55 motifs match “common”  ·  back to the chapters

• Why common crab lives underground. A2433.6.3.3
• Marriage of person to animal. Extremely common. Only a few references are given. B600
• Tabu: teaching genealogy of chiefs to commoners. C564.6
• Mare from water world disappears when she is scolded and her halter used for common purposes. C918
• Transformation: common man to exalted personage. D22
• Transformation: common man to grand officer. D22.1
• Exchange of common cow for gold-dropping cow made by daughter when her father stops at her home for the night. D871.1.1
• Reincarnation: prince becomes common man. E605.5
• Reincarnation: common man becomes prince. E605.6
• Fairies (elves). See also F420 (Water Spirits), F451 (Dwarfs) and F460 (Mountain Spirits) for many common motifs. F200
• Common names for dwarfs. F451.8.1
• Giant comes to bake too soon; spills dough. Giant who has common oven with another thinks he hears companion in next valley scraping the kneading trough. He bakes his dough but finds he is too early and that he has only heard himself scratching. He spills the dough: hence fruitful soil. (Cf. F451.7.2, F455.3.5.) F531.3.7
• Devil marries girl whose rich mother refuses to let her marry common young men of community. G303.12.5.3
• Recognition through common knowledge. H10
• Recognition by observing emotional reactions of another to object of common experience. H14
• Recognition by seeing husband shed tears on sight of bird (main character in a former experience common to both husband and wife). H14.1
• Identity tested by account of common experiences. H15
• Recognition by recalling common experiences. H15.2
• Recognition by describing or producing object of common knowledge. H16
• Recognition by wounds on lip and finger received at common adventure. H16.2
• Recognition through common knowledge – miscellaneous. H19
• "Bathe by yourself and not in the common bathing place": counsel proved wise by experience. Man forgets purse in bath house. J21.33
• Hostile dogs made friendly by having them fight common enemy, the wolf. J145
• Prince refuses to play with common children. J411.3
• Common wives of man debate as to which has helped him most. Help of each was indispensable. J461.2
• Uniting against a common enemy. J624
• Enemy brothers unite to fight a common enemy. J624.3
• Tame doves close wild ones in trap and thus help common enemies. J683.2
• King shows humility by mingling with common people. J914
• King David dances with common youths before the Ark of the Covenant. He humbles self to please God. J914.1
• Time renders all things commonplace. J1075
• Silence points to guilt. Important man quarrels with commoner. Asks bystanders: "Who is right?" Silence. Newcomer states that the important man is wrong. "Had he been right the others would have said so." J1141.8
• Must drink from the common cup. A man always drinks out of his own cup. In storm at sea a sailor says, "Today we all drink out of the same cup (the sea). J1467
• Numskulls buy things in common: each pays full price. J2037
• Numskulls buy church in common: each pays full price. J2037.1
• Three brothers buy cow for common use; each brother pays the farmer full price. J2037.2
• Fool learns to repeat commonplace expressions: by chance thus scares off wife's suitors. J2461.2.2
• The common cow and bull: one gets front of cow and back of bull. K171.7.1
• Barber's and jackal's common garden: jackal pretends that garden has not yielded any fruit at all. K171.8
• Golden lamb promised to goddess. Common lamb sacrificed. K231.3.2
• Companion sent away so that rascal may steal common food supply. K343.3
• Partner misappropriates common goods. K364
• Dupe's food eaten and then blame fastened on him. Trickster eats the common food supply and then by smearing the mouth of the sleeping dupe with the food escapes the blame. K401.1
• Cheating by substitution of common cow for magic one. K476.8
• Tale of the cradle. Two youths pass the night with a family where all sleep in a common room, with a cradle at the foot of one of the beds. The moving of the cradle in the night confuses those walking about so that the strangers sleep with the wife and the daughter. K1345
• Mole as trickster killed in his own tunnel. He tricks the fox by going through the tunnel and eating the common food, but the fox sees the molehill and kills him. K1642
• King disguises as common soldier and is killed. Fulfills prophecy that insures victory. K1812.7
• Two soldiers slay each other thinking they are slaying a common enemy. K1883.3
• Prophecy: prince's marriage to common woman. M359.2
• Wager about tree names: learned and common names. Brahmin gives learned names but servant's common names are confirmed by illiterate peasants. N51.1
• Friendship of prince and commoner. P32
• Friendship between a prince and common man. P311.8
• Common citizen saves the honor of his country. Gives his own funds. P711.3
• King (rich man) weds common girl. (Cf. L162, T91.6.2.) T121.8
• Emperor friendly to everyone. Would act as he should like an emperor to act toward him if he were a common man. W21