After passing half of the its way across the sky (in the day time) or in the underworld (in the night time), the Sun stops to have a rest
There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year
Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
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 summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
A serpent creates stuation when a girl must promise to marry him, and takes her to his realm. After some time she comes with her children to visit her relations. Her close kin (father, mother, brother) gets to know from her children how their mother calls her husband, summons the serpent with the same signal and kills him. Seeing her husband dead, the woman transforms her children (and herself) into birds or trees
After creating the bodies of the first people or after getting a conception how to do it the Creator goes away for a while. During his absence another person, because of his or her ignorance or intentionally, spoils the creation or makes himself or herself what the Creator would make in a better way. Usually because of this people are mortal and subject to diseases
A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God
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
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
Some beings are half-men and half-dogs (usually anthropomorphic with heads of dogs)
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)
Animals use for shelter or transportation a small object related to the human world (skull, mitten, sieve, etc.)
A pig made of gold or having golden bristles is a treasure
Walking in search of her husband, boyfriend, kinsmen, shelter woman or girl gets to the house of dangerous creatures where she is injured or killed
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
A small boy (several babies) was thrown away, born by the dead woman, lives in the water (in forest, etc.). Another boy lives with his father or mother. Ultimately the first boy comes to live in the locus of the second one. Often (see motif j25, Babies escape and return) during some time the boy who lives in the wilderness meets secretly with his brother (with other children, with pups that had been fed up by his mother) who lives with the people
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
Person gets into the belly of ground animal or bird. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him
Supernatural male person (often a snake, a dragon) hides clothes of a human girl or sits on it. To return her clothes she had to become his wife
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
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.
A girl (rare: boy) is walking to her or his relations or to her bridegroom. On the way the imposter lures her (him) to exchange clothes and takes her (his) place while the real girl (boy) is sent to look after crops or fee domestic fowl or animals. People hear her (his) song in which all the story is told. The deception is disclosed, the imposter killed
To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects
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).
Two or three sisters are sent in succession to powerful person. The first or the first and the second sister behave in a wrong way, perish or do not succeed. The last one behaves correctly, gets a reward
When the kind girl returns home, a dog barks saying that everything is well with her and when the unkind girl returns (or her dead body is brought home), the dog barks that everything is bad
Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status
A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman
The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon
Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world
Person (usually a young woman) turns into different objects or creatures which another person destroys one by one. However, the person is reincarnated again and again and ultimately acquires her or his original form
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
A poor man condemns the Sun and other supernatural personages responsible for weather, wild animals, etc. that because of them he lost his property. He finds them and punishes them
Several brothers leave home immediately after their mother gives birth to a girl. Usually they do not want to have another brother and hope that this time a girl will be born but chance or by evil intent a signal is given that not a girl but a boy is born again. The brothers are disappointed and leave, the girl grows up and travels in search of them
Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
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
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
A monstrous being is killed or neutralized by (burning hot) stones (pieces of metal, heavy fruits, etc.) thrown into its maw or anus or the being retreats when they menace to throw a stone into its maw
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws objects that turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer. One of the thrown objects is a whetstone which turns into a mountain
The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely
Monster's upper lip (fang, horn, etc.) touches the sky, lower touches the ground
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
A man, stooping down to water, is caught and held by his beard, and has to give the promise in order to be relieved
An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in
A predator animal (ogre, ogress) swallows people or animals. The goat (rare: the sheep) punishes him or her and usually saves the victims (most often opens the ogre’s belly open and the swallowed ones come out alive)
To make himself unrecognizable by the victim, a predator or ogre modifies his throat or tongue mechanically (oils or burns it, asks blacksmith to remake it, etc.)
A person (a girl, a small boy) gets into the water and remains there. Antagonist lures him out imitating his father's or sibling's voice
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
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
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
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
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 puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
A healthy animal tricks an injured one (a wolf, a bear) into carrying him on his back by pretending to be injured himself
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.)
Two animal persons live nearby, the house of one of them is destroyed, he asks another to let him in and usually drives the host out of his house. Strong animals are afraid of the intruder but a weak or small one succeeds to return the house to its original owner
Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
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)
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)
Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
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.
Every morning girl' or (rare) boy’s clothes are in disorder, the boy looks very tied. People spy on her (or on him) and discover that she or he spends nights in the non-human world
A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
Raven is associated with death or contrasted with people as an immortal with mortals (is sent to the medicine of immortality; drinks itself water of immortality; gives instructions concerning funeral rites; etc.)
A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for him
A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to killl or to tame a dangerous animal or not to kill certain animal during a hunt, he (she) turns into this animal himself or transforms into it his daughter(s) or wife (husband)
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 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
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
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup)
Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back
Because containers with alive and dead water (one makes one stronger, another weaker) are imperceptibly exchanged, during the battle the hero drinks the alive water and overcomes his enemy who drinks the dead water
Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination)
Person has to feed powerful creature (usually a giant bird) giving it regularly pieces of meat. When meat supply is exhausted, he cuts off a piece of his own flesh
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
Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
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)
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
A demon agrees to help a person (usually to fulfill some difficult work that a girl must do herself) if a person tells him his name. At the last moment the person gets know the name by chance, the demon disappears and the person is rewarded
Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
Babies disappear but are ultimately returned to their mother or father grown up and in good health
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
Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.)
Person travels across a forest with trees of two or more kinds of metal (copper, silver, etc.)
Coming from the underworld to the earth, princess puts objects that she used (clothes, house, “kingdom”) into a small container (an egg, a ball, etc.) and brings them with her
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Tiny boy is first swallowed by chance by a big herbivorous animal and then carried away by a wolf began to eat the animal's offal
Person has only one leg (and one arm) but has no problems with moving. Unlike motif L85 (one-sided people), the person’s body is complete
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 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
Person is or becomes black and has to sit in the water till becomes white. An antagonist carries him or her away
Animal person attaches a vessel or its part to his body, puts it into the water, the vessel is heavy and drags him into the water
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)
When a person is suggested to make something and simultaneously not to make it or to make it differently than it could be made at all (to come clothed and naked, with and without a gift, etc.), he or she finds the solution
Person claims that a man or a male animal had given birth (or is menstruating) or that a female gave birth to a young of another species or that a woman gave birth to an animal
Person gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
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
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
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 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)
Person smears with pitch a domestic animal (a stuffed animal, an object); wild animals or demons stick to it
An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
Wild animals ride on a sleigh, which breaks. To repair it the animals bring unsatisfactory material from the forest. When the sleigh owner goes for good material they eat the horse (or the bull) and build a dummy to replace it
The fox (dog, squirrel) lives with the cat and poses him as a strong and dangerous animal. The wild predator animals are scared and bring him meat
Person builds a bridge (usually of gold etc.) during a very short time
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 lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
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
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
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
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)
A plant (usually not a tree in nature and often a leguminous) grows in no time and person climbs by it to the sky
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
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
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
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)
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
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
Milky Way is the path of migratory birds (especially wild geese)
Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, the last transformations is into a spindle
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
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.
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)
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 threatens the devils (water dwellers, etc.) that he will deprive them of their home (pull together or stir up a lake, dry the sea, build a church where the devils live, etc.). The devils (fish, etc.) fulfill person’s demands
Person demonstrates the absurdity of the claims of another person saying that he (or somebody else) was fishing on a hill, putting out a fire spilling straw, looking how the fish fly etc. or he is imitating such an activity. Either the place chosen for the activity or the means are irrational
Person will be ruined if he or she would not find an answer for a riddle of a demon. The answer is found accidentally when the person or somebody else hears how the demon talks by himself or with another demon. See motif C29
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
Using a bell (drum, etc.) an animal (usually a mouse) produces sounds which the antagonist who is blind or is outdoors takes for the sounds produced by the hero (heroine). Thanks to this the hero escapes
After eating a fish, the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
When a woman gives birth to a boy (twins), a mare (a bitch and/or other domestic animals) also gives birth to human boys. When the boys come of age. they leave for a journey
The pursuer uses tools to destroy obstacles created by heroes. Before he continues the chase, he is wasting time hiding these tools or carrying them back to his home because birds and animals can steal them
Hero hides in a smithy from a dragoness who pursues him. She destroys the door or wall (with her tongue) but the hero (smith) burns her (usually grips tight her tongue with his hot pincers or throws hot iron club in her mouth)
A man has to send several nights near the girl who died and became a dangerous demonic being. After this the girl is disenchanted
A man is going to marry his sister (often puts certain condition on his future marriage, only his sister complies with them). The girl gets to escape
When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person
Being in search of a baby-sitter (mourner, shepherd, etc.) person rejects those whose voice does not like. The one chosen by him or her has a nice voice but later eats up the baby (the deceased, sheep, etc.)
Two or three different grains talk with one another, act together, etc.
An animal person (usually a fox or a jackal) threatens to cut down a tree on which mother bird (squirrel) made its nest unless she will throw down one of her nestlings (squirrel children) or eggs. Another bird lets the mother bird know that the predator is unable to realize his threat
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
Strong antagonist is going to kill the hero (a person or a weak animal). Another person or animal pretends not to know about the situation and tells that the antagonist is in search to be killed. The hero is saved. Usually the latter asks the man not to give him out and answer that it is a stump, a log and the like near him. This opens possibility to treat the antagonist as a corresponding object (to cut it with an axe, to tie up, etc.)
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
Person pretends to eat his own innards or flesh and persuades the other to do the same. Other believes and kills themselves
Trickster animal asks a bird to make him laugh. The bird sits on the head of a woman (child, cow, etc.), other person tries to kill the bird, hits the wife (breaks cow's horn, etc.). Or the bird distracts person attention to let the trickster steal the person’s food
One animal person promises to sew a fur coat (or boots) for another and asks to bring him ever more sheep. He eats the meat and sews nothing
The bear (wolf, lion, dragon) beliefes that vulva is a wound.
Two ungulate animals (rams, bull, etc.) run from the opposite directions and butt the wolf killing or injuring him
Fox blames his tail for being useless when escaping from the pursuers (usually he punishes his tail and gets killed himself as a result)
Person gives another (often a fox) a bag putting inside a dog instead of food; or he makes free a girl who was kept in the bag and replaces her with a dog. The dog attacks the one who opened the bag
Person or animal stays for a night and the next morning declares that his possessions (which value is none or negligible) are lost. Or other persons whom the trickster meets really use or spoil objects that the trickster gives them. Every time he receives in compensation objects or animals with ever bigger value, the last acquisition usually being a costly animal or a girl. (All texts with motifs M171A and M171C contain also the motif M171)
Several persons who are the embodiments if small artifacts (and a squirrel with them) are travelling. A needle penetrates into the body of a big animal and kills it. (In the beginning of the Baltic Finnish versions the needle finds objects which its companions consider worthless but after the killing of the animal they prove to be useful for cooking the meat)
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
Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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
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
Being smart and witty, the hedgehog overcomes overcomes strong adversaries
The animals (usually dogs) got a certificate which was lost because of the cat (is swallowed by the cat, burned, eaten by mice). Since them dogs and cats are enemies, usually also cats and mice
A man catches several wild animals but lets them go after they promise to bring him something valuable or to help him. The animals fulfill their promise
To get rid of the hero and to get his social and family position, the imposter pushes him into the sea or maroons him on a faraway island. The hero survives and comes back
{The circum-Pacific versions which are geographically remote from the Western European ones are excluded. See motif K1E}
The man who is able to build (to get) a ship which can fly (travel on land) marries the princess (inherits property)
Mighty bird or other flying creature helps a man because he took care of its youngs feeding them, warming, decorating, etc.
Person comes to God (Fate, Sun, etc.) and puts questions that asked him to put those whom he met on the way. Somebody wanted to know for how long he must fulfill his duties. The answer: he or she must put other person on his or her place
Person must fill a vessel (to cover a floor) with tears
Animal person promises to take care of another animal's children but do not fulfill obligations and usually eats the young ones
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
A group of young men live apart. A girl comes to them or is born magically. The men keep her as their sister. After some time she is separated from them and is in danger but ultimately she is rescued
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object)
The bear (wolf) notices beautiful plumage of the woodpecker and believes that it was the fox who had painted him. He asks the fox to make him handsome too. The fox burns him alive
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
Persons or creatures with ever bigger number of eyes guard a man or a woman. The latter makes eyes asleep one by one but forgets about the last one
Somebody (usually his sister or mother) puts a poisonous tooth (bone, nail, etc.) into the bed of the hero. The young man dies but is revived
King offers his daughter in marriage to whoever can herd (catch, tame, train) a particular number of rabbits (roosters, sheep, goats, geese, partridges) without losing any. A poor boy receives a magic whistle or other device with which he can summon the rabbits. In order to avoid the marriage, members (deputies) of the royal family (in disguise) try to but pne of his rabbits. The young man demands a degrading humiliating act and after the demands are fulfilled, the rabbit comes back to him.
A woman with her new-born child (or a woman pregnant with a boy) or a young girl and a young boy is put into a barrel (box, skin bag, boat) and thrown into the sea (river)
A man comes across persons who incorporate his own or somebody’s else Bad and Good Lucks. He gets to influence their behavior and change course of events (for himself) for better
In the forest person comes across a house that is made, completely or partly, of edible matter
In a far-away place person comes across a house that is made, completely or partly, of edible matter
The hero presses his adversary into the ground or both of them press each other (ankle-, waist-, breast-deep and the like)
To detain a beauty who runs away from the palace (church, etc.) the man who is in love with her smears the threshold (steps) with a glue (tar). The girl’s shoe remains stuck in it, all the girls are asked to put it on and it fits only to the heroine
A man saves (spares) a wounded bird. When the bird becomes strong again, it carries the man to a distant land (to the sky)
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 task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
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
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
A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife)
Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
A glass mountain (tower, bridge) is mentioned as a an unusual (difficult to be reache) place
There is a tree, one of its kind, that should be cut or bended down. Particular creatures or beings live in its different parts and/or special objects of top significance are made from its wood
A snake crawls on the clothes of a bathing girl and lets her take them not before she gives a promice to marry him. He takes her to the underwater world. She is happy and they have children. She visits her kin taking her children with her. Her relations summon the snake and kill him. After this his wife transforms their childred and/or herself into trees
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
To obtain a desired object, person catches a child or spouse of an animal person (bird, snake, crab) and promises to release it as soon as its parent (spouse)) brings the object
A man sells a cat (a cock) to the people who have never seen cats or chicken. When they get the marvellous creature they do not know what they should give it to eat and think that it eats people
During impossibly short time person must to realize all works of agricultural cycle and to present food made of new crops
A woman must fill a vessel or two with her teas (rare: blood). Usually after this the time of her punishment will come to the end or the punishment depends on which of the vessels will contain more tears
A person must count a number of nuts in a barrel (take nuts one by one). He does it accompanying his actions with a denunciating story
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
A river (wave, lake, basin) of milk that exists on earth (and not among the stars) is mentioned in narratives (in different context)
In a remote country rivers of milk have banks of kissel. It is a sign of abundance
Person must fill a bag (bowl) with truth (falsehood, tales). He fulfills the demand telling a denunciating story
People are ordered to kill their fathers or (rare) mothers (the Nyoro: to deprive them of power and property; the Baluch: not to take them setting off for the journey). An old man concealed by his son helps to resolve difficult problem
By his singing (threats, compliments) the wolf compels an old man to surrender his cattle (and members of his family)
The hero is fighting with a dragon and calls for help but he is not heard but when he throws his shoe (mitten) and his brothers (his horse) come and save him
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 attracts and catches the carrion-eaters (usually some birds) and thanks to this obtains valuables retrieves valuables (fire, woman, animals, etc.)
The pursuer cannot break with his hands obstacles created by heroes and must return home after the needed tools
A man receives a box or bag as a gift and is told that he should open it not before he comes to his place. The curious man opens it before time and everything that must make him rich (cattle, houses, etc.) falls out. A demon puts everything back but under certain condition. Usually the man does not understand that he promised to the demon his child
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
A monster with twelve heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
Closing formula of the folktale: the teller says that the characters are still alive if they are not already dead
Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so
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 (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)
An old man needs a son to accomplish a man’s work or service. (Only the youngest) daughter sets to do it (successfully passing her father’s test and) guised as a man
Father sends his daughters or sons to carry out a difficult task. At the very beginning their courage is tested. Only the youngest son or the youngest daughter passes the test successfully. Usually father takes guise of a robber or a predator animal and charges but only the youngest son or the youngest daughter is not scared.
Animals of particular species that were enemies of the heroes are exterminated besides the only pregnant female (rare a female and a male). Thanks to this, these animals still exist
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
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
Helpful trickster (usually the fox or the cat) deceives wild animals and brings them to the king saying that they are presented to him by a rich person
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
To choose a companion, the youth suggests each of the candidates to make something simple (to eat the served food, to set off). The chosen one demonstrates that he cares for the hero while others keep in mind only their own interests
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
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
An ogre (a dragon, king of the sea) has not killed a man who descended to him as other people had thought but rewarded because the greeted him and/or gave a correct answer to his question
An ogre (a dragon, king of the sea) has not killed a man who descended to him as other people had thought but rewarded because the greeted him and/or gave a correct answer to his question
A man rides a ship that stops suddenly and does not move for a long time. The man agrees to descend to the bottom, behaves himself in a proper way with the sea dwellers and returns to the ship
A young man lets free a fish or an animal that was caught or he or his father renders a help to somebody. When the young man sets off for a journey, the grateful creature or person in guise of a stranger or animal becomes his companion and protector
. The hero or his companion eliminate the source of danger
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
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)
The bargain between two persons is to end when a bird whose call is related to particular time of a temporal cycle will be heard. In order to hasten the contract’s end, another person imitates the bird. The first one recognizes the trick
When a hole is opened in the arch (rare: in the ground) from which a torrent of water flows, a snake (eel, frog) stops it up with its own body
A strong man who ventured to confront God is for a long time (for eternity) chained to a mountain or to a post
During a year somebody tries to break, to make thinner a chain or rope with which the person himself or somebody else is tied. In a certain day when the chain is almost broken it is restored or a post to which the person is tied sinks into the ground again
Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head)
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
Dog guards (successfully or unsuccessfully) the (still unfinished) physical body of man or the entrance to paradise
Dog is responsible for people being mortal or imperfect. Usually the antagonist bribes dog with a warm fur and the dog lets him spoil the half-ready human figures
A man should acquire a pair of shoes (or other objects) that would be identical to those in possession of a girl. These objects are either unique or it is not known how they look like. Making himself invisible, the man steels the objects (and the owner must acquire the new ones for herself) or becomes informed concerning their appearance
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds)
Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc.
A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son
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
The master of the underworld receives or is going to receive the celestial bodies of fire but thanks to a trick or a chance, they are not given to him (her) or returned back
To get valuables (food, fire) concealed by their owner, person pretends that the valuables are already in his possession
People or God get know a secret thanks to listening in its possessor when he speaks aloud with himself or with his relations. The received knowledge is related to cosmogony or acquisition of cultural values
Young man carries his sister to her fiancé. The girl does not hear well what her brother tells her. The witch distorts his saying (she must jump into the water; must be blinded, etc.). After getting rid of the heroine, the witch replaces her with her own daughter
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 ruler gets to know from a young man that this man’s sister is extraordinary beautiful. On the way to the ruler beautiful girl is replaced by the ugly one. Usually the ruler thinks that the young man is a deceiver and throws him in prison
A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg
Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him
Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed
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
Flies look like nails and prevent more nails being driven in
Somebody (usually God) is going to deprive humans of their staple food (usually cereals) but does not do it thanks to the dog (and/or cat; rare – birds)
Properties of the cereals (usually the size of the spike) are defined by what the dog did in time of creation
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
A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
Person gets a nut with valuables inside (precious clothes, jewelry, animal helpers, etc.) or he or she himself or herself puts valuable into a nut to use them later
A house that stands on one or several legs of a bird or small animal and/or is turning (capable to turn) is described
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
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
A boy is born whose father or (rare) mother is unknown. He himself points at his parent who as a rule occupies the lowest social position. Usually many men (women) come together and everyone hopes that the boy points at him (her)
A lazy (stupid) boy releases a fish (frog, serpent, supernatural being) which gives him a power of making all his wishes come true; he marries a princess
Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
A girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog
Person must wash something black making it white or vice versa (yarn, clothes, board, etc.)
A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
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)
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
A man pays in advance and invites his enemies to eat with him. When he turns his hat (throws it on the floor, etc.), they believe that it is the hat that makes the innkeeper say that the bill has been settled
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
The Pleiades are a sieve to process agricultural products
Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
After eating a fruit (usually an apple, in Northern traditions also an egg), the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
To have children, a woman eats a fish, apple or something else. A mare, a bitch or other domestic animals eat part of this food (often skin, broth, etc.). The woman gives birth to a boy (twins) a mare to colts, a bitch to puppies
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
A woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who make laugh his wife or mother
When person touches her or his eye with the magic substance, she or he sees supernatural beings unseen for the people. Usually the beings understand it and make this eye blind
Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes
A companion promises to share water or food with a thirsty or hungry person on condition that he or she allows to blind him or her
A man is going to kill but spares a giant bird. Later when the bird carries him high in the air it pretends to drop him or to abandon him on a rock. This way the bird wants him to feel the same terror that it felt when the man was going to kill it. Or the bird first drops and picks up a man and he later makes the bird feel a similar terror
Person imprisoned a dragon (demon, Thunder, etc.) and warns the other not to open a certain room (not to give water to the prisoner, etc.). The instruction is broken and the demon liberates himself that has undesirable consequences
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
The hero finds the horse that fits his needs in a cellar (cave, tower, etc.) where it had been preserved for a long time
When the hero goes to fulfill a difficult task, his magic wife gives him her towel or handkerchief and orders to use only them (usually her relatives recognize him as their son-in-law when they see the object in question)
Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.)
Because of the reason that for some time remains unclear a ship stops in the middle of the sea (rare: a horse stops on the road)
To reach his or her destination, person follows a ball of threads (rare: some ball, apple) which is rolling in front of him or her
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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
The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place
The imprisoned supernatural person breaks his chains and escapes after they give him some water (or wine, etc.)
Mighty bird helps a man because he had given food to its nestlings
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
People suspect that a young man is a disguised girl and suggest tests to identify the real sex of this person
People suspect that a young man is a disguised girl and suggest tests to identify the real sex of this person. Her dog (rare: cat) listens to people’s plans and the girl avoids all the traps
Being seized, person changes his or her guise in succession, the last transformations is into a small wooden object (usually a spindle). As soon as this object is broken in two, person acquires forever the human guise
Wife of a powerful person gives birth to wonderful child(ren). Her envious sisters play a trick to make her husband order to get rid of her (usually to put her and her child into the barrel which is thrown into the sea). The wonderful son saves her and himself. Imperceptibly (usually in guise of an animal or an insect, or sending his brother who has guise of a puppy) he gets into his father’s house and listens in what people are are talking about
Each of calender units (usually the months) that make the year is a separate object or person
A predator animal asks a goat (a ram, etc.) about a purpose of certain parts of his body. The goat describes every part as a weapon able to injure his opponent or the goat really possesses weapons
Goats meet a wolf. One goat has one belly, another has two bellies, the third one has three bellies, and so on. The wolf is scared or killed by the goat with the greatest number of bellies
The mushroom (gourd) imagines himself to be as lasting and durable as a tree
House of a person who insulted the fire is destroyed but an object or a child of another person (or this person himself) who was nice to the fire has not been burned though it was in the house of the first person
Two fires from different dwellings meet each other and chat
A monster with nine heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
The heroine’s rival transforms her into a dove. The dove makes attempts to contact her children or husband
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Person gets into a house inhabited by the goats. He secretly eats the food found there but is ultimately discovered
Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
Person has only a bast-shoe (or later asserts that he/she had the bast-shoe with him/her). He/she asks for the night-lodge and in the morning tells that he/she had something more valuable. This way he/she continues a series of profitable exchanges
A girl with the cut off hands comes to the fruit tree (into the vegetable garden) to find food. A princes gets to see her there and marries her
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)
Hero is sent to get musical instrument, usually a (self-playing) psaltery
When a man is dying, he leaves his son (each of his sons) something that does not have any significant value. The son comes to a country where the corresponding object or animal is unknown and sells it for great money
Young man obtains a fruit from which a girl comes out (rare: two girls from two fruits, both remain with the man). The episode of the loss of girls who were inside other fruits is absent, Cf. motif k33c6