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)
Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
Magic mill is ordered to grind salt but not ordered to stop. It sinks into ocean and continues to work making the water salty
Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.
Ursa major is identified with a carriage, a cart
Person spits out earth that he swallowed or concealed otherwise. This way the broken landscape is created
Wind was or is in a particular enclosure (bag, cave, etc.). It was released from it or comes out from time to time
Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
Big Dipper is a cart with a harnessed wolf or bear. Usually it is explained that the handle of the Big Dipper is not straight because a wolf or a bear (identified with Alcor or with the last star of the handle, η) attacked an ox that was dragging a cart and was harnessed instead of it
Trees (and animals) could talk and asked people not to cut or kill them
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Woman, female supernatural or animal females are created by changing the sex of a man (or male animals)
Animal person comes to children of a big predator and tells them that he will copulate with their mother (or that he will beat her)
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
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
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
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
Children walked or could walk from the very birth but this ability was lost or never obtained
A woman did not allow God to throw her baby across a hedge, roof, etc. Because of this babies lost or never got ability to walk from the very birth
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Thunder’s instrument is stolen from him. He or his helper comes unrecognized to the thief, gets his instrument and kills the enemies
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
Dogs having spots over the eyes are called the four-eyed and believed to have special properties (e.g. to see ghosts)
Some beings are half-men and half-dogs (usually anthropomorphic with heads of dogs)
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
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
Milky Way is the path of migratory birds (especially wild geese)
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
The Pleiades are a sieve to process agricultural products
Before passing away a man asks his sons to guard his grave for a certain time or to bring something to his grave. The youngest son goes and obtains valuables
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
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
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
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.
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
Person is temporary transformed into animal (usually into a dog or coyote or into donkey, ox, etc.). When he acquires his human guise again, the antagonist suffers similar transformation. In some texts only the hero or only the antagonist is transformed
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).
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 mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a small bird quarrel because they cannot divide supplies for the winter. (Usually this episode initiates the story about the war between animals and birds)
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
Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
A woman conceals from God part of her children (rare: all of them) or part of domestic animals that are under her care. The concealed children become poor people or non-human beings and the concealed domestic animals become wild
A man who has a low social position is a nuisance for persons of high position. He gets to know that they plan to drown him or his preperty (rare: to strangle him) and tricks them to drown instead one of them or their own property
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
Domestic animals abandon their masters. They find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or the predator animals come there. The domestic animals attack (or just frighten) them. The robbers (predators) do not understand who are their enemies, are scared and run away
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)
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.
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)
Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
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
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
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
To make a poor man rich (usually to marry him to a rich girl or to marry a poor girl to a prince), an animal makes other people believe that the groom is rich already. The man becomes prosperous indeed
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
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 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
Person of a small size (often a chicken) overcomes powerful adversary despite all attempts to destroy him thanks to objects and animals met on the way and preserved in his bag or inside his body
A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
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
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 or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
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)
An animal person pretends to be invited to be godfather or he gives names to different places along which he travels in a sledge, boat, etc. The names look strange but become understandable when other people or animals get to know that their companion has devoured all the supplies
An animal person pretends (several times) that he has to make a visit (that he has been invited to be godfather at a baptism or invited to a funeral or wedding) but instead eats secretly food supplies
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
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 pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward
Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
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
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
Hero comes to an agreement with antagonist that he can take animals of particular appearance or with particular behavior and takes all or most of them
Trickster pretends to be dead, sick or weak and is picked up by those who carry something edible in a cart (sledge, boat, bag, etc.). The trickster secretly eats the food, often after throwing it out of the cart (sledge, etc.)
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)
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
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
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.)
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
Person who carries a bundle of brushwood or firewood is seen in the moon.
To make the Moon less bright, some person tried to smear it with pitch
A woman gives birth to many children but conceals part of them from God. The concealed children become ancestors of the people of the lower social status while those that had been shown to God become ancestors of the high status people
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.
Person gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
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)
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
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house
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
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 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
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
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.
In succession and unintentionally a man causes a series of accedents. The injured parties bring him before a judge. In each case the judge makes decisions that are formally logical but patently unacceptable and saves the man
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.)
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 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
A man pretends that he had thrown or is going to throw a heavy object to the sky (to the clouds). His adversary asks him not to do it.
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.
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 healthy animal tricks an injured one (a wolf, a bear) into carrying him on his back by pretending to be injured himself
Several (usually three) small animated objects travel but fail to cross a river (usually perish attempting to cross it)
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
An ogre (devil, a strong animal, etc.) and a man (a weaker animal) carry a tree. The man tricks the ogre who carries the heavy bottom-end while the man sits on a branch or walks pretending to carry his burden
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 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
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
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 bird (that usually emerges from the remains of a murdered person or being incarnation of his or her soul) punishes the murderer or tells people about the crime
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 man goes to sell a skin of domestic animal and on his way, by trick or thanks to chance, gets a big sum of money. Usually coming back he explains that this was the price of the skin but when other people kill their animals they cannot sell skins for such a sum. (In India the hero sometimes pretends to sold cow meat to brahmins for whom it is forbidden)
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)
A master (ogre, devil, wife) tries to get away from his farmhand (her husband). The farmhand hides in the master’s bag (chest) so that the master unwittingly takes him along
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes)
Two or several animated objects or small animals and live or travel together and perish one after another when they make the most simple acts
The bear (wolf, lion, dragon) beliefes that vulva is a wound.
The wolf or other wild animal gets into the cellar (storehouse, vineyard, etc.) and eats so much that cannot leave
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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
The mice decide to tie a bell on the cat, so they can hear when the cat comes. Usually they cannot find anyone to tie it on her
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
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
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
Fools carry sunlight (darkness, smoke) in bags, sieves, etc. and carry it into the room or out of it
Man sitting on branch of a tree cuts it off and similar variants (man climbs a rope and cuts it off; men cut a tree and climb on it to fell it; man climbs with difficulty on a dead branch of a tree, which breaks off)
Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless
A farmhand (a young son of the peasant) arranges a situation a series of tricks to the love affair between the wife of his master and another man. The wife is going to bring food outdoor to her lover but gets to her husband. Seeing the master coming with an axe (stones, etc.), the lover believes, that he is going to attack him and runs away
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
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
When God intends to create Eve from Adam’s rib, an animal (dof, cat, monkey, fox, snake) or a devil steals it. God (or his angel) pursues it and catches its tail. The tail tears off, God creates Eve from it. Or God made Eve from edible material and a dog devoured it, so God had to make Eve from Adam’s rib. Or God cut off Adam’s tail and made Eve from it.
A man (usually a king) catches a strange (anthropomorphic) creature. His son frees the prisoner, is afraid of his father’s anger and leaves home or is driven away. The released prisoner helps him
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
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
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 youth who does not know what fear is tries various frightful experiences without becoming afraid
Frog or toad marries a girl or a handsome youth marries a frog or road
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.)
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)
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 person who has not a bit of a skill to expose thieves and find the lost objects does it successfully thanks to a series of lucky coincidences
The girl will marry a man who (riding on a horse or otherwise) would quickly reach a place that is almost inaccessible (the top of a tower, a mountain, the upper floor of a palace, the top of a staircase, bridge, the bottom of a deep cavity, etc.). Usually the girl herself is in the corresponding place
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
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
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
Person kills girls (rare: his nephews or younger brothers of his wife) in succession (usually the male person kills his wives). The last of potential victims escapes, usually after finding remains of those who had been killed or imprisoned earlier
After the heroine’s rival transforms her into a forest animal of medium size (lynx, wolf, deer), she makes attempts to contact her children or husband
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
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
It is written at a crossroad that following one of the paths person will safely return and following another it will not return (there is often a third path following which person either returns or not). Hero follows the dangerous path
Several animals (often a lion, an eagle, an ant) argue because of an animal carcass or a living place. A man settles their argument, they give him capacity to acquire their form (their qualities)
A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child
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
Rainbow drinks and together with water swallows fish, people, etc. Sometimes this fish falls on earth from the sky
Fool (or a person who pretends to be mad) sows salt (small objects) like grain
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
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)
Supernatural person grants wishes of a man (or several men) and later visits him (each of them) again. The man or most of them demonstrate ingratitude and drive the person away. In response to this he deprives them of all that they got thanks to his generosity
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
The king’s wife hates her son whom she should give birth and decides to get rid of him. As a result, the baby prince and the son of a commoner are interchanged. The prince is smart and inherits his father throne anyway
A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky
Coming home after a long absence, a man understands that there is another man in his house but keeps patience and discovers that it is his own son or a close kin of his wife
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)
To get rid of a baby child or of the magic cock, they throw him into enclosure for animals, but cows or other animals do not trample the child or cock down
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
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 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
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)
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
Birds (usually storks or geese) carry small children to the other world or bring them from there
A man and his adversary have a contest to see who can make a (deeper) hole in a tree (stump) with his finger (fist, penis, head). The man cuts the hole beforehand with an instrument and replaces it with a bark or leaves (makes a cut in a tree)
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
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)
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
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.)
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
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
Spider possesses the fire or steals it from original owner (texts in which spider acts together with other animals and does not play the leading role are not included)
Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
The boots (shoes, sandals) which allow the person wearing them to move with extraordinary speed are mentioned
An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes
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)
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 bear (lion) takes a woman for sexual partner or the she-bear takes a man. They have children who look like humans or bear cubs. More rare the woman gives birth to her son in the bear den because being abducted by the bear she was pregnant
The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength
Several different animals get into a pit (well) and cannot climb out from it, They eat each other up until only one (usually the fox) is left and escapes from the pit
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
The nose of anthropomorphic being is like a beak of copper or iron
A girl (rejects suitors for a long time but at last) falls in love with a handsome man who proves to be a demon or animal. Usually she eventually escapes from him
Spying on his wife (her husband), the man (woman) gets to see that she (he) goes to eat the dead bodies
Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
A person who has committed a serious crime is put in a (nailed) barrel which is rolled down a slope or is tied to the tail of a horse
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)
A woman who is transformed into animal or driven out of the human world returns to her baby to feed and to care for him
To hide truth, person buries an animal or an object and tells that it is the burial of a bride (wife, sister, children, etc.) of another
Because of the female antagonist, a girl faints and is taken for dead but her body is not decomposed. A valuable marriage partner breaks the charms, she revives
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
Using a stratagem, someone who hides in a tree cuts (bits) off the tongue of a dangerous person and the latter is unable to describe situation to his partners
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
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
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
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
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
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
Husband (mother) understands that his stupid wife (her son) can report about certain deeds of the family members and inflict a severe punishment. The fool is put into a hole (barrel, etc.), covered with a skin and the domestic fowl is let to pick up the grain above it. The fool takes the knocking for the attack of the birds, the rain of stones, etc. See motif m39a5a
A woman plants fish in the field where her husband is sure to plow them up. He finds them and believes that the fish got there by itself. People take him for mad.
A man understands that if his wife let out the truth, it would bring them trouble. He tells her that sounds that she hears are screams of the landlord (official, etc.) because devils (or somebody else) beat him (carry him to the hell, etc.). Being summoned to the official, she repeats what her husband had told her and considered mad
A girl is promised to a man who would know her name or whose finger would fit her ring, or who would guess a material from which certain object is made or grown. Person finds a correct answer by deception
Person asks which key is better: the old one that was lost and found or the new one. By this the marriage partner is meant
Two fires from different dwellings meet each other and chat
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)
Person who got into the place of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena breaks certain taboo or instructions producing excessive thunderstorm, rain, snowfall or wind
In the sky there is a special container (vessel, skin, box, etc.) for storing the rain
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
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
Dwarfs live not deep under the earth but in hills and rocks, usually come from there to the earth
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
At night a girl remains alone in an isolated house (mill, bath-house, etc.). When a demon comes, she asks him to bring her ever new pieces of attire, jewelry, etc. till it dawns and the demon disappears
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
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
Demon claims form himself the harvest from the field possessed by a man. He agrees to renounce his rights if the man brings him an animal which he would be unable to recognize. The man brings his wife who is covered with tar (honey) and feathers, moves on her hands and knees backward, etc. The demon recognizes his defeat
Eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) of personage hang long down over his eyes. To make the eyes widely opened, the eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) should be propped up with poles, folks, sticks, etc. (rare: cut off)
Two men sleep (hide themselves) in one bag or lie with their soles touching each other. Dangerous creature or spirit takes them for an unknown monster
A man who gets to destroy the only (healthy) eye of the monstrous man or woman is a smith
Two male anthropomorphic creators compete in producing things. One of them is or becomes master of the underworld and/or spirits while another is associated with humans