The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
A raven steals (hides) the Sun or tries to do it
When a woman gets know that her husband or lover did something against accepted rules of behavior, she cuts off her breast and shows it to him
Somebody is the only possessor of water or certain beverage. Another person drinks it, escapes and spits out making it available for the people
Person paints birds or animals or they paint each other. Some of them are not satisfied with the result
Two birds decorate each other, one becomes worse than it was before
Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue
Ursa major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)
In the cosmic hunt tale either hunters or game is identified with the Pleiades
Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter
Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog
Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
During the creation of the world or after the world cataclysm animals run around making the earth big, reporting about its condition or they are sent to report the size of the growing earth
Person who incarnates or owns the sun hides himself or herself or is hidden. To return or to get heath and light, his or her interest is attracted or diverted by way of singing, dancing, playing music, provocative behavior, offering of unusual gifts, sex or alcohol
The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
A horned monster breaks ice on river or lake. Usually people walk across frozen body of water, get to see a horn protruding from the ice and try to cut it off. The monster breaks the ice, many people drown
Raven or other big dark-feathered bird scavenger is the owner, personification, spouse, obtainer or stealer of fire, daylight, or the Sun
Laughter triggers emergence or spread of fire. Usually fire is obtained from a creature when it bursts out laughing
Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
Certain person is made of human excrement or carrion
Cesarean operation upon a woman at childbirth as a custom
A small animal (mouse, rat, rabbit, opossum, a bird) explains a woman how she can deliver her child in a natural way
A man cohabits with a group of women (or with several women in succession) concealing his identity and/or intentions. He is either eventually exposed and punished by women or escapes to continue his tricks
To realize his or her secret desire (illicit sex, refusal to share food with relations), person pretends to die and is abandoned at a burial place
Man pretends to die because he does not want to share food with the others and eats it alone at his burial place
A man feigns death to marry his daughter or to eat burial food. One of the younger children recognizes the (adoptive) father or gets to see that the false dead is alive (escapes from the burial pyre, laughs, etc.)
A man feigns death and is abandoned at the burial place. His wife (mother, aunt) gets to know about the deceit and provokes the man to show that he is alive
A man mistakes his own reflection in river for a beautiful woman and makes attempts to marry her
Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Spider person raises the hero to the sky, helps him or her to return back to earth or otherwise helps to overcome the borderlines between worlds
Spider-woman (rare: spider-man) is a patron of the hero who lives in her house and marries her daughter
Shooting and an arrow (rare: throwing a ball), person flies on it, after it or ahead of it or sends on the arrow another person
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)
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)
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
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)
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
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 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
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)
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
A demonic or animal person steals a boy and pretends to be his real mother or father. The boy gets to know the truth, leaves the false parent
An amphibian (frog, toad, rare newt) steals or finds a boy, lies him that she is his real mother
A Man disappears or goes away for long time. His wife sets off, comes to a house where her husband lives now or first sends her son there. She gets to know that he has married another woman
One of (step)sisters, co-spouses or young female neighbors meets a being that is able to reward and to punish. She behaves herself properly and is rewarded. Another (other) girl comes to the same being but behaves in a wrong way and is punished (not rewarded).
Two or three sisters are sent in succession to powerful person. The first or the first and the second sister behave in a wrong way, perish or do not succeed. The last one behaves correctly, gets a reward
An animal or (rare) a person that gave birth to the hero or supported him for a long time asks his master or son to kill him or her. Its (her) remains turn into a house with a household where the hero can live
A woman who initially is friendly to the hero (his mother, sister, more rare his wife, sexual partner) begins to cooperate with his enemy. For this she provokes the hero to do something that is mortally dangerous for 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
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
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
Person or animal is killed or injured with a heavy object dropped from a tree (or rock, etc.). The person or the animal knows that the objects will fall but has falls ideas about its character and weight
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
A man, stooping down to water, is caught and held by his beard, and has to give the promise in order to be relieved
Person transforms himself into an object of hunting or fishing, provokes hunters of fishermen to catch or shoot him and carries way the tools that they use (arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, baits). Or he fishes by turning himself into a hook. Or he is caught but escapes turning back into a person
Person turns into a fish to steal fishing hook or harpoon or he turns into fishing hook to catch a fish
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Animal person who cannot swim asks a good swimmer to carry him. The latter agrees only to throw his rider into the water
Person sees how others act using magic or according to their animal nature. He or she imitates their actions and gets into trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and refer to everyday activity, mostly to providing and cooking food
Person loses his eyes because of his playfulness or negligence. He makes new eyes of some substance or/and takes eyes of another person
Person (usually after losing his own eyes), makes new eyes of berries and is able to see again
Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
Hero imperceptibly causes detriment to two persons or creatures. They accuse each other and fight
Two animals or persons compare their vomits to know about the diet and habits of each other. The weaker one gets to exchange vomits, to swallow the unusual food before, or to swallow his partner's vomits
Girls stick something red to old man's eyebrows and he thinks it is a fire
Before falling asleep, person tells his eyes (which he extracts and puts aside) or his anus to awake him in case of danger. Eyes or anus do not make an alarm or person himself does not react to it. As a result he suffers a damage
Person punishes the part of his body which he selected as his guard for the time of his sleep or absence (he burns his buttocks, breaks eyes)
Using a trick, (animal)-person kills a dangerous animal. Kinsmen and friends of the killed animal get to know about it and come to avenge its death. The person has narrow escape
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 girl marries an animal or brings an animal to her home, the animal turns into a handsome man. Her sister or friend tries to do the same but perishes or suffers a reverse
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
A girl goes to the other world, acts correctly and brings back an animal or a box with a handsome man inside. Usually another girl acts wrongly and suffers a reverse
Ursus major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with the game animal or anmials (usually pursued by the hunter)
The earth, elements of the landscape or the fertile soil are the transformed body of a person or the earth (islands) were born by a woman
Being on a visit to other people or (more often) animals, an (animal)-person sees them act using magic or according to their animal nature. Back at home, he imitates their actions and gets in trouble. Actions are not heroic deeds, competitions or tests and mostly refer to providing and cooking food
One who eats certain fruit (leave, etc.) gets horns (long nose, etc.) or turns into an animal. After eating another fruit (leave) person recovers his or her normal body
An ogre puts children (usually they are mice) into his bag, tell a tree (post, etc.) to bend down, hangs the bag on the tree and tells the tree to straighten itself back. Another animal person (usually the fox) releases the children
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
A shaman, wizard or other character with magical powers demonstrates his skill. The dwelling in which he and other people are situated begins to fill with water. It is sometimes said that this water is an illusion and that the people also see animals (waterfowl, fish or marine mammals) swimming around
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
After they sew red rags or threads to person’s eylids or paint them in red (or he does it himself), he sees everything in red color or his eye become red forever
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
Ogre catches children when they play sliding down a slope
Somebody (usually his sister or mother) puts a poisonous tooth (bone, nail, etc.) into the bed of the hero. The young man dies but is revived
Hero’s enemy is on the other bank of the river. Hero’s sister or mother helps him to cross the water and becomes his paramour
After the first death the road to the realm of death remains open; certain person makes a road to the realm of death; the first person who had died becomes the ruler of the guard of the realm of death
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
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
The bear (lion) takes a woman for sexual partner or the she-bear takes a man. They have children who look like humans or bear cubs. More rare the woman gives birth to her son in the bear den because being abducted by the bear she was pregnant
Person obtains some wild animals (of two or more different species) who serve him like dogs
Person who is the incarnation of fertility and life first disappears and then (reriodically) returns
The (adopted) human child of a bear has superhuman strength
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
Two groups of participants compete in fulfilling difficult tasks or are engaged into the game in which one team plays against another (at least two episodes with different participants from both sides). The participants are either anthropomorphic who possess different extraordinary qualities or they are different animals (natural phenomena, elements, etc.). {Texts in which the main participants are anthropomorphic and competitions are win by animals who accompany the hero are not included}
Instead of common body discharges a a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular female person. See motif m57a
In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow)
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 follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
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
Hero escapes from the demon's basket or bag letting stone (a piece of wood, some sand) instead of him
Two zoomorphic personages decorates each other or somebody decorates each of them
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