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
Extra suns who almost burned or could burn the world are children of the present one
The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
The Sun or the Moon is one-eyed (usually another eye was knocked or sucked out but sometimes this defect is not explained
The sun and/or the moon are inanimate objects thrown up to the sky or fixed in the sky
The Sun has appearance of a big terrestrial mammal (bull, ram, antilope, pig, rhinocero, etc.) or rides such an animal
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 prepares a snare, loop, noose, etc. to catch the Sun and/or the Sun is caught in a snare, tied by a rope, etc.
Two persons have children (younger siblings, mothers). One of them proposes to another that they should kill (eat, bake, etc.) their children (mothers, etc.) but hides his or her own. The opponent actually kills his or her own kin. One of the persons or/and the only survived child is the Sun
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
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
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
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)
An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom
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 wild boar brings the earth from under the water and/or spills it over the water
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
Growth and falling of giant tree defines the condition of the sky with luminaries on it (tree eclipses the light of the sun, can destroy the sky, tears the sun off the sky, etc.)
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
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
Man makes a wooden doll and pretends that it is alive. Really it is not or it is half-alive. A real woman takes place of a doll, marries the master
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)
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
The first men and/or women have no genitals
Genitals exist by themselves as separate beings, they can be stuck to the human body, remove, etc.
After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become sexually aware
A tree which trunk is cut through do not fall because it is hold from above
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
Supernatural woman comes to live with humans. Thanks to that, food becomes easily available. She is maltreated, goes away, temporal superfertility is lost forever
A dog or other animal kills dangerous creature who was going to attack the child. The master thinks that the assailant was the pet and kills it
Originally the earth was unstable and swung, then it was fixed up
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
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Shining sky objects or atmospheric phenomena are excrements of sky dwellers
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
The Pleiades are only one anthropomorphic being, not several persons
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
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 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
Person gets into the belly of water being or into the belly of giant creature which appearance and living place remain vague. He kills the monster from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
A man gives his last money for simple advices. Each of them saves his life or helps to achieve success or he does not follow the advices and gets into trouble
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
A task: to sort a large amount or small particles of different kind (usually seeds of different plants) mixed in container or to count such particles or to pick up the spilled grains
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Flying person or creature abducts a woman but is ultimately killed or the woman escapes from him
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.
To punish an antagonist, he or she is buried alive
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
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 girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog
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
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
A boy born into a family or found by his adoptive parents has a strange guise (ball of meat, nut, bag, half of a man, an animal). He possesses magic power, becomes a handsome man and usually marries a girl of high social status. The magic spouse of a princess originally has a non-human or monstrous appearance
Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included)
For minor offence or because of false accusation a young girl or woman is maimed and expelled from home (rare: killed or she kills herself). The maimed person magically obtains her body integrity (the dead revives)
To cure a sick person or to make him (rare: her) young again it is necessary to bring a remedy from a distant country. The medicine is brought and the sick person is cured (becomes young)
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
Hero hides in a tree from an ogre. Before the ogre gets to fell the tree, the hero flies away or a bird helps him to escape
Person removes part of his or her body (head, scalp, lungs) and then puts it back
A baby or small child proves to be a demon, devours or injures people
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
Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, etc.)
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Person discovers that somebody steals game or fish from his trap or devastates his garden. He or his guards catch the thieves who prove to be (the first) women or the thief is the water being whom the hero lets go after receiving a woman for ransom
Person pretends that a person (often his or her mother, spouse or lover) who recently died is alive, claims that the death of the false alive resulted from negligence of others and gets a reward
Person conceals his or her close relatives (children, mother, brothers) and tells another that he or she has killed them. Another believes and agrees to kill his or her own children, mother, etc.
Person conceals her children and tells another one that she has killed them. Another person really kills her own
The weak predator tries to imitate the strong one but is unable to accomplish actions that the strong one does easily
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)
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)
An animal or person who crawled into a fresh carcass or put on a fresh animal skin cannot free himself (usually because the carcass or the skin becomes dry). He gets free when the skin becomes soft again or somebody helps him
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
Many brothers marry or have to marry in such a way that all their wives are (were) sisters
Bird or animal returns from the lower world smeared with dirt. It shakes itself or the dirt is scraped off. The dirt turns into the earth
A girl driven away from home or married to a poor man become prosperous
Hero gives his rivals the food provided by him by order of the king but the king finds this food poisonous, useless or tasteless while the food presented by the hero is excellent even if it looks not so good
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
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
An animal (ass, cow, horse, goat, bear, leopard) extracts gold or food from its body or person makes others believe that it is so
A lad becomes a master and a leader of great amount of cattle (cows or buffaloes) and meets a princess (usually after she finds his hair fallen into a river)
Person of a low social position (a man) makes an agreement with a person of high social position (an ogre) that the master must never become angry with the servant. The servant abuses the master until the latter erupts in anger and has to be severely punished or to pay a great fee
A man seeks a strong adversary to wrestle with and comes across person who is incomparably stronger than he
Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc.
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
Not the powerful person himself but his official or adviser tries to get rid of the hero and suggests that the person should give the hero difficult tasks
Hero is sent to bring milk of a wild animal or milk in possession of a dangerous creature or person
A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
Members of the girl’s family want to marry her to a man who should not be her marriage partner (usually it is her own brother). They ask her to name them as her in-laws or the girl herself tells that they are not anymore her mother, sister, etc. but her mother-in-law, sister-in-law, etc. or her worst enemies
Person or animal gets to exchange less valuable goods for ever more valuable. The last or the next to last one is a girl
A plant (tree, vine, lotus) that has grown up rapidly does not let anybody besides the hero or the heroine to climb it or to pick its fruits (flowers)
Person agrees that under certain conditions another may rip off some skin from his back or cut off his ears, nose, etc.
Person deceives other people telling them that his name is “Son-in-law” or the like. His victims do not find sympathy because his behavior is acceptable if he is a member of the family
Person suggests to do some work (usually to ferry people's property across river) but carries away the property that he was entrusted to control
An imprisoned man is rescued and exalted because only he gets to resolve problems that trouble the king or to save the princess (prince, the king himself)
Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master
Person (often an animal-person) gets into the belly of anthropomorphic being. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
Young man gets a girl who is inside of a fruit or (rare) a flower or an egg
A man comes into the power of a yogi or demon. He asks the man to walk round the boiling pot of oil or to prostrate himself before the image of a deity. The man asks him to show how to do it and pushes him in or the pot or beheads him
Human teeth are made of material subject to easy damage (etiology of tooth ache in most cases)
A man is going to marry his sister (often puts certain condition on his future marriage, only his sister complies with them). The girl gets to escape
When a girl or a boy is asked where are her or his father, mother, brother or other relations or what they are doing she or he answers in such a way that only a smart person is able to understand what it is about (father went to make an enemy from a friend, mother went to make one out of two, etc.); or the girl explains corresponding answers of other person
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the tiger suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
To obtain privileges of his master, his servant creates situation that results in exchange of their social positions
Food crops emerge from remains of a woman or girl
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's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
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)
Hostile women substitute baby of the newly made mother with inanimate object and/or inform the baby’s father that his wife has given birth to a stone, broom, doll, etc.
Stars are children of the Moon and/or the Sun
An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
Being asked where his soul (death) is located, person initially gives a false answer. The inquirer usually becomes to show concern to corresponding object or locus (decorates it, etc.)
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A woman who lives in the house of a supernatural person conceals the man who had come to her and puts questions to this person. The answers that are received and became known to the man are of great importance for him
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
A man enters into a fight with a bear or (among the Malayali) leopard and makes another person believe that this animal defecates gold
When a woman falls asleep, the trickster (usually a tiny boy) puts animal embryo or entrails (or something that looks like this) near her to make her or other people believe that she has had a miscarriage or her own entrails have fallen out
A youth has a date with a woman who belongs to supernatural world but he falls asleep and she is unable to wake him
When person fells a tree (slightly touching it with an axe), all trees of the forest fall after it
Overhearing conversation of two snakes or raven, person gets to know the cause of a sickness of another person: a snake has crawled into him. He snake out and the person regains his health
An (adoptive) son is a crab. He marries a princess, turns into handsome man
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
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
In a certain time in the past three or more suns were on the sky simultaneously
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
Brother and sister avoid incestuous relations but marry after getting over the smallpox and because of this being unable to recognize each other
During the flood or in the beginning of times persons (usually brother abd sister) are floating in a big bottle gourd
God, animal, some person warns one of the people about the catastrophy (usuallly the flood) that will become soon and in which most of the people must perish
In the beginning of time or after the natural disaster brother and sister are the only human beings. They marry and the present day people are their descendents