Other suns or moons besides present ones had been in the sky and were later annihilated
The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
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
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 who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
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
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
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
Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
Going away or pretending to die, a person bids his or her relative to marry another person who resembles him (her) or has some special traits; or he describes a man who should be met as a dear guest; person comes himself unrecognized and is taken for one whom he had described
A woman pretends to be a stranger to have sexual relations with her (grand)son, daughter or brother
Woman makes vain overtures to young man and/or falsely accuses him of sexual abuse. Her husband believes that the young man is guilty, kills or tries to kill him
To accuse a man or boy of (sexual) abbuse, a woman tears her clothes, smears or scratches her body pretending to be attacked
A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part
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
Death (also Old Age, Disease, etc.) is a particular person not identical with the Master of the Dead. He kills people usually carrying away their souls
Killed and destroyed (often burned) person or creature (usually ogre, fierce animal, powerful shaman) turns into a multitude of biting insects or into other small molesting creatures
A burned person or creature immediately turns into a multitude of mosquitoes or biting flies
Four cardinal directions and/or some objects associated with them are associated with different colors
A turtle, toad, or frog supports the earth (sky) or is its embodiment
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail
Giant serpent lies on the perimeter of the earth or supports the earth
Women who possess supernatural power and usually come from a non-human world (from sky, from under the water, they are winged beings, bird- or animal-persons) take off their clothes (feather skins and the like) or part of it. Because a man hides the clothes (of one of them), their owner(s) have (has) to marry him or help him
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects
After having sexual contact with a dog, a woman gives birth to his children. The puppies turn into humans and usually become ancestors of particular groups of people
A girl marries a dog because only the dog fulfilled the condition of marriage put by the girl's father
A girl (usually the youngest of several sisters) does not reject but marries a poor, sick, dirty, old, too young, non-human, etc. man who later demonstrates his supernatural qualities
There is a headless anthropomorphic being who has eyes and/or mouth on his or her breast
An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house
One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely
Person is born as half of a child or loses his or her half in an accident. The person does not belong to any category of supernatural beings and usually turns into normal girl or young man
A woman gives birth to disfigured child because she offended a powerful supernatural being (Rain, Sun, etc.). Her child is provided with magic power and eventually obtains normal body
A boy is born having only half of a body or only a head. Ultimately he obtains normal body
Person puts (for different reasons) his or her hand into the anus of a tapir or other herbivorous animals and is unable to extract it back. Animal starts to run and drags the person behind him for a long time
Somebody claims that he has been born before present world came into being. His opponent claims the same, and they argue who of them is the older
Somebody suggests to guess what sort of material a certain object is made of. Another person (usually a monster) gets to know the secret and the hero or the heroin must do what they have promised
It should be guessed the nature of a big animal or its skin, the content of a box. The correct answer is that the animal is a louse (or a flea), a louse is in the box
A man does not know that his (new) wife (rare: mother) is an ogress/witch/evil woman. Thanks to her intrigues (former) wives (wife) are blinded and/or confined in an underground hole. A son of one of them overcomes the ogress and returns sight to his mother and aunts
A fugitive turns in succession into different animals or objects. A pursuer does the same, every time becoming an animal or a person who is dangerous for the fugitive in his given guise
A girl is promised to a man who would know her name or whose finger would fit her ring, or who would guess a material from which certain object is made or grown. Person finds a correct answer by deception
A lad with incomplete or grotesque body becomes normal after coming to the sky (coming to God, getting back to the earth)
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
Hero is sent to the lower world though a well, precipice, etc. After he obtains valuables (young women), his envious companions cut the rope to get rid of him but he succeeds in returning back
One of (step)sisters, co-spouses or young female neighbors meets a being that is able to reward and to punish. She behaves herself properly and is rewarded. Another (other) girl comes to the same being but behaves in a wrong way and is punished (not rewarded).
First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished
In search of a lost object, usually carried away by water or wind, a girl or (rare) a boy comes to a powerful person, gets the object back and/or is rewarded. The object is related to the everyday life, it has no ritual significance and is not a weapon
Being smart and witty, a small ungulate overcomes strong adversaries. The hero is a duiker, a mouse-deer or other small even-toed ungulates that are not very close biologically but look similar. In some publications on African folklore it is difficult to say what species is meant in particular case
A man falls asleep or pretends to be sleeping or dead. Animals take him for dead: mourn, carry to bury, are going to eat up, etc. The man kills a lot of animals or obtain valuables otherwise
Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss
Several young women who are co-wives or sisters loose both eyes but the youngest only one eye
Several imprisoned (driven out) co-wives give birth but only the son of the youngest woman survives. The boy saves the women
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A young man and a woman (Konkani: a young girl and a man) marry and later get to know that they commited incest
Woman gives birth to a boy after unwittingly drinking urine of a he-animal or she-animal gives birth to a boy drinking urine of a man
Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
A youth (a girl) lives in the house of an ogress. To get rid of him (her) the ogress asks him (her) to bring some object from other ogres (often from her mother) who must kill him or her. The hero or heroine escapes and kills all the ogres
The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again)
A female animal (snake, pig) conceives from the uruine of a man and gives birth to human child(ren)
After the world cataclysm, in the beginning of time or coming to a new land a woman marries her son and produce people
Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return
An animal (usually a tortoise) is carried up into the air by two birds who hold onto a stick which the tortoise holds in its mouth
An (animal) person saves a dangerous animal from a snare or the like. The saved one is going to kill his savior but the third person saves the second (usually tricks the first one to captivity again)
Dangerous animal seeks to kill a person or other animal who rescued it from captivity. The dangerous animal and its victim agree to ask somebody else if a good deed should be repayed with a bad one. Inanimate objects are among those who answer to this question
Man finds treasure in a pumpkin (water melon) that was (or which seeds were) presented to him
Two teenagers or young people are in search of each other, call each other (or one of them call another): a girl in search of her lost (or dead) brother or brother’s wife, a boy in search of his brother or sister, young parents in seach their child. One or both of them turn into birds with specific cry
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
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)
Two groups of participants compete in fulfilling difficult tasks or are engaged into the game in which one team plays against another (at least two episodes with different participants from both sides). The participants are either anthropomorphic who possess different extraordinary qualities or they are different animals (natural phenomena, elements, etc.). {Texts in which the main participants are anthropomorphic and competitions are win by animals who accompany the hero are not included}
Person flies across the air but falls down when, despite warning, looks down to earth, flies above villages, becomes to talk, etc.
In the beginning of time or after the natural disaster brother and sister, mother and son, or father and daughters are the only human beings. They marry and the present day people are their descendents