88 motifs match “bears”  ·  back to the chapters

• Bears as God's messengers. A165.2.1.1.4
• One bear-child escapes death, is ancestor of all bears. A1006.8
• Why bears do not have breasts for nursing. A2353.4
• Why grizzly bears have three stripes on inside of stomach. A2367.2.1
• Why bears have short, crooked legs. A2371.2.4
• Why bears hibernate. A2481.1
• Enmity between bears and goats. A2494.8.1
• Why black bears are better eating than grizzly bears. A2511.1
• Why grizzly bears are pugnacious. A2524.1
• Why bears attack men. A2524.3
• Plantain disobeys mother: hence bears but one stalk. (Cf. A2771.2.) A2722.1
• Why plantain bears but one stalk. (Cf. A2722.1.) A2771.2
• Why sago bears fruit from the stem. A2771.3
• Why banana bears fruit from crown of tree. A2771.4
• Why certain willow tree bears fruit when fruit trees bear. A2771.6
• Mythical bird running before the sun bears inscription of golden letters. B7.3
• Fish bears men-children. Has swallowed rinsings of man's mouth. B631.3
• Lioness bears man child. B631.4
• Cow bears man child. B631.5
• Tigress bears men-children. B631.6
• Female bears have no breasts to nurse their young – suck paws. B725
• Male rabbit bears young. Female rabbit escaped Noah on ark and drowned. B754.4
• Woman marries in spite of warning dream. Bears blind child who soon dies. C168.1
• Parts of bears fall off and become geese. D411.10.1
• Magic plant bears fruit to indicate that heroine is ready to marry. (Cf. D965.) D1310.4.2
• Fact that woman bears future saint in womb renders her invisible. D1361.39
• Magic flower pot bears plants with gold letters and leaves. (Cf. D965.) D1469.1
• Magic tree bears prophylactic fruit. (Cf. D950.) D1500.2.7
• Magic object bears person aloft. D1532
• Magic mouse-skin bears person aloft. (Cf. B183.1.1, D1025.3.) D1532.1.1
• Magic chariot bears person aloft. (Cf. D1114.) D1532.5
• Magic robe bears person aloft. (Cf. D1052.) D1532.6
• Magic tree bears person through air. D1532.7
• Magic head-dress bears person aloft. (Cf. D1067.) D1532.8
• Magic leaf bears person aloft. (Cf. D955.) D1532.9
• Magic fan bears person aloft. D1532.10
• Magic brick bears person to moon. (Cf. D935.4.) D1532.13
• Dead wife returns and bears children for husband. E322.1
• Flower from grave bears letters. These commemorate the buried person. E631.0.2
• Chariot of gods bears astral bodies of dead to heaven. E722.2.10.1
• Father will die when daughter bears son. (Cf. E765.4.1.) E765.4.3
• Severed pap regrows when woman bears child. E788
• Giants have wolf and bears as dogs. F531.4.11.1
• Strong man sent for bears: bring them back home. F615.2.4
• Extraordinary tree blossoms, bears fruit, matures seeds, seeds sprout and grow, even while one watches. F811.13.1
• Tree bears fruit, flower, and leaf simultaneously. All drop at once. F811.16
• Tree bears fruit three times yearly. (Cf. F811.7.1.1.) F811.18
• Tree bears fruit monthly. F811.18.1
• Extraordinary vine bears 926 varieties of fruit. F815.7.1
• Bearskin. Man dressed in bear hide. F821.1.3.1
• Fetter for Fenris wolf. Made of sound caused by the footfall of cats, beards of women, roots of mountains, sinews of bears, breath of fish, and spittle of birds. F864.1
• Sea bears fruits. F931.9.2.2
• Fruitless tree bears fruit. Done at saint's request. F971.4
• Ash (alder, willow, etc.) tree bears apples ("fair fruit"). F971.4.1
• Apples at Christmas. Tree bears apples only at Christmas. Blossoms at midnight and is full of apples by morning. F971.5.2
• Cake, planted in the field, grows and after a time bears cakes. F1005.1
• Witch has an army of dragons, lions and bears. G225.5
• Trolls afraid of bears. G304.2.4.2
• Identification by axe. Recognition by axe which man bears. H131
• Chastity ordeal: passing under magic rod. Unchaste woman bears twins. (Cf. D1254.2.) H412.1
• Novel settlement: snake's wife must wait to kill prince till princess bears as many sons as snake has. J1173.1.1
• Reductio ad absurdum: the decision about the colt. A man ties his mare to a second man's wagon. The mare bears a colt which the wagon-owner claims, saying that the wagon has borne a colt. Real owner of the colt shows the absurdity (1) by fishing in the street or (2) by telling that his wife is shooting fish in the garden. Neither of these things are so absurd as the decision. J1191.1
• The Snow-Child. (Modus Leibinc.) A sailor's wife bears a son in his absence and says that it came from eating snow. Later the husband makes away with the boy who, he says, melted in the sun. J1532.1
• Jewess makes parents believe that she is to give birth to the Messiah. She bears a girl. J2336
• Warriors whitewash weapons thus disguising identity of one of their number who bears white-handled battle-axe. K1839.6
• Warrior deceived into attacking substituted pillar-stone. Stone bears enemy's dress (crown). K1845.1
• Sham physician predicts the sex of the unborn child. "From one side it looks like a boy, from the other a girl." The woman bears twins and the husband pays the doctor. K1955.3
• Vow if queen bears another girl she and child will both be killed. M184
• Vow that no daughter born to chief's wife will be allowed to live until she bears a son. M184.1
• Bears devour the wicked. Q415.6
• Woman transformed to animal bears animal. (Cf. T578.2.) T554.0.1
• Woman bears dog. T554.2
• Woman bears crane. T554.3
• Woman bears monkey. T554.4
• Woman bears tortoise (turtle). T554.5
• Woman bears goat. T554.6
• Woman bears frog. T554.8
• Woman bears three pigs. T554.9
• White woman bears black child. T562
• Woman conceives and bears same day. T573.1
• Man transformed to female (human or animal) bears offspring. (Cf. T554.0.1.) T578.2
• Woman bears twins at end of footrace (with king's horses). T581.8
• Woman ravished by three brothers bears triplets. T586.3.1
• Woman bears child every month. T586.5.1
• Co-operative birth. Each of two wives bears a half-boy. They are placed together and form a real boy. T589.1
• Lies about bears. X1221
• Lie: tree bears unusual fruit. X1472
• Man sharpening his dao is bitten by a prawn. He cuts down a big bamboo; a fruit falls from bamboo and strikes a bird on the nape of the neck; the bird scratches up an ant's nest with his feet; the ant bites a wild boar in the eye; and the boar bears down upon a plantain tree where a bat dwells under a leaf; the bat seeks refuge in the ear of an elephant, and the elephant kicks down the house on an old woman. She rushes out and falls into a well. Z49.6.3