| Motif | Name | Description |
| a12 | Eclipses: monster’s attack | Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light |
| a12a | Eclipses: a predator animal | During an eclipse or at other circumstances the Sun or the Moon are attacked by a predator animal (a bear, a feline, a canine, a racoon) |
| a16 | Dangers along the Sun’s way | Every night the Sun passes by creatures or objects which try to destroy them |
| a23 | Elections of the Sun to be | The primeval ancestors come together to choose the best candidate to become the Sun and/or to send the Sun to the sky or to see how the Sun rises to the sky for the first time |
| b26 | Man joins wild animals | Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master |
| 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 |
| b52a | Vulture creates the landscape | Flying above the earth and flapping its wings, a bird (usually a vulture) makes it dry after the flood or otherwise creates present landscape |
| b59 | A group of dancers ascends to the sky | A group of people (usually children, brothers or sisters) play, dance, ascend to the sky and turn into Pleiades or other compact constellation |
| b84 | Fungi and excrescences (ogress transformed) | When a demonic person (usually an ogress pursuing a man) dies, her or his flesh turns into objects that are found on trees, like fungi, pitch, fruits or nuts |
| c10 | The flood: the wet tails | During the flood birds or animals escape to some place (mountain, tree, boat, sky). Tips of their tails or other body parts get covered with water or foam and acquire their present color and form |
| c10a | The flood: birds cling to the sky | During the flood some birds survive clinging to the sky with their beaks |
| c18 | Luring out the hidden Sun | Person who incarnates or owns the sun hides himself or herself or is hidden. To return or to get heath and light, his or her interest is attracted or diverted by way of singing, dancing, playing music, provocative behavior, offering of unusual gifts, sex or alcohol |
| c19 | Acquisition of the sun | The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again) |
| c34 | The deluge because of a wounded creature | Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge |
| 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) |
| 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) |
| c6e | The diver is a crustacean | A crustacean brings the earth from the bottom of the ocean or from the lower world |
| c6i1 | A heap of mud arises above the water | Mud from the bottom of the ocean is gathered up forming a heap which suppit emerges over the surface of the water and becomes the earth |
| d1b | Male spirit of fire | The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire) |
| d4a | Theft of fire | Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before |
| d4j | Rabbit obtains fire | Fire owner, stealer, or stealer's companion is a rabbit, a hare or (among the Ofaie) a guinea pig |
| d4m | Fire owners dance | Person comes to the owners of fire or light. They feast and dance. He joins them and in a proper moment carries away the valuables |
| d8 | Fire and a predator animal | Fire or summer is stolen from a big predator: a lion (in Africa), a tiger (in Asia), a bear (in Siberia and North America) or a jaguar (in South America) |
| e13a | Sacred knowledge from under the water | Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals are initially obtained from the denizens of the underwater world |
| e20 | Fish poison person | Entering water, certain person makes fish die. From parts of his body or from his grave grows plant used to prepare fish poison (timbo) |
| e5a | Mankind ascends from the underworld | The first people (or only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together |
| e6a | Way across waters | To reach their present country, people had to pass (frozen) water body. Part of the migrants remain on the opposite side or is drowned |
| f10 | Vaginal teeth knocked out | Woman has another toothed mouth (usually in vagina) or biting animals in vagina. Man inserts there a stone, bone, stick, etc. breaking or knocking out the teeth or extracting from there dangerous animals |
| f36 | Sons kill paramour | The (adoptive) children or grandchildren and not person's spouse or brother kill the paramour of their (step)mother or father |
| f45 | The Amazons | There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages |
| f86 | Conditional signal | Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself) |
| f9 | A dangerous woman | For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man |
| f9a | Vagina dentata | There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in woman’s genitals, vagina is the biting mouth. (Only texts that are believed to correspond to reality are considered but not anecdotes and jokes) |
| g18 | Person wants to be sacrificed | A person asks people to abandon him or her in the forest, to burn or drag him or her around the future garden plot, to burn her in her house, etc. People fulfill the person's wish and find cultivated plants growing on the place |
| g20 | Woman turns into plants | Food crops emerge from remains of a woman or girl |
| g23 | Alive being turns into many objects | Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered) |
| g24 | Food from the sky | First seeds (sprouts, tubors) of cultivated plants or of important edible wild plants are brought from the sky (received from the sky-dwellers) |
| h12 | The alive person comes to the land of the dead after somebody’s death | The alive person comes to the land of the dead to bring back somebody who has recently died (besides stories about shamans who journey to the other world to bring back the soul of a sick person) or, having no particular aim, goes there in company of somebody who had recently died or following his or her tracks |
| h24 | Container opened too early | Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear |
| h24b | Souls disappear from the opened container | Person receives a container with the soul of a dead person and has to open it not before he gets to particular place or after particular time interval. He opens it too early, the soul fly away |
| h27 | Mosquitoes let lose | Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened |
| 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 |
| i100b | The Pleiades are a group of people | The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a) |
| i124 | Ursa major is a boat | Ursa major is a boat |
| i13a | The horned serpent | Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head |
| i21 | Red-haired people scorched by the sun | People who live in the underworld, at the sunrise or sunset (often dwarfs) are scorched by the Sun which moves by at a short distance from them. They are red-haired, dark-skinned, etc. |
| 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) |
| i22a | Rising and falling sky | The sky is constantly moving up and down in respect to earth |
| i27a | Towns and paths of dogs | Souls of the dead dogs have their own towns in the Beyond or their own paths to travel there |
| i28 | Animals in the underworld | Game animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underworld where they often look like humans and have a master |
| i36 | Thunder and lightning are relatives, spouses or in-laws | Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightings) are close relatives, spouses or in-laws |
| i72 | Stars are people | Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered) |
| i9 | Colors of the cardinal directions | Four cardinal directions and/or some objects associated with them are associated with different colors |
| i99 | The Pleiades are boys or men | The Pleiades are a group of boys or men, or a group of different people but predominantly males |
| j1 | The vengeful heroes | Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they |
| j12 | Travelling girl walks across suitors | A girl (or two sisters) travel, usually in search of a proper marriage partner who lives far away or who has gone away. On her way or after reaching the place of destination the girl gets to some unpleasant suitors |
| j12d | Imposter kills his rival | After a girl marries a valuable suitor, a rejected imposter or his relations kill him |
| j12j | Imposter is a buffoon | In village where valuable marriage-partner lives an imposter plays the role of a buffoon |
| j13 | Two sisters | Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre |
| j19 | Wicked guest murders woman | When husband o brother leaves home to hunt, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister. The spirit kills her or carries her away. Her baby boys extracted from her womb or born at this time survive |
| j19a | To serve food on the abdomen | A demonic person visits a woman when she remains alone. He or she claims that needs a particular part of her body to complete a particular act that is against logic and custom. After this the demon kills the woman (extracts a child from her abdomen, pulls out her tongue) |
| j22b | Two women from one | A woman is torn or cut in half, two new women appear |
| j25 | Babies escape and return | Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty |
| 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 |
| j27a | Thrown-away kills his father | One of two babies is thrown away and lives in the water, in the forest, etc., another lives in the house; after both of them become to live in the house, they kills their father |
| 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 |
| j4a | Revenge for the death of the mother | A woman is murdered. Her son or children (rare: grandchildren, nephews) revenge for her death |
| j59 | Following arrow to get to the sky | To climb to the sky, person must first to shoot an arrow that reaches the sky and sticks to it |
| j59b | An arrow falls down, a dead one revives | To revive the dead, person shoots an arrow into the sky (it is suggested that the dead would be afraid of the arrow falling, jump aside and become alive) |
| k10 | Fight with the monstrous bird | Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it |
| k10a | Battle with a bird: a shelter | Heroes kill a dangerous bird. During or before confrontation they hide inside a shelter (hut, cage, vessel, bag, hollow log) or cover themselves with a protective object |
| k10b | Cage carried away | A giant bird carries away to its nest a cage or bag with people inside |
| k10g | The man uses a fledgeling to descend to the earth | A man gets into the nest of a giant bird on a high rock or tree. He descends to the earth killing the bird and fixing its feathers or wings to his body or (more often) using the bird’s nestling (riding on its back, holding its feet, fixing its feathers or wings) |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k18a | Infant takes father’s bow and arrows | When a small boy has to recognize his father among many men, he comes to him and takes father's bow and arrows |
| k19b | Star-husband | A woman maries a star-man |
| k19g | Two stars of different color and brightness | Two stars are men, an old and a young ones. They look different as about their color or brightness but these characteristics do not correlate (the bright star can prove to be an old man and vice versa. Usually two girls wish these stars for husbands and express different preferences (one prefers bright blue star, another wants small and red one, etc.) |
| 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 |
| k20 | Wish for star-husband or wife realized | A human person admires a star or (rare) the Moon in the sky, expresses desire to marry it or (rare) to get a star-object. Star descends to him or to her or takes him or her to the sky |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| k48a | Birds decorate hero’s attire | Alive birds and beasts decorate hero's costume and headgear. Imposter steals hero's attire, takes his place but the birds and beasts are mute or cry differently |
| k69 | A visit to God | A group of persons decide to go to the end of the world to meet the Sun or other supreme god. One (or several) of them perish on their way, some reach destination, at least one returns home using the shorter way than the one they have took before |
| l103 | Obstacle flight (Atalanta type) | Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay |
| l11 | Turtle-bench | In a non-human world objects of everyday life have appearance of animals and monsters, mainly fish, amphibians and reptiles |
| l123 | Running in many directions | To confuse pursuer, person many times runs away in different directions and comes back |
| l15a | Vulnerable place on the body | The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs |
| l28 | The snake-eater | Person who have eaten a prohibited meat or fish turns into monstrous snake or fish |
| 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 |
| l6 | Demon clings to person | A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back |
| l69 | Puma rescues man from a monster | A man is attacked by a monster but puma or jaguar fights with the monster and rescues the man |
| l6a | Sticking demon asks to be carried | Person that looks weak and feeble asks a man to carry him or her on his back and refuses to leave him |
| 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 |
| m11 | The unclean food | Person feeds others a food that is extracted from his, hers or somebody else’ body or is polluted by body extractions not informing about the source of the food |
| m115 | The eaten up wolf | Using a trick, (animal)-person kills a dangerous animal. Kinsmen and friends of the killed animal get to know about it and come to avenge its death. The person has narrow escape |
| m11c | Person gets lard from his body | A male person cuts or roasts his own body to extract meat, lard or blood, cooks it and serves to his guest without injuring himself. Such a food is not considered to be unclean |
| m183 | A race: one against many | Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss |
| 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 |
| m26 | Ducks rise hunter into the air (he caught them by leg) | Person attempts to hunt ducks or geese catching them by the legs. They rise him into the air, he falls down |
| m29g | Trickster-hare or rabbit | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit |
| m29g1 | Hare or rabbit as the main trickster | In most of the episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit. Not considered are traditions in which 1) trickster hare/rabbit is rare while other trickster (usually fox/jackal/coyote) typical; 2) Mesoamerican traditions in which episodes with trickster rabbit are not many and could be borrowed in post-Columbian time being of African origin |
| m29h | Trickster-owl | In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is owl |
| 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 |
| m37 | Blow of axe | Person or person's head is split with the blow of an axe. Person remains (or must remain if the procedure is realized in correct way) uninjured |
| 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 |
| 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. |
| m44b | Thieves of food: the women | Person discovers that somebody steals game or fish from his trap or devastates his garden. He or his guards catch the thieves who prove to be (the first) women or the thief is the water being whom the hero lets go after receiving a woman for ransom |
| 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 |
| m55 | Sprinkling hot coals | A man or a weaker animal leads the stronger one to a place that is allegedly dangerous (hot coals, ashes, sticks, etc. can fall there at night). When his companion is asleep, man throws sticks, sprinkles hot ashes or coals on him pretending that they fall on them both |
| 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 |
| m73 | Exchanged excrements or vomits: who is stronger | Two (animal) persons compare their feces or vomits to know about the diet and habits of each other (who is the strongest). The weaker one gets to exchange the feces (vomits) |
| m73a | Exchanged excrements | Two (animal) persons compare their feces (with different purpose). One of them gets to exchange them |
| m75a | Revenge for falling from the sky | Vulture suggests person to carry him in the sky but drops to earth. The person attracts vulture to revenge on him. Or the vulture drops the person (or abandons him on a high rock) to revenge on him for his attempt to catch him |
| m7b | The last one is chosen | Person gets to a place from which he cannot come out. He asks to help him different animals (fish) who pass by or come to him and choses the last one |
| 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 |
| m8b | Birds break an obstacle to get water | Birds or (rare) animals work hard to break a rock or a cane and get water or honey concealed inside |