Linked Motifs

Motif	Name	Description
a12	Eclipses: monster’s attack	Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light
a12a	Eclipses: a predator animal	During an eclipse or at other circumstances the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a predator animal (a bear, a feline, a canine, a racoon)
a21	Luminaries are objects fixed in the sky	The sun and/or the moon are inanimate objects thrown up to the sky or fixed in the sky
a29	The Sun and a demon compete for the hero	Two persons one of which is connected with the upper and another with the lower or middle world, both are eager to possess another person and pull him or her to his or her side. One or both rivals are female. Person connected with the upper world and/or the object of the competition are luminaries – the Sun, the Moon, or Venus
a29b	The Moon torn in half	Person, connected with the upper world and another person connected with the lower world or the earth both are eager to possess a hero or heroin who is associated with the Moon
a32	Figure on lunar disc	A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)
a32d	Man in the Moon	Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
a32d1	Cain and Abel in the Moon	Cain and Abel are related to the Moon, usually are seen (both or Cain only) in the shadows of the lunar disc
a32d2	Person with pitchfolk in the Moon	Person with a pitchfolk in hands is seen in the shadows of the lunar disc
a39a	Twelve months	Each of calender units (usually the months) that make the year is a separate object or person
a4	Female sun	The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
a5	The Sun and the Moon are males	The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
b103	Cornel-tree fruits	Person (a devil or a bear) thinks that because the Cornus mas tree (European cornel, male cornel) blossoms before all other fruit trees do, it also brings its fruits early. The cornel fruits become ripe very late, so the person is disappointed and gets no fruits
b105	She daughter-in-law is transformed	Father- or mother-in-law gets to see his or her daughter-in-law in an improper situation (combing her hair, taking a bath, etc.). She is ashamed in turns into a bird (usually a hoopoe) or a turtle
b116	The first book eaten up	An animal or a person eats up the first book (writing, important document). (In some of European traditions the eating up of the book is not directly described but follows from the context)
b116c	Sacred book lost	In the past a particular groups of people possessed scripture and knowledge that were later lost or the people missed opportunity to obtain them
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
b33a1	The offended March	Person or animal, bird teases, offends March or other month and are punished
b33c	The borrowed days	When the winter ends and the spring begins certain month (usually March) borrows (rare buys, steals) several days from a neighbor month
b33h	The mother of the Sun	The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place
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
b50	Whose blood is sweeter?	An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people
b51a	The snake is an enemy of the swallow	The snake is an enemy of the swallow (usually because swallow does not let snake to destroy people; the snake sends mosquito or other bloodsucking insect to get know whose blood is the most delicious; the insect flies back to report that human blood is the sweetest; swallow bites its tongue off and the snake gets to pull off feathers from the swallow's tail)
b83	Bag too heavy to be lifted up	Person tries to pick up a small object or creature but it proves to be of enormous weight (and size)
b87	Alcor	Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
b90	Master of wolves	There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year
c16	Processed objects turn into animals	Against person's will, butchered, dried or cooked meat, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish and escape.
c18	Luring out the hidden Sun	Person who incarnates or owns the sun hides himself or herself or is hidden. To return or to get heath and light, his or her interest is attracted or diverted by way of singing, dancing, playing music, provocative behavior, offering of unusual gifts, sex or alcohol
c19	Acquisition of the sun	The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
c2	Deluge and conflagration combined	Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water
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
c33	Prometeus (the chained strong man)	A strong man who ventured to confront God is for a long time (for eternity) chained to a mountain or to a post
c33a	The restored chain	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
c36	The final battle	Gods fight with their powerful adversaries at the decisive battle that changes fate of the world
c5a	Bird-scouts	Birds or humans later changed to birds are sent to explore the earth (is it dry, are any survivals, to investigate why smoke rises to the sky, etc.) or to bring some soil to make the land that would be good for living
d1b	Male spirit of fire	The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire)
e11	The burned skin	Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
e31a	Creators and rescuers of a girl	Several men take part in rescuing, creation or reanimation of a girl (rare: a bird) or several women take part in the reanimation of a dead man or they differetly express their grief. It is asked whose role was crucial (who behavior more noble) and/or who should be the spouse of the reanimated person. Or three men make something valuable and it is asked whose role in the corresponding enterprise was more important
e31c	Rescuers of an abducted girl	Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal
e8c	Woman hides in a chip	A woman hides in a chip of wood (in a twig) that was brought to house and comes out when nobody is nearby
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
e9o	Frog or toad-wife	Man marries frog- or toad-woman
f14	Son of a man and a rock	Hero is born by a rock that was impregnated by a man
f14a	Birth from a rock	Anthropomorphic person appears from a rock, is born by a it
f2	Pregnant limb	Child is born from a tumor or swelling on person's body (on thigh, knee, finger, etc.) or is temporarily placed there or child grows from blood that flew out from a cut
f20	A strong embrace	Man and woman embrace each other forever or for a long time
f39	The time of women	The women dominated over the men in the past or in a far away land, were the active part in marriage relations, practiced activities which now are reserved of the men only. Or the women could obtained supremacy but failed to do it for some reason
f5	Brides for the first men	Person cannot or do not want to give his daughters in marriage to all the men who claim them for wives and transforms animals into girls. (Usually in the beginning of times or after the flood many men come to marry the only daughter of God or patriarch)transforms animals into girls
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)
f7	The underwater-maiden	Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
f70e	A girl turns into a man	A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
f70e1	A daughter instead of a son	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
f70e2	Father tests his daughters or sons	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.
f71	Susan and the old men (the innocent slandered maiden)	An innocent girl or young woman rejects a man who attempts to seduce her. The man accuses her of loose conduct, ultimately the truth comes to light
f83a	Indecent proposal made through children	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)
f83b	The stuck between trees she animal is rapes	A strong she animal pursues a weaker one male but is stuck netweem trees or stones. The male taunts (usually rapes) her
f9	A dangerous woman	For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
f9g	Brunhilde	A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her
h16b	The basin of milk	A river (wave, lake, basin) of milk that exists on earth (and not among the stars) is mentioned in narratives (in different context)
h45	The abused bread	A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity
h46	The dog’s part	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)
h47	Offended sky or earth	The sky (or the earth) is offended by people’s behavior in respect to it and reacts accordingly (e.g. rises higher than it was before)
h51	The demonic horse	A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God
h52	The land of immortality	Person finds a land where there is no death. Setting off to visit his home country, he does not come to this land again
h55	Sinners in other world	Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
h55a	Married couple under one blanket	Person gets to see husband and wife who pull their blanket from each other or have not enough space for two on their bed
h6c	The immortal raven	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.)
h7	The personified Death	Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls
h7a	The Death and a doctor	Man receives from Death (Fortune, some spirit) knowledge will the patient recover or die. He becomes a doctor and receives rich rewards. Usually he gets the ability to see Death near the bed of a patient and considering a particular place where Death stands, gets to know perspectives of recovering
h7g1	Death is more fair and rich than God	Person (who is usually in search of the godgather for the newborn child) rejects God (saints) and devil but accepts Death who is more fair (or rich)
i1	The thunderbirds	Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird
i100	The Pleiades are girls	The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children)
i100b	The Pleiades are a group of people	The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
i120	Cornucopia	Food and clothes are extracted from the horn of a cow or goat
i120b	Extracting values from animal’s ear	Person takes from the ear of an animal (usually a horse or a cow) food, clothes and other valuables
i136	The demonic wheel	The rolling wheel (and a person who is riding it) is hostile to the hero (to the people) or a weapon used by such a person
i13c	Snake’s crown	Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head
i22	Objects in permanent movement	There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate)
i22c	A plank from the stern of Argo	Person succeeds in getting through the opening which is going to bang shut but the stern of his boat, the tail of an animal or a bird, the body of his horse, or his own heel is flatterned, torn off, etc.
i22g	Clapping rocks	There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing
i25	The bribed guards	Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master
i25c	To name bloody river the river of vine	On her or his way to the destination, person (on his or her way back) names dangerous or repulsive objects and beings beautiful and nice, thus securing their loyalty
i25d	To grease and oil gates and doors	On his way to a dangerous being the hero (heroine) greases (oils) the gate (door) hinges. When the hero goes back the grateful gate does not agree to hold him despite the order of the dangerous being
i3	Weapon of Thunder	The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
i35a1	Challenge to Thunder-god	Person claims to be equal to the sky god, imitating him or mocking upon him
i35a1a	Insulting the God	Person claims to be equal to the high god, imitating him, mocking upon him or making attempt to kill him
i35a2	Thunder is rolling stones or vessels	Thunder is heard when stones or big vessels are rolled, dragged, overthrown in the sky
i35b	The bronze sky	Sky is made of metal. The technique of its creation reminds the work of a smith
i35c	God the craftsman	One of mythological characters using his skills in crafts creates for the first time tools and valuable cultural and natural objects; is a patron of craftsmen (usually of blacksmiths)
i40	Rainbow bow	Rainbow is a bow
i46	Rainbow belt	Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
i48	Confined to the underworld	Certain person loses his or her freedom, is confined to a far away place (often, to the underworld) and acquires cosmic dimensions: supports the earth or the sky and/or his or her movements produce earthquakes or (rare) storms
i50a	Torn off legs of the helpful animal	Demon tears off or devours one by one legs of aт animal who helps the hero, usually of his riding horse
i51a	Bull the earth-holder	Big mammal supports the earth
i57	Thunder pursues his enemy	Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
i59	Milky Way is spilled straw	Milky Way is a trace of people who spilled on their way something related to agriculture (straw, chaff, hay, more rare flour, peas)
i59a	Thief in the sky	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.)
i59b1	Milky Way is the road to a remote city	Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
i6	Weather birds	A man meets a giant bird that brings with it clouds, rain, hail, thunderstorm, etc.
i62	Milky Way is a river	Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
i64	Milky Way is a trace of animals	Milky Way is a trace of big animals who were walking or running along it
i64a	Race along Milky Way	Two different ungulates run a race in the sky. Usually Milky Way is their trace of dust
i68	Opening of the sky	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)
i68b	Night of the fulfilled wishes	In a certain night of the year any wish that was thought of or voiced is fulfilled
i75	World ages	Before present world, several (two or more) other worlds or races of people existed
i82b	Venus is female	Morning and/or Evening Star is a female personage
i85a	Animals walk around Polaris	Hoofed animals are walking around Polaris or the movement of stars is compared with the movement of animals around a post
i85b	Polaris is a person	Polaris is a person
i87	Skull as a cave	Personages use a shelter which proves to be an object related to the world of the giants (a skull, a shoulder-blade, a mitten)
i87a	Series of creatures ever greater in size	Personage of gigantic dimensions in respect to normal humans and animals proves to be tiny dwarf in respect to another personage
i87a1	Small or big? A dialogue	Two persons engaged into dialogue describe a series of objects and creatures as simultaneously giant and small
i87a2	What is Two?	Antagonist names numbers from one to seven or nine, every time asking what it is. The hero gives answers that the antagonist accepts as correct ones.
i87ab	Only child was able to pick it up	Strong men or a lot of people people cannot move the corpse of a killed person or creature but a child or a woman does it easily
i87ac	Bone in the eye	Something big or huge gets into the man’s eye but he takes it for a speck of dust. Usually a bird picks up and carries away an animal or a fish and drops its bone into an eye of a man. When the bone is found, it is dragged out with difficulty (people ride in a boat inside the eye, drag the bone with a fishnet, with many oxen, etc.)
i87ad	Hidden in a hollow tooth	A giant hides the pursued man in his moith – usually (or always) in a hollow tooth; or a man survives after getting into the giant's mouth hiding himself in a hollow tooth
i87b	The quest for a strong adversary	A man seeks a strong adversary to wrestle with and comes across person who is incomparably stronger than he
i87f	Suicide of the Narts	A raсe of people who were bigger, stronger or otherwise different from the present day people lived in the past. They dissapeared after commiting suicide
i8g	Atlas	One giant supports the earth or the sky
i92	Rainbow transforms sex	Person who gets to walk under, over or through the rainbow changes his or her sex
i92a	Jump over the rainbow	Anyone who jumps or steps over the rainbow will change his or her sex
i95c	Orion is a staff	Orion is a staff, a crook
i99	The Pleiades are boys or men	The Pleiades are a group of boys or men, or a group of different people but predominantly males
j1	The vengeful heroes	Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
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
j25	Babies escape and return	Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty
j26	Babies come out of the water	Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
j27	Lodge-boy and Thrown-away	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
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
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
j31	Father’s weapon	A young hero obtains and uses weapons or other powerful objects which belonged to his murdered father
j32	To identify the night thief	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
j32	To identify the night thief	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
j32a1	The night wreckers are horses	Every night somebody tramples down the grain field, steals hay, etc. The hero discovers that horses do it
j32c	Demon comes to harm to the dead	At night a demonic person comes to the tomb to harm the dead
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
j32e	The new-born foals stolen	Every foal to which a mare gives birth is immediately stolen. The hero identifies the thief
j32f	The stolen apples	Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
j4	Revenge for the death of the male relatives	Heroes avenge the murder or captivity of the male relatives: (grand)father, uncles, or the elder relatives in general, the loss of the males being the most traumatic
j40	Enemy from the sky	Beings who live in the sky descend to kill people. Usually such a being carries away to its world a person or many people (or person's cut off head or limb). The hero (usually a relation of the perished one) revenges on the dangerous being and/or brings back the victim or victims (his or her head, etc.)
j41c	Trials before confrontation with the antagonist	A man sets off for a confrontation with dangerous adversary. On his way, he is suggested to fulfill difficult tasks and does it successfully. Usually the same tasks had been suggested before to another man who failed to fulfill them and was killed or imprisoned by the adversary
j46	Enemy drowns	Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
j47	Pursuer falls from height	Person ascends to the sky (rare: descends from the sky; ascends the cliff) by a rope, a ladder, etc. Another person tries to follow him or her but the rope (the ladder) is broken or severed
j47b	The two ropes	A strong rope (chain, etc.) is thrown to the person pursued by a demon but a rotten rope is thrown to the pursuer. The person is saved and the demon falls down (drowns) and dies
j51	One piece is missing	Person or animal is eaten up or destroyed otherwise. His bones are put together and he or it is revived. Because one bone was broken, swallowed or lost (or a drop of blood, a small piece of flesh lost), the person or animal cannot be revived or being revived misses some part of his or its body
j59c	To revive the dead with a whiplash	Person revives the dead beating the bones of corpse with the whip
j62	People turned into stones	Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
j62c	Sister asks her brother to obtain impossible	To get rid of a young man, his female antagonist uses a stratagem. She tells his sister (rare: tells directly him) about some wonderful objects and the girl is overcome with the desire to have them. An attempt to obtain these objects entails a risk for one’s life. The youth sets off to obtain the objects
k100	A faithful servant	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
k100b	A grateful dead	A young man helps to bury a man (pays the debts of the dead man, honors a saint). When the young man sets off for a journey, the grateful dead (the saint) in guise of a stranger becomes his protector
k100f1	The wild man	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
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
k100h	The gratitude test	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
k102	Woman associated with the hero conspires in favor of his enemy	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
k102a5	To fill a vessel with tears	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
k103	Helpful cow	Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
k103d	To enter an ear of the horse, to take something from an ear of the cow	An animal (a demonic being) asks the hero or heroine to take objects necessary for him (her) from its ear or to enter its ear to make himself or herself handsome, to sleep. etc.
k107	Lost husband found	A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
k10g	The man uses a fledgeling to descend to the earth	A man gets into the nest of a giant bird on a high rock or tree. He descends to the earth killing the bird and fixing its feathers or wings to his body or (more often) using the bird’s nestling (riding on its back, holding its feet, fixing its feathers or wings)
k113	The animal bride	Several young men (usually three brothers) decide to choose wives (usually shooting arrows or throwing objects on the off-chance). The wife of the youngest initially is ugly or non-human (a frog, a snake) but proves to be beautiful enchantress. She and her husband triumph. Or girls choose their husbands and the youngest one gets a youth who has guise of a snake
k113a	To take wife where arrow falls	A young man shoots an arrow or throws an object on the off-chance He finds the girl to be married or something that helps to obtain her at the place where his arrow (other object) falls
k117a	To make a mute woman speak	A girl who keeps silence is promised to one who would make her speak; a man with much difficulty makes his magic wife speak
k117b	Stuck together	Using a magic object or spell, hero makes people (and animals) attached to the object or to each other
k118	The prohibited room	Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
k118a	A portrait of an unknown beauty	After seeing a portrait of an unknown beauty, a man is eager to meet her
k119	Animal helper marries a poor boy to a princess	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
k119a	The ungrateful master	An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
k12	Woman is lost and returned	By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
k120	The averted incest (daughter and father)	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
k120a4	To fill a vessel with tears	Person must fill a vessel (to cover a floor) with tears
k120a5	Luring a woman to a ship	To trap a desired woman, person lures her to a ship (boat, flying machine, etc.) and carries away
k123	Old woman’s curse	A youth or (rare) girl offends an elder woman. Her words make him or her to be overcome by desire to undertake something dangerous (usually to get a particular marriage partner)
k123a	A broken vessel	A youth breaks or overthrows a vessel of a woman or girl. This episode is a trigger for the narrative
k124	There was a greater wonder!	An animal killed by a hunter revives. The animal itself or somebody else tells the hunter that there was a greater wonder (sorrow) with such and such a person. The story follows
k126	Wolf pays for the eaten up horse	A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife)
k128	Grazing animals to be preserved by a herdsman	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)
k129	The disenchanted beauty	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
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
k131d	Seven-league boots	The boots (shoes, sandals) which allow the person wearing them to move with extraordinary speed are mentioned
k134	The planted treasure	To accuse a guest of theft, a host plants a treasure into his guest’s bag
k135a	Coward expelled from his home	A coward or lazy-bones irritates his household so much they expel him home. He travels and overcomes mighty enemies thanks to his ingenuity or good luck
k136b	Rubies from a river	Person finds precious stones or miraculous flowers (usually in a river) and gets to know whence they originate
k136c	Killed and revived periodically	Every time when a demonic person goes away he kills or puts asleep a woman reviving her when he comes back
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
k141	Three injurious fairies	Supernatural women make harm to people. Hero overcomes them and usually marries them
k147	Hero's horse brings his remains and he is revived	Enemy cuts hero’s body into pieces and ties them to his horse or the horse itself picks them up and brings to his master’s friends. They revive him.
k148	The stolen colts	Every night or every year a mare gives birth to a colt but every time it is stolen
k14c	Man mistakes his son for his wife’s lover	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
k150	Horse eats coals	Magic horse eats (hot) coals, nails, etc. or they try to feed the horse with such a staff
k152	The devil is frightened and runs away	A man saves a devil (snake, dangerous animal) who suffers from proximity of certain object or person. The grateful devil promises to enter a princess and abandon her as soon as the man comes to cure her. The man will get a reward but he should not try such a trick again. The man scares the devil forever telling him that the object or person of which the devil is afraid will be near soon
k160a	Demon’s answers to his wife’s questions	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
k163	Aladdin and his lamp	A magician orders a boy to fetch a magic object (often a lamp). The boy finds the object (but refuses to give it to the magician), and the object fulfills the boy’s wishes
k164	Wife is not the best friend	A man himself or somebody else creates situation that demonstrates that his wife is not his best friend. Often a treacherous wife is contrasted with a true dog
k174	Fingering thrown into a pitcher	A person puts (usually inconspicuously) his or her fingering or other small personal object into a pitcher with which a servant (girl) has come to take water. The servant's mistress or master finds the ring and understands that the person is nearby
k176	A man in search of the woman	A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
k177	The travelling heroine	A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
k181	The horse from the cellar	The hero finds the horse that fits his needs in a cellar (cave, tower, etc.) where it had been preserved for a long time
k182	The deceived defender	Supernatural person comes to help every time when he hears a signal of alarm but refuses to do it since the signal was given without a reason
k182a	The sleeping defender	Mighty hero is retired to the cave (tomb etc.) will come back to the world (to help his people) or he could come but decided not to do it
k18d	A lazy boy and a fish	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
k1f	Conflict because of a woman	A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
k2	The destroyed ladder	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)
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
k25e	Magic wife is an ancestor	All humans, members of a particular ethnic or social group or a ruling dynasty are believed to descend from a mortal man and a woman of supernatural origin
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
k27c	Ordeal: knives and thorns	An ordeal: to remain alive after contact with sharp points or blades
k27e	Eating or drinking contest	Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
k27f	The task: to get a woman	A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
k27f1	To build a bridge	Person builds a bridge (usually of gold etc.) during a very short time
k27g	Ordeal: to bathe in a boiling liquid	Person is ordered to bathe in a (boiling) milk or other hot liquid or to jump into fire. He remains unharmed but his adversary usually dies
k27g4	To plow, to sow and to reap in one day	During impossibly short time person must to realize all works of agricultural cycle and to present food made of new crops
k27h1	To bring fruits	A task-giver asks person to bring fruits of a tree that is difficult to be reached
k27l1	To be frozen in the ice	Person agrees to test his strength being frozen in the ice but fails to break it and to get free
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
k27nn	Envious minister	Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks
k27r2	The dancing apples	A task: to bring objects (usually fruits) that act like people, i.e. dance, sing and the like
k27u	Hide-and-seek	Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him
k27w	Monster brought by the hero kills the task-giver	Task-giver asks to bring him dangerous being or object possessed by a moster or deity. Hero fulfills the task. The beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task-giver
k27x2	To steal an egg from under the bird	Person is able to steal an egg (a nestling, to put it back) from under the bird (to change the bird’s feather; to steal an embryo from animal’s womb, etc.)
k27x3	The man persecuted because of his beautiful bride	A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
k27x4	Climb a tree with a full glass in hand	Person must climb a tree (pole, rock) with a full open vessel in hand and not a drop should be spilled
k27x6a
k27z2a2	Unrecognized wife visits her husband	A man marries a woman but abandons her without consummating his marriage. She visits him in disguise and ultimately he gets to know who was his beautiful companion. Usually the wife gives birth to his son (three sons) and upon seeing the boy, the man realizes that it is his own child
k27z5	An agreement to marry the would be born children	Two men agree to marry their future children if a girl and a boy will be born. The girl’s parents evade the given obligation. The boy grows up and finds his bride
k27zz3	A hole behind an apple-tree	Father or step-mother (who is usually a demon in human guise) pushes several girls (a girl and her maids) into a hole (confines them in a hole). The heroin gets to climb out and she overcomes her antagonists
k28	Father or uncle is rival and enemy	Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him
k29d	The drunk elephants	When water in a spring is replaced with alcohol, honey, etc. or bottles of alcohol seem to be left without supervison, a creature of person becomes drunk and is caught
k2a	Hero marooned in the underworld	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
k2a3	Hero marooned on a mountain	To maroon hero on a mountain, his companions destroy the rope or chain by which he climbed there or which he let down from there
k32	The false wife	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.
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)
k33	Drowned woman remains alive	A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people
k33a	Younger brother transformed into animal	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
k33a6	They sharpen knives and boil water already	A kid (lamb, gazelle, etc.) comes to a well (see, etc.) where his mistress was pushed down and says that they sharpen knives and boil water to kill and cook him
k33c	Girl from a fruit	Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
k33g	Fruits of two kinds	One who eats certain fruit (leave, etc.) gets horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal. After eating another fruit (leave) person recovers his or her normal body
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)
k35a1	Not to pick up a feather of fire-bird	On his way a man picks up a precious feather (often despite the warning of his magic horse). When a powerful person gets to know about the feather he tells the man to fulfill difficult tasks
k35c1	The best is one whom you love	A mighty person asks a man which of two women is prettier, what is the most beautiful thing, and the like. Giving a correct answer, the man is not killed like those who were before him but receives a reward
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
k37	Recognition-test	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
k38	Hero helps the nestlings	For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
k38a	White and black rams	Getting to the underworld, hero should take a white ram (horse) which would carry him back to earth. By chance, he takes the black one which carries him even deeper to the lower level of the underworld. Or the hero grabs not the right but the left horn of the animal and because of this gets to the wrong place
k38b	The nestlings and the aggressive snake	A serpent or water monster regularly devours or injures children of a bird or other flying creature (almost always nestlings of giant bird). The hero kills the serpent (monster)
k38d	Monster blocks waters	A monster blocks sources of water (or sends floods) and usually gives some (promises not to send floods) in exchange for human victims or valuables. Hero kills the monster
k38d1	A girl sacrificed to a dragon	To appease a water monster (water spirits, gods) or to put an end to the drought or flood, a girl is sacrificed or descends into the water by her own will
k38e1	Forest of metal trees	Person travels across a forest with trees of two or more kinds of metal (copper, silver, etc.)
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
k38f4	Fire-breathing monster	From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire
k38f5	Fire-breathing horse	From the mouth of a horse fire is coming ot the horse itself is of fire
k38f7	Wild animals are hero’s dogs	Person obtains some wild animals (of two or more different species) who serve him like dogs
k39	Man feeds his own flesh to a creature who helps him	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
k40	One will be eaten today and another tomorrow	Two (rare more) persons or creatures think that they are doomed but one whose death is slightly delayed is happy while one who will be killed earlier is in grief
k56	The kind and the unkind girls	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).
k56a9	Helpful mouse rings a bell	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
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
k57	Cinderella	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
k60b	Invitation to coffin	Person is lured into a trap being invited to lie in a box or a hole to measure it. Being unable to liberate himself from the box etc., the person remains in power of his enemies
k61a	To get know a secret	To get know the precise number of certain units, to select certain object among many others, to get know a name of particular person or a reason of particular phenomenon, person tries to surprise (or unintentionally surprises) the possessor of the knowledge who becomes to speak aloud and so provides the hero with necessary information
k64	Escape from Polyphemos’ cave	Person gets into dwelling of master of animals or monstrous shepherd. The host can kill him. The hero escapes sticking to hair of one of the animals who are going out
k64a	Blinded cyclopes	Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
k64b	Object sticks to person	Hero's adversary provokes him to touch an object that proves to be sticky. The hero sticks to it, sometimes has to cut off his finger
k66d	The bear’s (adopted) son	The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength
k67a	A drowned wife	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
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
k67c	Skin ribbon ripped off from the back	Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc.
k67d	Flight of the master with his goods in the bag	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
k72	Three maidens	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
k73	Children of the youngest wife	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
k73a	Baby child substituted with object or animal	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)
k73a4	Baby child substituted with a pup	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)
k73a8	The wonderful children: brother and sister	Woman gives birth to wonderful boy and girl. Being substituted with animals or objects and thrown away, they survive and triumph over their enemies
k73b	Innocent woman punished	A woman who was falsely accused of killing her new-born child or giving birth to pups and the like is punished in such a way that she must suffer from filth and be taunted by passers by
k75	The youngest daughter is willing (The loathsome bridegroom)	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
k76	A strange son	A boy born into a family or found by his adoptive parents has a strange guise (ball of meat, nut, bag, half of a man, an animal). He possesses magic power, becomes a handsome man and usually marries a girl of high social status. The magic spouse of a princess originally has a non-human or monstrous appearance
k76a	Frog as a marriage partner	Frog or toad marries a girl or a handsome youth marries a frog or road
k76c	Child the gourd	An (adoptive) son (rare daughter) emerges from a gourd (rare water melon, coco nut) or is found inside it
k76c1	Woman gives birth to a gourd	Woman gives birth to a gourd which turns into person or which contains a person or people inside
k77a	Small objects and animals defeat the ogre	Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
k77b1	The wolf flees from the wolf-head	When domestic animals meat the predators, they – deliberately or unintentionally – behave in such a way that the predators escape in panic
k77b2	The goat's weapons	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
k77b3	A goat with three bellies	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
k78	Extracted from finger	An ogre (an ogress) swallows people, is killed but the people are not found in his or her belly or are found dead. Only when the ogre's finger is cut off, the hero finds a remedy to revive the people or the swallowed up (the swallowed hero himself) come out alive from the finger of the ogre
k78a	To cure a person, demon swallows him	The demon swallows and vomits maimed and disfigured persons that makes them healthy and handsome
k79	Snake serves an example of resuscitation	Person in a desperate situation gets to see how a snake or other small animal uses remedy to revive or to cure itself or other animals. The person uses the remedy, succeeds
k80	Repetitive reincarnation	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
k81	The handless girl	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)
k82	Evil sister-in-law	Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
k83	The sons on a quest for a wonderful remedy for their father	To cure a sick person or to make him (rare: her) young again it is necessary to bring a remedy from a distant country. The medicine is brought and the sick person is cured (becomes young)
k83a	Where your father has never been	To fulfill their mission, persons sons must reach a place where he never been (or which he reached in his time)
k84	Sisters married to animals	Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
k85	Horses-brothers	An antagonist possesses a horse which can overtake any other. Hero obtains the brother (sister) of this horse who is the only one to win the race with the antagonist's horse
k85b	Magic three-legged horse	A horse with a bigger number of legs or wings is faster than the horse that has lesser number of legs or wings
k85e	The sea horses	Magic horses live under the water
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
k88b	Food exchanged for eyes	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
k8a	Jonah: swallowed by monster	Person gets into the belly of water being or into the belly of giant creature which appearance and living place remain vague. He kills the monster from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
k91	The invisible battle	Hero's dogs or horse or (rare) he himself fight with his adversary in the underworld (under the water). Those who are waiting for the outcome of the combat understand who overcomes whom by the color of water or foam that rises to the surface, or the color animal who comes first to the surface
k93	Twin brothers and a woman	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
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
k93b4	Woman, mare, and bitch birth give birth to human boys	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
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
k97	Now you are grieved as I was	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
k99	Prophecy of future sovereiniy	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
k99a3	The happy dream: Sun, Moon and stars	A young man has a dream: he sees the Sun, the Moon and a star (all of them or some of these luminaries). When the narrative come to the end, the man understands the meaning of the dream: these are people who love or adore him
l100	Transformation flight	A youth and a girl who run away from pursuer transform themselves into a pair of persons, creatures or objects (pond and duck, church and priest, etc.) in order to escape detection by the pursuer
l100f1	Lover runs away from the husband	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
l104	Fugitive and pursuer change guises	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
l105	Invisible missile	Animal, fish or person wounded by hero runs or swims away, usually with the man's projectile in his or her body. Local doctors are not able to cure the wound (usually because they do not see the projectile). The hero or his companion comes to the place where the wounded one lives and cures him or her (usually extracting his projectile from the wound)
l108	The wolf and the kids	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
l10a	Demon comes to hunter’s camp-fire	A hunter spends night in a desolate place. A demon comes to his fire. When the demon falls asleep or goes away for a while, the hunter puts his clothes over a log and hides nearby. When the demon attacks the log taking it for the man, the hunter wounds or kills the demon
l114b	To bring ogre's property	Getting a task or by his own initiative, a trickster several times comes to a person (usually an ogre) and steals in succession objects in his possession or members of his family
l114b1	A task: to bring the ogre	Person has to bring a certain ogre and does it luring the ogre into a cage, a box, etc.
l114c	To exchange clothes with ogre's daughters	Children or youths (usually a group of brothers) exchange clothes (headgears, ornaments, blankets, sleeping places) with their enemy’s children. The enemy kills his or her own children by mistake. Usually brothers get to the ogre or ogress and the youngest advices to exchange places (clothes, etc.) with ogre’s daughters). Outside of Europe the actors can be animals
l116a	Doe with golden horns	Hunting a doe (a deer), hero gets to the place of a magician or demon; the doe is a bewitched person or demon
l118a	To cut his throat imitating a man	To get rid of a dangerous but stupid demon or animal, a man commits certain acts. His adversary repeats them without understanding their meanings and makes harm to himself
l120	Snake-women turn into apple-trees	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
l122a	Stitching up cracks in the earth	A (demonic) person is stitching up cracks in the earth with a giant needle and thread
l124	Treacherous gift of a demon	Person pulls out a sinew (spinal cord, intestine, ribbon of skin) from the body of a demon or receives from the demon a belt as a gift. He applies it not to his own or other person’s body but to a tree. The tree is cut to pieces or burnt
l124a	The cutting girdle	Being applied to a tree or a person, a girdle (sinew, intestine, etc.) cuts it or him through or burns
l15a	Vulnerable place on the body	The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
l15a2	Made invulnerable but not the entire body	The body of a person is made invulnerable (in a furnace, etc.) besides a particular spot
l15d	The external soul	Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
l15d1	The feigned location of soul	Being asked where his soul (death) is located, person initially gives a false answer. The inquirer usually becomes to show concern to corresponding object or locus (decorates it, etc.)
l15e1	The sword thrown into a lake	A powerful person tells his son, warrior or people depend on him to throw his blade (sword or sabre) into a sea or lake. The one to whom it was entrusted does not fulfil the order but declares that the blade was thrown into the water. The powerful person asks what happened when the blade had fallen and hears in response that there were no supernatural phenomena. He understands that his order has not been fulfilled and demands to do it. This time or after the situation was repeated the blade is really thrown into the sea / lake. The powerful person dies / moves into another world
l15e2	What happened when you had thrown the sword into the lake?	One person tells another to throw certain object (often a sword) into the water. Another tells that he had fulfilled the order but is unable to say what happened as a result, and it becomes clear that lies
l15h	The external soul: three or more objects one inside the other	An object that contains the life (soul) of a person is inside two or more creatures or other objects (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, etc.) or the zoomorphic soul container tries to escape and turns in succession to other animals (three or more transformations)
l15i	Life in hairs	A man dies or loses his strength (or pretends that it is so) if (some) hair on his head is cut off
l19b	Beings with odd number of heads	Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads
l19b1	The seven-headed monster	Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
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
l37c1	Luck (good or bad) as a person	Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
l4	The unmasked murderer (Blue Beard)	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
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
l64	Removable head	Person removes part of his or her body (head, scalp, lungs) and then puts it back
l65a	The cannibal sister	A girl born to the family or found proves to be a monster, devours people. Her brother escapes, (usually marries and returns home, finds that everybody had been eaten up), runs away, she pursues him but cannot get
l65a1	Horse’ legs eaten off	A demonic person devours in succession parts of the hero’s horse, each time coming back to the hero and returning again to the horse. (Often asking the hero, if he has ridden on a three-. two-. one-legged horse)
l65b	Dogs save their master	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
l65b	Dogs save their master	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
l65b3	The escape on the tree	Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
l72	The obstacle flight	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
l72a	Comb becomes a thicket	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)
l72b	Whetstone becomes a mountain	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
l72c	Obstacle flight: the thrown mirror	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a pair of scissors behind him or her creating an obstacle on the way of the pursuer
l72d	Obstacle flight: the thrown scissors	Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a pair of scissors behind him or her creating an obstacle on the way of the pursuer
l73	Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts	The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
l81	Demon’s fire	Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person
l81a1	Red bead in the hearth	Person takes for alive coal a red bead (stone) that fell into the hearth and does not understand that the fire is extinguished
l81a2	Demon comes to drink blood of a girl	While the men of the household are not at home, a demonic person comes to drink blood of a girl or young woman or make her harm other way. Initially the men do not understand why the girl becomes thin
l81b	Hero’s legs are cut off	Hero’s companions cut off his legs and abandon him (usually they put a sword in front of his tent and when the hero runs out in a hurry, he is wounded by the blade)
l81c	Feetless, handless and blind	A man whose feet were cut off lives with two others, one of whom lost his hands and another eyes (or with one of them). Acting in cooperation, they become health again
l85	One-sided people	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
l85d	One leg and one arm: the injured ploughman	Hero comes across a strong giant (usually a ploughman) with one leg, one arm, one eye. The latter was injured when he met a giant who was much bigger and stronger than he
l90	Mouth from the earth to the sky	Monster's upper lip (fang, horn, etc.) touches the sky, lower touches the ground
l90b	Teeth reaching the sky and the earth	One tooth (tusk) of a supernatural creature touches the sky, and the other touches the ground or reaches the underworld
l93a	Helpful fox	Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
l94	Child promised to demon	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
l96	Sold in animal’s guise and comes back	Person can transform himself or herself into an animal or an object. Being sold in this guise, he or she achieves his or her aims and becomes a human again
l96a	Oh, dear!	When person sighs or utters an interjection, another one (usually a demon) emerges because his name is spelled like Ahh, Ohhoi, etc.
l96b	The yogi boiled in his own pot of oil	A man comes into the power of a yogi or demon. He asks the man to walk round the boiling pot of oil or to prostrate himself before the image of a deity. The man asks him to show how to do it and pushes him in or the pot or beheads him
l9c	Sharp breast	Person has a sharp axe-like protrusion on his breast
m101a	Animals learn to fear men	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
m109	The tail-fisher	Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
m114b	Not clothed and not naked	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
m114b	Not clothed and not naked	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
m114c	To protect from rain by his own body	Person cannot understand why the clothes (firewood, etc.) of another are dry after the rain – he protected them with his own body (during the rain was in a shelter)
m116	Wisdom of hidden old man saves kingdom	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
m116a	Ungrateful son reproved by naive actions of own son	When an aged father is banned from the table and served his meals in a wooden cup by his son and his daughter-in-law, the little grandson starts to build a similar cup for his parents to use when they grow old. Thereupon the couple starts to reflect on their undignified behavior. Thinking of their own old age, they bring the old father back to the family table (previously type 980B). A son gives his father half a blanket (carpet, cape, cloth) to keep warm. Thereupon the little grandson keeps the other half of the blanket and explains that he will save it for his parents for when they are old (previously type 980A.). An aged father is abandoned by his son in the wilderness (abyss) in a cart (sledge, basket). The grandson keeps it in order to use it in the same way for his parents when they have grown old. They reflect on their behavior. (previously type 980C). The ungrateful son drags his old father out of the house. At the threshold the father says, "Do not drag me further; I dragged my own father only this far!". The son reflects on his bad behavior
m118	Source of values is destroyed imprudently	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
m120	Cannibal baby-sitter	Animal person promises to take care of another animal's children but do not fulfill obligations and usually eats the young ones
m127	Lost tail of the fox	After losing his tail (ear) an (animal) person tries to trick other animals of his species or other people of his group to lose their tails (ears) too
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
m135	Wolf and two rams	Two ungulate animals (rams, bull, etc.) run from the opposite directions and butt the wolf killing or injuring him
m135a	The wolf's reverses	Wolf (more rare other predator animal) comes to different (more than two species) domestic animals (animals and people) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their requests and remains without his meal and usually becomes beaten (killed)
m136	Sickle as an unknown beast	Grain is harvested with inappropriate tools. Seeing sickle for the first time, people take it for a dangerous animal
m138	Human and animal life spans are readjusted	God originally gives 20 or 30 years to everybody. Some animals refuse some of their years because of their sufferings. Man wants to have more years and takes them from the animals
m140	The theft of fish	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.)
m146	The fox gets bait from trap by luring wolf into it	An animal knows that food is in a trap or poisoned and tricks another to take it
m148	Animal agrees to be eaten up	One animal person persuades another to agree to be eaten up, usually promising a reward after the resurrection. The fool agrees and is eaten up
m149	Tell them that I am a stump	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.)
m149a	Treaty with the tiger	A man, light-mindedly or against his own wish, makes an agreement with a dangerous predator. He does not want (cannot) keep it or breaks it and the predator is going to kill him but the man remains alive
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
m152a	Animal tied to another for safety	A stronger and a weaker predator animals (ogre and an animal) tie together for safety. When the stronger one runs away, he drags the weaker one along with him
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
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)
m157	The impossible giving birth	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
m157a4	To fish on a hill	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
m158a	Dividing the harvest (The unjust partner)	Two animal persons work their land together and agree to share the profits. While one is working hard, another only pretends to be useful but claims for himself (greater) part of the harvest
m161	A dog in the bag	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
m164	All tracks going into the den and none coming out	Animal person refuses to enter the den of a strong predator seeing that all tracks go into it but none come out
m166	Piece among animals	To lure his potential victim down from a tree, a predator pretends not to be dangerous (usually announces that it has been decreed that all animals are united in piece). The victim is dubious and usually asks the predator to announce the same news to the dogs. The predator runs away
m170	Pilgrimage of the animals	An animal person pretends to have no other interests than to fulfill religious rules and prescriptions (to confess his sins, to make a pilgrimage, to become vegetarian, etc.) and kills those who have believed him
m171	The profitable exchange: from a pea to a horse	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)
m171a	The profitable exchange: getting a girl	Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl
m173a	The thief drops matched objects	The thief drops first one, then the other, of a pair of matched objects (shoes, boots, sword and sheath, knife and folk) in the road. A person passes by the first object but, when he sees the second, he goes back for the first, leaving the animal (or other possessions) behind. The thief takes the animal
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
m177a	Guilty is the one who is silent	One animal person teaches another to be silent or to look to the side (down, etc.) when the third one becomes to ask them who had eaten the best piece of meat. It is a trick because the third one decides that guilty is the second one
m178	The lying goat	A man sends others one after the other to pasture the goat. Back home, the goat always complains it did not get anything to eat. The man angrily sends away or kills his shepherds (who usually are his family members). When he himself pastures the goat he realizes that it lies. He is going to kill the goat, usually skins it, but it escapes
m179a	The owner driven out of his house	Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
m183	A race: one against many	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
m191a	Belling the cat	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
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
m197b	The neighing stallions and the mares who foaled	A powerful man claims that after his stallions neighed his neighbor’s mares foaled, that all foals in his land are born by his mare, etc. A youth comes to kill dogs of the man because they did not drive wolves in due time (because they scared game, etc.). The dogs were far away from the place of the event and the man recognizes that his trick failed
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
m199d	Wrestling and running contests	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
m199j	Awl thrust into giant’s neck	An ogre puts a man on his back to carry him across the river. Believing that the man is strong, the ogre is amazed why he is so light. The man answers that he keeps most of his weight off, otherwise the ogre would be crushed under it. The ogre wants to try if it is so. The man thrusts an awl (knife, nail) into the ogre’s neck and the ogre asks to keep his weight off again.
m21	A protector hides fugitives	The protagonist pursued by an enemy comes across a person, an animal or an object to help him and receives help
m27	Coming back from the sky	A tree or a chain of reeds by which people have ascended to the sky is destroyed. On their way back they fall to the ground. Some of them remain in the sky for ever or longer than others
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
m29b2	The bear is a failure/enemy	Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29b3	The fox (jackal, coyote) is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29gg	The hedgehog wins thanks to his smartness	Being smart and witty, the hedgehog overcomes overcomes strong adversaries
m29w1	The leopard is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the leopard (panther) suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m33	Anus closed	Person himself or somebody else stitches up or firmly stops his anus (with wax, clay, grass, etc.)
m39a1	Misunderstood instructions: a step behind	Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
m39a2	Fool puts a needle into the hay	Fool puts a small sharp object (needle, pin, nail) in a place when it is impossible later to find it (a cart-load of hay, a bag of flour. etc.)
m39a5	Fool kills goats for eating pears	Fool brings his goats to a fruit tree and kills them when they become to eat fruits that he has thrown down from the tree
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
m39a6a	Clever daughter-in-law of the imprisoned khan	After an extensive search powerful man finds a smart wife for his son. Being caught by his enemies he sends some a message to his daughter-in-law, the messengers being chosen among the enemies. The young woman understands the real meaning of the received text, destroys the enemies and releases her father-in-law. (In Malagasy version the youngest wife is insyead of the daughter-in-law)
m39a6d	A coded message	A person sends to his or her kinsmen or spouse through other persons a text or an object. Only the receiver understands the real meaning of words or of the object, saves the sender and/or destroys his enemies
m39a6f	To sell a sheep and to bring the sheep and the money	Father tells his son to sell a sheep (goat) and to bring back both the sheep and the money. Usually a girl teaches the boy to sell the wool
m39a8	A fool carries a door on his back	A fool or a buffoon takes the door of the house and carries it on his back
m39a8a	Fool drops an object from a tree	A person (often a fool or buffoon) drops a (heavy) object from a tree. Those who are under the tree (usually robbers or demons) are frightened and run away abandoning their goods and valuables
m39g	Girl bewails the loss of her child before she has any (Clever Elsie)	Girl bewails the loss of her future child before she has any; thinking about an event that could have been tragic; is jealous of her sisters before any of them have fiancée; thinks out the name of her child that does not exist instead of coming to meet her fiancée.
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
m57d	Beat, cudgel!	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)
m74a	Strange names of the babies	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
m74aa	Theft of food by playing godfather	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
m75b	Hero inside carcass	A man hides in a skin or carcass of a big animal. A bird carries it to its nest without knowing that the man is inside
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
m81e	Not to graze animals on the ogre's land	The young man takes the job of grazing animals and is warned not to cross the border of the ogre’s land. The hero ignores the warning and overcomes the ogre
m83b	Whose dream is better?	Two (or more) (animal)-persons agree that whichever of them has the most wonderful dream may eat all the food. The first one tells about a feast that he participated in his dream. His companion answers that he was sure that after such a feast (after getting into the paradise, etc.) the first one would not need the food, so he has eaten it alone
m84	Revived from bones	Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together
m84a	Goat resuscitated	Supernatural beings kill and eat an animal and then put all the bones together (in the animal's skin). After the feast the animal becomes whole (and usually revives)
m85	The fox bluffs	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
m90	Snake gives a correct answer of what material the object is made	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
m90a1	The louse skin	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
m90a5	The golden apples	Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
m90a6	Apples of immortality	Certain apples make their owner eternally young
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
m91c7	Tell them that I have died	When enemies come to deal with a man he pretends to be dead
m94b	Wolf in a basket	Person tricks another to crawl into a basket and closes it. One in a basket is killed or badly injured (usually rolled down a hill)
m95	To bring a present for person's kin	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
m98	Who are more numerous?	Person reckons up number of members in two enormous and alternative multitudes (alive trees and dead trees, men and women, etc.). Usually numbers prove to be equal but one member possesses the qualities of the both multitudes. Adding it to one of them, person demonstrates his case
m99	Intention to exterminate birds	Person is going to exterminate birds but decides not to do thanks to a wise adviser
m99a	Palace of birds bones	Person is going to build a palace (tower, etc.) made of bird bones
n1	Initial formula: when Altai was but a small tussock	Epics and folktales begin with an initial formula in which it is claimed that objects that are huge now were tiny
n10	The transparent body	A woman (rare: a man) with transparent body is described. This transparence is an evidence of the beauty
n10b	The transparent neck	A girl (rare: a youth) with transparent neck is described, food or drinks swallowed by her or him are seen. Such a neck is an evidence of the beauty
n12	Cloak of beards	A powerful person makes or orders to make for him a cloak or a mantle from human beards and/or moustaches
n13	Girl is the scissors	Girl is associated with scissors (and boy with a knife or an axe)
n24	Like another Moon	Light is seen that looks like the second Moon or the second Sun. It’s source is a beautiful woman
n27	The milk of birds	Bird’s (hen’s) milk is mentioned in fairy tales, riddles and proverbs as something very rare and difficult to obtain
n27b	The only thing missing is bird’s milk	It is said that someone is only lacking bird’s milk or that somewhere the only thing missing is bird’s milk
n30	Crying while looking in one direction and laughing while looking in another	The formula that describes the confusion of feelings: when a person looks in one direction, he or she cries, when in another – begins to laugh or smile; or one eye of a person laughs and another laughs; or person laughs looking at one object and weeps looking at another; or one of two persons who share the same fate laughs and another smiles, etc.
n33	Pressing adversary into the ground	The hero presses his adversary into the ground or both of them press each other (ankle-, waist-, breast-deep and the like)
n4	Ribs with no intervals	Strong men have ribs grown together to form a kind of an armor or shell
n6	Horse tells to whip him strongly	A horse tells his rider to whip him with such force that his blood would splash out, skin would come off, flesh would be gashed to the very bone, etc. The rider follows these instructions
n9	Who is coming?	Two persons see a horseman who is ever nearer to them. One of the higher social position explains that what seems to be crows are clods flying from under the hooves of the horse and what seems to be snow, cloud or fog are lather dripping from the horse’ mouth or its breath

Warning! The followed motifs has no type selected:
k27x6a

Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 6 Tradition: Georgians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Karachays, Balkar
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Bashkirs
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Ancient Greece
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Bulgarians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Abaza (Abazins)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Abkhaz
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Scandinavians: early written sources ("Edda"; Saxo Grammaticus etc.); Gothland picture stones; Ancient Germans (Late Bronze Age in Scandinavia)

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Ingush
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: French (northern France)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: England
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Cherkassians, Adyghe, Kabardin
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Georgians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Karachays, Balkar
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Abkhaz
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Sorbians (Luzhitsa Serbs)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Ukrainians: Western dialects to the East of Carpathians