The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns had (will) appear(ed) simultaneously; or the only sun was too hot (or bright)
Other suns or moons besides present ones had been in the sky and were later annihilated
The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
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)
Dark spots on the lunar disc are dirt, blood, paint, traces of beating, burning, scratching, etc. on the Moon person's body or face (Kiliwa: spots on the Sun) and do not form any particular figure
Person intentionally and with special equipment (usually shooting arrows) attacks the Sun (or several suns if they were many)
A worm obtains the earth (from the underworld), it emerges from the worm's excrements, is extracted from inside of the worm
Person paints birds or animals or they paint each other. Some of them are not satisfied with the result
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
The sky rose to its present height and/or the direct relations of the sky deity with the people were broken off when the sky or the deity was touched or struck with a long object (a pestle, a broom, 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
In the beginning of time or after the world catastrophe brother and sister or mother and son are the only humans. They reject marriage or only the man does not want to marry his sister or mother. After their looks are changed (or only the sister or mother changes her face) they take each other for strangers, marry and beget the new race
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
The first people (or only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together
First man (a group of brothers) or first human couple come out from the underworld (a cave) or from a small enclosure on its surface (tussock, reed, tree, rock, gourd)
The first people or first anthropomorphic divine beings descend to earth from the sky.
When a woman of the child-bearing age tries to come from one world to another (e.g. from sky to earth), the communication between the worlds is blocked or broken forever
To descend from the sky, ascend from the underworld or come out of the cave, people must pass through narrow hole. A person is stuck in the hole blocking forever communication between different parts of the universe
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
First people are born by trees or come out of a tree, flower, reed
First people or people made by Creator's rival were imperfect, not completely anthropomorphic (often: had webbed fingers)
Child is born from a tumor or swelling on person's body (on thigh, knee, finger, etc.) or is temporarily placed there or child grows from blood that flew out from a cut
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
There are teeth, blades or sharp stones in woman’s genitals, vagina is the biting mouth. (Only texts that are believed to correspond to reality are considered but not anecdotes and jokes)
Woman has another toothed mouth (usually in vagina) or biting animals in vagina. Man inserts there a stone, bone, stick, etc. breaking or knocking out the teeth or extracting from there dangerous animals
Originally, humans had (had to have; can have under some special confition) their genitals not on the place where they are now; the genitals were absent, or people did not know know their function and used for copulation other parts of the body
Penis is so long that he can turn it round his waist or send into a woman who is at a long distance from him. (Only texts considered to describe real events and beings and not anecdotes are included)
Man and woman embrace each other forever or for a long time
Person asks another person of the opposite sex about destination or place of her or his genitals. Usually it is made after putting questions about function of other body parts; or person tries to use for sex different parts of the partner's body or tests them before reaching the best place where the genitals should be put
A man gets into the village of women. Usually he has to satisfy every woman against his will or every woman claims him for herself
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
A woman or a female animal is impregnated deliberately exposing her genitals to the wind
Person who conceals his or her identity comes to his or her lover (at night). Next time, the lover puts a mark on the stranger's face, body or clothes doing this intentionally (to recognize him or her) or by chance (that leads to the identification)
Person changes his or (rare) her guise to marry his or her close relative in descending or (rare) ascending line
A woman pretends to be a stranger to have sexual relations with her (grand)son, daughter or brother
People learn to copulate after they see birds, fish or animals doing it
Sister and brother live alone. The brother rejects the incest. The sister makes him take her for unknown girl, marries him
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 tries to cut down the tree in the Moon but the notch disappears and the tree becomes intact
To clear a garden plot, persons put a rope around many trees and fells them all without much effort
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
One cereal grain (cob, etc.) is enough to prepare a meal
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
Anthropomorphic beings satisfy their hunger cooking food and inhaling the odor
The ultimate aim of the afterlife journey is to reach certain tree
It to point at the rainbow, pointing finger or entire arm will rot, wither or become crooked
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
The Pleiades are only one anthropomorphic being, not several persons
Spider person raises the hero to the sky, helps him or her to return back to earth or otherwise helps to overcome the borderlines between worlds
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
A boy is born whose father or (rare) mother is unknown. He himself points at his parent who as a rule occupies the lowest social position. Usually many men (women) come together and everyone hopes that the boy points at him (her)
An ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.
Person kills others inviting them to sit on a swing and launching them into water, on rocks, etc.
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
The primeval couple is married. First wife has miscarriages or gives birth to spirits, worms or other unpleasant animals. Later, usually after the proper marriage ceremony is organized, she becomes to give birth to real human beings or gods
Person or creature has another face (another mouth) on the back of his (her, its) head
A bird with two or more heads on top of one body is described in tales or represented in art
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
To kill or catch a monster, human figure of wood or clay or alive woman is exposed as a bait. Usually monster's claws or sharp leg get stuck in the wood
A boy or young man comes to steal food of a person who is elder than he. Usually he is caught but not punished and invited to live with the elder person
Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated
The sky rose to its present height and/or the direct relations of the sky deity with the people were broken off when the sky or the deity was pushed up, touched or struck with a pestle or with a ladle during the preparation of food
The Sun or the Moon is one-eyed (usually another eye was knocked or sucked out but sometimes this defect is not explained
A girl (rare: boy) turns into bird and flies away when her mother (father or other adult person in whose house she lives) does not give her food, water or makes her feel offended in other way
A man brings home a small being with whom he makes love at night. His mother, sister or wife discovers his non-human lover in his bed or bag
A woman or a girl takes a snake, an eel (i.e. Pacific snake-eel), a lizard, or a worm for husband or paramour. People kill or badly injure him, the woman and/or her progeny or the woman herself is transformed into snake. Cf. motif k76b: the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man
The earth does not fall down or swing because it is suspended to ropes
Dogs or dog-headed men are husbands of human women
Waters of all rivers on earth run to the precipice where they rush down into the underworld
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
Not being burned in a fire, person ascends to the sky or gets across a river on clouds of smoke
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
An (animal) person gives a signal (special song, etc.) to his relative or friend who lets him or her in. Antagonist imitates the person's voice or guise and the relative lets him in
An animal person refuses to dig or clean a source of drinking water together with other animals or birds but takes advantage of the results of the work
During the hottest month of the summer or permanently birds of certain species are prohibited to drink from the water bodies. Usually they can quench their thirst only from rain drops and dew on leaves and cry calling for rain
Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter
After the first death the road to the realm of death remains open; certain person makes a road to the realm of death; the first person who had died becomes the ruler of the guard of the realm of death
Gods, first people or founders of the royal lineages are born from eggs
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
First seeds (sprouts, tubors) of cultivated plants or of important edible wild plants are brought from the sky (received from the sky-dwellers)
Souls of the dead walk upon the rainbow to the other world
Initially, the Moon was as bright and hot as the Sun
In a certain time in the past three or more suns were on the sky simultaneously
Person steals cultivated plants for the people hiding the seeds on/in his body
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
Two mammals or reptiles (or a mammal or raptile and other creature) decorate each other or somebody decorates each of them
Two zoomorphic personages decorates each other or somebody decorates each of them
The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
After the world cataclysm, in the beginning of time or coming to a new land a woman marries her son and produce people
Anthropomorphic person appears from a rock, is born by a it
The river bed follows the way of a snake, fish, dragon or crab; pieces of the snake’s body turn into rivers; a river is a snake
In the beginning of times or after the flood a dam of earth, person or creature does not let water to recede. The dam is broken or opened, waters withdraw
People do not come back to life after somebody buries the dead in the grave or stamps down the earth on the grave