Black god (goddess).
Show referencesDeity cares for favorite individuals.
Show referencesWind-god.
Show referencesThe Fates.
Show referencesHell. Lower world of torment.
Show referencesFlying dragon, »flugdreki«.
Show referencesDragon guards treasure.
Show referencesFight with dragon.
Show referencesThe bird Gam.
Show referencesDog made king.
Show referencesAnimals fight together with their master.
Show referencesEaten meat of bear-lover causes (unborn) son to have bear characteristics.
Show referencesTabu: disclosing own identity. A supernatural person must not tell who he is.
Show referencesTransformation and disenchantment at will.
Show referencesMagic object received from dwarf in return for rescue of child or kindness to child.
Show referencesMagic object taken from barrow.
Show referencesMagic storm (»gerningahríð«, »galdrahrið«, »kyngiveðr«).
Show referencesMagic shirt.
Show referencesMagic writings (runes).
Show referencesLaughing fish reveals unjust judgment.
Show referencesMagic shirt (cloak, armor) gives invulnerability.
Show referencesHelmet renders invisible.
Show referencesStone necklace protects from attack.
Show referencesInfallible sword, i.e. is always victorious and bites even iron and stone, etc.
Show referencesMagician.
Show referencesFinns (or Fins or »Bjarmar«) as magicians.
Show referencesFuture revealed in dream.
Show referencesBad dream as evil omen.
Show referencesMan killed by accident when ship is pushed into the sea taken as an evil omen.
Show referencesMagic invulnerability.
Show referencesEvil eye covered with bag or hide while owner is killed, especially stoned (cf. Q422).
Show referencesSword magically dulled.
Show referencesMagician shoots an arrow of each finger against enemy.
Show referencesStorm produced by magic.
Show referencesDead body incorruptible.
Show referencesReturn from dead to give counsel.
Show referencesFight of revenant with living person.
Show referencesSouls of human beings seen in dream: as »fylgja« or »hamingja«.
Show referencesSoul in form of bear.
Show referencesThe soul as a guardian spirit, »fylgja«, »hamingja«, »(spá)dís«.
Show referencesOffspring of fairy and mortal.
Show referencesDwarf prevented from getting into his stone before sunrise till he promises to do what hero demands (esp. to forge weapons).
Show referencesDwarfs as smiths.
Show referencesDwarfs live in stones.
Show referencesHelpful dwarfs.
Show referencesDwarfs curse weapons and treasures which they are forced to give (see F451.3.2.1.1), or which the receiver doesn't appreciate.
Show referencesTrolls are usually ugly, hideous, big, and strong.
Show referencesTrolls as the constant enemies of human beings.
Show referencesBlack man.
Show referencesGiant with iron bar as weapon.
Show referencesGiant friendly to man.
Show referencesGiants like butter better than anything else. Get trough of butter in return for help.
Show referencesGiants live in mountains or caves.
Show referencesGiant slain by man.
Show referencesAmazons. Woman warriors. Icelandic: »skjaldmær«.
Show referencesPerson hundreds of years old.
Show referencesRemarkably strong man. (Strong John).
Show referencesWarrior of special strength (berserk).
Show referencesInvulnerable berserk.
Show referencesTwelve berserks.
Show referencesFighting with berserks.
Show referencesFighting with twelve berserks (tröll).
Show referencesBerserk killed in combat about maiden.
Show referencesHero's precocious strength.
Show referencesUnderground house.
Show referencesExtraordinary ring.
Show referencesExtraordinary sword.
Show referencesSword cuts everything.
Show referencesGround opens to hide fugitive (magician).
Show referencesMen go mad in battle.
Show referencesKing about to kill foster-son due to his evil explanation of dream: both jump into sea and are drowned.
Show referencesMen senseless from grief at hearing of father's death: one doesn't feel that he cuts himself with his knife (spear); the other presses dice so that he bleeds.
Show referencesHero kills witch.
Show referencesIdentification by ring.
Show referencesDecision of victory by single combat or holmgang between army-leaders.
Show referencesDecision by single combat or holmgang of who is to marry girl.
Show referencesSuccessful suitor must have the prettiest hands: not whitest, but dark with scars and gold rings.
Show referencesFather's counsel: don't stay too late with a concubine, nor tell her any secret.
Show referencesQuest for marvelous game-board.
Show referencesQuest for armor from a grave mound.
Show referencesTest of fidelity by feigning sleep to same bed as calumniated hero or alone in the forest with him.
Show referencesTest of friendship: to go with one to death.
Show referencesSingle combat to prove valor.
Show referencesHolmgang. Single combat on an island.
Show referencesTest of strength: lifting stone (fireplace, etc.).
Show referencesWisdom (knowledge) from dream.
Show referencesAcquisition and possession of wisdom - miscellaneous.
Show referencesFoolish marriage of old man and young girl.
Show referencesAdvice not to rob women while they are alone, for fear of returning husbands' revenge.
Show referencesFool believes that he has begot child with his sister by an earbox.
Show referencesFool kills himself in despair because a sparrow has taken one grain from his field.
Show referencesDisguise as king with mask in order to hide from enemy who has ruined warrior's face and torn his beard off.
Show referencesDog buried instead of foster son, who is falsely reported killed so that he can safely be taken away.
Show referencesHoles bored in enemies' boats prevent pursuit.
Show referencesConfederate in disguise as »troIl« frightens king's men, while his daughter helps prisoner to escape.
Show referencesEnemies invited to banquet (visit) and killed.
Show referencesVictim burned in his own house.
Show referencesDisguised shipwrecked admitted to the king's house kill him at Yule feast in revenge for murder.
Show referencesHero attacks and kills at night hero who wanted to go to sleep before their fighting.
Show referencesBrothers duped into killing each other by slander that one of them is father to the other's child.
Show referencesHusband's twin brother mistaken by woman (and people) for her husband (and for the king).
Show referencesFeigned ignorance about person's identity in order to tell one's frank opinion of him.
Show referencesDisguise with hood dropping low over the face.
Show referencesQueen deceives her husband as revenge for his killing of her lover and brother (Helgi).
Show referencesTreacherous queen lures her husband into then and betrays him to hostile king. He is hung up between two fires, but his second wife cuts the strings so that he falls down and kills his enemy and takes his kingdom back.
Show referencesTreacherous counselor.
Show referencesTreacherous king participates first in battle when he sees who is likely to win.
Show referencesHearth abode of unpromising hero.
Show referencesVows taken as an old Norse custom at festivals, especially at Yule time.
Show referencesCovenant confirmed by marriage.
Show referencesIn return for magic shirt from girl hero is to stay in Ireland for three years. In return he claims her as wife.
Show referencesOld woman, »völva«, as prophet.
Show referencesThree fates, »norns« prophesy at child's birth.
Show referencesProphecy: death by horse's head.
Show referencesJealous sisters curse the child one of them may have by the god Thor, so that it never will grow nor thrive.
Show referencesLots cast to determine luck or fatte.
Show referencesLucky person. Some people, especially heroes, as Hrólf Kráki and Óláfr, usually have luck.
Show referencesWarriors discover in the last moment that it is their own chief they are about to murder by burning.
Show referencesKing's son comes home just at his father's funeral, when the heritage has to be divided.
Show referencesThe one of two giant brothers who performs the greatest feat and procures the wildest dog elected as king.
Show referencesThe one of two giant brothers who gets the most skillful princess elected as king.
Show referencesOld king attacked.
Show referencesAttempt to kill old king by suffocating him in bathroom. He prefers to die in battle.
Show referencesOther motifs connected with kings.
Show referencesQueen commits suicide, as her husband vanquishes and kills her father and her brother.
Show referencesKing mourns so much at wife's death that he goes on piracy (every summer afterward).
Show referencesMother lets daughter unwittingly marry own father in order to revenge his raping.
Show referencesBerserks scold their father who apparently without reason called their adversary invincible.
Show referencesHero's son by giantess scorns his father's feebleness: still it is the son who is slain.
Show referencesDaughter marries her husband's slayer in order to save her old father from war.
Show referencesTwo brothers follow and help each other on piracy, etc.
Show referencesTwo brothers as contrasts.
Show referencesThree brothers.
Show referencesLiving king's or nobleman's son as foster-son of his father's friend; considered an honor for the foster-father.
Show referencesFoster-father as constant helper.
Show referencesFaithful foster-brother.
Show referencesSworn brethren.
Show referencesCombatants become sworn brethren.
Show referencesHospitality for a whole winter (by king or nobleman usual in old Scandinavia).
Show referencesFaithful servant.
Show referencesWounded hero finds shelter and is cured in peasant's house.
Show referencesHero stays overnight in peasant's house, to which he accidentally comes, and where he gets advice and direction.
Show referencesSoldier (especially a »landvarnar-maðr« with charge of the defence of the coast and the frontier against freebooters and foreign invasion).
Show references»Publication of slaying«. Heads of slain enemies displayed.
Show referencesTournaments.
Show referencesPunishment: king hung between two fires.
Show referencesWar prisoners fettered with chains on their feet, bowstrings on their hands.
Show referencesThrowing into pit of snakes as punishment.
Show referencesHero captured by being pressed between shields from all sides: »at honum váru bornir skildir«.
Show referencesPrincess (maiden) abducted.
Show referencesAbduction of bridegroom and killing of his bride planned as giantess's revenge.
Show referencesPrincess (maiden) abducted by monster (ogre, giant).
Show referencesAbducted princess fettered in hall with 100 doors. Bridal bed for her and giant in the midst.
Show referencesWoman hidden in sacred place which her lover is not supposed to dare to enter.
Show referencesDefeated warriors go into the conqueror's service.
Show referencesWarriors fiee after their chief's death.
Show referencesPrincess (maiden) rescued from undesired suitor.
Show referencesRescue from shipwreck.
Show referencesUnknown helper(s) emerge(s) in the last moment and turn(s) out later to be well known.
Show referencesEscape from ship by jumping into the sea.
Show referencesObstacle flight - Atlanta type. Objects are thrown back which the pursuer stops to pick up while the fugitive escapes.
Show referencesCruel stepmother.
Show referencesFratricide.
Show referencesPrisoners taken in war (enemy's messengers) hanged.
Show referencesMurder by twisting out intestines.
Show referencesMutilation: cutting off hands (arms).
Show referencesMutilation: cutting off legs (feet).
Show referencesMutilation: putting out eyes.
Show references»Blood-eagle« cut on man's back by flaying and salting.
Show referencesMutilation: tearing off ears.
Show referencesHorses mutilated: tails cut off and manes torn off with the skin in ordder to humiliate their owner.
Show referencesLove-sickness.
Show referencesLover goes to see his beloved in her husband's (father's) house, defiant of the danger.
Show referencesGirl carefully guarded from suitors.
Show referencesWooing by emissary.
Show referencesDowry given at marriage of daughter.
Show referencesRejected suitor wages war.
Show referencesBrother's consent for sister's marriage needed.
Show referencesMarriage by drinking festival, »drekka brúðlaup«.
Show referencesTwo or more weddings at one time as the end of a tale.
Show referencesWedding feast.
Show referencesAmusements at wedding.
Show referencesParting gifts after wedding.
Show referencesDying man assigns bride to his brother.
Show referencesMaiden queen prefers to fight instead of marrying. She usually scorns or even kills her suitors or sets them difficult tasks.
Show referencesReligious services, »blót«.
Show referencesObjects of worship.
Show referencesWorship of wooden idols, »skurðgoð«, »trémenn«.
Show referencesOx (bull) as sacrifice.
Show referencesHorse as sacrifice.
Show referencesChristian buried in stone coffin.
Show referencesBurial in grave-mound.
Show referencesShipwrecked each get a piece of the chief's gold ring in order to have gold with them in death.
Show referencesDrinking festival in memory of the dead, »drekka erfi«.
Show referencesOrnaments, weapons, etc. buried with hero.
Show referencesConversion to Christianity.
Show referencesBaptism of heathen.
Show referencesChristian hero overthrows heathen idals.
Show referencesMunificent monarch.
Show referencesBravery.
Show referencesStinginess.
Show referencesFormulistic number: three.
Show referencesFormulistic number: nine.
Show referencesFormulistic number: twelve.
Show referencesGiant ogre can be killed only with his own sword.
Show references