The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
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
Water is the original element, the dry earth appears later
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
A worm obtains the earth (from the underworld), it emerges from the worm's excrements, is extracted from inside of the worm
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
Birds or humans later changed to birds are sent to explore the earth (is it dry, are any survivals, to investigate why smoke rises to the sky, etc.) or to bring some soil to make the land that would be good for living
Persons or animals dive or otherwise decend to the lower world to get a desired object and to bring it to earth (besides episodes in the fairytales, cf. motif k27x9)
A turtle or a frog (toad) brings the desired object from the bottom of the water body or from the lower world
The dry land (the earth) grows from a small amount of solid substance (sand, clay, dirt and the like) brought from the lower world (usually from the bottom of the ocean)
A crustacean brings the earth from the bottom of the ocean or from the lower world
The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
It becomes known that if the Sun or the Sky marry, great calamity is inevitable. The marriage plans are given up
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Making people, creator does not reach perfection immediately. First variants of creation are rejected, then proper form and material found
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
Demon (snake) regularly kills woman’s husbands during the first night, the woman herself being ignorant about the reason of their death
Initially men possessed women's biological traits and vice versa (beard, menses, breasts, bearing children)
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
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
Alive penis exists as a separate being able to move and attack people
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
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
A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part
A girl poses as a man, her sex is magically transformed and the man is happily married
After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become sexually aware
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)
Different body parts of a being turn into people of different ethnic affiliation or such people receive their names and characteristics according to body parts that they got
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
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
Person is sent by god to bring instructions or certain objects but distorts, forgets or replaces them. This has fatal consequences for humans or for a certain species of animals. (Lithuanian case can be a mistification)
God sends his messenger to tell people that they should eat only rarely (once in three days or the like). The messenger tells them that they should eat often (three times a day)
Dog guards (successfully or unsuccessfully) the (still unfinished) physical body of man or the entrance to paradise
After making human body, creator goes away for a time. In his absence another person makes attempt to break human figure that was not yet alive
A horse eats people or is associated with antagonist of the God
Particular layers or categories of the earth have different colors
No-anus people eject digested food through the mouth or other orifice
First human beings have no mouth, anus or genitals, their women do not know how to give birth
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
Two women (usually female animal persons) live together, both have children, one of them kills and devours another or wants to do it. The son of the murderer kills his mother and becomes a companion of the victim's son, or the victim’s and the murderer’s children escape together
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)
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
A task-giver asks the hero to get for him a particular woman
Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
Hero and his adversary play hide-and-seek. The hero finds his adversary but the adversary cannot find him
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
To punish an antagonist, he or she is buried alive
A man discovers that a beautiful girl hides herself under a guise of an ugly and dirty servant, under a skin of an animal or in an object that is brought into his house
For helping its children, their powerful mother or father who is a giant bird or (rare) other flying being helps the hero
A serpent or water monster regularly devours or injures children of a bird or other flying creature (almost always nestlings of giant bird). The hero kills the serpent (monster)
After the hero helps a powerful bird (usually does good to her nestlings), the grateful bird brings him to the place where he is eager to get or tells to do it one of her nestlings. (It is not the vertical movement between layers of the world. According to the Sumerian variant, the bird endows the hero with capability to move with extraordinary speed and directs him to his destination)
A young woman promises to bear a wonderful children (wonderful son). In her husband's absence other people (co-wives, mother-in-law, etc.) try to kill the mother and/or the child, usually slandering the young woman
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with a pup (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a pup)
To get rid of a baby child or of the magic cock, they throw him into enclosure for animals, but cows or other animals do not trample the child or cock down
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
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
A demonic being swallows a person or (in African versions) a multitude of people and animals. Hero kills the monster but cutting open its body, injures a person who was inside. Usually this person is offended and finds opportunity to kill the hero
To revenge on his wife and her kinsfolk, a man roasts her alive
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated
Trickster animal asks a bird to make him laugh. The bird sits on the head of a woman (child, cow, etc.), other person tries to kill the bird, hits the wife (breaks cow's horn, etc.). Or the bird distracts person attention to let the trickster steal the person’s food
Strong antagonist is going to kill the hero (a person or a weak animal). Another person or animal pretends not to know about the situation and tells that the antagonist is in search to be killed. The hero is saved. Usually the latter asks the man not to give him out and answer that it is a stump, a log and the like near him. This opens possibility to treat the antagonist as a corresponding object (to cut it with an axe, to tie up, etc.)
A man, light-mindedly or against his own wish, makes an agreement with a dangerous predator. He does not want (cannot) keep it or breaks it and the predator is going to kill him but the man remains alive
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.)
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 broom
Animals of particular species do not hear well the instructions concerning their way of life or the ask God for some benefit but muddle their request. Thanks to this they acquire their present habits. (In the Toraja tale the motif is used to explain the mortal nature of human beings)
A monster blocks sources of water (or sends floods) and usually gives some (promises not to send floods) in exchange for human victims or valuables. Hero kills the monster
Poisonous snake (snakes, scorpions) comes out of the mouth of a woman {Motif F9f1 and K100c are almost identical but F9f1 links to a cluster of etiological/cosmological motifs related to the idea of a dangerous woman while K100c is related to adventures}
A man and his wife make a wager: Whoever speaks first must do certain trivial work or get a bigger portion of some simple food. They or one of them continue to keep silence even being exposed to violence or taken by others as the dead
Person is suggested to fulfill tasks that are mortally dangerous or cannot be fulfilled without supernatural helpers or capacities. The person fulfills the tasks and remains alive. A contest between persons has form of a competition or game in which the loser is deprived of his status or life
Both the Sun and the Moon are considered to be females (incl. cases when the gender is not directly specified but both emerge from parts of the body of a female person)
. The hero or his companion eliminate the source of danger
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
Fool kills a person, throws the body into a pond or a well. His relation throws there a dead goat. Searching for the corpse in the pond, the fool asks if the killed person had horns, etc. People see that he is really crazy and do not suspect him of a crime
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
A cripple tells that he lost his leg (eye) because of his visitor’s father. The visitor’s wife (or he himself after receiving a good advice) asks the cripple to give him another leg (eye) for comparison or brings him a leg of a dead person claiming money for it
Because telling the truth a stupid son (wife, husband)) can bring misfortune upon the family, his mother (wife; her husband) mystifies him (her) making him or her describe events that are definitely impossible. People take him (her) for a fool and let alone.
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
Making a wager because of a trivial thing, spouses (or only one of them) lie without movement and are taken for dead. People bury them but at the last moment they become to speak, people run in panic
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hare or rabbit
Person is sent to receive something of relatively low value. He asks to give him quite different object (to provide a service) and asks one who had sent him to confirm the demand. Usually a person or animal comes to a wife or a son of a powerful one and tells her or him that her (his) husband or father tells to give him food, to make love to him, to marry him, etc.
A weak (animal) person demonstrates a strong one his reflection in water. The latter believes that an animal like he contests his supremacy, invites him for a visit, etc., usually jumps in and drowns
Person or animal stays for a night and the next morning declares that his possessions (which value is none or negligible) are lost. Or other persons whom the trickster meets really use or spoil objects that the trickster gives them. Every time he receives in compensation objects or animals with ever bigger value, the last acquisition usually being a costly animal or a girl. (All texts with motifs M171A and M171C contain also the motif M171)
Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl
Person claims that a man or a male animal had given birth (or is menstruating) or that a female gave birth to a young of another species or that a woman gave birth to an animal
Person claims that a calf (colt, kid, etc.) was born (brought to the place) not by the cow (mare, etc.) of another person but by his own male animal (bull, stallion, etc.), his own animal of another species or by inanimate object (usually a cart)
Person demonstrates the absurdity of the claims of another person saying that he (or somebody else) was fishing on a hill, putting out a fire spilling straw, looking how the fish fly etc. or he is imitating such an activity. Either the place chosen for the activity or the means are irrational
When a lion (tiger, bear, elephant, man) gets into a trap, a mouse (rat) makes him free (usually bites through the ropes)
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A person plans to turn his (future) possessions into a great wealth (milk, eggs, small money, animal to be killed, etc.) but imagining this wealth, he destroys what he already has (eggs are broken, the animal runs away, etc.). Or two persons are involved into quarrel about possessions that they do not yet have
Killing a monster or an animal, the hero cuts of and hides a piece of its body, usually a tongue. (In most of the cases, the imposter claims the deed to himself and when he cannot demonstrate the cut off piece, the hero unmasks him)
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with an animal or an object (inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to an animal or an object)
To appease a water monster (water spirits, gods) or to put an end to the drought or flood, a girl is sacrificed or descends into the water by her own will
Milky Way is a trace of big animals who were walking or running along it
Shining sky objects or atmospheric phenomena are excrements of sky dwellers
Constellation are interpreted as agricultural tools or people occupied with agricultural works (mostly ploughing and haymaking)
Supernatural person rubs his or her skin, creates the entire earth, human or other beings of dirt (from under his or her nails) and cuticle
All humans, members of a particular ethnic or social group or a ruling dynasty are believed to descend from a mortal man and a woman of supernatural origin
Death eats the dead and thus assuages his hunger
A woman brought back from another world or received there disappears as soon as the man opens the box where she was
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Person does not know that he or she eats or cooks the meat of the member of his or her household (blood relation, more rare a spouse or servant) or serves it to his or her friends, or uses her or his bones for everyday needs, or slowly kills him ort her
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 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
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 woman (alone or with her husband) hides from the God part of her children because she is ashamed to have so many
Originally the earth was unstable and swung, then it was fixed up
A reptile monster demands humans (usually virgins) as a sacrifice or abducts a girl or closes sources of water. Hero kills him. Monster’s victims do not play an active part in the plot
Travelling from one place to another, hero lets his companions live there (usually presents to each one a princess that he received for his deeds) and continues his journey. When he gets into trouble, companions rescue him
Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc.
When dangerous enemy is ready to attack, accidentally thrown objects or substances are transformed into a dog who drives the enemy away
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
A creditor comes from time to time to the Sun or the Moon to claim back his money producing eclipses
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
Food crops emerge from remains of a woman or girl
Reptiles possess treasure which a person gets or tries to get. Usually it is a crown, jewel or small horns on the snake's head
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.
A young woman is transformed into an animal, pushed into the water, into the underworld or she herself has to plunge into water (acquire animal form). Her connection with the human world is not completely lost, however, and usually she is helped to return to the people
Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
Young man obtains a fruit from which a girl comes out (rare: two girls from two fruits, both remain with the man). The episode of the loss of girls who were inside other fruits is absent, Cf. motif k33c6
Person (usually a young woman) turns into different objects or creatures which another person destroys one by one. However, the person is reincarnated again and again and ultimately acquires her or his original form
Two animals (an animal and a person, an ogre and a person, etc.) agree to divide a crop in such a way that one would take what is above the ground and another what is beneath ground. One of them (several times makes a wrong choice (takes turnip tops and wheat roots)
To thank or to punish a small mammal like chipmunk or (ground) squirrel, animal or person scratches or paints it producing stripes on its back
Father regularly puts his daughter on the scales and understands that she is pregnant because she is heavier than before
Astral objects or lunar spots are associated with a story of a stealing and the value of the stolen objects is low (straw, firewoods, cabbage, etc.)
A girl becomes pregnant without her knowledge thanks to the contact with body liquids of a male person or with objects touched by him (not because of the normal sexual contact, or a wish expressed by the father of her future child, or her mistical contact with a deity). The happy marriage of the girl with her child’s father follows
Ursa major or other circumpolar constellation is a stretcher on which a dead or sick person is carried, a dead body ready for the burial, a tomb
A man travels with his wife or daughter. Another woman or a demonic person replaces her when the man goes away for a short time or (rare) falls asleep
The earth brought from the lower world was in the belly of a worm or an insect and extracted from their
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
Change in configuration of the stars of certain constellation (usually Big Dipper) or its disappearance from the sky will be a signal of approaching world cataclysm
Three stars of Big Dipper’s handle are three persons. Four stars of the Dipper itself are objects of animals (one or several)