| Motif | Name | Description |
| a32 | Figure on lunar disc | A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32) |
| a32d | Man in the Moon | Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon |
| a32j | A shaman in the moon | A shaman with his drum ascends to the moon and remains there, his figure is seen in the moon |
| a4 | Female sun | The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female |
| 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 |
| b3a | Primeval waters | Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later |
| b3b | Earth grows big | Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance |
| b45 | Marriage of winter and summer | A coming of warm (light, abundant, etc.) or cold (dark, barren, etc.) time is related to the marriage of certain person |
| b64 | The bony fish | Bones of fresh-water fish are result of a fighting or military expedition. The bones are arrows that have pierced the fish bodies (gill openings are pierced by arrows) or the small bones are fragments of originally big ones |
| b64a | Small bones: war between fish and birds | Fish and birds shoot arrows into each other. Since then there are many small bones inside the fish |
| b64b | Small bones: war between the fish | Fish of two species shoot arrows into each other. Since then there are many small bones in the fish or some bones are forked |
| b64d | Bones are arrows | Certain bones in the body of living creatures (usually birds and fish) are arrows that were shot into them |
| b70 | Ears of the hare | Person beats hares, foxes or other medium size animals who became helpless (usually closed in his house). Tale explains why tips of the animals' ears or tails have a particular color |
| b72 | The thirsty cuckoo | Because children do not give water to their mother, she turns into a bird, usually a cuckoo, and flies away |
| b72c | The blood of the running children paints objects | Running after their mother, the children injure themselves, their blood paints red plants, ground, sky |
| b72d | Wings from the cutting board | A woman makes wings (a beck, a tail) from her dress-making tools and turns into a bird or a flying squirrel |
| b74a | Red rags on eyelids | After they sew red rags or threads to person’s eylids or paint them in red (or he does it himself), he sees everything in red color or his eye become red forever |
| c6 | Valuables brought from the lower world | Persons or animals dive or otherwise decend to the lower world to get a desired object and to bring it to earth (besides episodes in the fairytales, cf. motif k27x9) |
| c6c | The diver is a bird | An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom |
| c6c3 | The loon is successful diver | The loon dives and brings a piece of earth (a blade of grass etc.) that is transformed into the dry land or it brings other object which everybody is eager to get (the loon is the only or the only successful diver) |
| c6d | The aquisition of the earth from the lower world | The dry land (the earth) grows from a small amount of solid substance (sand, clay, dirt and the like) brought from the lower world (usually from the bottom of the ocean) |
| d1 | Female spirit of fire | Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire |
| d1b | Male spirit of fire | The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire) |
| 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 |
| f65 | The false burial | To realize his or her secret desire (illicit sex, refusal to share food with relations), person pretends to die and is abandoned at a burial place |
| f65b | Death feigned to eat burial food | Man pretends to die because he does not want to share food with the others and eats it alone at his burial place |
| f65c | The feigned burial: boy exposes deceit | A man feigns death to marry his daughter or to eat burial food. One of the younger children recognizes the (adoptive) father or gets to see that the false dead is alive (escapes from the burial pyre, laughs, etc.) |
| f65d | The feigned burial: wife does not believe | A man feigns death and is abandoned at the burial place. His wife (mother, aunt) gets to know about the deceit and provokes the man to show that he is alive |
| h24 | Container opened too early | Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear |
| h28 | Plagues from the body of a person or creature | Killed and destroyed (often burned) person or creature (usually ogre, fierce animal, powerful shaman) turns into a multitude of biting insects or into other small molesting creatures |
| h28a | Mosquitoes from sparks and smoke | A burned person or creature immediately turns into a multitude of mosquitoes or biting flies |
| i1 | The thunderbirds | Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird |
| i46 | Rainbow belt | Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt |
| i46a | Old woman’s rainbow | Rainbow is associated with an old woman |
| i51b | The earth is an animal | The earth or the sky are identified with a big quadruped mammal or are made of parts of its body |
| i55a | Stars are lakes | Stars are lakes in one of the sky levels |
| i56 | Ghosts do not see people from earth | The alive person who is travelling between the worlds is visible for inhabitants of one world and invisible for inhabitants of another |
| i72 | Stars are people | Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered) |
| i84 | Milky Way is a snow-shoes track | Milky Way is a path of a person who was walking on snow-shoes |
| 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 |
| j26 | Babies come out of the water | Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water |
| j27 | Lodge-boy and Thrown-away | A small boy (several babies) was thrown away, born by the dead woman, lives in the water (in forest, etc.). Another boy lives with his father or mother. Ultimately the first boy comes to live in the locus of the second one. Often (see motif j25, Babies escape and return) during some time the boy who lives in the wilderness meets secretly with his brother (with other children, with pups that had been fed up by his mother) who lives with the people |
| j27b | The water father | Besides his parents on earth, the baby who had been thrown into a river or lake and comes from time to time to the shore has another father (and mother) under the water. He does not want to be separated from them or they do not want let him go |
| j46 | Enemy drowns | Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body |
| j53c | One of two female companions kills another | Two co-wives of female companions live together, both have children. Once when they go to work outdoors (usually to gather wild plants), one of them kills and devours another. The victim's children escape |
| k125 | House utensil betrays its master | An enemy asks house utensils or personal objects where their master hid himself or herself or what direction he or she ran away. One of the objects, not treated by the master in a proper way, betrays him or her |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| k44 | False mother rejected | A demonic or animal person steals a boy and pretends to be his real mother or father. The boy gets to know the truth, leaves the false parent |
| k56a | The unworthy girl fails, the worthy one succeeds | Two or three sisters are sent in succession to powerful person. The first or the first and the second sister behave in a wrong way, perish or do not succeed. The last one behaves correctly, gets a reward |
| k56a1 | Mother-in-law helps the girl to fulfill a task | Coming to powerful man, a girl must make work that she is unable to do. His mother makes the work for her, and she marries the man |
| k56a3 | Not to fix laces on clothes and shoes | Though laces on her clothes or shoes get loose, a girl on her way to the powerful persons or back should not tie them up |
| 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 |
| k63 | Hunting wild people | A man gets to a country which inhabitants hunts of fish people whom they consider wild and equivalent to the real game or fish |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| k89 | A girl and a witch: presents of kinsfolk | A girl and her rival (a witch, a frog) marry two brothers. Both daughters-in-law have to bring presents from their kinsfolk. The girl finds her brother, brothers or sister who were lost or died in the beginning of the tale and they give her valuables. Presents brought by the rival are worthless |
| k89a | In search of the place to abandon the sister | A girl with her maimed sister or brother escapes from a danger. The sister (brother) rejects some places where the girl wants to abandon her or him but agrees with her last suggestion |
| k89c | Helpful brother married to bear | A girl parts with her brother or sister who marries a bear and helps the girl |
| k8c | Jonah: swallowed by terrestrial animal | Person gets into the belly of ground animal or bird. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people) |
| k8c2 | The swallowed mouse | Mouse swallowed by a big terrestrial animal cuts it open from the inside and comes out |
| k8c4 | Elk dies after swallowing mouse | A mouse, a small bird, a porcupine or other animal (rare: person) of a small size gets inside a big ungulate (elk, deer, buffalo, tapir) to kill (and then usually to eat) him |
| 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) |
| l111 | Hook from the sky | The sky dwellers fish human beings who live on earth with a line and a hook |
| l17 | Face on breast | There is a headless anthropomorphic being who has eyes and/or mouth on his or her breast |
| l27 | Girl eaten up | Two girls or young women meet a demon. One or both are not aware of danger. One is eaten up, another escapes |
| l33b | Trickster provokes a rock | Person suggests to another who looks like being unable to move (rock, stump, fire) a race competition or provokes this object to roll towards him. The competitor becomes to move, burns or crashes the person or runs away with his clothes |
| l41 | Hero escapes on the way | An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house |
| l42e | Caught again | An ogre catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way. The ogre comes back, this time carries the person to his home. Or the ogre catches a group of children, most of them escape on the way, one is brought to the ogre's place |
| 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) |
| l73 | Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts | The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| m106b | “Last year” in a demon’s house | After doing damage or inflicting injury, person lies that his name is Last Year or so. Others understand that the injury had been done long ago and there is no sense to investigate the case now |
| m108 | Trickster carries away people's property | Person suggests to do some work (usually to ferry people's property across river) but carries away the property that he was entrusted to control |
| m108a | Trickster as an adopted child | An old couple live alone and adopt a boy (a trickster-animal) as a son. He steals their property (and runs away) |
| 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 |
| m171b | Shoulder-blade with no meat | Person pretends that he has not a bare should-blade but a good piece of meat, asks people to cook it and then blames them for stealing the meat |
| m29a | Trickster-raven | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven |
| m29n | Trickster is a mouse | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a mouse |
| 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 |
| m38a | The bungling host | Being on a visit to other people or (more often) animals, an (animal)-person sees them act using magic or according to their animal nature. Back at home, he imitates their actions and gets in trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and mostly refer to providing and cooking food |
| m39a | Fool takes off boots from animals’ legs | Two or three brothers live together (with their mother). One of them makes stupid actions like (all or some of them): lets free animals that got into a snare but kills his mother; cuts off the legs of domestic animals or flays them; thinks that a certain place on a head of a baby is a tumor, sucks baby's brains out; cuts a cloth into pieces and ties them to reeds of to branches of a tree; hearing a murmur of water throws food into the water; tries to build a hut not on a river bank but in the river |
| m42 | Eyes: taken out of orbits and lost | Person loses his eyes because of his playfulness or negligence. He makes new eyes of some substance or/and takes eyes of another person |
| m46 | The false baby | Planning to get or to return valuables, person turns into baby or in a small objects that has power to impregnate a woman. The picked up or the born baby steals the valuables and acquires his real guise (including cases according to which the girl herself is the desired valuable)
|
| m46a | A stratagem: the picked up baby | Person turns into baby, is picked up by the owner of valuables, steals the valuables or makes love to a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not plan to kill those who picked him up (cf. motif L60) |
| m5 | Provoked insult | Being in a situation when his life depends on a good will of a demon or animal, person either resists or does not resist the temptation to insult or to beat, bite, etc. the latter |
| m60b | False doctor: a finished off victim | The deceiver who promised to cure a sick or wounded person or animal devours him or suggests a remedy that makes the sick one to feel ever worse |
| m60b1 | The crow eats up the fish | The crow promises to cure a sick fish but easts her up |