The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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
After passing half of the its way across the sky (in the day time) or in the underworld (in the night time), the Sun stops to have a rest
The sun and/or the moon are inanimate objects thrown up to the sky or fixed in the sky
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)
Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
Person seen in the Moon initially had to get to the Sun or the Sun and the Moon argue who of them should get the person
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.
The Sun and Moon (Rig-Veda: the Sun only) appear from eyes of an anthropomorphic being
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
Parts of the body of the primeval person or creature are transformed into different elements of the landscape and parts of the universe
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
One or several (animal)-persons push sky up to its present height
Serpent-like creature pushes the sky far away from the earth
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
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
First people are born by trees or come out of a tree, flower, reed
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
Initially women and men live apart from each other. Later they meet each other and become to live together
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
Snake (Pacific snake-eel in Polynesia) is in vagina; around the woman's thighs; vagina is a mouth of a snake; a woman with toothed vagina is associated with a snake; a snake crawls out of woman's mouth to bite off the man’s penis during the copulation
Cesarean operation upon a woman at childbirth as a custom
After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become sexually aware
A baby son turns into an adult man, copulates with his mother, then acquires his baby guise
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
Person hides in a tree. Somebody tries to fell it but the notch disappears and the tree becomes intact
Food crops emerge from remains of a woman or girl
Coconut palm grows out of the human head
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different plants, mostly edible or cultivated
The life-medicine is accidentally spilled not on men but on plants which become evergreen, capable for regeneration or producing fruits
After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become mortal (cf. motif F97: people become sexually aware)
Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird
The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
The ultimate aim of the afterlife journey is to reach certain tree
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
Milky Way is a reptile, fish, or chain of fish
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
Stars are fragments of a bigger luminary (usually the Moon); or stars, the sun and the moon are formed from one and the same primeval person or creature
A girl (or two sisters) travel, usually in search of a proper marriage partner who lives far away or who has gone away. On her way or after reaching the place of destination the girl gets to some unpleasant suitors
A virgin girl is impregnated by the Sun and gives birth to a son or twin boys. When her son (or the twins) grows up, he (they) comes to his father
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him
Hero is asked to climb into a hole or pit. When he does it, they fill it with soil or throw down a post, a stone, etc. The hero demonstrates his magic capacities coming back uninjured
To get know names of strangers, person finds or creates situations when the strangers call each other by name
A small creature is reared up by people. When it is grown up, it becomes harmful and dangerous
A small creature (often a worm or a reptile) is brought home and reared up or it becomes to live by itself in an artificial body of water. When big, it goes out of human control or becomes something huge and/or dangerous. Cf. motif L13A (The reared up monster attacks people)
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, etc.)
Getting into the lower or upper world, to an island, a country at the horizon, etc. a man is unable to move further and waits for somebody who could bring him to his destination. Some animals, birds or celestial bodies pass by, the last one (often the Sun or the Moon) picks him up and brings to the place he is eager to go
Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
Person turns into baby, is picked up by the owner of valuables, steals the valuables or makes love to a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not plan to kill those who picked him up (cf. motif L60)
A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
Getting to the sky or (rare) to the lower world a man comes across one or two blind persons, then returns to the earth. Usually he cures their eyes
A man comes across (often in the sky) one or two blind persons and cures their eyes
Hero comes across a (animal-)person from an enemy group and takes his or her appearance, usually dressing himself in a skin of his victim; after this he penetrates the enemy camp
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws small objects behind him or her which turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer
Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person
There are objects which remaining on the same place are moving permanently or periodically (meet and part. rise and fall down, shut and open, rotate)
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
Small animals ride a canoe, it sinks, all try to save their lives in their own way
When a member of a small (family) group secretly eats the food reserved for others, a serious conflict (often a murder) follows
Person is capable to preserve his limbs apart from his body and use them when needed
Lightning emerges from eyes or mouth of the being who is thought to produce thunderstorms
Woman gets to the sky and marries a sky-dweller
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Beings (any besides birds) with even but not more than ten number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. Beings that with even number of heads named in a row with other multi-headed beings and the highest number is even or bigger than ten are not considered
It to point at the rainbow, pointing finger or entire arm will rot, wither or become crooked
An animal (often the rat) who cannot swim well is brought to the shore by another one but pays him with ingratitude
The octopus or star-fish was covered with hair but the rat had eaten it up
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
On their way to the Beyond, souls of the dead must get between clashing rocks or other moving obstacles
There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing
Man marries a seal, dolphin or porpous who takes guise of a woman and lives with her in the human world
The Sun and Moon (Rig-Veda: the Sun only) are associated with eyes of an anthropomorphic being (the motif of their emergence, creation from his eyes is not obligatory)
Planning to get or to return valuables, person turns into baby or in a small objects that has power to impregnate a woman. The picked up or the born baby steals the valuables and acquires his real guise (including cases according to which the girl herself is the desired valuable)
Woman is dangerous because biting or stinging animal or animals is (are) inside her genitals (and not only the head of such an animal)
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightings) are close relatives, spouses or in-laws
Thunder is produced by dragging behind a dry animal skin or (rare) a person (rare) or by shaking clothes