| Motif | Name | Description |
| b2a | The female earth | The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman |
| b2d | Marriage of the sky and the earth | The male Sky (the Sun, the Thunder, the creator of the sky) marries the female Earth (or its female creator) or the female Sky marries the male Earth |
| b46 | Big Dipper is seven men | Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man |
| b46c | Big Dipper is seven persons or animals | Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal |
| c30a | A pound of flesh | A contract entitles the lender of a sum of money to cut a certain amount of flesh (or eye, head, limb, etc.) from the debtor’s body if the load is not repaid in time. The lender cannot cut out the flesh being unable to fulfill a condition that looks logical but is practically absurd |
| c31 | The wise hedgehog (cosmology) | A hedgehog proves to be smarter than gods and than other animals; he possesses the knowledge that is of crucial importance for survival of humans |
| e9 | The mysterious housekeeper | 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 |
| e9h | Dove-wife | A man marries dove-woman |
| f62 | Incognito at the feast | 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) |
| h7 | The personified Death | Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls |
| h7b1 | Devil (Death) captured in sack | 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) |
| h7d | The old man asks Death to help him to carry a load | An old man has to carry a heavy load of wood. Tired and exhausted, he wishes for death. When Death appears he asks her to help him with the load |
| i127 | Ursa major is a bed | Ursa major is a bed, a cot, a bedstead |
| i46a | Old woman’s rainbow | Rainbow is associated with an old woman |
| i51a | Bull the earth-holder | Big mammal supports the earth |
| i53 | Insect bothers the world-supporting being | The animal or the fish which supports the earth is bothered by an insect. The animal moves and the earth tremblesThe animal or the fish which supports the earth is bothered by an insect. The animal moves and the earth trembles (or an animal being afraid of the insect does not dare to move) |
| j23 | A late son kills monsters | People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy or twins. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared |
| j23c | Youngest brother kills monsters | People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared |
| j28b | A hot scone | A youth gets to know that a woman (usually his mother) conceals from him important information about his father, brothers or bride. He causes her pain (usually putting hot scone, handful of hot grain, etc. into her hand) making her tell him the truth |
| j32d | Princess in a tower (The glass mountain) | 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 |
| k100g | The son must be sacrificed | To revive or to cure his friend (rare: himself) or to fulfill a vow person is ready to sacrifice his small (young) son (children). The son revives or the supernatural powers are satisfied with the very willingness of the person to commit sacrifice |
| k101 | Night dances of girls | Every morning girl' or (rare) boy’s clothes are in disorder, the boy looks very tied. People spy on her (or on him) and discover that she or he spends nights in the non-human world |
| k102a | Father was right | A person gives order to kill the young man’s sister (mother, wife). The young man saves her but later regrets about it |
| k107 | Lost husband found | A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again |
| k108 | A revived wife betrays her husband | Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished |
| k123a | A broken vessel | A youth breaks or overthrows a vessel of a woman or girl. This episode is a trigger for the narrative |
| k131 | Men fight over magic objects | 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 |
| k131b | Magic objects are exchanged and returned | A man loses a magic object that he got before but gets it back thanks to another object (a cudgel, a box with soldiers, etc.) that is exchanged for the first one or obtained by the man’s brother. The episode can be repeated several times |
| k14 | Precious advices | A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble |
| k143 | Hero is a fowler | Protagonist of the story is a bird-catcher (bird-hunter) or a son of a bird-catcher (bird-hunter) |
| k14b | A charge of stealing the knife | A man receives good advice never to act before he is insistently asked to do it. When he decides to be helpful and gives his knife (rare: other weapon) without being insistently asked for it, he is accused of a crime |
| k24 | Stolen clothes of supernatural woman | Women (rare: men) who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons; rare: a girl of higher social status than the hero) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a person hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him (rare: her) |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| k27 (motif is not in the correlation table) | Competitions and difficult tasks | Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life |
| k27hh | To sort grain | A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains |
| k27n | Difficult tasks of the in-laws | A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage |
| k27n1 | Task-giver is a king or a chief | Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being |
| k27x5 | Helpful persons of different age | Setting off for a search of a woman or magic objects, a man comes across several (usually three) supernatural (often demonic) persons who help him. All the persons are similar but usually every next one is older (younger) than another |
| k32g | Punishment: torn apart by horses | To punish an antagonist, he or she is tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses) |
| k33h | The cat, the dog and the magic object | A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before) |
| k36 | Bewitched into animal | Person is temporary transformed into animal (usually into a dog or coyote or into donkey, ox, etc.). When he acquires his human guise again, the antagonist suffers similar transformation. In some texts only the hero or only the antagonist is transformed |
| k38e4 | Palace of gold and silver bricks | A palace (castle, crypt, church, bridge) made of gold and silver modules (usually bricks, more rare planks) is mentioned in narratives (in different context) |
| k38f | The dragon-slayer | A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot |
| k38f1 | The cut off tongues | Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him) |
| k56b | The worthy man is rewarded, the unworthy punished | First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished |
| k60c | Touchy with king, patient with stableman | King’s wife is extremely touchy and cannot suffer a slightest pain. She does not say a word, however, when her lover who is a servant or a demon is beating her |
| k67b | Bargain not to become angry | Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee |
| k88 | The two travellers (Truth and Falsehood) | Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes |
| k93a | Sword of chastity | Sleeping in one bed with a woman, man puts a sharp or thorny object between them as a sign of chastity (sometimes the woman herself puts the sword) |
| k93b2 | Conception from eaten fruit | After eating a fruit (usually an apple, in Northern traditions also an egg), the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins |
| k94 | Bird of luck (eaten up head) | Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful |
| k95 | The twining branches (united in death) | Two persons who loved each other (usually a man and a girl) are buried in one grave or not far from each other. After the burial something related to this event takes place (two plants grow up and stretch their branches to each other, smoke of two funeral pyres is merged, two birds flu out from the grave, two stars appear on the sky, etc.) |
| k96 | Fifty sons | Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters |
| l100d | The entrapped suitors | A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc. |
| l37a | To get know causes of problems | |
| l37b | Secrets accidentally overheard | Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes |
| l40b | Absurd actions to lure person out | Somebody acts in absurd way to lure person out of his or her place. The person does not understand the deception and comes to explain how to act correctly |
| m110 | The forgotten liver | An animal is tricked to be carried across the water by those who are going to eat or to use as a medicine a part of its body. The animal tells that forgot to take just that part which is needed, is carried back to take it, escapes |
| m114i | Asked about their relatives, girl or boy answers with wit | When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person |
| m127a | The quail makes the fox laugh | 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 |
| m135a | The wolf's reverses | Wolf (more rare other predator animal) comes to different (more than two species) domestic animals (animals and people) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their requests and remains without his meal and usually becomes beaten (killed) |
| m135b | Wolf regrets for being so stupid | Wolf (rare: jackal, fox) comes to different domestic animals (rare: only to one animal) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their demands. As a result he remains hungry and usually beaten and accuses himself that his ways were so stupid (“Am I a mollah to read?”) |
| m136b | Cutting off the branch | Man sitting on branch of a tree cuts it off and similar variants (man climbs a rope and cuts it off; men cut a tree and climb on it to fell it; man climbs with difficulty on a dead branch of a tree, which breaks off) |
| m136c | The man takes seriously the prediction of death | Considering indirect signs or somebody’s word, a numskull thinks that he is dead and lies motionless |
| m137 | The weak predator imitates the strong one | The weak predator tries to imitate the strong one but is unable to accomplish actions that the strong one does easily |
| m145 | The lion in a well | A weak (animal) person demonstrates a strong one his reflection in water. The latter believes that an animal like he contests his supremacy, invites him for a visit, etc., usually jumps in and drowns |
| m152 | Why only one wolf? | When a weak animal or a person gets to see a predator animal or an ogre, he says in a loud voice (or asks to say his wife or children) something that frightens the predator (ogre): why the predator (ogre) brought to him is lean (small; only one instead of several), or it is good that more food gets to his house, etc. The predator (ogre) runs away |
| m152 | Why only one wolf? | When a weak animal or a person gets to see a predator animal or an ogre, he says in a loud voice (or asks to say his wife or children) something that frightens the predator (ogre): why the predator (ogre) brought to him is lean (small; only one instead of several), or it is good that more food gets to his house, etc. The predator (ogre) runs away |
| m153 | Letter on the hoof | The wolf (lion, etc.) is going to eat a horse (mule, etc.). The horse asks him to look at his hoof (for different reasons) or eat him from his hindquarters forward; then he kicks him |
| m153b | Wolf rides a horse | Wolf is killed or injured when he accepts a suggestion of the horse (donkey, etc.) to ride it |
| m154 | The animal language and the stubborn wife | A man obtains knowledge of animal languages but if he reveals the secret, he must die. Once he hears animals talking and laughs. His wife thinks that he laughs at her or at her mother. The man is ready to open his secret and either does it and dies or hears how animals (usually a cock) blame him for being so foolish. So he keeps his secret. |
| m154a | A donkey induces overworked ox to feign sickness | One of domestic animals (usually the donkey) induces another who is overworked to feign sickness. When the next day he must do the work of the “sick” one, he tells that the master has decided to slaughter the one who is unable to work and persuades him to stop being ill |
| m154a | A donkey induces overworked ox to feign sickness | One of domestic animals (usually the donkey) induces another who is overworked to feign sickness. When the next day he must do the work of the “sick” one, he tells that the master has decided to slaughter the one who is unable to work and persuades him to stop being ill |
| m156 | The ungrateful one returned to captivity | An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again) |
| m159 | The lion’s share | The strongest predator (usually a lion) suggests one of his companions to shares the booty. He is not satisfied by results and beats the companion. When another companion becomes to divide, he gives everything to the strongest one and explains that the injured one taught him the right way of sharing |
| m165 | Fur coat for the wolf | 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 |
| m169 | Medicine for the sick lion | In the presence of powerful person one of his subjects is plotting against the other. The other answers that the problem can be resolved if the first one would be maimed (usually a part of his body used as a medicine). The schemer is killed or injured |
| m177 | But he had no heart at all | A weak predator eats part of a body of a killed animal and explain to the strong one that this animal did not have such a part at all |
| m197 | The effectiveness of fire | Seriously or demonstrating absurdity of the situation, a person tries to cook something using a fire (a source of light) that is far away from the object to be cooked |
| m197a | The pot has a child and dies | A borrower returns a cattle (pot) together with a small one, claiming that the cattle gave birth to a child. He borrows the pot again but does not return it, claiming that the pot dies |
| m197d | The shortened stick | A judge gives sticks to all the suspects in a court case and tells them that the guilty one’s stick will grow during the night. The guilty man cuts a bit off his stick and thus is discovered |
| m197f | The black beard and the grey head | A dialogue is based on fact that the beard of the young men is black while the beard of the old men is grey. Usually a man answers the question why the hair of his head is grey and the hair of his beard is black. “The hair of the head is twenty years older than the beard” |
| m198 | Wise brothers (the king is bastard) | When three brothers (rare: a person) are Invited to khan (judge, king, etc.) and served delicious food, they claim that the food and drink have a taste (smell) of a corpse, dog, goat etc. and/or their host is of a low descent or a bastard. Investigation confirms that their deduction was correct |
| m198a | Wise brothers (the strayed camel) | Three or four brothers (rare: one man) see the track of a domestic animal and are able to deduce how it looked like (lame, had no tale, carried oil and honey, etc.) or they deduce how the man who had stolen the animal looks like |
| m198a3 | Who did steal the ruby? | One of the brothers steals a treasure for which all of them have equal rights or he is a bastard. Brothers come to a powerful person and want him to say who of them is the thief or the bastard. Usually the person tells a story and discovers the guilty one considering his reaction |
| m198a4 | Which was the noblest act? | Listeners of a story must answer whom they liked more: a husband who let his wife go to another man, a robber who did not harm her, or the other man who immediately sent her back to her husband |
| m202 | Thorn removed from lion’s paw | Person removes a thorn from the paw (bone from the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or a demon, the animal (demon) is grateful |
| m29b | Trickster-fox, jackal or coyote | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote |
| m29b1 | The wolf is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m29g | Trickster-hare or rabbit | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit |
| m29w2 | The tiger is a failure | Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m39a3 | Had your daughter horns? | Fool kills a person, throws the body into a pond or a well. His relation throws there a dead goat. Searching for the corpse in the pond, the fool asks if the killed person had horns, etc. People see that he is really crazy and do not suspect him of a crime |
| m39a5b | Husband discredited by absurd truth | 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. |
| m39a6 | Misunderstood instructions: to cut a road | A wayfarer asks his companion in an allegorical for to tell a story. The companion takes his words in the direct sense and acts stupidly or thinks that his companion is a fool |
| m39a6g | Four coins (The sharing of bread and money) | Man explains that one part of his incomes he puts out at interest while another part is used to pay debts, i.e. he cares for his children and keeps up his parents |
| m39a6i | Answer betraying a theft | Person asks a servant to bring another some food or object and to pass certain words which for the servant have no meaning. Hearing these words, the recipient understands that the servant had appropriated part of what he had to bring |
| m57a | Beads discharged from the body | Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person |
| m57a3 | Female person is the producer of valuables | Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a |
| m57c | Gold producing animal | An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so |
| m75b1 | Marco the Rich | A respected man gets to know that a poor boy must inherit all his property or become a king and tries to prevent it, but the fate cannot be changed |
| m83 | Who is older? | Somebody claims that he has been born before present world came into being. His opponent claims the same, and they argue who of them is the older |
| m90c | Ladder instead of wife | One man promises another that he can take anything in his house if he touches i with his hand. The guest is going to take the other man’s wife but when he touches a ladder he is told to take it and go away |
| m91a | Simulated killing (a bag with blood) | Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide |
| m91c1 | Herd from the river bottom | Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him |
| m91c2 | Put into the bag | Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed |
| m91c3 | Hare the messenger | After warning his wife about the planned trick, person lets free a wild animal or bird asking it to pass a message to his wife. Seeing the same (actually another) animal or bird in his companion’s house another man buys the animal for a lot of money |
| m91c5 | The wager that sheep are hogs | A man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep |