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
a12c	Eclipses: reptiles and fish	During an eclipse or at the sunset the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a reptile (a snake, a lizard, a dragon, a crocodile) or a fish
a14a	The conflict between the Sun and the Moon	The Sun and the Moon are or were enemies, either permanently or in particular situations
a2	Several suns	In a certain time in the past three or more suns were on the sky simultaneously
a23a	Who will see the Sun first?	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
a23b	First beams on the tree tops	Two persons or animals argue who will see the rising sun first. One who got to see not the sun itself but its reflection or the first beams on trees or mountain tops wins
a2a	The sun is a source of distructive heat	The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns had (will) appear(ed) simultaneously; or the only sun was too hot (or bright)
a3	Male sun and female moon	The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
a35	Spots on the lunar disc	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
a35a	Dirty face of the Moon	Spots on the lunar disc are dirt thrown into the Moon's face by his/her sister/brother or mother
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
a6	The Sun and the Moon are females	Both the Sun and the Moon are considered to be females (incl. cases when the gender is not directly specified but both emerge from parts of the body of a female person)
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
b109	Person turns into bear	Person turns into a bear (origin of bears)
b12	Rivers and snakes	The river bed follows the way of a snake, fish, dragon or crab; pieces of the snake’s body turn into rivers; a river is a snake
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
b3a	Primeval waters	Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
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)
b52c	Earth bigger than sky	When the earth was created it proved to be bigger than the sky and had to be squeezed. This way mountains or swamps have appeared
b73a	The cuchoo: in search of lost horse	A girl (with her brother; two small brothers) is (are) in search of the horse or cattle or the girl is in search of her lost brother. She (alone or with her brother; both brothers) turns into a bird (usually a cuckoo; or both siblings turn into birds) that cries in specific way
b73b	The cuckoo: in search of lost family member	Two teenagers or young people are in search of each other, call each other (or one of them call another): a girl in search of her lost (or dead) brother or brother’s wife, a boy in search of his brother or sister, young parents in seach their child. One or both of them turn into birds with specific cry
b77	Primeval sky close to earth	Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
b82	The white raven	Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
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)
b86	Babylonian tower	To reach the sky (the Sun, Moon, particular star), people build a ladder or tower that consists of separate modules (bricks, logs, sticks, etc.). This construction collapses
b98	The bat between birds and animals	Bat (rare: ostrich) makes attempts to join sometimes animals and sometime birds or is excluded from both categories
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.
c3	Snakes stops up a hole in the Noah’s arch	When a hole is opened in the arch (rare: in the ground) from which a torrent of water flows, a snake (eel, frog) stops it up with its own body
c30c	To swallow the ocean	Person must drink all the water in the sea (count all drops of sea water) but asks his opponent first to separate the sea water from the water of rivers that flow into it
c32c (motif is not in the correlation table)	Beware of cut off nails	The cut off nails (and hair) have special significance for the fate of the soul in the beyond or for the future of the entire world
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
c7	The flood: breaking the dam	In the beginning of times or after the flood a dam of earth, person or creature does not let water to recede. The dam is broken or opened, waters withdraw
d4l	Fire from the sky	First fire is sent to earth from the sky or the ancestors ascend to the sky and bring from there fire or warmth
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
e31a1	Three men construct a woman which becomes alive: to whom does she belong?	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?
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
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
f35a	Feeding with the kin’s meat	Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her
f45	The Amazons	There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
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)
f70	Potiphar's wife: false accusation of sexual abuse	Woman makes vain overtures to young man and/or falsely accuses him of sexual abuse. Her husband believes that the young man is guilty, kills or tries to kill him
f70b	Revenge of a rejected woman	A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part
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.
f70f	Sex is changed accidentally	Getting into a far away place, person discovers that his or her sex is changed
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)
f9	A dangerous woman	For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
f9f	Asmodeus	Demon (snake) regularly kills woman’s husbands during the first night, the woman herself being ignorant about the reason of their death
f9f1	Snake inside woman	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}
g6	Primeval tree	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)
g8	Restored tree	A deep notch in the tree (or in the sky support) is magically restored as soon as persons or creatures who cut or gnaw it stop working
g8b	Cutting tree to get a person	Person hides in a tree. Somebody tries to fell it but the notch disappears and the tree becomes intact
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)
h24	Container opened too early	Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
h45	The abused bread	A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity
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)
h48	Daughters of evil spirit	Diseases are sisters (rare: brothers), usually children of evil spirit
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
h52b	The search of immortality	Setting off in search of the land of immortality, the hero comes across persons or animals who are involved in activity that needs tremendous time to be completed. However the hero is eager to obtain not the long but the eternal life and he continues his search
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
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
h7b	The Death is stuck to a tree or a bench	A man lures Death (Devil) to climb a tree or sit on a bench to which they are stuck and can free themselves not before the man gives them such a permission
h7c	The unfinished prayer	Death promises to take a man after he has finished a prayer. The man begins to pray but does not finish his prayer and the Death cannot take him
h7d	The old man asks Death to help him to carry a load	An old man has to carry a heavy load of wood. Tired and exhausted, he wishes for death. When Death appears he asks her to help him with the load
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)
i110	Night sky agriculturalists	Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
i110a	The star plough	Orion (rare: other constellation) is a plough
i114	The golden fleece	A ram (lamn, sheep) who has golden fleece or the skin of such a ram is described
i12	The world axis	A tree or post pierces and unites different layers of the universe
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
i132	Climbing a deer antlers up to the sky	A giant deer’s or deer-like creature’s antlers reach the upper world, a person climbs them to get there. Or person gets to the sky when he touches the deer’s antler
i13b	A horned snake	Snake of natural size has horns on its head
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
i13d	Hibernating with snakes	A man gets into the dwelling of snakes and after a long time escapes or is permitted to go. In While in the dwelling of snakes, he usually licks a special stone that allows to live without water and food
i20b	Belt on armpits	People in the upper world are different than on earth and put their belts not on the waist but higher or below it
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
i23	Snapping door	The door of a house is opening and closing by itself crashing persons who attempt to come in or out
i24	A snake bridge	Snake, lizard or worm is a bridge or a rope over the river
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
i25a	Bones to cows	Person sees that food put for certain animals is inedible for them and corrects situation (usually gives to herbivorous animals food that was given before to predators and vice versa)
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
i27	Chthonic canine	A dog is the lord, guard or guide of/to the land of the dead; or dogs live on the way to the land of the dead
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
i32	Tree of the babies	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
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
i4	Thunder rides in the sky	Thunder is heard when a vehicle moves in the sky
i44	Chthonic serpent	Giant serpent lies on the perimeter of the earth or supports the earth
i45c	Not to count stars	Person who counts stars will suffer diseases and misfortunes
i46	Rainbow belt	Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
i46b	Rainbow predicts future harvest	Intensity of particular colors of rainbow predicts good or bad harvest of particular crops
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
i52	Fish the earth-holder	World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster
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
i6	Weather birds	A man meets a giant bird that brings with it clouds, rain, hail, thunderstorm, etc.
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
i72	Stars are people	Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
i72a	Stars are children of the Sun and the Moon	Stars are children of the Moon and/or the Sun
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.
i87aa	The big bull	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)
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
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
i87d	Men in the time of giants	The earth was inhabited by the giants. One of them finds a tiny person, brings him to his parents. Usually his father or mother esplains that this is one of those men who will live on the earth in the future instead of the present day giants
i87e	Dwarfs will replace people	In the future dwarfs will replace people on earth
i91	Water body at the base of a tree	There is a source or body of water at the base of a tree which connects layers of the universe and/or has gigantic dimensions and considered to be the main tree of the world
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
i95a	Orion is a balance	Orion is a balance, scales
j17	Frogs in hair	Instead of lice, there are other (bigger or dangerous) creatures in the hair of some persons or he or she pretends that his or her hair is infested with them
j25a1	Child born in grave saves his mother	Woman dies but remains but remains imperishable and gives birth to a boy. He is found in her grave and he brings his mother back to life
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
j32a	To guard father’s grave	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
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
j32f	The stolen apples	Being on guard, the hero gets to know who steals regularly fruits (usually apples) from the garden
j42	Waters split apart	When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
j44	The broken bridge	Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
j46	Enemy drowns	Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
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
j55	Unrecognized hero comes across enemies	Hero comes across different creatures or persons who do not recognize him. Everyone tells that he is waiting for the Hero to kill him. The hero easily kills or transforms them himself
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
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
k100a	Tobias	A young man lets free a fish or an animal that was caught or he or his father renders a help to somebody. When the young man sets off for a journey, the grateful creature or person in guise of a stranger or animal becomes his companion and protector
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
k100c	Girl’s bridegrooms are bitten by a snake	. The hero or his companion eliminate the source of danger
k100f	Youth lets the fish go	When an unusual fish (rare: bird or some water being) is caught, the (young) man lets it go. His father (the king) drives him away or the man goes away by his own initiative. The saved fish (bird) helps him
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
k100f2	After quenching his thirst, person breaks his chains	The imprisoned supernatural person breaks his chains and escapes after they give him some water (or wine, etc.)
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
k102a2	Conflict between mother and son	Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
k102b	To ride for the last time	To kill a boy (a girl), the antagonist first needs to get rid of his or her horse. When they are ready to kill the horse, the boy (the girl) rides on his horse away saving his or her life
k102c	Changing his appearance, the hero returns magic object that was stolen from him	The adversary receives magic object that protects the hero and kills him. The hero is revived, changes his appearance and provokes the adversary to put the object on the ground. He takes it back and kills the adversary
k102c1	Chip turns into duck	The adversary destroys in succession objects and creatures in which the hero is incorporated. The hero wins after he turns from a chip of wood into a waterfowl (a duck or a goose)
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.
k106	Thrown to cows	To get rid of a baby child or of the magic cock, they throw him into enclosure for animals, but cows or other animals do not trample the child or cock down
k107	Lost husband found	A woman is abandoned by her magic husband. She finds him and becomes his wife again
k107a1	Head of the household is asked to bring presents	When the head of the household goes for a journey his daughter, those who remain at home ask to bring them presents. The elder ones want something practical (usually clothes or decorations) while the younger one asks for something unusual (a flower, a bird, etc.). Thanks to this object, the younger one attains great success though after overcoming great difficulties
k107a3	The beauty and the beast	When a man sets off for the journey, his daughter asks him to bring her a certain flower (leave, etc.). The man picks it up in a garden of the enchanted prince who has monstrous appearance. The monster claims from the man his daughter and thanks to her acquires his real guise
k107c	Knives on the windowsill (the prince as bird)	Magic bridegroom who comes as bird or other guise and then changes into a man meets regularly with a young woman. Her jealous sisters (stepmother, brother, etc.) wound him (usually putting knives of broken glass around the window). He disappears, the girl goes to find him.
k108	A revived wife betrays her husband	Wife dies, husband revives her, she abandons him for another man and is punished
k112	Farm-hand revenges on the Sun	A poor man condemns the Sun and other supernatural personages responsible for weather, wild animals, etc. that because of them he lost his property. He finds them and punishes them
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
k114	Brothers leave home after their sister is born	Several brothers leave home immediately after their mother gives birth to a girl. Usually they do not want to have another brother and hope that this time a girl will be born but chance or by evil intent a signal is given that not a girl but a boy is born again. The brothers are disappointed and leave, the girl grows up and travels in search of them
k116	Choice of companion	To choose a companion, the youth suggests each of the candidates to make something simple (to eat the served food, to set off). The chosen one demonstrates that he cares for the hero while others keep in mind only their own interests
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
k117c	Magic fiddle makes people dance	As soon as a person plays his flute (fiddle, horn, etc.), people and animals become to dance and cannot stop without the person’s permission
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
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
k119e	A success story of a miller	A poor boy whom his animal helper has made rich passing him off as a rich man at the king’s court, is a miller or son of a miller
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
k121	Wanderer at a crossroad	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
k122	Queen of the other world comes to identify the hero	A man gets to the powerful woman who lives in the world unreachable without the supernatural helpers, and then returns back. An imposter claims hero's deeds for himself. The powerful woman comes and finds the real hero, punishes (rejects) the imposter
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
k127	Brothers transformed into animals	A girl has many (more than three) brothers, they turn into birds or animals (rare: into plants; killed by magic), ultimately become human again
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
k12a	A strained bow	An unrecognized hero comes to a place where his bride or wife has to marry another man or is tuned into a slave. Despite expectations, he gets to strain a tight bow killing his rivals
k130	Am I the most beautiful?	A woman (rare: a man) asks if she (he) is the most beautiful among female (men) folk and always receives a positive answer. It continues till she or he receives the negative one
k130a	Girl in house of several brothers	A group of young men live apart. A girl comes to them or is born magically. The men keep her as their sister. After some time she is separated from them and is in danger but ultimately she is rescued
k131	Men fight over magic objects	A man on a journey meets tree or two persons who are quarreling over the division of magic objects (a flying carpet, seven mile boots, etc.). The man promises to render a judgment, but he asks first to try our the objects or suggests the owners to run a race and uses opportunity to escape with the objects
k131b	Magic objects are exchanged and returned	A man loses a magic object that he got before but gets it back thanks to another object (a cudgel, a box with soldiers, etc.) that is exchanged for the first one or obtained by the man’s brother. The episode can be repeated several times
k132	Invincible chicken	Person of a small size (often a chicken) overcomes powerful adversary despite all attempts to destroy him thanks to objects and animals met on the way and preserved in his bag or inside his body
k134	The planted treasure	To accuse a guest of theft, a host plants a treasure into his guest’s bag
k135	Seven with one stroke	A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem
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
k136a	Girl’s hair picked up from a river	A man finds the woman’s hair that was carried by water and decides to marry its owner
k136d	Two flutes	Young man receives two flutes (pipes, horns) from a cow (buffalo). Their sounds are different and can be used as signals (joy or grief, piece or danger, etc.)
k139	Pheasant gets burnt	Roasting meat or baking bread for his master, a servant sees a girl (rare: small boy) and is so impressed with her (or his) beauty, that the meat or bread get burnt
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
k142	Corpse buried many times	Person kills several people. asks somebody to bury only one and then tells that the dead man has returned. The grave-digger buries several people but believes that it was one and the same corpse
k145	The predestined death because of the wolf	A wolf is predicted to become a cause of death of a person or the person must die at his wedding day. The prophesy becomes true. If it is about the marriage, the bride herself turns into a wolf and kills her bridegroom
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.
k14a	Thrown into the oven himself	An antagonist orders to kill the first one who will come in the morning to a certain place. The hero becomes late by chance, the antagonist or his wife or son come and are thrown into the fire
k14b	A charge of stealing the knife	A man receives good advice never to act before he is insistently asked to do it. When he decides to be helpful and gives his knife (rare: other weapon) without being insistently asked for it, he is accused of a crime
k14c1	Treasure in pomegranate	A man who sets off to earn money sends to his wife a pomegranate without knowledhe of its real value. The wife find treasure inside
k14d	The make believe crime	To test his wife (friend, member of his household), a man pretends to commit a crime or his behavior seems to be strange and deserved to be punished. At the last moment he presents evidence that proves his innocence
k14e	The pretended inheritance	Sons of a man neglect their father (daughters-in-law neglect their father-in-law). He pretends to be hiding something (counts money conspicuously, etc.). The sons believe that their father has considerable inheritance and become to look after him carefully. When the father finally dies they find nothing valuable in his chest
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
k152a	The evil woman and the devil in one pit	A man throws his evil wife into the pit or well. The devil (snake, predator animal, etc.) who had been there before is grateful when the man pulls him to the surface or jumps our himself: even he is afraid of the shrewish woman
k155b	Climbing up to the girl by her hair	A girl lets down her long hair and another person uses it as a rope to climb up to her
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
k161	The liberated dragon	Person imprisoned a dragon (demon, Thunder, etc.) and warns the other not to open a certain room (not to give water to the prisoner, etc.). The instruction is broken and the demon liberates himself that has undesirable consequences
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
k17	The ornitomorphic suitor	An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
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
k18	Infant picks out his unknown father	A boy is born whose father or (rare) mother is unknown. He himself points at his parent who as a rule occupies the lowest social position. Usually many men (women) come together and everyone hopes that the boy points at him (her)
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
k1e	Marooned on an islet	Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
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)
k22	Dwarfs and cranes	Different from (common) people inhabitants of a distant land fight from time to time with non-human enemies who periodically attack them
k22a	Dwarfs attacked	Birds or other creatures which not dangerous for common people attack dwarfs who live in another world
k22aa	Humans in the south, birds in the north	Inhabitants of the far away country are those migratory birds who live with us in summer but turn into humans after returning to their land
k22b	Man helps inhabitants of other world	Inhabitants of a distant land who have different nature than (normal) human beings struggle from time to time with some non-human enemies. Man helps local dwellers because their enemies are not dangerous for the human beings
k22c	Birds are attacked	Inhabitants of a distant land who are birds (the bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals, which are not dangerous for humans and which usually attack them regularly
k23	Battle with birds	Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land
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)
k24c	An old man helps to obtain the bird-wife	A youth comes to an old man (rare: old woman) who instructs him how to obtain magic wife hiding her feather-clothing. For the first time, the youth usually gives her her clothes back, the girl disappears and he lives with the old man till the next opportunity
k25	Magic wife	A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
k25a1	Magic wife finds her clothes	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)
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
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
k27hh	To sort grain	A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains
k27m	To get an animal of unusual color	The hero must kill and bring an animal of special (often unusual) color or form
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
k27o1	Head used as ball	Severed human heads are compared with balls or used as balls
k27p1	Antagonistic father-in-law acquires guise of an animal	When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to killl or to tame a dangerous animal or not to kill certain animal during a hunt, he (she) turns into this animal himself or transforms into it his daughter(s) or wife (husband)
k27r	To visit the world of the dead	A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead
k27s	Contest: a race	Contest: a race
k27u	Hide-and-seek	Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him
k27u1	One day from conception to birth	A demand is brought up that a baby would be born the next day after conception or would talk immediately after the birth
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
k27x1	Invisible servant (“Bring don’t know what”)	Hero receives a difficult task (usually to bring an object or creature that have no particular indications and properties) and comes across an invisible person who is a powerful and well-disposed servant to anybody who becomes his master. The hero is kind with him and the person helps him
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
k27x5	Helpful persons of different age	Setting off for a search of a woman or magic objects, a man comes across several (usually three) supernatural (often demonic) persons who help him. All the persons are similar but usually every next one is older (younger) than another
k27x6a
k27x7	Master of animals calls them together to question them	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
k27x8	The frog directs to the aim	The hero (heroine) is in search of the place that is not achievable for common people. Only the frog (toad) knows the way (and helps to achieve destination)
k27yy1	To get feathers of a dangerous bird	Hero brings a feather (feathers) of a dangerous bird
k27z1	Bird, horse and princess	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
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
k29a	Surviving in a fire	Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
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
k2b	The Mountain-man and the Oak-man	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”
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
k33d1	The princess in the chest	The youth does not know that a beautiful girl hides inside an object that is brought to him
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)
k33h1	To exchange the old ring for the new one	The hero’s wife (mother, servant) does not know about the magic qualities of an object in their house and exchanges it for something that looks likes more expensive but actually has low value
k35	False husband	An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
k35a	Hero brands his rivals	In exchange for temporal advantages, person agrees to be maimed or branded
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
k35a2	An animal with the shining hide	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
k35a3	The master becomes the servant	To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions
k35c	Ogre in a well	An ogre (a dragon, king of the sea) has not killed a man who descended to him as other people had thought but rewarded because the greeted him and/or gave a correct answer to his question
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
k37a	To recognize a man	Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
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)
k38c	Bird brings the hero to his destination	After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination)
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
k38e	Of copper, of silver, of gold	Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.)
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
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
k48	Singing bird of the hero	An antagonist wants that a wonderful bird of the hero sing but it remains mute or cries differently. The bird begins to sing when the hero triumphs over his adversaries
k54	Two giants	A man meets a dangerous giant (or serpent) who proves to be friendly to him. When another giant fights with the first one, the man helps his friend
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).
k56a2	If asked to do in a bad way, do otherwise	Person (usually a girl) gets to the powerful person (usually an old woman) who asks her to act in a strange and harsh way (to put room in disorder, to bring unclean water, and the like). The person does not according to order but in a rationale and polite way and is recompensed. Another person acts according to the direct sense of the words and is punished
k56a4f	The unkind girl becomes ugly	The supernatural person does not like the behavior of the unkind girl and punishes her making her ugly (disfigured)
k56a4g	The ugly girl: outgrowths on her face	After her visit to the supernatural person the unkind girl gets ugly outgrowths on her face or head (tail, horns, warts, etc.)
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
k56c	Golden axe	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
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
k58	Construction of watercause	Person builds a watercourse or digs a well as a condition of marriage. (Usually the woman breaks her promise to marry the winner and she or her bridegroom die)
k60a	How strong are these bonds?	Person lets be firmly tied up when another one say that it's only a joke (e.g. a test to see can the first one break bonds)
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
k62a	Quarrel of mouse and bird	A mouse (rat, mole, etc.) and a small bird quarrel because they cannot divide supplies for the winter. (Usually this episode initiates the story about the war between animals and birds)
k62a1	A man cures the wounded eagle	A man saves (spares) a wounded bird. When the bird becomes strong again, it carries the man to a distant land (to the sky)
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
k65	Genii loci	Being thrown out, put into certain places, born by primeval couple some beings turn into spirits of particular loci
k65a	Spirits fall from the sky	Being thrown down (usually from the sky), some beings get to different places and turn into spirits or animals with particular functions and names
k66	Extraordinary companions	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
k66c	The bear takes human spouse	The bear (lion) takes a woman for sexual partner or the she-bear takes a man. They have children who look like humans or bear cubs. More rare the woman gives birth to her son in the bear den because being abducted by the bear she was pregnant
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
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
k67e	The woman as cuckoo in the tree	The bargain between two persons is to end when a bird whose call is related to particular time of a temporal cycle will be heard. In order to hasten the contract’s end, another person imitates the bird. The first one recognizes the trick
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
k73b2	To make kettle boil with a story	One needs to make kettle boil telling a story that is incredible but real
k73c	A girl in a bird's nest	A girl gets into a bird’s nest (usually the bird carries away a baby-girl). The bird cares for her like her parent, the girl becomes a beauty
k74	Hero, his companions and a dwarf	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
k74a	Only the hero gets to overcome the demon whose track he then follows	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
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
k75a	Thrown apple hits the chosen one	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
k75a1	The youngest son-in-law should live in the stable	The sovereign orders his youngest daughter (together with a man chosen by her) to live in conditions that do not correspond to her high status. Her father does not know that her chosen one is not a poor wretch as he seems to be but a prince
k75a2	The gardener	The unrecognized hero works as a gardener at the powerful person
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
k76b	Snake son and snake husband	An (adoptive) son is a snake who turns into handsome man. The snake is the magic spouse of princess, lost and returned
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
k77b	The animals in night quarters (Bremen town musicians)	Domestic animals abandon their masters. They find an empty house or build a house. Robbers or the predator animals come there. The domestic animals attack (or just frighten) them. The robbers (predators) do not understand who are their enemies, are scared and run away
k77c	Ones who hide in a house frighten dangerous enemy	Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included)
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
k80a	A bird or an object tell about a murder	An object or a creature that emerged from remains, decorations, etc. of a killed person tells about his or her fate. Usually a reed grows from the person's grave and a pipe made from the reed tells the story
k80a2	Pipe tells about a murder	Body part of a murdered person or a plant that grew on the place of the crime tells people about the crime
k80a6	Speaking pipe made from a recently grown plant	A pipe or other musical instrument is made from a plant that has grown on a place where certain person was killed (fell, touched ground). When the instrument plays, people hear a particular message
k80c	The cranes of Ibycus	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.
k80c2	The treasure finders who murder one another	Three (two, more) men find (rob) a treasure. One of them goes away for a while. Those who stay kill him when he returns but die later from eating food (drinking wine) which he had poisoned
k80c3	A name helps to reveal the murderer	Before his death a man asks his murderer to go to his pregnant wife, let she gives the child certain name. Hearing an unusual name of the child, a powerful person initiates the investigation, the murderer confesses his crime
k80c4	Mute witnesses of the crime	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)
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)
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
k84a	To give a sister to the first male who comes marry her	On his deathbed, father orders his son to give his sister(s) in marriage to the first male(s) who come(s) to take her (them)
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
k85c	The four-legged horse is faster than the three-legged one	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
k88a	The blinded bride	Wicked stepmother (aunt, a rival) blinds a young woman. The heroine returns her eyes (often gets them back in exchange for some values)
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)
k8d	Jonah: swallowed by anthropomorphic being	Person (often an animal-person) gets into the belly of anthropomorphic being. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
k90	The black and the red ones	A man gets to see two fighting monsters or animals (usually of contrasted colors like red and black, black and white). He helps one of them and/or one of them helps him
k90a	Trying to hit the black serpent a man hit the white one	A man gets to see how two serpents of contrast color fight. He tries to hit one f them but injures another by mistake. The injured snake’s kinfolk come to punish the man but they give him presents after getting know that he regrets his mistake
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
k92a	The princess responsible for her own fortune	A girl driven away from home or married to a poor man become prosperous
k92b	Love like salt	A girl answers her father (rare: brother) that she loves him like she loves salt (or that salt is the most valuable, etc.). He becomes angry (usually drives her away) but later satisfies himself that she was right
k92c	Wife is weaving, husband is selling	A princess or a fairy becomes the wife of a poor man. She weaves or embroiders a kerchief (or something else) and sends him to sell it. This is the first step to their ultimate success
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
k93b3	Boys, colts and puppies are born the same day	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
k94	Bird of luck (eaten up head)	Person eats magic bird, fish, small animal, or fruit and becomes prosperous and powerful
k95	The twining branches (united in death)	Two persons who loved each other (usually a man and a girl) are buried in one grave or not far from each other. After the burial something related to this event takes place (two plants grow up and stretch their branches to each other, smoke of two funeral pyres is merged, two birds flu out from the grave, two stars appear on the sky, etc.)
k95a	Thorny bush between roses	Two lovers are buried in one grave or nearby. Two plants that grow up on the place stretch their branches to each other but a thorn grows in between them as an incarnation or symbol of a person who prevented the happy marriage
k96	Fifty sons	Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters
k98	(Animal) helper turns into household	An animal or (rare) a person that gave birth to the hero or supported him for a long time asks his master or son to kill him or her. Its (her) remains turn into a house with a household where the hero can live
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
k99a1	Smart man is rescued from prison	An imprisoned man is rescued and exalted because only he gets to resolve problems that trouble the king or to save the princess (prince, the king himself)
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
l100b	Forgotten fiancée	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
l100b1	Dialogue between the male and the female pigeons	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.
l100d	The entrapped suitors	A pretty, faithful wife is courted by one or several men, one of them usually a clergyman. With her husband’s consent, she invites the suitor(s) to a private rendezvous. Before the first man’s wishes are gratified, the next one arrives and then the husband himself. The suitor or suitors are caught in an uncomfortable position and then killed, punished in some other manner, ridiculed, made to pay ransom, to work, etc.
l100e	The lover, the husband and the guest	Before coming in, a guest gets to notice that the housewife is with her lover. When the husband comes home, the guest pretends to possess magic object or the like that helps him to reveal where the good food and the lover are hidden
l100g	The goose with one leg	The servant is asked to prepare a goose (chicken, etc.), eats one leg and maintains that the goose had only one leg enforcing his point by showing geese who stand on one leg. The master shoots away the geese so that they use both legs. Usually the servant replies that if he had frightened the roasted goose, it would have showed its second leg as well
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
l106b	Journey to the other world in search of the lost object	In search of a lost object, usually carried away by water or wind, a girl or (rare) a boy comes to a powerful person, gets the object back and/or is rewarded. The object is related to the everyday life, it has no ritual significance and is not a weapon
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
l108e	Children of the mother-fox	The fox has a child or children (usually she adopts a lamb, foal, etc.), cares for it. The wolf finds and eats it, the fox revenges on him
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
l110	The devourer	A demonic being swallows a multitude of people and animals. When it is killed and cut open, the swallowed ones come out alive or are revived
l110b	Stomach devours an oak tree	A stomach (spleen) cut out of the body of a domestic animal or fowl becomes a voracious monster
l114	The youngest one saves siblings from demon	A group of young people comes to a demon. The youngest brother of sister or a person whom others take for a sick, unpleasant, invalid one and who often accompanies the others against their wish saves them all
l114a	A child who stays awake	A member (usually the youngest) of a group of boys or girls gets with them to a cannibal. The cannibal plans to kill people when they fall asleep. The youngest boy or girl every time answers the cannibal why he or she is still awake and forces him or her to be engaged into different activities instead of killing the sleeping people. Brothers (sisters) run away and return home
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
l118	Caught in a split log	(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
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
l120a	Tongue of dragoness and the smith’s pincers	Hero hides in a smithy from a dragoness who pursues him. She destroys the door or wall (with her tongue) but the hero (smith) burns her (usually grips tight her tongue with his hot pincers or throws hot iron club in her mouth)
l122a	Stitching up cracks in the earth	A (demonic) person is stitching up cracks in the earth with a giant needle and thread
l126	The bird indifferent to pain	A small bird makes a powerful anthropomorphic person lose his temper. The bird cannot be annihilated, cries from inside person's stomach, the person suffers or dies
l14	Reared up serpent	A small creature (often a worm or a reptile) is brought home and reared up or it becomes to live by itself in an artificial body of water. When big, it goes out of human control or becomes something huge and/or dangerous. Cf. motif L13A (The reared up monster attacks people)
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.)
l15f	Heroine’s life in her necklace, ATU 412	A young woman or (rare) a youth falls dead when her necklace (rare: an organ) is stolen from her and revives again as soon as she gets it back or when the antagonist takes it off
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)
l15h2	Person’s soul is in a bird	An object that contains certain person’s soul / death is inside other object, the latter is in the third one (etc.). The last receptacle of the life is a (small) bird (a nestling, several nestlings of birds)
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
l18	Multi-headed bird	A bird with two or more heads on top of one body is described in tales or represented in art
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
l19b3	The twelve-headed monster	A monster with twelve heads is mentioned either alone or at the end of the row of creatures with ever bigger number of heads
l37a	To get know causes of problems
l37a1	Wolf should eat a fool	A man travels to get know why he is poor (unlucky). Other persons, animals, plants ask him to investigate the reason of their own misfortunes. God (fate) tells that the wolf (bear, lion) should eat the most stupid man. Other problems can be resolved if the queen gets a husband, a treasure is taken from under the fruit tree, etc. The man does not use opportunity to become a king, to receive gold, etc. because did not receive direct instructions to do it. The wolf decides that the man is a real fool and he must eat him
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
l37c	Bad and Good Lucks	A man comes across persons who incorporate his own or somebody’s else Bad and Good Lucks. He gets to influence their behavior and change course of events (for himself) for better
l37c1	Luck (good or bad) as a person	Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
l39	Hero is compelled to descend from a tree	When a person climbs a tree, a demon comes to it and carries the person away, or the person follows the demon to his world by his own will
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
l40c	Pays for the bridle and claims the camel	Thanks to ambiguity of the saying, person pays for a cheap object but claims the much more valuable
l42	Hero carried to ogre’s home	An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes
l42b	Credulous children of the ogre	An ogre's child or (rare) wife believes in what hero tells him (or her) and releases him. Usually the hero kills the child and puts its meat to cook in the very pot where the ogre planned to cook the hero
l50	Cliff ogre	A person kills those who are passing by him. Usually he does not attack them all of a sudden but first distracts their attention. Usually he throws down his victims into a precipice, lake, etc.
l57a	Hero's body part is returned by his companion	The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again)
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
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)
l70	Fruit falls and kills	Person or animal is killed or injured with a heavy object dropped from a tree (or rock, etc.). The person or the animal knows that the objects will fall but has falls ideas about its character and weight
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
l73c	A towel opens or blocks the pass	Waving a piece of cloth (throwing it on the ground, putting on water, etc.) person creates obstacles (on the way of the pursuer) or a means to overcome them (bridge, dry path between waters, etc.)
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
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
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
l85c	Half-chicken	Person with half of a body is a chicken (sometimes only by name)
l9	Sharp body members	Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
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
l90c	Horns reaching the sky and the earth	An animal (deer, ram, goat, bull, cow or wolverine) has the horns, one of which touches the ground, and the other one rises to the sky or reaches the heaven
l92	Feigned suggestion to help the ogre	Person escapes to a tree or high rock. An ogre tries to cut it down. Some person or animal suggests the ogre to have a rest, promises to work instead of him but spoils his work or (in Subarctic) kills him when the ogre gives him his axe. (Africa versions have Eurasian origins)
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
l94b	Give me what you do not know at home!	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
l94b1	Demon puts the spilled treasure back into bag	A man receives a box or bag as a gift and is told that he should open it not before he comes to his place. The curious man opens it before time and everything that must make him rich (cattle, houses, etc.) falls out. A demon puts everything back but under certain condition. Usually the man does not understand that he promised to the demon his child
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.
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
m106	Meaningful name	Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
m106f	A guest from the paradise	A stranger tells a woman that he comes from the other world and had seen there her dead relative. The woman gives him money and goods for the latter. Usually when her husband goes after the trickster to retrieve the money, the trickster steals his horse
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
m109a1	Sham brains	Animal person covers his head with a milky substance or dough and convinces another that he has been so badly injured that his brains are coming out
m113	For certain bird water is taboo	During the hottest month of the summer or permanently birds of certain species are prohibited to drink from the water bodies. Usually they can quench their thirst only from rain drops and dew on leaves and cry calling for rain
m113a	Bird sees blood instead of water	Bird of a certain species cannot drink from rivers and lakes because sees there blood (fire, etc.) instead of water
m114a	Clothes of stone	Person is suggested to make clothes of stone or iron or to skin a stone
m114d	The boiled eggs: eaten last year	Person eats a meal of eggs and leaves without paying. Some years later when he returns to pay his debt, the innkeeper claims the value of all chickens that would have hatched from the eggs in the meantime. On the day of the trial another person pretends to have cooked seeds for planting and the judge agrees that chicken could not be hatched from the boiled eggs
m114i	Asked about their relatives, girl or boy answers with wit	When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person
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
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
m125	Eating his own eyes	Person lies to another that he is eating his eyes. The companion agrees to be blinded. The first person extracts one of companion’s eye but gives him to eat something delicious instead. The companion believes that his eyes are good to eat and agrees to be deprived of another eye too
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
m127b	A jug as a trap	Animal person attaches a vessel or its part to his body, puts it into the water, the vessel is heavy and drags him into the water
m130c	The mouse and the lion (the help of the weak)	When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes)
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)
m135b	Wolf regrets for being so stupid	Wolf (rare: jackal, fox) comes to different domestic animals (rare: only to one animal) to eat them but agrees to fulfill their demands. As a result he remains hungry and usually beaten and accuses himself that his ways were so stupid (“Am I a mollah to read?”)
m136d	The air castles	A person plans to turn his (future) possessions into a great wealth (milk, eggs, small money, animal to be killed, etc.) but imagining this wealth, he destroys what he already has (eggs are broken, the animal runs away, etc.). Or two persons are involved into quarrel about possessions that they do not yet have
m136e	It is good that pumpkins do not grow on a big tree (St. Peter and the nuts)	A man complains that large trees have small fruits. When an acorn (nut, pear) falls on his head, he understands the order of the natural phenomena
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.)
m141a	And the Mouse? For us he is nobody	In an assembly of different animals one of them names the weakest one as having no relation to others (having an ugly name) and the latter is eaten up. The episode repeats with ever bigger animals being killed
m141b	The animals flee in fear of the end of the world	A small bird or animal (chicken, cat, mouse, etc.) takes a trivial event (a leaf or an acorn falls, etc.) for a catastrophe (a war, the end of the world, the fall of the sky, etc.) and flees. Other animals share its fear and go along with it.
m142	Fox blames his tail	Fox blames his tail for being useless when escaping from the pursuers (usually he punishes his tail and gets killed himself as a result)
m145	The lion in a well	A weak (animal) person demonstrates a strong one his reflection in water. The latter believes that an animal like he contests his supremacy, invites him for a visit, etc., usually jumps in and drowns
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
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.)
m151a	Holding up the rock	(Animal) person pretends to hold up a rock, tree etc. and explains that otherwise it will fall
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
m154	The animal language and the stubborn wife	A man obtains knowledge of animal languages but if he reveals the secret, he must die. Once he hears animals talking and laughs. His wife thinks that he laughs at her or at her mother. The man is ready to open his secret and either does it and dies or hears how animals (usually a cock) blame him for being so foolish. So he keeps his secret.
m154a1	A pregnant wife on a pregnant mare	A man who understand language of animals hears how a pregnant mare says that she carries four (three) persons because the woman on her back is also pregnant
m154b	The man who does his wife's work	Husband remains home instead of his wife (rare: son instead of his mother) but does everything wrong so as he suffers a series of accidents
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
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
m157a2	Bull or cart gives birth	Person claims that a calf (colt, kid, etc.) was born (brought to the place) not by the cow (mare, etc.) of another person but by his own male animal (bull, stallion, etc.), his own animal of another species or by inanimate object (usually a cart)
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
m157a5	The golden mortar	A man finds a mortar (rare a bell, etc.) of gold (rare: of marble, etc.) and brings it to a powerful person. The latter is not thankful at all but orders the man to bring a pestle too (the bell’s clapper, etc.)
m157a6	You imagine that you speak with the abbot	A man is not wise enough to answer questions put by a king (prince, etc.). His servant or friend takes his place and guise and gives clever answers. Usually one of the questions is like “What I think now?” and the answer, “You think that you speak with the abbot (minister, etc.) but I am a shepherd (a miller, etc.)
m157b	To take the one thing she holds dearest	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
m159	The lion’s share	The strongest predator (usually a lion) suggests one of his companions to shares the booty. He is not satisfied by results and beats the companion. When another companion becomes to divide, he gives everything to the strongest one and explains that the injured one taught him the right way of sharing
m160	Unkind words are more painful than wound	A strong predator animal and a man become friends. The animal hears how the man or his wife complains about him (e.g. criticizes the bad smell of his mouth) and asks the man to strike him with an axe, knife and the like. Later he comes to demonstrate his healed wound and explains that the physical wound can be healed unlike the psychological one. Or the animal dies because of his wounded feelings as soon as he understands that the man betrayed him
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
m163	The precious cat	Person gets to a country where rats or mice are a plague and receives a fortune selling a cat
m168	More cowardly than the hare	The hare is in despair because he is afraid of all creatures but is delighted when he sees other animals (sheep, frogs, dusks) being afraid of him
m169	Medicine for the sick lion	In the presence of powerful person one of his subjects is plotting against the other. The other answers that the problem can be resolved if the first one would be maimed (usually a part of his body used as a medicine). The schemer is killed or injured
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
m176	A test: to jump across an obstacle	(Animal) persons agree to jump across a brook, hole, fire or other obstacle or to walk upon a log, a rope and the like. One or all of them fall down
m180	Fox and crane invite each other	An animal person invites another and serves his food in such a way that he is unable to taste it. Then the other invites the first animal and puts him in similar situation
m188	The painted jackal	Animal person is highly respected by others after he changes his looks by chance; is smeared with a paint or gets a necklace-like object around his neck which he is unable to pull off
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
m195	Two horses: which is older?	Person must guess which of two horses or cows is older. He does it considering peculiarities of the habits of these animals
m195c	Smart or lucky one solves problems	Persons of high status cannot reveal the hidden difference between two or more objects or creatures (or two sides of an objects of creature) which look similar. A smart or lucky person of lower status does it
m196a	Corpses that became to speak	Making a wager because of a trivial thing, spouses (or only one of them) lie without movement and are taken for dead. People bury them but at the last moment they become to speak, people run in panic
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
m198	Wise brothers (the king is bastard)	When three brothers (rare: a person) are Invited to khan (judge, king, etc.) and served delicious food, they claim that the food and drink have a taste (smell) of a corpse, dog, goat etc. and/or their host is of a low descent or a bastard. Investigation confirms that their deduction was correct
m198a	Wise brothers (the strayed camel)	Three or four brothers (rare: one man) see the track of a domestic animal and are able to deduce how it looked like (lame, had no tale, carried oil and honey, etc.) or they deduce how the man who had stolen the animal looks like
m198a3	Who did steal the ruby?	One of the brothers steals a treasure for which all of them have equal rights or he is a bastard. Brothers come to a powerful person and want him to say who of them is the thief or the bastard. Usually the person tells a story and discovers the guilty one considering his reaction
m198b	The pretended astrologer	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
m198b2	Grasshopper by name, the astrologer	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
m198b2	Grasshopper by name, the astrologer	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
m199	Squeezing the (supposed) stone	A man or a weak animal and an ogre (giant, devil) have a contest to see which of them can squeeze a stone. The man squeezes a cheese (egg, turnip) and thus intimidates the ogre
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
m199i	Screaming or whistling context	A man (boy) and an ogre (devil, bear, etc.) have a screaming or whistling context. The man uses a trick (binds ogre’s eyes and strikes him on his head with a heavy object; blows a horn at the ogre’s ear; pretends to bind their heads that they would not break because of his whistling, etc.). The ogre acknowledges the man to be stronger than he
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.
m199k	A man makes believe that he is going to bring an entire well	An ogre sends a man to bring water giving him an enormous skin. The man is unable to carry such an amount of water but does not reveal his weakness using a ruse (he is digging around the well and explains that he wants to carry all the water at once; or says that he brought the skin with the water but drank it already up, etc.)
m199l	Hero shows his enemy how well he can jump or fly	When an ogre exhales or lets go a bent down tree with a man on its top, the man is flung far away but explains that he jumped by his own will to repair the roof, to catch a bird, etc.
m202	Thorn removed from lion’s paw	Person removes a thorn from the paw (bone from the throat) of a strong and dangerous animal or a demon, the animal (demon) is grateful
m204	Money gets one who is destined to get it	When a deity (powerful person) attempts to pass some money to a certain man, he either gets it or not thanks to his fate while all other factors play no role
m206	One half of the gift	A guard (courtier) agrees to open a man an access to a powerful person after a promise to share with him the expected reward. The man asks to be bitten (from the very beginning expected the punishment)
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
m23	Mock plea	Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
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
m29g	Trickster-hare or rabbit	In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit
m29k1 Not used in statistics	The turtle (toad, frog) is a tricky failure	A turtle (tortoise, toad, frog) behaves foolishly creating serious problems for himself
m29w2	The tiger is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29w3	The lion is a failure	Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the lion suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
m29z	The Beardless	Person named as the Beardless (Kusa, Kesa, Kose, Kysa, Kusu, etc.) acts in narratives
m30	Trickster falls down	Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return
m33	Anus closed	Person himself or somebody else stitches up or firmly stops his anus (with wax, clay, grass, etc.)
m38	Stupid imitation (all versions)	Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food
m38b	Stupid wives imitate magic one (the daughter of the Sun)	The first and rejected or taken later wife acts using magic. Other wives try to imitate her but perish are maimed or disgraced
m38c	Superb blacksmith	A blacksmith is (seems to be) able make people young, cure maimed people and animals
m38c1	Old people forged into young ones: unhappy imitation	Person changes (forges, boils, cuts into pieces and joins them back) old (sick, dead) people into the young (healthy, alive) ones or pretends to do so. Another one unsuccessfully tries to imitate him
m38d	Animated objects perish one after another	Two or several animated objects or small animals and live or travel together and perish one after another when they make the most simple acts
m38d2	The bean, the straw and the coal	Several (usually three) small animated objects travel but fail to cross a river (usually perish attempting to cross it)
m38d6	Bursting from laugh	Several characters who are the embodiments of small objects die one after another. The last of them laughs so much that he bursts (breaks his head, etc.)
m39a1	Misunderstood instructions: a step behind	Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
m39a1	Misunderstood instructions: a step behind	Fool follows instructions that were reasonable in every previous episode but become absurd in every next one
m39a2c	The sowing of salt	Fool (or a person who pretends to be mad) sows salt (small objects) like grain
m39a4	Fool and his shadow	Fool takes his own shadow for a person who pursues him and gives it his possessions
m39a4a	Fool’s customer is an animal or an object	A fool gives meat, a domestic animal, cloth etc. to an animal (plant, inanimate object) and thinks that the latter will pay him later or asks an animal to do some work. Claiming money or products of the work, he finds treasure
m39a4b	Fool’s customers are frogs	A fool (woman or man) throws valuables into the water believing that will be useful for frogs
m39a4b1	Foolish woman throws her yarn away	Foolish woman throws her yarn ways (into the water, into the bush) and believes that somebody with weave it
m39a4h	The lost camel of the king	A smart man (using a naive person) gets to acquire treasure that was on the back of a lost camel
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
m39a5a	The sausage rain	Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone.
m39a5a1	The chicken army	Husband (mother) understands that his stupid wife (her son) can report about certain deeds of the family members and inflict a severe punishment. The fool is put into a hole (barrel, etc.), covered with a skin and the domestic fowl is let to pick up the grain above it. The fool takes the knocking for the attack of the birds, the rain of stones, etc. See motif m39a5a A woman plants fish in the field where her husband is sure to plow them up. He finds them and believes that the fish got there by itself. People take him for mad.
m39a5a2	One-eyed judge	Husband found a treasure. He knows that his talkative wife will not keep a secret and tells her that during this time the judge (king, etc.) got his face injured (usually lost his eye) because of a hail (because of hot soup pouring from the sky). The wife repeats this story before the judge who becomes angry and drives her out. The treasure remains in the family
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
m39a6a1	The harvest is eaten up? The corpse is alive?	One man asks another if the grain that they see is already eaten up? Is the dead body alive? It becomes clear that his questions have sense
m39a6b	A leaned tower and the builder’s daughter-in-law	A master builder gets to know that the king is going to kill or maim him. He asks to send a messenger to his home to bring an ostensibly forgotten tool or something else. His daughter-in-law understands the real meaning of the message, takes the messenger as a prisoner and saves her father-in-law
m39a6c	King the craftsman	A poor girl agrees to marry a prince only if he learns some craft. He does it, marries the girl and then gets into hands of some criminals. He promises them to produce valuable object that they can sell for good money. His wife or (rare) his father recognize his work (or read signs of the object). He is released, the criminals killed
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
m39a6g	Four coins (The sharing of bread and money)	Man explains that one part of his incomes he puts out at interest while another part is used to pay debts, i.e. he cares for his children and keeps up his parents
m39a7	Misunderstood instructions: to wash with the boiling water	A fool is told to wash an old person with a warm water. He uses a boiling water killing the person
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
m39a8b	The cut off tongue of a robber	Using a stratagem, someone who hides in a tree cuts (bits) off the tongue of a dangerous person and the latter is unable to describe situation to his partners
m39c	Pumpkin sold as a donkey’s egg	A numskull finds or buys an unknown fruit (pumpkin, melon, etc.). He mistakes it for an egg of a donkey (mare. camel, etc.). When he drops it or throws it off he scares a hidden hare (rabbit, fox, mouse, etc.). The fool thinks the fugitive is a young animal hatched from the egg
m39e1	The eaten up iron and the kidnapped child	A man steals money or property. The owner gets his property back after he or his helper puts the theft in such a position when the best choice for him becomes to return what he has stolen (usually the first man kidnaps a child of the second one)
m39f	He had a hat, had he a head?	A fool loses his head (usually bitten off by a bear). His wife or companions cannot say had he his head before but remember that he certainly had a hat (beard)
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.
m39h	Husband pretends to become blind (The faithless wife)	A married woman is eager to get rid of her husband and usually asks a spirit (God, saint, etc.) to make him blind. The husband hides in a tree, behind the alter, etc. and usually tells her that good food will make her husnad blind, or the husband himself tells his wife that the good food is dangerous for him. He pretends to become blind, kills the love (and his wife)
m39i	The treasure of the hanging man	When he spends his entire fortune, a man is going to hang himself but finds treasure (intentionally put in the corresponding place by his father)
m40	The distorted instructions	Person is sent to receive something of relatively low value. He asks to give him quite different object (to provide a service) and asks one who had sent him to confirm the demand. Usually a person or animal comes to a wife or a son of a powerful one and tells her or him that her (his) husband or father tells to give him food, to make love to him, to marry him, etc.
m45a	Old man and animals	A man falls asleep or pretends to be sleeping or dead. Animals take him for dead: mourn, carry to bury, are going to eat up, etc. The man kills a lot of animals or obtain valuables otherwise
m57a	Beads discharged from the body	Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
m57a2	Male person is the producer of valuables	Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
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)
m57d1	Bird presents objects and fulfills wishes	A bird gives a man several magic objects in succession (or one object which helps to get others) or fulfills in succession a series of his wishes
m60	Sham doctor: finished off enemy	Hero wounds dangerous enemy (a monster, a robber) and then, in guise of a doctor, comes to him and kills his patient instead of curing him
m60a	A hunter comes to one whom he wounded	An animal or a supernatural creature is wounded but escapes. Local doctors are helpless. The hero or his companion, masked as a doctor, comes to the wounded one and either cures or kills him.
m62b	Trying to hit the hero hit each other	Two or more personages direct their weapons against the hero who is between them but hit each other
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
m75b3	The Trojan Horse: victory over enemies	A life-size or larger than life-size figure of a horse or a bull is demonstrated to enemies. They do not understand that this is a stratagem and carry the figure to their territory. As a result, the invasion becomes possible and the enemies are defeated
m75c	Treasure on mountain top	A man sends another one to top of a mountain or a tree to obtain treasure for him. To go back is impossible but the man survives
m77	A soiled bed	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
m78	A tiny boy (Thumbling)	Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
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
m81e1	The hero brings to the old man his stolen eyes	Young man lives with an old man whose eye(s) were stolen by an ogre. The youth comes to the ogre, kills him, brings the stolen eyes and the old man gets to see again
m81f	Blind robber paid back	A blind trickster steals from (does not return some money to) a harmless man. The injured man follows the blind man and steals his whole hoard of money. Often he robs (tricks) several blind men
m83	Who is older?	Somebody claims that he has been born before present world came into being. His opponent claims the same, and they argue who of them is the older
m83a	Crying for his dead children	Persons or animals argue who of them is older, some claim that they lived in such and such time, but the last one says that he remembers this day because a certain event had taken place at this time
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)
m84c	Guest of bush spirits	A man spends a night in a forest or desert where spirits live. One of them explains to the others that he has a guest (i.e. this same man) tonight
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
m90a2	From what did the plant grow?	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
m90a3	Tree grows from snake	A plant grows from a killed snake or part of snake’s body
m90a4	The tree of gems	A tree which has gems or adornments instead of fruits is described; particular parts of the tree are made of different metals or precious stones
m90a5	The golden apples	Golden fruits (in rare cases only leaves) of a certain tree are mentioned in tail. Usually these are golden apples
m90b	The sunrise in the West	Person was wrong being sure that the Sun cannot rise from the West
m90c	Ladder instead of wife	One man promises another that he can take anything in his house if he touches i with his hand. The guest is going to take the other man’s wife but when he touches a ladder he is told to take it and go away
m91	The killed corpse	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
m91a	Simulated killing (a bag with blood)	Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
m91b	The sold ashes	Using trick, a man sells or exchanges for treasure ashes. Another person tries to sell ashes and is ridiculed
m91c1	Herd from the river bottom	Person gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him
m91c2	Put into the bag	Person is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed
m91c3	Hare the messenger	After warning his wife about the planned trick, person lets free a wild animal or bird asking it to pass a message to his wife. Seeing the same (actually another) animal or bird in his companion’s house another man buys the animal for a lot of money
m91c5	The wager that sheep are hogs	A man (a boy) drives his cow (or any other domestic animal of a big size) to market. A trickster who would like to buy the animal cheaply tries to convince him that it is a sheep (or any other smaller and cheaper animal). Trickster’s accomplices confirm his opinion and the man sells his cow for the price of a sheep
m91c6	Hat alleged to be magic	A man pays in advance and invites his enemies to eat with him. When he turns his hat (throws it on the floor, etc.), they believe that it is the hat that makes the innkeeper say that the bill has been settled
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)
m94b1	Wolf under the mill wheel	Animal person is tricked to creep under the mill wheel, he is killed or badly injured
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
n14	Storyteller on the wedding	Closing formula of the folktale: the teller represents himself as being present at the wedding and/or feast, which were organized by characters of the tale
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
n27a	You can find even bird’s milk there!	It is said that somewhere there is (or was) even bird’s milk
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
n3	Hungry fingers	One of the fingers says that he is hungry and/or suggests to steal something. Other fingers express their opinion on this behalf.
n32	Sitting on several trees	It is told about an ornithomorphic person or creature that he is sitting on several (three or more) trees
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

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Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: Ossetians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Kalmyk
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Bashkirs
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Kazakh
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Abkhaz
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Serbs, Monte Negro,
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: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Greeks (modern)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Bulgarians

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Armenians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Abkhaz
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Bulgarians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 2 Tradition: Macedonians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Ossetians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Albanians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Persians
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Ancient Greece
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Bosnia Muslims
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 1 Tradition: Ingush