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
Two or more suns shine in the sky. When the extra suns had been annihilated, there was a risk of the last one being destroyed too
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
Two persons or animals argue about who of them will be the first to see the rising sun. One who seemed to have less chances wins
Two persons or animals argue who will see the rising sun first. One who got to see not the sun itself but its reflection or the first beams on trees or mountain tops wins
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)
Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon
Person who had been carried up to the moon took hold of a bush or a small tree and is seen now on the lunar disc together with this bush
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
A small animal (marmot, rabbit, mole, toad, frog) or person who turns into this animal tried to hit with his arrow an aim in the sky (the Sun or a bird) but remains without thumb as a result
Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them
Two male anthropomorphic creators compete in producing things. One of them is or becomes master of the underworld and/or spirits while another is associated with humans
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
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue
In the cosmic hunt tale the game pursued by the hunters is an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)
Animals (Melanesia: persons) discuss the number of discrete units of time that should be in a certain calendar period or in the night
The primeval ancestors (usually birds and animals) participate in discussion concerning the desired predominance or wamth/light or cold/darkness, number of the units of time in a tempoi cycle, etc.
Bull or cow are related to winter and cold, responsible for existence of the cold season
Every one of the seven main stars of the Ursa mayor is a an adult man
One of the stars of the Pleiades was separated from others (usually abducted) by stars of Big Dipper and now is seen among them)
In former times or regularly the Pleiades or other group of stars produced or produce till now severe cold. (The heliacal set of the Pleiades is in May-June while in the Northern Hemisphere they are seen best of all in the winter time)
Cow steps on the stars of the Pleiades which were dangerous being and lived on earth. Some of these stars slipped through its split hoof
Particular pieces of flesh or inner organs in the bodies of animals, birds, or fish originally belonged to other creatures
An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people
Person spits out earth that he swallowed or concealed otherwise. This way the broken landscape is created
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
Chipmunk or an animal of similar size (weasel, pika) is engaged into argument with another animal person (bear, elk, puma, snake) if it should be warm and light or cold and dark
Person turns into the cuckoo so quickly that one of his or her legs remains bare or one of her braids not plaited. Now it is believed that the cuckoo has different legs or wings
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
Eyes of wood-grouse became red because it shed tears
Creator and his opponent ponder upon should the dog be able to use a bow or fire-arms
Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
Bat (rare: ostrich) makes attempts to join sometimes animals and sometime birds or is excluded from both categories
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)
The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
A demon obtains valuables essential for another person's (and for all the people) survival but is tricked to return the valuables
People or God get know a secret thanks to listening in its possessor when he speaks aloud with himself or with his relations. The received knowledge is related to cosmogony or acquisition of cultural values
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
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)
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
Youth gets to supernatural beings, rejects any treasure, asks for a puppy, a dog's skin, a fruit, etc. When he returns home, the puppy (skin, etc.) turn into magic wife
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)
First people are born by trees or come out of a tree, flower, reed
Human body was or could be protected with a hard layer (rare: with hair) but it has been preserved only on fingers and toes (on the head)
After eating certain fruit, berry, tuber, etc. people become sexually aware
One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky)
Mortal humans are contrasted with (almost) immortal trees that shed their bark, become green again after winter sleep or propagate by sprouts
The life-medicine is accidentally spilled not on men but on plants which become evergreen, capable for regeneration or producing fruits
Animal person is sent to pass to the people certain objects or substance but loses or replaces them. Because of this people miss possibility to become immortal or their life becomes difficult
Rivers of tears exist in the other world. Tears shed on earth fill there big containers
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Big game animals were concentrated in one place, had no fear of people. They escape and disperse after somebody slightly strikes or stains them
Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened
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
Firewood, brushwood arrived to the house themselves, no work was needed to cut and carry them
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)
Person distorts instructions that he must pass to others, intentionally lies, forgets or replaces certain objects that must be given to others. Because of this human beings become mortal (do not revive after death)
Raven is sent to deliver important object or message. It distorts message, loses object
Raven is responsible for introduction of permanent death
Dog guards (successfully or unsuccessfully) the (still unfinished) physical body of man or the entrance to paradise
Dog is responsible for people being mortal or imperfect. Usually the antagonist bribes dog with a warm fur and the dog lets him spoil the half-ready human figures
After creating the bodies of the first people or after getting a conception how to do it the Creator goes away for a while. During his absence another person, because of his or her ignorance or intentionally, spoils the creation or makes himself or herself what the Creator would make in a better way. Usually because of this people are mortal and subject to diseases
One supernatural creates the body of the first people, another revives them
A woman or child demonstrate no respect for bread soiling it with excrements. For this God punishes all the humanity
Somebody (usually God) is going to deprive humans of their staple food (usually cereals) but does not do it thanks to the dog (and/or cat; rare – birds)
Properties of the cereals (usually the size of the spike) are defined by what the dog did in time of creation
Diseases are sisters (rare: brothers), usually children of evil spirit
Person who visits the other world gets to see different people punished or rewarded according to their behavior when they were alive on earth
Person gets to see husband and wife who pull their blanket from each other or have not enough space for two on their bed
Lightning emerges from eyes or mouth of the being who is thought to produce thunderstorms
A man meets a giant bird that brings with it clouds, rain, hail, thunderstorm, etc.
The earth does not fall down or swing because it is suspended to ropes
The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
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
A tree or post pierces and unites different layers of the universe
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)
Migratory birds (or shamans in guise of birds) fly from our world to the outer world through the narrow opening, between clashing rocks, under the edge of the sky which is rising and falling, etc. Many birds perish; and/or the person who lives at this place feeds on these birds; the person can be mistress of birds, lives on another side of the pulsating obstacle
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
A dog is the lord, guard or guide of/to the land of the dead; or dogs live on the way to the land of the dead
There is (or was) a tree on which souls of still unborn babies grow, which leaves transform into people, or which trunk is covered with female breasts or flowers that innumerable babies are sucking
Some beings are half-men and half-dogs (usually anthropomorphic with heads of dogs)
Person who points at the Moon or a star or looks intently at them will get sick or die or his pointing finger will rot or wither
An ungulate animal (a horse, an elk, a moose) with six or more legs is described or represented in art
Demon tears off or devours one by one legs of aт animal who helps the hero, usually of his riding horse
To get know the nature or locality of a person, another fastens a thread to his body and follows it
The earth or the sky are identified with a big quadruped mammal or are made of parts of its body
World is supported by fish or fish-like monster or the earth itself is such a monster
Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
There is a source or body of water at the base of a tree which connects layers of the universe and/or has gigantic dimensions and considered to be the main tree of the world
Instead of lice, there are other (bigger or dangerous) creatures in the hair of some persons or he or she pretends that his or her hair is infested with them
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
A young hero obtains and uses weapons or other powerful objects which belonged to his murdered father
A girl, a young woman, or children who are associated with a hare or rabbit are heroines or successful tricksters
Hero comes across different creatures or persons who do not recognize him. Everyone tells that he is waiting for the Hero to kill him. The hero easily kills or transforms them himself
Person transforms people who come to him or her into inanimate objects, usually stones
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)
Person gets into the belly of ground animal or bird. He kills it from the inside and/or returns to earth by himself (i.e. not extracted by other people)
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
A task: to bring object or news from the land of the dead
Task-giver asks to bring him dangerous being or object possessed by a moster or deity. Hero fulfills the task. The beast, monster, deity or the object itself kills the task-giver
Hero is sent or sets off by his own will to get two or more different materials needed for making bow and arrows (wood or reed for shafts, feathers, tendons for string, flint for points, paint to paint the shafts, gum to stick points to the shafts)
In winter time despite warning son of the sky deity sets off (usually on his snow-shoes) and is frozen to death
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
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 tied to a horse (camel, bull) and dragged or he or she is torn apart (usually by horses)
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
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)
Every time when a horse gives birth to wonderful colts, they are stolen by a giant bird. A hero goes to get the colts and kills a serpent that regularly devours nestlings of the giant bird
Two (rare more) persons or creatures think that they are doomed but one whose death is slightly delayed is happy while one who will be killed earlier is in grief
Hero or his helpers cut or gnaw through bow- and other strings of the enemies, make holes in their canoes in order to forestall pursuit
A woman who is transformed into animal or driven out of the human world returns to her baby to feed and to care for him
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
Person gets into dwelling of master of animals or monstrous shepherd. The host can kill him. The hero escapes sticking to hair of one of the animals who are going out
Person blinds sleeping ogre or ogress and escapes from him or her
Being thrown out, put into certain places, born by primeval couple some beings turn into spirits of particular loci
Being thrown down (usually from the sky), some beings get to different places and turn into spirits or animals with particular functions and names
Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity
Powerful person listens in conversation of three (rare: two or four) women. Each of them tells what she would do if the person marries her. One promises to bear his son (children) who would have wonderful qualities, two others promise to practice some kind of work or (more rare) marry people of lower status
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)
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
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
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)
Wife of a man or wives of a group of brothers envy his (their) sister and tries (try) to destroy her
A man gets to see two fighting monsters or animals (usually of contrasted colors like red and black, black and white). He helps one of them and/or one of them helps him
Hero's dogs or horse or (rare) he himself fight with his adversary in the underworld (under the water). Those who are waiting for the outcome of the combat understand who overcomes whom by the color of water or foam that rises to the surface, or the color animal who comes first to the surface
Cow (ox, bull) helps an orphan child or a young woman who got into trouble
A man is advised to ask for his service rendered to a powerful being a puppy or a small object (a beaker). The puppy or object turns into beautiful girl who is a daughter of a deity. Other person makes attempts to take the woman away
To make a poor man rich (usually to marry him to a rich girl or to marry a poor girl to a prince), an animal makes other people believe that the groom is rich already. The man becomes prosperous indeed
An animal saves a man or helps him but the ungrateful man humiliates the animal, kills or tries to kill it
A wolf (lion, etc.) or a demon eats up hero's horse but gives him a fair compensation (usually provides a wife)
Every morning a horse is exhausted because animals or demonic creatures ride it at night
When her brother is killed, a girl puts on his clothes and in a guise of a man wins competitions and gets women who are able to revive the dead. She puts the clothes back on her brother and the women come and revive him taking him for their husband. Or a sister is killed and her brother after winning wives tricks them to revive her
Person has sharp nails or knife-like hands to kill people
A hunter spends night in a desolate place. A demon comes to his fire. When the demon falls asleep or goes away for a while, the hunter puts his clothes over a log and hides nearby. When the demon attacks the log taking it for the man, the hunter wounds or kills the demon
The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
Dangerous person tells simple-heartedly what he is afraid of giving the hero a good opportunity to scare him
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
Being (any besides birds) with more than ten heads or with odd (but more than one) number of heads are described in tales or represented in art. If beings with ever more number of heads are named, the row ends with a being that has odd (or more than ten) number of heads
Person accidentally overhears secrets of animals or demons and thus gets to know the causes of his and other people's misfortunes
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
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
An ogre or ogress catches a person and brings him to his or her home where he or she plans to cook and eat him. The hero escapes
An ogre's child or (rare) wife believes in what hero tells him (or her) and releases him. Usually the hero kills the child and puts its meat to cook in the very pot where the ogre planned to cook the hero
A demonic woman or (rare) her paramour or a monster is going to kill a man usually after driving him up a tree. At the last moment the man's dogs or other animals or birds who are the man's pets come and kill the demon
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws objects that turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer. One of the thrown objects is a whetstone which turns into a mountain
Person sets off in search of fire and finds it in the house of a demon. The demon makes harm to the person
Monster's upper lip (fang, horn, etc.) touches the sky, lower touches the ground
Person escapes to a tree or high rock. An ogre tries to cut it down. Some person or animal suggests the ogre to have a rest, promises to work instead of him but spoils his work or (in Subarctic) kills him when the ogre gives him his axe. (Africa versions have Eurasian origins)
Person escapes to a tree or a high rock. An ogre tries to cut it down. While the ogre has a rest, an animal throws his axe into the water or carries it away
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
A demon helps a man or a woman or lets him or her free. As a reward, the person is forced to promise to give the demon his child
Person (usually a kid or lad) returns to the former place to pick up the forgotten object (often a toy) and is caught there by a demonic being
An ogre sends a man to bring him a roasting stick and/or firewood to cook him. The man intentionally does it slowly, brings unfit objects An ogre sends a man to bring a roasting stick and/or firewood to cook him. The man intentionally does it slowly, brings unfit objects or a an animal helps him to escape
A youth and a girl who run away from pursuer transform themselves into a pair of persons, creatures or objects (pond and duck, church and priest, etc.) in order to escape detection by the pursuer
Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, etc.)
A man marries a beauty but catches her in a situation when her not human nature is revealed. After this their marriage breaks down
Being in a situation when his life depends on a good will of a demon or animal, person either resists or does not resist the temptation to insult or to beat, bite, etc. the latter
A woman serves a man a good meat cut from her own body and does not do it anymore when the man got to know about the source of the meat
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
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
An animal person pretends (several times) that he has to make a visit (that he has been invited to be godfather at a baptism or invited to a funeral or wedding) but instead eats secretly food supplies
While person is asleep, another smears with excrements or something that reminds excrements his or her bed or clothes. The ashamed person runs away or agrees to make what the trickster wants in exchange of his silence
A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
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 gets other person’s possessions by trick (or pretends to get it; usually another person is drowned instead of him) and then demonstrates his possessions (usually a herd) and explains that he had received everything at the river bottom. His enemies believe him
Person deceives the other (giving out a corpse for alive person, accusing incent people of murder, etc.). When a shaman (almost) gets to know the truth, the trickster kills her or him and gets to avoid any punishment
Person reckons up number of members in two enormous and alternative multitudes (alive trees and dead trees, men and women, etc.). Usually numbers prove to be equal but one member possesses the qualities of the both multitudes. Adding it to one of them, person demonstrates his case
Person lies that his name is so and so. Others understand it not as a name but as a common word and behave accordingly
After doing damage or inflicting injury, person lies that his name is Last Year or so. Others understand that the injury had been done long ago and there is no sense to investigate the case now
An old couple live alone and adopt a boy (a trickster-animal) as a son. He steals their property (and runs away)
Person is suggested to twist (or he really twists) a rope or make other object of sand, ash, smoke, etc.
Fox and bird hide from a hunter together in one and the same hole. The bird makes believe he is dead and escapes (with the fox or alone)
Cumulative tale: a small bird cuts itself with a sharp blade of grass or a thorn and asks the others to punish the plant. Everyone finds an excuse why they cannot do anything (sheep, wolves, boys, etc.). The last one is the wind, it blows making all other persons act
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)
Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal
When person comes to the water body, waters are split apart so the person reaches the other bank walking on the dry ground
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 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
A powerful person coverts a beautiful bride or wife of a man and gives him impossible tasks to get rid of him
Tiny boy is first swallowed by chance by a big herbivorous animal and then carried away by a wolf began to eat the animal's offal
An object that contains the life (soul) of a person is inside two or more creatures or other objects (like an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, etc.) or the zoomorphic soul container tries to escape and turns in succession to other animals (three or more transformations)
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
The hero and his bride get to escape from the pursuer. The youth goes to visit his home, leaving his bride behind for a time and forgets her. When the youth is going to marry another girl, the forgotten fiancée reawakens his memory by performing magic actions. Or the girl herself forgets her magic husband as soon as she gets to her parents’ home
The name of the Venus is like Čolpan, Čolbon, Tsulmon, 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
Tiny boy as small as a thumb, a pea and the like taunts people, predator animals, ogres
An enemy asks house utensils or personal objects where their master hid himself or herself or what direction he or she ran away. One of the objects, not treated by the master in a proper way, betrays him or her
Two creators agree that whose object will be found in a certain condition (usually: whose tree or flower will grow or blossom first) should be recognized as a senior one. While one of the creators sleeps or is absent, another replaces the objects and so achieves the priority by deceit
Person hides from the powerful one now in his house, now outdoors, the powerful cannot catch him
The Belt of Orion is the animal or three animals, other star (of the Orion or outside of this constellation) is the hunter
The name of the Venus is like Čolpan, Čolbon, Tsulmon, etc.
While being transformed into a bird or ascending to the sky a person was in a hurry and put a footwear only on one foot, or somebody attempted to seize him grasping his foot. Now the corresponding bird or a sky-person is believed to have different feet
Every night or every year a mare gives birth to a colt but every time it is stolen
In context of the Cosmic Hunt myth one of the stars (group of stars) is an arrow or a bullet which hit the animal or three animals identified with the Belt of Orion
Stars of Big Dipper are thieves robbers
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
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.)
To get a girl in his possession, the antagonist creates a situation when her relations must put her in a box (barrel, bag, etc.) and then abandon, throw it into the river or give it to him. The girl is imperceptibly replaced with a ferocious dog or other animal. Usually when the antagonist opens the box, the animal kills or injures him
A powerful person abducts or is going to abduct a poor man’s wife. She tricks him to put on a strange attire (often her husband’s clothes). After this his men or dogs kill him taking for the poor man (fool, devil)
Person gives another (often a fox) a bag putting inside a dog instead of food; or he makes free a girl who was kept in the bag and replaces her with a dog. The dog attacks the one who opened the bag
The alive person who is travelling between the worlds is visible for inhabitants of one world and invisible for inhabitants of another
Some game animals have a piece of human flesh in their body that remained since the time when these animals were anthropomorphic
Coniferous or some other trees or shrubs (subshrubs) became evergree when the life elixir was spilled on them by chance
Strong men have ribs grown together to form a kind of an armor or shell
Long trips, campaigns, flights or battles are described using cliché which contain expressions like “they get to know that it is winter seeing rime, that it is summer, seeing rain” and the like
An animal or a person eats up the first book (writing, important document). (In some of European traditions the eating up of the book is not directly described but follows from the context)
A man obtains an object that fulfills his wishes. The object is stolen but brought back by the animals (which had been saved by the man before)
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
When two persons are fighting, somebody wants one of them fall (while another be firm on his feet) and for this throws something under his feet
Person is asked to choose between objects that have utilitarian value, often forty (seven, etc.) horses or forty knives. Usually the person does not understand that the question is about different kinds of execution
Two men travel or argue about whether truth or falsehood (justice or injustice, etc.) is more powerful. The evil one abandons the good one robbing or blinding (maiming) him but the good one gets back his sight and becomes rich. The evil one usually perishes
Several men each of whom is an expert in a particular sphere turn into stars
Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water
A man (boy) and an ogre (devil, bear, etc.) have a screaming or whistling context. The man uses a trick (binds ogre’s eyes and strikes him on his head with a heavy object; blows a horn at the ogre’s ear; pretends to bind their heads that they would not break because of his whistling, etc.). The ogre acknowledges the man to be stronger than he
When a hole is opened in the arch (rare: in the ground) from which a torrent of water flows, a snake (eel, frog) stops it up with its own body
Milky Way is associated with a snow, hoarfrost, cold
An ogre (an ogress) swallows people, is killed but the people are not found in his or her belly or are found dead. Only when the ogre's finger is cut off, the hero finds a remedy to revive the people or the swallowed up (the swallowed hero himself) come out alive from the finger of the ogre
Person pulls out a sinew (spinal cord, intestine, ribbon of skin) from the body of a demon or receives from the demon a belt as a gift. He applies it not to his own or other person’s body but to a tree. The tree is cut to pieces or burnt
The formula that describes the confusion of feelings: when a person looks in one direction, he or she cries, when in another – begins to laugh or smile; or one eye of a person laughs and another laughs; or person laughs looking at one object and weeps looking at another; or one of two persons who share the same fate laughs and another smiles, etc.
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)
Dangerous person tells simple-heartedly what he is afraid of or what particular object is the receptacle of his life giving the hero a good opportunity to scare or to kill him
Year is described as a tree with the number of branches, twigs, leaves etc. corresponding to the number of seasons, months, days, etc.
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
A wayfarer asks his companion in an allegorical for to tell a story. The companion takes his words in the direct sense and acts stupidly or thinks that his companion is a fool
To revive a man or to extract an arrow point from his body, a chaste woman or girl must touch his body or step over him
Being applied to a tree or a person, a girdle (sinew, intestine, etc.) cuts it or him through or burns
In the past a particular groups of people possessed scripture and knowledge that were later lost or the people missed opportunity to obtain them
An ear of an animal turns into a tiny boy or his size is compared with the size of an ear or his name is “Ear”.
A bat proves to be smarter and wiser than other beings
When a man or a woman promises to give his or her child to a demon, he or she does not try to save the child but help the demon to catch him or her. Despite all, the boy or girl escapes from the demon
Roots (belt) of rocks (stones, mountains) are mentioned in myths, riddles, proverbs, charms and songs as something that does not exist
Each of several men (male animals of different species) surpasses all others in some kind of activity. They get to the place of their adversaries and thanks to their special qualities win different competitions and survive in dangerous situations. The tale is not related to the quest of a marriage partner
Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
In a list of things that do not exist in the world, a pillar of the sky is mentioned
In a dispute about should it be dark or light, the fox stands for the light
In a dispute about should it be cold (dark) or warm (light), the bear stands for the cold; or the world is dark because the bear hides the sun in his house
Becasue sacred book gets wet or sinks when people were crossing a river, it is lost or the text becomes unreadable. Or it is destroyed when people try to dry it or when they go to bath and let it lie on a shore
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
Getting to the world that is beyond the world of the human beings, a man marries there a woman. She gives him permission to visit his home but he must avoid particular words or deeds. He breaks the taboo triggering an (irretrievable) trouble
During the thunderstorm supernatural person beats somthing or somebody with a whip. This is the lightning
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Rivers (lakes) of blood (also of puss, bones, sweat or water used for washing of corpses) are mentioned in narratives (in different context)
A river (wave, lake, basin) of milk that exists on earth (and not among the stars) is mentioned in narratives (in different context)
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
Описывается или изображается чудовище (обычно змей) о семи головах. При перечисления существ по мере возрастания у них числа голов ряд заканчивается на семи
Person tries or must try to cut or to dig with the wooden (plumb, felt) tool instead of the iron one
When a man who had got to the land of spirits touches a local dweller the latter dies or becomes sick
Four (or eight) anthropomorphic male persons support the earth or the sky or are placed at the four cardinal points
A hero attaches the upper lip (jaw) of a monster to the sky, and the lower one to the ground
Vulnerable place on the body of a person or creature is on his or her foot (toe, heel, sole, ankle)
A person puts (usually inconspicuously) his or her fingering or other small personal object into a pitcher with which a servant (girl) has come to take water. The servant's mistress or master finds the ring and understands that the person is nearby
Animals argue which of them should stand at the beginning of the calendar cycle (twelve months or years). Mouse obtains the first place
To get a girl, a minister of religion persuades her father to put her into the box (barrel) and throw it into the river or abandon in a wilderness
The Creator's antagonist demands for himself as much ground as would be enough to put a pole or staff
At the terminal part of the narrative the antagonist of the hero descends into the underworld
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
Person revives the dead beating the bones of corpse with the whip
In a certain time in the past three or more suns were on the sky simultaneously
Person feeds others a food that is extracted from his, hers or somebody else’ body or is polluted by body extractions not informing about the source of the food
Supernatural being who helps the hero (heroine) if the latter fulfills certain demands is the white wolf
A young man is killed. His sister puts on his clothes and pretending she is a man gets a wife for him. This woman beliefs that the girl’s brother from the very beginning was a man whom she married
Person must shoot an arrow through a small ring or several rings
During the time of creation particular species of animals (rare: plants) exchanged certain organs or traits or one animal borrowed an organ from another one but never brought it back. Thence the characteristics of these animals now. In rare cases the back exchange and restoring of the initial situation or the passing of certain organ from one animal to another without compensation are described
Going to the feast, party, etc., animal person borrows from another one a part of the body that must make him more attractive
Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them
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
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
Wind was or is in a particular enclosure (bag, cave, etc.). It was released from it or comes out from time to time
An anthropomorphic sky-god (associated with the thunder and rain) rides on the clouds (uses them as a vehicle)
Different sky levels or different categories of clouds have different colors
The nose of anthropomorphic being is like a beak of copper or iron
A girl born to the family or found proves to be a monster, devours people. Her brother escapes, (usually marries and returns home, finds that everybody had been eaten up), runs away, she pursues him but cannot get
God originally gives 20 or 30 years to everybody. Some animals refuse some of their years because of their sufferings. Man wants to have more years and takes them from the animals
God sends his enemy to bring earth from the bottom of the waterbody. In the beginning, the enemy or also the god can have guise of birds. When the earth is brought up and dry land created, two persons, now always anthropomorphic, are engaged into confrontation
Creator made human figuers. When he goes away for a time, the anatagonist revives them instead of him. Because of this, humans are mortal (imperfect)
A big reddish star (Betelgeuse or Aldebaran) is associated with an arrow
An object that contains certain person’s soul / death is inside other object, the latter is in the third one (etc.). The last receptacle of the life is a (small) bird (a nestling, several nestlings of birds)
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
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
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
Persons of high status cannot reveal the hidden difference between two or more objects or creatures (or two sides of an objects of creature) which look similar. A smart or lucky person of lower status does it