62 motifs match “bottom”  ·  back to the chapters

• Earth brought up from bottom of primeval water. (Cf. A812.) A811
• Earth originates from fish brought from bottom of sea. The fish is hacked with knives; hence, mountains. A811.1
• Earth from egg from bottom of sea recovered by bird. A812.2
• Mountains from hacked-up fish drawn from bottom of primeval water. Earth originates from a fish drawn from the water. It is hacked up and thus made to form mountains. A961.2
• Mountains from breaking of God's sieve. He is sifting stones and the bottom of the sieve breaks, letting huge stones and mountains fall through. (Cf. A971.) A963.2
• Sun will lock moon in deep ditch in earth's bottom and will eat up stars at end of world. A1066
• Creation of cat: sneezed from lion's nostrils. Devil as mouse gnaws hole in bottom of ark. Noah asks lion's help. Lion sneezes and cat comes from lion's nostril and eats mouse. A1811.2
• Why tinsa tree has no bark at bottom of trunk. A2751.2.3
• Dragon's home in bottom of sea. B11.3.1
• Mermaid gives mortals gold from sea bottom. B81.13.4
• Magic sea-turtle sucks men to the bottom. B177.3
• Helpful animal recovers magic food-producing skin from river bottom. B531.3
• Fish brings lost object from bottom of sea. B548.2
• Otter retrieves lost magic object from bottom of lake. B548.3
• Magic tree at bottom of lake. D950.0.2
• By means of magic bag it is possible to stay as long on the bottom of the sea as one wants. (Cf. D1193.) D1388.0.5
• By means of magic helmet it is possible to stay on the bottom of the sea as long as one wants. (Cf. D1101.4.) D1388.0.6
• magic light illuminates bottom of lake. D1478.2
• Magic object lifts heavy object from river bottom. D1547.3
• Marvelous post wears down at top instead of rotting from bottom. (Cf. D956, D1250.) D1688
• Bottomless tub (vat) holds water through power of saint. (Cf. H1023.2.1.) D2199.1
• Life token: bananas ripen from bottom up. E761.3.1.1
• Subterranean palace at bottom of lake belonging to king of serpents. F127.1.1
• Otherworld at bottom of pond. F133.4
• Otherworld at bottom of well. F133.5
• Bottomless lakes (pools, etc.). F713.2
• Extremely deep water. Axe seven years reaching bottom. F713.2.1
• World at bottom of pond. F725.8
• World at bottom of well. F725.9
• Palace at bottom of water tank. F771.3.7
• Building at bottom of which flows stream of rubies. F771.12
• Saint able to carry fluid (water, wine, or oil) in broken container, bottomless jar, etc. F866.7.2
• Water sinks to bottom, mud rises to surface to keep prophet from drowning. F930.3
• Gravel rises from bottom as hero enters lake. F934.1
• Church and congregation sink to bottom of sea. F941.2.2
• Earth splits and plain sinks to become bottom of lake when tabu is broken. F944.4
• Luminous witch-boat. Carries fishermen to bottom of sea. G222.2
• Breaking spell on cream by holding churn handle hard against bottom of churn. This paralyzes the witch. (Cf. D2084.2.) G271.4.11
• When were you born? Its beginning is like its end, its top like its bottom (1691). H707.1
• Riddle: what is the land that has seen the sun only once? (The bottom of the Red Sea during the passage of the Israelites.) H822
• Riddle: bottom and top of staff. Of the two ends which is the top and which the bottom? H882
• Impossible task: filling a grain-bin through the hole in the bottom. H1023.2.3
• Task: filling a bottomless water tube. H1023.2.4
• Quest to fairyland at bottom of lake. H1286.0.1
• Quest for the bottom of the sea. H1371.2
• "Consider the end": counsel proved wise by experience. Barber hired to cut king's throat sees on the bottom of the basin the words "Whatever you do, do wisely and think of the consequences." He drops the razor and confesses. J21.1
• King descends to bottom of sea in glass barrel to learn wisdom from observing fish. J52.2
• Crane advises fool to empty reservoir so he can reap all grain. Crane eats fish left at bottom. J758.2
• Measuring the tower by piling up hampers. They place hampers on top of one another. The fool has them take out the two on the bottom. J2133.6.1
• Ship built with a wooden saw. The ship has no bottom and is so narrow that nothing can get into it. J2171.1.1
• Man is describing lakes. "One is bottomless; the other is deeper than that." J2217.2
• Attempted intoxication avoided by boring a hole in the bottom of cup. K82.1.2
• God cheats the devil of his promised soul. The devil is to fill a cask full of money. God knocks the bottom out of the cask. K219.3
• True bride sits spinning at the bottom of river. K1911.2.2.2
• Jealous queens tell child-bearing queen to put her head in the hole at the bottom of grain-bin, so that she fails to see what she delivers. K2115.0.1
• Cat brings suspicion between eagle and sow. Eagle lives in the top of the branches, cat in the middle, and sow at bottom; all are happy. Cat tells eagle that sow is trying to root down the tree: eagle is frightened and dares not leave tree. Cat tells sow that eagle plans to carry off pigs: sow dares not leave. They starve and fall victims to the cat. K2131.1
• King descends to bottom of sea in glass barrel to study ways of fishes. P15.6
• Punishment: filling leaky vessels with water from a bottomless jar. (Cf. H1023.2.) Q512.1
• Sunken bell travels on sea bottom. V115.1.1
• Lazy man is being taken to poorhouse or out of town or to cemetery to be buried alive. The group take pity on him, offer him various articles to help him get started again. One offers a bushel of corn. The lazy one rises up from the bottom of the wagon or coffin where he has been lying: "Is the corn shelled?" W111.5.10.1
• Man under the ice. Falls through ice with his horse, wanders around on the river bottom, pushes his spear through ice from below and rises to the surface. X1737.1.1
• Lie: the stretching and shrinking harness. Man driving team with wagon uphill in rain finds on arrival at the top of the hill that the tugs of rawhide or buckskin have stretched and that the loaded wagon is still at the bottom of the hill. He unhitches the horses and throws the harness across a stump. Sometime later, or the next morning, the sun comes out and shrinks the tugs, drawing the load to the top of the hill. X1785.1