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
Two persons or animals argue about who of them will be the first to see the rising sun. One who seemed to have less chances wins
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.
Tree grants a man the fulfillment of his wishes but ultimately transforms him into a bear
Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man
One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from others (usually abducted) by stars of Big Dipper and now is seen among them)
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
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)
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
People or God get know a secret thanks to listening in its possessor when he speaks aloud with himself or with his relations. The received knowledge is related to cosmogony or acquisition of cultural values
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
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
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
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
Snow was edible or something edible was falling from the sky instead of the snow
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
An ungulate animal (a horse, an elk, a moose) with six or more legs is described or represented in art
World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster
Milky Way is a sky seam, a concealed fissure or crack between two half of the sky vault
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Personage of gigantic dimensions in respect to normal humans and animals proves to be tiny dwarf in respect to another personage
Huge bull (rare: horse) is described: its head is in one field, its tail in another; a bathhouse on its tale, a lake on its back; person who is near the head walks a long time till he meets another neat the tail; etc. Usually the bull is killed and eaten (by people in Baltic Finnish traditions and in Russian bylina from Olonets area; by bird in most of southern traditions)
The Pleiades are a group of boys or men, or a group of different people but predominantly males
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
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
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
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
Before passing away a man asks his sons to guard his grave for a certain time or to bring something to his grave. The youngest son goes and obtains valuables
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
An ordeal: to remain alive after contact with sharp points or blades
A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
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
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
Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead
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
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
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.
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)
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
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
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
A woman who is transformed into animal or driven out of the human world returns to her baby to feed and to care for him
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).
When the kind girl returns home, a dog barks saying that everything is well with her and when the unkind girl returns (or her dead body is brought home), the dog barks that everything is bad
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
A man loses an axe. A spirit or a powerful official suggests him a golden axe but the man does not accept it. The spirit (official) gives him axes of gold and silver as a reward for his honesty. Usually another man intentionally loses his axe, claims the golden one but receives nothing
A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them approppriately. The first man does it again.
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
To get know names of strangers, person finds or creates situations when the strangers call each other by name
Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity
Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status
A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman
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
Boy or girl selects one person among many throwing an object (usually an apple) into him or her. This way a girl makes a choice of a husband, a young man of a bride, a boy identifies his father
For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives)
Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
Young man gives his sisters to the first bridegrooms who claim them. These are demons or animals who usually later help him
A young man or (rare) a girl has a (day-)dream that predicts his or her future triumph. The dreamer either conceals or reports its contest to his family and in both cases is punished for too high opinion of himself. In the beginning the dreamer sometimes sells his dream to another young man, who becomes the protagonist of the tale. Adventures that follow explain the contest of the dream. The youth becomes rich and happy (e.g. marries heiresses of two kingdoms, that in the dream were symbolized by two suns or a sun and a moon), the girl marries king's son
Person must get a treasure from the bottom of water body. He understands that what he sees is a reflection in water while the treasure is high in a tree
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
An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
It is written at a crossroad that following one of the paths person will safely return and following another it will not return (there is often a third path following which person either returns or not). Hero follows the dangerous path
A 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)
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
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
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child
A 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
The hero and his bride get to escape from the pursuer. The youth goes to visit his home, leaving his bride behind for a time and forgets her. When the youth is going to marry another girl, the forgotten fiancée reawakens his memory by performing magic actions. Or the girl herself forgets her magic husband as soon as she gets to her parents’ home
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Hero imperceptibly causes detriment to two persons or creatures. They accuse each other and fight
While person is asleep, another smears with excrements or something that reminds excrements his or her bed or clothes. The ashamed person runs away or agrees to make what the trickster wants in exchange of his silence
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward
Using trick, a man sells or exchanges for treasure ashes. Another person tries to sell ashes and is ridiculed
Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him
Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed
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
Person is going to exterminate birds but decides not to do thanks to a wise adviser
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
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
An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again)
Person gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
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)
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
Using a trick the intruder occupies other person’s house and refuses to let the owner in
When a man is going to fell a tree, the tree itself or the being who lives in (on) it asks him not to do it and grants the man’s wishes
Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal
Magic wife abandons her mortal husband when she finds her clothes (often, her feathers if she is a bird-woman), makes herself the new clothes, receives them from her kin or her husband gives her her clothing believing that she will not abandon him. (Versions with magic wife abandoning her husband because she feels herself offended is not alternative to the “found clothes but in most of the texts these motifs are not combined)
At night a girl’s lover has to carry her away but falls asleep or is late. She is carried away by another man who happened to be on the place
Helpful animal instructs the hero how to steal an object he needs to get but not to take anything else (bird, but not cage, horse but not bridle, etc.) The hero breaks prohibition, is caught but released on condition that he brings another wonderful object. Situation is repeated and the last task is to bring a girl. Ultimately the hero gets both the girl and all the objects
A task: to bring objects (usually fruits) that act like people, i.e. dance, sing and the like
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
Two persons engaged into dialogue describe a series of objects and creatures as simultaneously giant and small
A man marries a beauty but catches her in a situation when her not human nature is revealed. After this their marriage breaks down
Person was wrong being sure that the Sun cannot rise from the West
Person is suggested to make clothes of stone or iron or to skin a stone
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
A person who has not a bit of a skill to expose thieves and find the lost objects does it successfully thanks to a series of lucky coincidences
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
Husband casts his wife out but allows her to take the one thing she holds dearest. She takes her sleeping or drunk husband with her and thus moves him to forgive her
Somebody pulls out a thorn from a person’s body (cuts off the end of the animal’s tail, etc.) and throws it away or slightly injures the person. As a result the person is compensated with something more valuable than the lost object
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)
A person promises to fulfill somebody’s request if another gets to know why certain man or woman acts regularly in a strange way
Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl
It should be guessed that the plant grew from a part of the body of a man or a snake or from dirt scraped off from the body
The name of the Venus is like Čolpan, Čolbon, Tsulmon, etc.
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
Stars of Big Dipper are thieves robbers
Epics and folktales begin with an initial formula in which it is claimed that animals fulfilled social or economic roles of the people
A king (landlord, etc.) suggests to guess what he has in his hand (in a box). It is an insect there (usually a grasshopper). The man says that now you, Grasshopper, is caught. People think that he gave the correct answer
Person receives a rope, reins or the like with three knots. If untied, person can move more or less rapidly. Usually untying the first two knots he makes his ship or his horse move more rapidly but, besides warning, he (being near to his destination) unties the third knot too and because of it he looses his ship or his horse, does not reach his destination, etc.
Three (rare two or four) men take part in creation of a girl: one cuts her body of wood, another puts clothes on her, the third one makes her alive. To whom does she belong?
Milky Way is the path of migratory birds (especially wild geese)
Milky Way is the road to a remote city (Rome, Jerusalem, etc.)
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
A woman (rare: a man) with transparent body is described. This transparence is an evidence of the beauty
Supernatural creature fulfills a poor man’s moderate request. After this he or his wife asks for ever bigger gifts till the angry helper punishes them (usually takes all his gifts away)
A 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
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
A man kills an animal with the shining hide. When a powerful person gets to know about the hide he tells the man to fulfill difficult tasks
Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc.
Only a young boy gives clever answers to the questions or riddles of a powerful man. When this man asks why they sent to him a boy and not a higher and elder person, the boy says that if the man needs somebody who are high and whose beard is long, these are camel and goat
Person is asked to choose between objects that have utilitarian value, often forty (seven, etc.) horses or forty knives. Usually the person does not understand that the question is about different kinds of execution
Every one of several men had learned a unique skill thanks to which they save a girl abducted by demon or animal
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon
A shepherd or herdsman (alone or with a girl, with his herd, dogs) is seen in the moon
Thunder is produced by dragging behind a dry animal skin or (rare) a person (rare) or by shaking clothes
Thunder is produced by an old woman who lives in the sky
Person who points at the Moon or a star or looks intently at them will get sick or die or his pointing finger will rot or wither
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
The name of an object of the night sky (usually Venus) is like Zakhra, Zukhra, Zura, etc.
A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)
Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
The earth or the world as a whole is a male person (alone or together with a female person)
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
In the beginning of time a bird flies, lays an egg or eggs, different objects and creatures emerge from them or a bird drops some solid substance on the waters and the dry land or an island appear
Persons or animals dive or otherwise decend to the lower world to get a desired object and to bring it to earth (besides episodes in the fairytales, cf. motif k27x9)
An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom
The dry land (the earth) grows from a small amount of solid substance (sand, clay, dirt and the like) brought from the lower world (usually from the bottom of the ocean)
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky)
Poisonous snake (snakes, scorpions) comes out of the mouth of a woman {Motif F9f1 and K100c are almost identical but F9f1 links to a cluster of etiological/cosmological motifs related to the idea of a dangerous woman while K100c is related to adventures}
A strong woman overcomes and kills suitors. Hero or his helper tames her (usually whips in the wedding night). The hero marries her
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Four cardinal directions and/or some objects associated with them are associated with different colors
A tree or post pierces and unites different layers of the universe
Race of dwarfs lives under the ground (deep under the earth or in hills and rocks) or at the horizon where the earth and the sky meet
There is (or was) a tree on which souls of still unborn babies grow, which leaves transform into people, or which trunk is covered with female breasts or flowers that innumerable babies are sucking
When a leave or a fruit of a certain tree drops, one of the people on the earth dies
Hoofed animals are walking around Polaris or the movement of stars is compared with the movement of animals around a post
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back
For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
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
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)
The hero and his companion or companions live together. Every morning one stays at home while another or others go to hunt, etc. A demonic person comes, eats up all the food and beats the cook. Or the man who remained at home comes to the demon himself in search of fire and is maltreated by him. The hero kills or neutralizes the demon
Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world
Person becomes a victim of a murder. Just before dying he or she calls on some birds (celestial bodies, animals, plants, etc.) to bear witness for the crime. Getting to see these birds (this plant, the Sun, the Moon, etc.) the murderer reveals himself without thinking. Or the birds, being the only witnesses, bring the investigators to the murderers.
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
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
. The hero or his companion eliminate the source of danger
A man finds the woman’s hair that was carried by water and decides to marry its owner
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.
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
Hero's life is in certain object, usually in his weapon. When antagonist steals the object, the hero dies but revives after his friends or brothers find the object and bring it back
Step mother or more often father (persuaded by his wife) abandons children in a desolate place. Getting to the ogre or ogress, children (or at least one of them) survive and ultimately achieve success
Father (step mother) abandons children in the forest. He (she) hangs a plank (gourd, shoe, etc.) on a tree that is striking trunk under the wind. Children believe that he is still nearby cutting woods
A lung or a liver lies on a road or floats in a pond etc. As soon as person touches them, a dangerous demon appears in front of him
Person pretends that he has not a bare should-blade but a good piece of meat, asks people to cook it and then blames them for stealing the meat
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
The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
There is an anthropomorphic patron or patroness of wolves. Usually he or she gives instructions to wolves on particular day of the year
A strong man who ventured to confront God is for a long time (for eternity) chained to a mountain or to a post
Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
Demon tears off or devours one by one legs of aт animal who helps the hero, usually of his riding horse
The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children)
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
A man picks up a skull with an enigmatic and ominous inscription on it. Later its meaning becomes clear
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
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
After eating a fruit (usually an apple, in Northern traditions also an egg), the sterile woman gives birth to a son or twins
To have children, a woman eats a fish, apple or something else. A mare, a bitch or other domestic animals eat part of this food (often skin, broth, etc.). The woman gives birth to a boy (twins) a mare to colts, a bitch to puppies
Person is going to build a palace (tower, etc.) made of bird bones
A girl who keeps silence is promised to one who would make her speak; a man with much difficulty makes his magic wife speak
A youth breaks or overthrows a vessel of a woman or girl. This episode is a trigger for the narrative
The warrior-hero was made of dough and then became alive (his name is “The Dough”)
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)
Fugitives create darkness behind them to trouble the pursuer (and light in front of them)
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
Person wants another to receive chickens from (boiled) eggs (and grow a hen) during one day. The opponent suggests equally impossible task
To revive or to cure his friend (rare: himself) or to fulfill a vow person is ready to sacrifice his small (young) son (children). The son revives or the supernatural powers are satisfied with the very willingness of the person to commit sacrifice
A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot
A 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
A girl is told to clean (to spin) yarn (to weave, etc.). The yarn (spindle, a piece of fabric, etc.) is carried away by the wind. In search of it the girl comes to a person who makes her beautiful (gives precious gifts and the like)
It is said that an action took place when cultivated plants (wheat, cotton) grew on the ice or on the salt
Monster pursues people who must run away to escape from it. An old man gives advice to a young man how to kill it from an ambush
A divides the chicken among the members of a household (and guests) considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.).
A poor man brings his master a chicken (goose, etc.) as a present. The master asks him to divide the bird appropriately among the members of his household. The poor man does it considering the symbolic meaning of particular parts (gives the master the head, his daughters the wings, etc.) and receives rich compensation. A neighbor brings the master five chickens but is unable to divide them appropriately. The first man does it again.
A horse with a bigger number of legs or wings is faster than the horse that has lesser number of legs or wings
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)
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
In a deserted place, a man kills another. After some time he is exposed thanks to circumstances and facts that do not seem important and do not report on the crime directly (the victim’s last words; objects or live beings that were or appeared on the place of the murder). (All texts that contain motifs K80c, K80c1, K80c3, K80c4, also contain a more general motif K80c4)
An ear of an animal turns into a tiny boy or his size is compared with the size of an ear or his name is “Ear”.
Person promises to give (sacrifice) to a supernatural the being that will be the first to come to him when he will return home (or something that he has never seen in his house, or an object that he will first see behind the door; etc.). The person thinks that it will be something insignificant but it is his own child
An owl proves to be smarter and wiser than other beings
A hunter spares life of an animal when he understands that it is pregnant female who reminds him his own wife, also pregnant
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.)
A young hero obtains and uses weapons or other powerful objects which belonged to his murdered father
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
Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
To show their father that he must marry them, his daughters of different age send him fruits of the same kind but of different degree of ripeness (or bread that is differently baked)
Every foal to which a mare gives birth is immediately stolen. The hero identifies the thief
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
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
When a woman falls asleep, the trickster (usually a tiny boy) puts animal embryo or entrails (or something that looks like this) near her to make her or other people believe that she has had a miscarriage or her own entrails have fallen out
A task-giver asks person to bring fruits of a tree that is difficult to be reached
The antagonist believes that the hero was burned but returned from the other world alive and prosperous therefore he asks burn him (her) or his representatives
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Person in search of the remote and inaccessible place comes to the master (mistress) of animals (birds, fish) or demons who summon all of them and asks about the way to this place. Only (the last) one knows the way
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
Person named as the Beardless (Kusa, Kesa, Kose, Kysa, Kusu, etc.) acts in narratives
Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
The hero presses his adversary into the ground or both of them press each other (ankle-, waist-, breast-deep and the like)
Dangerous animal seeks to kill a person or other animal who rescued it from captivity. The dangerous animal and its victim agree to ask somebody else if a good deed should be repayed with a bad one. Inanimate objects are among those who answer to this question
Dwarfs live in the underworld that somewhat reminds the world of humans. If the dwarfs and the humans meet, it is deep under the earther
The young man forgets his magic bride and meets another woman. At the last moment a bird tells the story about his real bride and he recalls everything. Usually two birds, a male and a female, have a dialogue in which the female can tell the male that he will be as cruel with her as this youth who has forgotten his bride.
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)
Hero brings a feather (feathers) of a dangerous bird
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
Overhearing conversation of two snakes or raven, person gets to know the cause of a sickness of another person: a snake has crawled into him. He snake out and the person regains his health
Eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) of personage hang long down over his eyes. To make the eyes widely opened, the eyelids (eyelashes, eyebrows) should be propped up with poles, folks, sticks, etc. (rare: cut off)
The pastimes or only names of the hero’s companions are unusual and different but their specific qualities that they must possess considering their names are irrelevant for the plot. Cf. motif K66, “Extraordinary companions”
The duck (or an aquatic bird similar to the duck) dives and brings a piece of earth that is transformed into the dry land (it is the only or the only successful diver)
The supernatural person does not like the behavior of the unkind girl and punishes her making her ugly (disfigured)
Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
Dark spots on the lunar disc are dirt, blood, paint, traces of beating, burning, scratching, etc. on the Moon person's body or face (Kiliwa: spots on the Sun) and do not form any particular figure
During the thunderstorm supernatural person beats somthing or somebody with a whip. This is the lightning
There is a treasure under the extremities of the rainbow
Fugitive throws an object behind himself and thus creates fog or darkness in front of pursuer
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they