| Motif | Name | Description |
| a3 | Male sun and female moon | The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male |
| e9o | Frog or toad-wife | Man marries frog- or toad-woman |
| 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 |
| i25b | To clean an oven with her own hair | It is told about women who had no tools at all and were using parts of their body instead |
| i25b1 | They use their own hair instead of a rope | It is told about women who use their own hair instead of a rope to lift bucket with water from a well |
| i25d | To grease and oil gates and doors | On his way to a dangerous being the hero (heroine) greases (oils) the gate (door) hinges. When the hero goes back the grateful gate does not agree to hold him despite the order of the dangerous being |
| j62 | People turned into stones | Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones |
| 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 |
| k101b | Three nights of suffering | A girl or a youth are disenchanted because the hero bravely spends three nights in a certain place being tortured or terrified by demons. The girl (youth) herself is helpful and not dangerous for the hero |
| 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 |
| k107d | The girl cannot wake her fiancé | Failed attempts to wake magic husband |
| k107d1 | Magic wife’s failed attempts to wake a youth | A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him |
| 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 |
| k117 | Woman who never laughs (a bride) | A woman should marry a man who would be able to make her laugh; a man promises a reward to the person who would make laugh his daughter, mother or son |
| k120a3 | Jewelry in a nut | Person gets a nut with valuables inside (precious clothes, jewelry, animal helpers, etc.) or he or she himself or herself puts valuable into a nut to use them later |
| 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 |
| k123 | Old woman’s curse | A youth or (rare) girl offends a woman who older than he (usually quite old) or is a cripple. 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 |
| 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 |
| k135 | Seven with one stroke | A weak and timid man or boy overcomes accidentally powerful enemies and gets high esteem |
| k176 | A man in search of the woman | A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife |
| k25 | Magic wife | A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world |
| 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 |
| k27x6 | The Sun, the Moon and the Wind direct the hero | Travelling in search of the marriage partner, the hero (heroine) comes in succession to several supernatural persons related to luminaries and atmospheric phenomena (the Sun, the Moon, Stars, Wind). The last of them gives him or her necessary information |
| 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. |
| k32h3 | Punishment: burned alive | To punish an antagonist, he or she is burned alive. (Episodes in which the burning of the dangerous being is not a punishment but an effective way to get rid of him or her are not considered) |
| k32i | Two sitters at the bed of a sleeping prince | A girl finds a body of a sleeping youth who will wake up at a certain time and marry the girl who would sit nearby. Usually at the last moment the girl goes away for a time and the impostor takes her place. |
| k32m | The heroine is transformed into animal (not drownd) | The heropine’s rival transforms her into an animal or bird and not pushes her into the water. Cf. motif k33 |
| k33 | Drowned woman remains alive | When a young woman is pushed into the water by her rival, she drowns or loses her human guise but ultimately is returned to the people, Cf. motif k32n |
| k33a1a | The heroine in the belly of a whale | A woman who was thrown into the water is swallowed by a fish (whale, crocodile) but ultimately saved |
| k33a8 | The heroine is transformed into a dove | The heroine’s rival transforms her into a dove. The dove makes attempts to contact her children or husband |
| k33c | Girl from a fruit | Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg |
| k33c3 | Girl from the orange | Young man gets a girl who is inside a fruit the citrus tree, usually an orange |
| k33c6 | Only one girl is preserved | Young man obtains several (usually three) fruits (eggs, pieces of reed). When he opens the first one, a girl who comes out from it immediately disappears because something was wrong (usually the drinking water for her is not available). Only the girl who has come out of the last fruit remains with the man. Cf. motif k33c7 |
| k33f1 | Fountain of oil is promised to be created | Person promises to create a fountain from which a valuable product (usually oil) is flowing and really creates it (rare: promises to share a large amount of such a product) |
| 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 |
| k38f1 | The cut off tongues | Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him) |
| 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). |
| 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.) |
| 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 |
| k76e | Son (daughter) the pig | An (adoptive) son or daughter is a pig. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man (she marries a handsome man) |
| k80d | The stuck in pin | Person is bewitched (transformed into a bird, faints) when a pin or other sharp object is stuck into her (rare his) body |
| 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) |
| 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 |
| l19b1 | The seven-headed monster | Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи |
| l58 | Avaricious man | A man does not share food with his wife or kinsfolk. He or his food is transformed (turns into a bird, into worms, etc.) in punishment |
| l6 | Demon clings to person | A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back |
| m191c | The singing wolf | By his singing (threats, compliments) the wolf compels an old man to surrender his cattle (and members of his family) |
| m199h | The disemboweled ogre | Person or animal puts food into a bag and hides it under his clothes. Cutting the bag open he pretends to disembowel himself. His adversary tries to do the same and kills himself |
| m39a4f | Fool’s customer is a statue | Fool sells property to the statue and believes that it will pay him. Trying to get his money, he finds treasure |
| 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 |
| 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) |
| 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 |