| Motif | Name | Description |
| a11b | One-eyed luminaries | The Sun or the Moon is one-eyed (usually another eye was knocked or sucked out but sometimes this defect is not explained |
| 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 |
| a5 | The Sun and the Moon are males | The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual |
| b18 | Light in container | Day light (also warmth, the sun, the moon) is kept as a particular object in a container, under a cover, etc. |
| b26 | Man joins wild animals | Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master |
| b38 | The ruined painting | Person paints birds or animals or they paint each other. Some of them are not satisfied with the result |
| b42t | Ursa major is a big mammal | Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog |
| b54 | Chips turn into fish | Chips of wood, branches or pieces of bark thrown or fallen into the water turn into fish and/or aquatic animals |
| b82 | The white raven | Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white |
| 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. |
| d9 | Fire and vulture | Raven or other big dark-feathered bird scavenger is the owner, personification, spouse, obtainer or stealer of fire, daylight, or the Sun |
| e12 | The animated drawing | Person draws an object or creature and it becomes alive |
| e1d | Canoes of clay | First canoes were made of unfit materials |
| 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 |
| f65a | Death feigned to meet paramour | Person pretends to die. His or her wife or husband abandons him or her on a burial place. He or she marries his or her paramour |
| h15 | Whisper and yawning | If called in a loud voice, ghosts do not hear an alive person but hear whisper, yawning, etc. |
| h7 | The personified Death | Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls |
| h9 | Strong and weak | People are mortal because they have been likened to something subject to decay and easy destruction (e.g. to the soft wood and not to the stone) |
| 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 |
| j37 | The antagonist is carried away by bird | A man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy |
| 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 |
| k176 | A man in search of the woman | A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife |
| 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 |
| k26 | A hole in the firmament | Finding a hole in the ground or making it, person gets to see below another world. Usually the earth is seen from the sky |
| k26a | Sky opening covered with a stone | Opening in the firmament is covered with a flat stone. When person puts the stone aside, he or she gets to see the earth |
| 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 |
| k47a | A woman and a dog | After having sexual contact with a dog, a woman gives birth to his children. The puppies turn into humans and usually become ancestors of particular groups of people |
| k51 | The deceived wife | A Man disappears or goes away for long time. His wife sets off, comes to a house where her husband lives now or first sends her son there. She gets to know that he has married another woman |
| k51a | Woman pushes her rival into the boiling pot | A woman comes to her rival and kills her pushing her head into boiling liquid or pouring it into her ear |
| k51b | The killed ones smile | Bodies of the killed ones are put in such a position as if they are in a good mood (smile, laugh, dance) |
| k52 | Rescue from the sea bottom | When a woman or a lad comes to the sea bank, she or he is carried away by sea predators (killer-whales, sharks, swordfish). Man descends to the bottom and rescues the woman or lad using his shaman's power |
| 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 |
| k87 | Marriage with an animal creates problems | A woman becomes the wife of an animal (rare: other non-human being). Her husband cares for her but ultimately the animal, the woman, her children or her relations are killed, she turns into an animal herself, animals and humans become enemies, etc. |
| k87b | Woman steps into bears’ dung | Gathering berries a woman steps into bear's dung and curses bears. A bear abducts her and marries her. Her human husband, her brothers, or supernatural person kill the bears |
| 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) |
| k8b | Woman is soul of a whale | Raven gets inside a whale where he sees a woman who asks him not to touch an inner organ of the whale (usually its heart) or a burning lamp. Raven touches it, woman disappears, the whale dies |
| l105 | Invisible missile | Animal, fish or person wounded by hero runs or swims away, usually with the man's projectile in his or her body. Local doctors are not able to cure the wound (usually because they do not see the projectile). The hero or his companion comes to the place where the wounded one lives and cures him or her (usually extracting his projectile from the wound) |
| l1a | Woman turns into the bear | A young woman turns into the bear (in Asia, into the tiger) and attacks her husband or close relatives |
| 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) |
| l73 | Ogre tries to drink a river dry and bursts | The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts |
| l74 | The returned hand | A bear or other dangerous being tears off and carries away a hand of a person and holds it at his sleeping place. Another person steals the hand, gives it back to the owner |
| l74a | Hung over fire | An antagonist carries away the hero or rips off and carries away his limb and hangs the prisoner or the limb (usually over the fire). The hero is suffering from pain. Another personage saves the hero or brings his limb back |
| m123 | Raven marries goose | A bird of prey or a carrion-eater (raven, owl, hawk; coyote) marries or tries to marry goose-person or other water bird. This marriage is not realized or is a short one |
| m16a | Diving bird’s medicine | A supernatural helper (usually a loon) makes a blind man to regain his eyesight diving with him into water |
| m22a | Stock guardian | A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, swan) is a guard in a strange house or land where hero comes |
| m29a | Trickster-raven | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven |
| m29a1 | Raven (crow) is the main trickster | In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow) |
| m29b2 | The bear is a failure/enemy | Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies |
| m53 | Hoodwinked dancers | Person invites birds or animals (usually geese and ducks) to dance or stand around him and concentrate their attention on some activity (usually to dance with their eyes shut), kills them, usually one by one. Or (rare) he dances himself with his eyes shut and then kills water fowl who gather around him |
| m53e | Would believe evil omen | Person (always a raven) kills a whale. When people come, he tells them about some circumstances that can make the meat dangerous. People do not dare to touch the meat and the deceiver eats it alone |
| 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. |
| m64 | Person pretends to possess resources | To get valuables (food, fire) concealed by their owner, person pretends that the valuables are already in his possession |