Motifs

There are 188 motifs recorded in the database

• Abduction
• Adoption
• Adultery
• Age versus youth
• Animal tale
  • Bird
    • Eagle
    • Hawk
    • Magpie
    • Parrot
    • Rooster
    • Talking bird
  • Boar
  • Camel
  • Cat
  • Dog
  • Elephant
  • Fish
  • Fox
  • Lion
  • Monkey
  • Pig
  • Rabbit
  • Riding/carried by an animal
  • Serpent
  • Sheep
  • Swan
  • Weasel
  • Wolf
• Bathing
• Bodily transformation
• Body fluids
  • Blood
  • Semen
• Cannibalism
• Caves and underground spaces
• Chastity
• Childbirth
• Children
  • Wise child
• City besieged
• Climbing trees
• Coerced sex
  • Man tricked/coerced into sex
  • Woman tricked/coerced into sex
• Concealed lover
• Court of law
• Cowardice
• Cross dressing
  • Cross dressing: man in women’s clothes
  • Cross dressing: woman in men’s clothes
• Death
  • Accidental death
  • Death of husband
  • Death of lover
  • Death of son
  • Disposal of corpse
• Debt
• Deception
  • Admission of trick framed as a joke
  • Deceitful advisor
  • Deceitful lover
  • Deceitful old man
  • Deceitful old woman
  • Deceitful son
  • Deceitful woman
  • Deception of would-be lover
  • Trick in plain sight
• Disability
  • Blindness
  • Hunchback
• Disguise
• Dreams
• Dwarf
• Emotions
  • Fear
  • Grief
  • Humiliation
  • Jealousy
  • Pride
  • Remorse
• Empress has a lover
• Empress kills herself
• Empress threatens to return to her family
• Empress's lover disguised as a woman
• Evidence
  • False evidence of unchastity/criminality
  • False evidence of virtue
• Failed/rejected seduction
• Familial duty
• Familial relationships
  • Father/daughter relationships
  • Father/son relationships
  • Mother/daughter relationships
  • Mother/son relationships
• Food and drink
• Friendship
• Gender play
  • Woman in 'male' role
• Genitalia
• Gluttony
• Gullible (would-be) lover
• Gullible husband
• Homosexuality
• Humour
• Identity object
  • Clothes
  • Necklace
  • Ring
• Illegitimacy
• Illness
• Impossible conditions
• Impotence anxiety
• Imprisonment
  • Woman locked up/kept indoors
• Jealous husband
• Judgement
• Judicial duel
• Lesson: flattery
• Lesson: greed
• Lesson: haste
• Lesson: loyalty
• Lesson: women’s cleverness and deceit
• Love (or lust) at first sight
• Lover's sex is revealed
• Magic
  • Magic object
  • Magic spell
  • Magical beings (spirits, demons, djinn, witches)
• Marriage
  • Arranged marriage
  • Coerced Marriage
  • Dynastic marriage
• Medicine
• Member of Clergy
• Military conflict
• Misinterpretation
• Mistaken or concealed identity
• Money in exchange for promise of sex
• Multiple lovers
• Old man
  • Foolish old man
  • Lecherous old man
  • Wise old man
• Old woman
  • Old woman as go-between
  • Wise old woman
• Orientalised setting
• Overheard secret
• Person concealed within a chest
• Poison
• Pregnancy
• Prohibtions/taboos
• Religion
  • Biblical narrative
  • Christianity
  • Islam
  • Islamophobia
  • Religious conflict
  • Religious conversion
• Revenge
• Riches
  • Profligate with wealth
  • Spendthrift sons
• Setting: exotic/orientalised
• Setting: nature
  • Orchard
• Sex change
• Slander: wife falsely accused
• Suicide
• Sword
• Theft
  • Punishment for theft
• Trees
• Violence
  • (Threat of) bodily mutilation
  • Murder
    • Assassination
    • Beheading
    • Fratricide
    • Patricide
    • Unjust execution
  • Rape
  • Violent punishment
    • Beating
  • Women committing violence
• Wicked stepmother/mother-in-law
• Window