 | Mosquitoes let lose | Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened |
| h36 | The muddled message | Person is sent by god to bring instructions or certain objects but distorts, forgets or replaces them. This has fatal consequences for humans or for a certain species of animals. (Lithuanian case can be a mistification) |
| h36a | Origin of death from the falsified message | Person distorts instructions that he must pass to others, intentionally lies, forgets or replaces certain objects that must be given to others. Because of this human beings become mortal (do not revive after death) |
| h4 | The shed skin | Those who change their skin become young again |
| h49 | Pet defends master’s child | A dog or other animal kills dangerous creature who was going to attack the child. The master thinks that the assailant was the pet and kills it |
| h5 | People and snakes | Reptiles or invertebrates possess the medicine of immortality; are contrasted with men as immortal with mortals and/or are responsible for originating of death; or a snake's bite inflicts the first death |
| h51 | The demonic horse | A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God |
| h54b | The glance of death | Person’s glance brings death (and destruction) |
| h55 | Sinners in other world | Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth |
| h6bb | The lost objects | Animal person is sent to pass to the people certain objects or substance but loses or replaces them. Because of this people miss possibility to become immortal or their life becomes difficult |
| h7 | The personified Death | Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls |
| h7a | The Death and a doctor | Man receives from Death (Fortune, some spirit) knowledge will the patient recover or die. He becomes a doctor and receives rich rewards. Usually he gets the ability to see Death near the bed of a patient and considering a particular place where Death stands, gets to know perspectives of recovering |
| h7d | The old man asks Death to help him to carry a load | An old man has to carry a heavy load of wood. Tired and exhausted, he wishes for death. When Death appears he asks her to help him with the load |
| i100 | The Pleiades are girls | The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children) |
| i100b | The Pleiades are a group of people | The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a) |
| i103 | The dog star | Sirius is associated with a dog or a wolf |
| i107 | Stars are nails | Stars are nails in the firmament or pegs, or stars are nailed to the sky |
| 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 |
| i114 | The golden fleece | A ram (lamn, sheep) who has golden fleece or the skin of such a ram is described |
| i115a | Orion and the Pleiades as a man and women | Orion and the Pleiades are opposed as a man or men and a woman or women. Orion is usually male |
| i119 | The dead shake the earth | The earthquakes are produced by the dead who are in the underworld or during the earthquakes the inhabitants of the lower world try to come out; try to understand are there still living beings on earth |
| i120 | Cornucopia | Food and clothes are extracted from the horn of a cow or goat |
| 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.) |
| i131 | The thread of life | Life of every man is related to certain thread. When the thread is cut, the man dies |
| i13a | The horned serpent | Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head |
| i13b | A horned snake | Snake of natural size has horns on its head |
| i13c | Snake’s crown | Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head |
| i20 | The undeground dwarfs | Race of dwarfs lives under the ground (deep under the earth or in hills and rocks) or at the horizon where the earth and the sky meet |
| i20c2 | Dwarfs live at the horizon | The denizens of the country at the horizon (where the sky and the earth meet) are dwarfs |
| i21 | Red-haired people scorched by the sun | People who live in the underworld, at the sunrise or sunset (often dwarfs) are scorched by the Sun which moves by at a short distance from them. They are red-haired, dark-skinned, etc. |
| i22 | Objects in permanent movement | There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate) |
| i22b | Birds fly to the outer world | Migratory birds (or shamans in guise of birds) fly from our world to the outer world through the narrow opening, between clashing rocks, under the edge of the sky which is rising and falling, etc. Many birds perish; and/or the person who lives at this place feeds on these birds; the person can be mistress of birds, lives on another side of the pulsating obstacle |
| i22b1 | Birds perish at the border of our world | Some migratory birds (or shamns in guse of birds) perish when they reach the border of our world |
| i22c | A plank from the stern of Argo | Person succeeds in getting through the opening which is going to bang shut but the stern of his boat, the tail of an animal or a bird, the body of his horse, or his own heel is flatterned, torn off, etc. |
| i22g | Clapping rocks | There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing |
| i25 | The bribed guards | Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master |
| i3 | Weapon of Thunder | The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being |
| i35 | Dragging a hide produces thunder | Thunder is produced by dragging behind a dry animal skin or (rare) a person (rare) or by shaking clothes |
| i35a1 | Challenge to Thunder-god | Person claims to be equal to the sky god, imitating him or mocking upon him |
| i35a1a | Insulting the God | Person claims to be equal to the high god, imitating him, mocking upon him or making attempt to kill him |
| i35b | The bronze sky | Sky is made of metal. The technique of its creation reminds the work of a smith |
| i35c | God the craftsman | One of mythological characters using his skills in crafts creates for the first time tools and valuable cultural and natural objects; is a patron of craftsmen (usually of blacksmiths) |
| i39 | Rainbow road or bridge | Rainbow is a road, a bridge or a ladder |
| i4 | Thunder rides in the sky | Thunder is heard when a vehicle moves in the sky |
| i40 | Rainbow bow | Rainbow is a bow |
| i41 | Rainbow serpent | Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail |
| i41b | Rainbow drinks water | Rainbow drinks (soaks up) water |
| i48 | Confined to the underworld | Certain person loses his or her freedom, is confined to a far away place (often, to the underworld) and acquires cosmic dimensions: supports the earth or the sky and/or his or her movements produce earthquakes or (rare) storms |
| i4c | Storm-god as a prisoner | Thunder-god is temporarily overcome and imprisoned by his enemy |
| i4d | Theft of the Thunder-Instrument | Thunder’s instrument is stolen from him. He or his helper comes unrecognized to the thief, gets his instrument and kills the enemies |
| i4d1 | Storm-god’s stolen tendons | The Storm-god’s adversary steals his tendons (heart and eyes) but he gets them back and overcomes his adversary |
| i59 | Milky Way is spilled straw | Milky Way is a trace of people who spilled on their way something related to agriculture (straw, chaff, hay, more rare flour, peas) |
| i61 | Milk on the Milky Way | Milky Way is a trace of spilled milk |
| i62 | Milky Way is a river | Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim |
| 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 |
| i72 | Stars are people | Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered) |
| i75 | World ages | Before present world, several (two or more) other worlds or races of people existed |
| i82a | Venus is male | Morning and/or Evening Star is a male personage |
| i8g | Atlas | One giant supports the earth or the sky |
| i92 | Rainbow transforms sex | Person who gets to walk under, over or through the rainbow changes his or her sex |
| i98c | The Pleiades is a flock of birds | The Pleiades is a flock of birds (in flight) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| j4b | Revenge inside the family | Children (son, sons, son and daughter) of the murdered woman or man revenge on persons who have marital or close kin relations with the victom |
| 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 |
| j62 | People turned into stones | Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones |
| j62b | Transformed into animals disenchanted | Person transforms people who come to him or her into animals. Thanks to the hero, victims are disenchanted |
| j62b1 | The mistress of an island transforms men into animals | The sorceress who lives an island transforms men into animals |
| j66 | The gnawed through bow-strings | Hero or his helpers cut or gnaw through bow- and other strings of the enemies, make holes in their canoes in order to forestall pursuit |
| k102a2 | Conflict between mother and son | Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
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| k107 | Lost husband found | A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again |
| k107b | Not to light a candle | One of the spouses prohibits another to see him or her. When the other breaks the taboo (intentionally or by chance) the first one disappears (is in trouble) |
| 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 |
| k12a | A strained bow | An unrecognized hero comes to a place where his bride or wife has to marry another man or is tuned into a slave. Despite expectations, he gets to strain a tight bow killing his rivals |
| k134 | The planted treasure | To accuse a guest of theft, a host plants a treasure into his guest’s bag |
| k144 | The predestined death because of an animal | A certain animal or (rare) man is predicted to become a cause of death of a certain person. When this animal (man) is already dead himself or itself or is faraway, its (his) remains or image becomes the cause of the person’s death |
| 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 |
| k16 | To get access to a girl in guise of a bird or an animal | Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house) |
| k164 | Wife is not the best friend | 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 |
| k17 | The ornitomorphic suitor | An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her |
| 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 |
| k179 | Bride purchased for her weight in gold | An object (usually the bride) purchased for the sum of money equivalent (or bigger) than its weight in gold (silver) or a heap of valuables as high as the corresponding person |
| k22 | Dwarfs and cranes | Different from (common) people inhabitants of a distant land fight from time to time with non-human enemies who periodically attack them |
| k22a | Dwarfs attacked | Birds or other creatures which not dangerous for common people attack dwarfs who live in another world |
| k23 | Battle with birds | Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land |
| k23a | Feathers are the birds’ weapon | Birds use their feathers as arrows or their arrows and down stick mouth openings of them enemies |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| k25a6 | Magic wife does not forgive the unfaithfulness of the man | A wife from the non-human world agrees to live with the mortal man but abandons him when he becomes unfaithful to her (when he visits his mortal wife) |
| 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 |
| k27g | Ordeal: to bathe in a boiling liquid | 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 |
| k27g1 | Cleaning of the stable | Person must quickly clean a stable or cattle-shed from dung accumulated there for a long time |
| k27h1 | To bring fruits | A task-giver asks person to bring fruits of a tree that is difficult to be reached |
| k27hh | To sort grain | A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains |
| k27n | Difficult tasks of the in-laws | A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage |
| k27n1 | Task-giver is a king or a chief | Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being |
| k27o1 | Head used as ball | Severed human heads are compared with balls or used as balls |
| k27s | Contest: a race | Contest: a race |
| k27v3 | To shoot an arrow though the ring | Person must shoot an arrow through a small ring or several rings |
| k27w | Monster brought by the hero kills the task-giver | Task-giver asks to bring him dangerous being or object possessed by a moster or deity. Hero fulfills the task. The beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task-giver |
| k28 | Father or uncle is rival and enemy | Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him |
| k29d | The drunk elephants | When water in a spring is replaced with alcohol, honey, etc. or bottles of alcohol seem to be left without supervison, a creature of person becomes drunk and is caught |
| k32g | Punishment: torn apart by horses | To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses) |
| k33f | Basin of honey and basin of oil | Two or more different kinds of valuable edible liquids like oil, honey, milk, etc. are available or imaginable. Cf. motif n34 |
| k38d1 | A girl sacrificed to a dragon | To appease a water monster (water spirits, gods) or to put an end to the drought or flood, a girl is sacrificed or descends into the water by her own will |
| 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 |
| k38f5 | Fire-breathing horse | From the mouth of a horse fire is coming ot the horse itself is of fire |
| k41 | Thunder against a serpent | Thunder or giant bird fights against a reptile, big water animal or other big and strong creature who lives in water or under the earth |
| k46 | Woman throws herself into the ocean | Giving way to a burst of horror or shame, woman or girl runs to the ocean, throws herself into the water or remains on the beach. Her husband or suitor pursues but cannot catch her |
| k56b | The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished | First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished |
| k56c | Golden axe | A man loses an axe. A spirit or a powerful official suggests him a golden axe but the man does not accept it. The spirit (official) gives him axes of gold and silver as a reward for his honesty. Usually another man intentionally loses his axe, claims the golden one but receives nothing |
| k56e | Two humpbacks | Two men have a similar defect (a hump, a lump). One spends a night in a place where spirits free him from his defect. Another comes to the same place but spirits double his defect giving him what they had taken off from the first man |
| k61a | To get know a secret | To get know the precise number of certain units, to select certain object among many others, to get know a name of particular person or a reason of particular phenomenon, person tries to surprise (or unintentionally surprises) the possessor of the knowledge who becomes to speak aloud and so provides the hero with necessary information |
| 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 |
| k73b1 | Mother and child in a barrel | 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) |
| k79 | Snake serves an example of resuscitation | Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds |
| k80a | A bird or an object tell about a murder | An object or a creature that emerged from remains, decorations, etc. of a killed person tells about his or her fate. Usually a reed grows from the person's grave and a pipe made from the reed tells the story |
| k80a2 | Pipe tells about a murder | Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime |
| k80a6 | Speaking pipe made from a recently grown plant | A pipe or other musical instrument is made from a plant that has grown on a place where certain person was killed (fell, touched ground). When the instrument plays, people hear a particular message |
| 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) |
| k85e | The sea horses | Magic horses live under the water |
| k8a | Jonah: swallowed by monster | Person gets into the belly of water being or into the belly of giant creature which appearance and living place remain vague. He kills the monster from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people) |
| k96 | Fifty sons | Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters |
| k9a | Punished person is hanged between heaven and earth | Punished person is hanged on a chain or a metallic thread between heaven and earth |
| l103 | Obstacle flight (Atalanta type) | Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay |
| l107 | The ear-sleepers | Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, 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 |
| l130 | One eye for three persons | Two or more persons have only one eye for all |
| l135 | The Traveller | Male person leaves his home and gets to unfamiliar places. On his way, he comes across different strange creatures. After all, he returns home or leaves the earth for the other world. (Rather often a long string of episodes breaks off or the story lacks the beginning and does not explain why the hero is travelling) |
| l15a | Vulnerable place on the body | The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs |
| l15a1 | Achilles' heel | Vulnerable place on the body of a person or creature is on his or her foot (toe, heel, sole, ankle) |
| l15a2 | Made invulnerable but not the entire body | The body of a person is made invulnerable (in a furnace, etc.) besides a particular spot |
| 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 |
| l15g | A burned piece of wood (Meleagros) | Life of a man depends on an object that can be burned. He dies as soon as the object is burned |
| l15g1 | Knowing the secret of his family member, person kills him | Person knows the secret on which depends life of his or her husband, son or wife. After a quarrel, he or she commits an act that looks insignificant but causes an immediate death of another |
| l15i | Life in hairs | A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends that it is so) if (some) hair on his head is cut off |
| l16b | Eyes on the body | All the body of a person is covered with eyes |
| l17 | Face on breast | There is a headless anthropomorphic being who has eyes and/or mouth on his or her breast |
| l17a | Eyes on the back of the head | Person or creature has another pair of eyes (or one eye) on the back of his head or (rare) on his back |
| l17b | Two faces | Person or creature has another face (another mouth) on the back of his (her, its) head |
| l18 | Multi-headed bird | A bird with two or more heads on top of one body is described in tales or represented in art |
| l19a | Beings with even number of heads | Beings (any besides birds) with even but not more than ten number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. Beings that with even number of heads named in a row with other multi-headed beings and the highest number is even or bigger than ten are not considered |
| 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 |
| l19b2 | The nine-headed monster | A monster with nine heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads |
| l23 | Proteus | Person gets hold of another. Trying to free himself, the latter turns into different materials, elements, animals or (Urarina and Setebo) orders different dangerous creature to attack the person |
| l23a | Transformation into the fire | Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, one of the transformations is into the fire (and also into the water) |
| l23d | Metamorphosis of the caught female person | Being seized by a person, a female person turns into different materials, elements or animals (Urarina and Setebo: sends different dangerous creature to attack the one who caught her) |
| l23e | Metamorphosis of the caught male person | Being seized by a person, a male person turns into different materials, elements or animals |
| l27 | Girl eaten up | Two girls or young women meet a demon. One or both are not aware of danger. One is eaten up, another escapes |
| l32 | Gluttonous stone | Stone swallows, bites or transforms people |
| l50 | Cliff ogre | A person kills those who are passing by him. Usually he does not attack them all of a sudden but first distracts their attention. Usually he throws down his victims into a precipice, lake, etc. |
| l51 | Victims thrown to water creatures | A cannibal, a bush spirit or a dangerous animal throws his victims into the precipice where water creatures devour them |
| l57a | Hero's body part is returned by his companion | The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again) |
| l61 | Endocannibal | Person devours his or her own flesh or disembowels himself or herself |
| 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 |
| l94c | Son or daughter to be sacrificed | Asking the deity to destroy an enemy, a person promises that if his (her) plea will be granted he (she) would sacrifice anybody who will come to meet him (her) at home. His (her) own son or daughter comes. |
| l96 | Sold in animal’s guise and comes back | Person can transform himself or herself into an animal or an object. Being sold in this guise, he or she achieves his or her aims and becomes a human again |
| m106 | Meaningful name | Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m114h | To build a house in the air | Powerful person orders to build a house in the air. The man finds a clever solution for this puzzle |
| m127 | Lost tail of the fox | After losing his tail (ear) an (animal) person tries to trick other animals of his species or other people of his group to lose their tails (ears) too |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| m135 | Wolf and two rams | Two ungulate animals (rams, bull, etc.) run from the opposite directions and butt the wolf killing or injuring him |
| 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) |
| m135b | Wolf regrets for being so stupid | Wolf (rare: jackal, fox) comes to different domestic animals (rare: only to one animal) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their demands. As a result he remains hungry and usually beaten and accuses himself that his ways were so stupid (“Am I a mollah to read?”) |
| m135b | Wolf regrets for being so stupid | Wolf (rare: jackal, fox) comes to different domestic animals (rare: only to one animal) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their demands. As a result he remains hungry and usually beaten and accuses himself that his ways were so stupid (“Am I a mollah to read?”) |
| m137 | The weak predator imitates the strong one | The weak predator tries to imitate the strong one but is unable to accomplish actions that the strong one does easily |
| m138 | Human and animal life spans are readjusted | God originally gives 20 or 30 years to everybody. Some animals refuse some of their years because of their sufferings. Man wants to have more years and takes them from the animals |
| m143 | Fox in a well | 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 |
| m146 | The fox gets bait from trap by luring wolf into it | An animal knows that food is in a trap or poisoned and tricks another to take it |
| m153 | Letter on the hoof | The wolf (lion, etc.) is going to eat a horse (mule, etc.). The horse asks him to look at his hoof (for different reasons) or eat him from his hindquarters forward; then he kicks him |
| 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. |
| m159 | The lion’s share | The strongest predator (usually a lion) suggests one of his companions to shares the booty. He is not satisfied by results and beats the companion. When another companion becomes to divide, he gives everything to the strongest one and explains that the injured one taught him the right way of sharing |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m168 | More cowardly than the hare | 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 |
| 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 |
| m170 | Pilgrimage of the animals | An animal person pretends to have no other interests than to fulfill religious rules and prescriptions (to confess his sins, to make a pilgrimage, to become vegetarian, etc.) and kills those who have believed him |
| m177 | But he had no heart at all | A weak predator eats part of a body of a killed animal and explain to the strong one that this animal did not have such a part at all |
| m179b | Guest makes the house unfit for its owner | One animal person asks another (or a man) for a temporal refuge (because of rain, cold, approaching hunter, etc.). Soon he makes the life difficult for the owner. Usually when the owner reproves him, the intruder shows him the way out since he is unhappy where he is |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m189 | To thread a spiral shell | To thread a spiral shell (a stone with tiny opening, a horn, etc.) person ties the thread to an ant and lets it go through the opening |
| 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 |
| m197b | The neighing stallions and the mares who foaled | A powerful man claims that after his stallions neighed his neighbor’s mares foaled, that all foals in his land are born by his mare, etc. A youth comes to kill dogs of the man because they did not drive wolves in due time (because they scared game, etc.). The dogs were far away from the place of the event and the man recognizes that his trick failed |
| m203 | Great Pan is dead | 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 |
| m28 | Icarus (failed attempt to fly on artificial wings) | Acquiring possibility to fly, person ultimately falls to the ground or remains in a faraway place being unable to fly any more |
| m29b | Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote |
| m29b1 | The wolf is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29b3 | The fox (jackal, coyote) is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29k | The turtle (tortoise, toad, frog) wins thanks to his smartness | Being smart and persistent, the turtle (toad, frog) overcomes strong adversaries |
| m30 | Trickster falls down | Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return |
| m30b | Birds give and take back their feathers | Birds first give their feathers to a certain person to make him be able to fly or to make him beautiful and then take them back |
| m39a6d | A coded message | A person sends to his or her kinsmen or spouse through other persons a text or an object. Only the receiver understands the real meaning of words or of the object, saves the sender and/or destroys his enemies |
| m39i | The treasure of the hanging man | When he spends his entire fortune, a man is going to hang himself but finds treasure (intentionally put in the corresponding place by his father) |
| m45c | To plant the boiled tubers | Person gives advice that the right way to plant seeds or tubers is to cook them before |
| m62b | Trying to hit the hero hit each other | Two or more personages direct their weapons against the hero who is between them but hit each other |
| m75b3 | The Trojan Horse: victory over enemies | A life-size or larger than life-size figure of a horse or a bull is demonstrated to enemies. They do not understand that this is a stratagem and carry the figure to their territory. As a result, the invasion becomes possible and the enemies are defeated |
| 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 |
| m90a5 | The golden apples | Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples |
| m98 | Who are more numerous? | Person reckons up number of members in two enormous and alternative multitudes (alive trees and dead trees, men and women, etc.). Usually numbers prove to be equal but one member possesses the qualities of the both multitudes. Adding it to one of them, person demonstrates his case |
| n27 | The milk of birds | Bird’s (hen’s) milk is mentioned in fairy tales, riddles and proverbs as something very rare and difficult to obtain |
| n27a | You can find even bird’s milk there! | It is said that somewhere there is (or was) even bird’s milk |
| n34 | Honey and oil | Streams of honey and oil (oil and milk, milk and blood) instead of streams of water are mentioned as a sign of generosity and prosperity. Cf. motif K33F |