Linked Motifs

Motif	Name	Description
a12	Eclipses: monster’s attack	Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light
a14	Eclipses: relations between the Sun and the Moon	Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
a16	Dangers along the Sun’s way	Every night the Sun passes by creatures or objects which try to destroy them
a3	Male sun and female moon	The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
a32	Figure on lunar disc	A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)
a32d	Man in the Moon	Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
a32e	Person with an object in hands	Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
a32h	The Moon plant	A tree or bush is seen in the moon
a36	The immortal Moon	The Moon, unlike people, revives or rejuvenates every month; or those who live in the Moon are immortal; or the Moon makes decision if people should die forever or regularly revive
a38	The Sun caught in snare	Person prepares a snare, loop, noose, etc. to catch the Sun and/or the Sun is caught in a snare, tied by a rope, etc.
a38a	Snare of pubic hair	The Sun is caught into snare made of the pubic hair of hero's female relative
b2a	The female earth	The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
b2d	Marriage of the sky and the earth	The male Sky (the Sun, the Thunder, the creator of the sky) marries the female Earth (or its female creator) or the female Sky marries the male Earth
b2e	The male earth	The earth or the world as a whole is a male person (alone or together with a female person)
b4	The fished out earth	Islands or continent are fished out of the ocean or pulled to their present place by rope
b5b	The universal mother	Woman (alone or with her companion) gives birth to or creates not only people but also different creatures and objects
b77	Primeval sky close to earth	Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
b77a	Giant pushed the sky up	One or several (animal)-persons push sky up to its present height
b79	Cosmic egg	From the primeval egg, eggs, or egg-like ball emerge the earth, the sky, sky bodies, different animals (all or part of the items of this list)
c25b	A spinner in the Moon	In the sky, on the Moon (rare: on the Sun), i.e. somewhere outside of our world certain person is spinning, weaving, plaiting, or embroidering
f86	Conditional signal	Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
g13a	People ate dirt	Before acquisition of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills) people ate dirt, mud or stones
g13c	Bad food of the pre-agricultural epoch	Before the cultivated plants or edible wild plants become known, people ate (decomposed) wood, bark, mud, stones, fungi
g18	Person wants to be sacrificed	A person asks people to abandon him or her in the forest, to burn or drag him or her around the future garden plot, to burn her in her house, etc. People fulfill the person's wish and find cultivated plants growing on the place
g21	Coconut palm from a human head	Coconut palm grows out of the human head
g8	Restored tree	A deep notch in the tree (or in the sky support) is magically restored as soon as persons or creatures who cut or gnaw it stop working
g8a	Cutting tree to make a canoe	To make some object (usually a canoe), person cuts a tree, goes away, returns, finds the tree intact. Usually another person who was restoring the tree by magic fells it down himself and makes a canoe for the hero
h12	The alive person comes to the land of the dead after somebody’s death	The alive person comes to the land of the dead to bring back somebody who has recently died (besides stories about shamans who journey to the other world to bring back the soul of a sick person) or, having no particular aim, goes there in company of somebody who had recently died or following his or her tracks
h13	Dead person is returned and revives	Person comes to the land of the dead and brings back somebody who has recently died or brings his remains. The dead one becomes alive and lives normal life (for some time)
h34a	Controversy over conditions of life	Person has a series of suggestions how to make the world easy for living and free of hard work and death. His companion successively rejects them. Their dialogue forever defines conditions of human life
h6a	People and plants	Mortal humans are contrasted with (almost) immortal trees that shed their bark, become green again after winter sleep or propagate by sprouts
i37f	Fungi are ears	Fungi or mushrooms are named “ears”
i43a	The celestial monster	Giant reptilian monster (serpent, more rare fish, chain of fish) extends in the sky and/or supports the sky being associated with Milky Way or the rainbow
i43b	Milky Way is a serpent or fish	Milky Way is a reptile, fish, or chain of fish
i72	Stars are people	Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
i72a	Stars are children of the Sun and the Moon	Stars are children of the Moon and/or the Sun
i82b	Venus is female	Morning and/or Evening Star is a female personage
i8g	Atlas	One giant supports the earth or the sky
j1	The vengeful heroes	Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
j4	Revenge for the death of the male relatives	Heroes avenge the murder or captivity of the male relatives: (grand)father, uncles, or the elder relatives in general, the loss of the males being the most traumatic
j5	Brothers as victims	Two or several brothers or friends are killed by antagonists. One of them is the father of the young hero who avenges their death or all of them are his uncles
k19a	Star-wife	A man maries a star-woman
k25	Magic wife	A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
m81	Blind persons	A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons

Similar traditions based on Cosmology and Etiology motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 4 Tradition: Ot Danum, Ngaju, Maanyan (Ma'anyan)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Palau (Western Carolines)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Melanesians of the northern coast New Guinea, nearest off-shore islands and Huon Gulf (Morobe district): Watut, Bilbil (Bilibili), Jabim (incl Kai), Tami, Bukawac, Wogeo, Tumleo, Yakamul, Manam, Sissano, Sio
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Ashaninca (Campa)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Yap
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Trans-New Guinea and unclassified Papuan groups of Irian Jaya: Mejprat, Arandai-Bintuni, Inanwatan-Berau, Papua of Gelvink (Cenderawasih) Bay, Kamoró, Marind Anim, Sawi, Mafore; Korowai; Kwerba; Momina, Eipo, Yale, Awyu, Muyu
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Urubu (Urubu-Kaapor)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Popoloca; Tlapanec
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Samoa
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 3 Tradition: Makiritare (Yecuana)

Similar traditions based on Adventures and Tricks motifs:
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 7 Tradition: Five Nations Iroquois (Seneca, Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 6 Tradition: Ulithi, Ngulu
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 6 Tradition: Tuamotu, incl Pukapuka (different from Pukapuka in Cook Islands), Vahitahi, Anaa, Hao, Fangatau
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 6 Tradition: Maori, Moriori (Chatam Islands)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Western Ojibwa (Chippewa)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Makka
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Marquesas
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Tuvalu (Ellice)
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Hawaii
Shared motifs (from a list of 10 less used): 5 Tradition: Paresi