87 motifs match “bones”  ·  back to the chapters

• God half mortal, half immortal. Hair, skin, flesh, bones and marrow are mortal; mind, voice, breath, eye, and ear are immortal. (prajapati). A122
• House of god with pillars made of dead chief's bones. A151.4.4
• Birth of culture heroes from human bones swallowed by jaguar's human wife. A511.1.4.3
• Universe from parts of creator's body. Ymir makes the world from his members – mountains from bones, cliffs from teeth, heavens from skull, etc. A614
• Gods create the earth from their dead victim's blood and bones. A831.8
• Mountains (cliffs) from bones of killed giant. A961.5
• Mankind from bones of dead brought from underworld. A1232.1
• Adam's body made of eight (four) things. Body, earth; bones, stones; veins, roots; blood, water; hair, grass; thoughts, wind; spirit, clouds, or warmth, fire; cold, air; dryness, earth; instability, water. A1260.1.3
• Man made of clay with bones of stone, with blood of water and with vines for veins. A1260.1.5
• Why animal bones only are used in sacrifice. A1545.6
• Insects from brains, blood, and bones of slain helpful animal. A2001.1
• Mosquitoes from bones of slain demon flung into the air. (Cf. A2001.) A2034.2
• Goddess scatters pubic hairs on fish: why he has so many bones. A2211.15
• Bat falls from high perch due to extreme heat of sun's rays, breaks bones, etc. Hence peculiar feet and nose. A2214.6
• Animal characteristics: bones. A2367.1
• Why sucker has small bones in body. A2367.1.1
• Bird with magic bones and feathers. B172.4
• Weapons made from bones of helpful horse. B338
• Animal born from human or animal bones. B716
• Animal's skin revolves while flesh and bones remain stationary. B738
• Sex tabu broken: child born without bones. C101
• Tabu: breaking bones of eaten animal. C221.3.2
• Tabu: touching bones of murdered person. C541.3
• Tabu: lying on ancestors' bones. C541.4
• Transformation: pig's bones to pig. D447.7
• Disenchantment by assembling bones. D717
• Disenchantment by laying collected bones in a seven-fold cloth and spreading another above it. D717.1
• Sorcerers use marrow of corpses' bones. D1278.2
• Bones (human) warn of danger. (Cf. D1007.) D1317.14
• Divining bones reveal guilt. (Cf. D1013.) D1318.6
• Raja's guards magically transform stones and dry bones rained upon him by army of witches and turn them back. D1400.1.22
• Magic calabash holding bones raises storm. (Cf. D965.2) D1541.1.7
• Rejuvenation by burning and throwing bones into tub of milk. (Cf. D1338.4.) D1886.1
• Person magically reduced to pile of bones. D2061.1.1.1
• Resuscitation by rubbing victim's bones on ground. E29.2
• Resuscitated eaten animal. (Cf. E171.) An animal is eaten. When his bones are reassembled he revives. E32
• Dismembered pigs come alive again if only bones are preserved. E32.3
• Bones wrapped in sheepskin inscribed with holy name revive. E174
• Spells to recall dead lover. Boiling dead man's head, bones, or carcass in a pot, or burning a piece of lover's clothing or cat in a hot oven. E218
• Talking bones of eaten man advise hero. E366.3
• Ghost laid when bones are brought to home country from foreign soil. E459.2
• Ghost takes bones from grave. E593.4
• Bones of dead collected and buried. Return in another form directly from grave. E607.1
• Bones of dead collected and thrown into river. E607.1.1
• Reincarnation as musical instrument. The Singing Bone. A musical instrument made from the bones of a murdered person, or from a tree growing from the grave, speaks and tells of the crime. E632
• Speaking bones of murdered person reveal murder. E632.1
• Reincarnation as dish. Bones made into dish. These speak. (Cf. E632.) E633
• House in underworld made of bones of dead. F163.3.2.2
• Dwarfs originate from the blood and bones of giant. F451.1.1.1
• House-spirit without bones or hair. F480.5
• Jinns have no bones in their arms: they have only four fingers and no thumbs. F499.3.1
• Strong man throws man back and breaks his bones (legs). F614.6.1
• Extraordinary lock and key (made of bones). F782.4
• Ladder of bones. (Usually bones are stuck in side of steep and slippery mountain.) F848.3
• Vessel of human bones. F881.2
• Bones of bird constantly thrown up from well. F933.8
• Bones temporarily removed from body by tree climbers to avoid breaking them. F1054
• When devil leaves dead sinner's body, only bones remain. G303.18.0.1
• Lost husband's bones found among cannibals. G691.4
• Test of paternity: adhesion of blood. Blood of real son will adhere to dead father's bones. H486.1
• Task: bringing quantity of mosquito bones within month; countertask: furnishing scales with wind as beams and heat as pans. (Cf. H951.) H1022.9
• Father bequeathes four pots to sons: eldest finds earth in his; second, bones; third, rice husks; youngest, rupees (eldest to get land; second, cattle; third, grain; youngest to keep money). J99.2
• The lion's share. Ass divides booty equally between himself, fox, and lion. Lion eats ass. Fox then divides: gives lion meat and he takes bones. J811.1
• Hungry student gets meat. By telling a mewing cat that it could not yet have the bones because no meat has been served him, a collegian calls attention to an oversight on the part of a servant. J1341.10
• Fish bones in soup thought to be underdone peas. J1772.6
• Planting bones to produce animal. J1932.4.2
• Woman exchanges a horse for a sack of bones. She has been falsely told that the sack is filled with gold. J2099.1
• Raven tries to imitate dove's step but breaks his bones. J2413.9
• In dividing the fish, the dupe gets the bones. K171.6
• Entrails substituted for meat. Prometheus divides slain ox so that bones and entrails seem to be choicest part. (Zeus is not deceived.) K476.1
• Bones of puppies as false evidence of wife's having eaten her new-born child. K2116.1.1.1.1
• Modest parting gift best – meat or bones. Bones thrown to pursuing dogs delay them and allow escape; not so with meat. L222.2
• Irrevocable judgment of king upheld. King leaves laws that must be kept until his death. Years later he has his bones sent back to that land to let people know that he is dead and they are free. M14
• Prophecy: miraculous removal of saint's bones. M364.8
• Saint foretells desecration of his bones. M364.8.1
• Dice made from bones from graveyard. N1.2.2
• Game with ancestors' bones. A boy interrupts a game played with the bones of his father or other murdered relative. P203
• Woman eats flesh and leaves cat only bones of fish cat has caught for them. Cursed by cat. Q281.3
• Son recovers father's bones. R154.2.2
• Chess board and men made from bones of slain enemies. S139.2.2.4.3
• Conception from eating finger-bones. T511.6.2
• Bones of dismembered person assembled and buried. (Cf. E30.) V63
• Testing the authenticity of relics: bones are cast into fire; with great noise they jump away from the flames. V140.4
• Saint's bones for lack of worship remove themselves from church. (Cf. D1641.) V143
• Saint's bones miraculously removed from reliquary broken in pillage. V143.1
• Vision of dry bones. V515.1.5
• The devil in the cemetery. A sexton hears thieves in the cemetery cracking nuts and thinks it is the devil cracking bones. With the gouty parson on his back he comes upon the thieves who, thinking it is their companion with the sheep, call out, "Is he fat?" The sexton: "Fat or lean, here he is!" X424