Different suns illuminate different worlds or will appear successively in the future
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
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
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
A person pursued by an enemy or tyrannized by others asks the Moon to take her or him to the sky. The request is granted and the person is now seen in the Moon
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
In the beginning there are only air and water. 1) Person descends from the sky, creates the dry land or a hard support created for her or him grows into the earth. 2) The earth is sent or dropped from the sky, put on the surface of the water. 3) The earth is brought from somewhere (not from the underworld) and put on the water
Day light (also warmth, the sun, the moon) is kept as a particular object in a container, under a cover, etc.
Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
A woman (usually after a conflict with a man or remaining alone) or a man and a woman (married couple, lovers, brother and sister) turn into water mammals
Female person is incarnation of wind, mother of winds, etc.
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.)
Ursa major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)
Cassiopea (the Lady in the Chair) is associated with the deer or elk
Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter
Certain constellation is a male person whose back is broken or wounded
Flying above the earth and flapping its wings, a bird (usually a vulture) makes it dry after the flood or otherwise creates present landscape
Chips of wood, branches or pieces of bark thrown or fallen into the water turn into fish and/or aquatic animals
When some person or animal is killed, blood paints the sky (origin of the sunrise or sunset, of reddish colors of Aurora borealis) or other natural objects (Moon, autumn vegetation)
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
Voice of a person who lived in the bygone times is still heard (most often it is an echo)
Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
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
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
Against person's will, butchered, dried or cooked meat, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish and escape.
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)
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
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
Person suffests another a woman but does not have any or does not want to give her. He makes artificial girl (of wood, snow, etc.), sends servant girl instead of his daughter, turns into a woman himself, or recognizes his fault when he feels that it is save to do so
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
After contact with a non-human or prohibited partner (close kin, animal, spirit) man's penis becomes so long that he had to carry it in a basket, etc.
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 make believe that he is a female, a trickster transforms particular objects or creatures into female body parts or into a baby child
A male person turns into woman and marries a man. He is either unmasked or abandons his "husband" by his own will
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
Person’s father, grandson, brother, or sister pretends to be a stranger to commit incest (accordingly with the daughter, grandmother, sister, or brother), or a husband shams to be his wife’s brother because he wants to be taken by her as her blood relative. To realize his or her stratagem, the hero imperceptibly runs to another house where the object of his or her interest later comes and takes him or her for a stranger
An old woman makes herself false penis and testicles, marries or attempts to marry her (step)daughter
When a person sees a dangerous enemy, he or she shams dead taking his or her clothes off, or the enemy takes off them himself. The enemy believes that it is a corpse, lets it alone
A man mistakes his own reflection in river for a beautiful woman and makes attempts to marry her
Sister and brother live alone. The brother rejects the incest. The sister makes him take her for unknown girl, marries him
A man lets his wife to be eaten up by worms. She either dies or has a narrow escape
Valuables (earth, soil, sun, crops, fire, sacred knowledge, hunting luck) are got or returned when son or daughter is stolen from his or her parent
Before acquisition of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills) people ate dirt, mud or stones
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird
The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
First human beings have no mouth, anus or genitals, their women do not know how to give birth
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)
The sky is constantly moving up and down in respect to earth
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
The door of a house is opening and closing by itself crashing persons who attempt to come in or out
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
Souls of the dead dogs have their own towns in the Beyond or their own paths to travel there
Game animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underworld where they often look like humans and have a master
Thunder is produced by dragging behind a dry animal skin or (rare) a person (rare) or by shaking clothes
Thunder and lightning (two thunders, two lightings) are close relatives, spouses or in-laws
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
Stars are openings in the firmament; holes in dwelling's covering are thought to be stars
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Hoofed animals are walking around Polaris or the movement of stars is compared with the movement of animals around a post
The Pleiades are a group of girls or women (with children)
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
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 boat is a fish, a living creature with a mouth, it can swallow people
Orion and the Pleiades are opposed as a man or men and a woman or women. Orion is usually male
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
Altair or Vega with a weak nearby star are believed to appear on the sky immediately after winter solstice though really it is not so
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
Walking in search of her husband, boyfriend, kinsmen, shelter woman or girl gets to the house of dangerous creatures where she is injured or killed
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
A woman who is pregnant or has a small child falls from the sky. She or a daughter born by her dies but her (grand)son is grown up
People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy or twins. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared
Person stretches his or her leg or neck as a bridge across water body. The fugitives or those who walk ahead cross the bridge; the persecutor or those who are behind usually fall because the person takes his bridge off
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
Person or animal is eaten up or destroyed otherwise. His bones are put together and he or it is revived. Because one bone was broken, swallowed or lost (or a drop of blood, a small piece of flesh lost), the person or animal cannot be revived or being revived misses some part of his or its body
A virgin girl is impregnated by the Sun and gives birth to a son or twin boys. When her son (or the twins) grows up, he (they) comes to his father
To climb to the sky, person must first to shoot an arrow that reaches the sky and sticks to it
Not being burned in a fire, person ascends to the sky or gets across a river on clouds of smoke
A man is marooned on an islet, a rock but survives thanks to helpful birds and animals. The next time the hero and the antagonist exchange roles. Usually the antagonist comes to the islet to see the bones of the abandoned man but the man takes the canoe of the antagonist and paddles away. The antagonist dies
Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
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)
Getting to a nest of a monstrous bird, a man finds there kidnapped people, helps them to return home
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
Inhabitants of a distant land who have different nature than (normal) human beings struggle from time to time with some non-human enemies. Man helps local dwellers because their enemies are not dangerous for the human beings
Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land
Birds use their feathers as arrows or their arrows and down stick mouth openings of them enemies
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
Supernatural male person (often a snake, a dragon) hides clothes of a human girl or sits on it. To return her clothes she had to become his wife
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
Finding a hole in the ground or making it, person gets to see below another world. Usually the earth is seen from the sky
An ordeal: to remain alive after contact with sharp points or blades
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
A man marries a non-human woman. In her world, she has another husband or suitor. She returns to her world, human husband follows her. He stands tests and/or fights with local inhabitants, gets his wife back
Maternal uncle or father (or grandfather if he replaces father who is not mentioned) of the young man is his rival or enemy and tries to kill him
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
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.
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
Thunder or giant bird fights against a reptile, big water animal or other big and strong creature who lives in water or under the earth
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
A man rides away from a woman or girl in a boat (on raft, sledge). When she tries to snatch a border of the boat (raft, sledge), he cuts her fingers off
After having sexual contact with a dog, a woman gives birth to his children. The puppies turn into humans and usually become ancestors of particular groups of people
A girl marries a handsome man whom she had first seen in guise of a dog
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
A woman comes to her rival and kills her pushing her head into boiling liquid or pouring it into her ear
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
Two or three girls in succession become brides of the dog. The first one or two act in a wrong way, perish or do not succeed. The last one behaves correctly, gets a reward
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
One man puts another into a box, closes the lid (or ties him to a board, to canoe, etc.) and puts the box adrift. It floats to another land, man is released there, returns home, revenges on his enemy
Every time a demon commits an outrage upon one of the men who remains at home. When it is the hero’s turn, he overcomes the demon and follows his track to his world
A demon takes appearance of a man and comes to his wife or (rare) to other woman. The woman (alone or with her child) runs away and/or kills the monster (herself or with somebody's help)
A bodiless head, face, or skull is a woman's husband, suitor or son. He is not dangerous but a good provider, saves people from hunger, etc.
There is a headless anthropomorphic being who has eyes and/or mouth on his or her breast
Person kills or injures his enemy putting fire on his or her straw costume, mask, headgear, hair or object on his or her back
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
A man hides in a shelter. An ogre wants him to give certain parts of his body. The man gives the ogre instead parts of the body of a killed animal. The ogre does not understand the deceit, gives in response parts of his own body and dies
A monstrous being is killed or neutralized by (burning hot) stones (pieces of metal, heavy fruits, etc.) thrown into its maw or anus or the being retreats when they menace to throw a stone into its maw
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
One-sided people have one leg and/or also one arm, one half of a head, etc. The second leg is not cut or burned off, preserved as a stump but is absent completely
A woman turns into demon and pursues her children
Dangerous cannibal or bush spirit who abducts children, attacks people, etc. is associated with an owl
Pursued by demonic creature (usually a whale or walrus), people throw behind piece by piece children’s or woman’s clothes. These attract the pursuer’s attention, he loses time, the runaways escape
Seriously of for fun, a girl or a woman names an animal or remains of an animal as her husband or steps on the animal’s bones. The animal (revives and) carries her away. Her human husband or brother comes after her and they run away. The animal husband pursues them but abandons the chase or dies
Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay
The sky dwellers fish human beings who live on earth with a line and a hook
Non-human persons work hard to destroy a strong and durable obstacle that blocks access to some place or object
Not to return home empty-handed, a hunter or (rare) a fisherman cuts off a piece of flesh from his body (usually from his calf) or (more rare) extracts his blood or entrails. Usually he brings his flesh or blood to other people pretending that is a good game or fish; or a woman cuts off a piece of flesh from her calf to feed her husband
Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
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
Two or three brothers live together (with their mother). One of them makes stupid actions like (all or some of them): lets free animals that got into a snare but kills his mother; cuts off the legs of domestic animals or flays them; thinks that a certain place on a head of a baby is a tumor, sucks baby's brains out; cuts a cloth into pieces and ties them to reeds of to branches of a tree; hearing a murmur of water throws food into the water; tries to build a hut not on a river bank but in the river
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.
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
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
A man tries to join a group of persons who are or become stars (usually the Pleiades) but suffers a reverse; or he pursues the stars to have sexual contact or to be reintegrated with members of his family
Person creates figures that look like enemies or pretends that enemies come. People run away, person gets all valuables for himself
Hero wounds dangerous enemy (a monster, a robber) and then, in guise of a doctor, comes to him and kills his patient instead of curing him
An animal or a supernatural creature is wounded but escapes. Local doctors are helpless. The hero or his companion, masked as a doctor, comes to the wounded one and either cures or kills him.
The deceiver who promised to cure a sick or wounded person or animal devours him or suggests a remedy that makes the sick one to feel ever worse
A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together
Butchered and eaten animal, bird or fish revives after its bones are thrown into the water
Girls stick something red to old man's eyebrows and he thinks it is a fire
One person or animal suggests another to slide downhill to kill or harm him or her
The bear answers the fox (rare sable or wolf) that he is not afraid of the men (often says that he is afraid of the partridges when they fly up suddenly). When the bear attacks a man, he is wounded or killed. Cf. motif M101A
An animal person becomes a herdsman but eats the entrusted animals up
Raven (crow) gets the hidden or stolen Sun (daylight)
Person crosses a water or air space along the chain of many animals, birds or fish
Getting to the sky or (rare) to the lower world a man comes across one or two blind persons, then returns to the earth. Usually he cures their eyes
A man comes across (often in the sky) one or two blind persons and cures their eyes
Magic wife abandons her mortal husband when she finds her clothes (often, her feathers if she is a bird-woman), makes herself the new clothes, receives them from her kin or her husband gives her her clothing believing that she will not abandon him. (Versions with magic wife abandoning her husband because she feels herself offended is not alternative to the “found clothes but in most of the texts these motifs are not combined)
Person temporarily turns into bird or animal putting on corresponding skin or animal skins are amulets that become alive and help the person
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 (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
Some beings are half-men and half-dogs (usually anthropomorphic with heads of dogs)
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
Master of the house allows person to feel himself (herself) free bit not to look into particular place. The person breaks prohibition
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 flies (makes attempt to fly) away after sticking feathers to his or her body dropped by migratory birds that fly above in the sky
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 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 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 is put into a bag (a cage, tied up, etc.) to be drowned, burned, etc. He pretends to be in this situation by his own will or because he refuses to marry a princess, to become a chief and the like. Another person is willing to take his place and is killed
Polaris is the opening though which one can get into the upper world
Person who gives difficult tasks or tests to the hero or heroine lives in the sky but is not associated with the Sun, Moon, Thunder or Wind
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with the Sun, Moon, Thunder, or Wind (Cloud, Rain)
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
Every main star of the Big Dipper is interpreted as a particular person or animal
In the beginning of time, a bird flies and drops some solid substance on the waters and the dry land or an island appear. Sometimes the precise nature of the substratum on which the solid piece falls is not defined
One animal person inconspicuously ties rattles to the tail of another. The latter thinks that he is pursued and runs in panic
Birds or an animals takes (animal) person into their boat but acquire their animal guise and leave him in water (when he breaks a taboo)
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
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
Person gets to a place from which he cannot come out. He asks to help him different animals (fish) who pass by or come to him and choses the last one
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
Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
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
The thief drops first one, then the other, of a pair of matched objects (shoes, boots, sword and sheath, knife and folk) in the road. A person passes by the first object but, when he sees the second, he goes back for the first, leaving the animal (or other possessions) behind. The thief takes the animal
The sky (Milky Way) is a skin of an animal or a cloth
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
A man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy
The false wife who acquired guise and place of the real one is a smelling bug or a grub
Being irresponsible and light-minded, animal person slides downhill and dies or gets into trouble (falls on sharp pole, into the water, etc.)
Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge
Woman gets to the sky and marries a sky-dweller
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Persons climbs a tree and thanks to this escapes from a demon (who usually tries to fell the tree)
The cut off hair from the aniaml hide (ash and smoke of the burned hide) turn into blood-sucking insects
Person creates blood-sucking insect to influence the behavior of the (potential) sex-partner
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
When a person or creature who lives in the upper world urinates, it rains (dew falls) on earth
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
Person attracts and catches the carrion-eaters (usually some birds) and thanks to this obtains valuables retrieves valuables (fire, woman, animals, etc.)
Animal person (mammal, bird, fish) of a small size (less than a fox) gets inside the bear and kills him from the inside (usually eat his meat)
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
Bodies of the killed ones are put in such a position as if they are in a good mood (smile, laugh, dance)
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
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
A predator animal or a zoomorphic non-reptilian monster with six or more legs is described or represented in art
Person succeeds in getting through the opening which is going to bang shut but the stern of his boat, the tail of an animal or a bird, the body of his horse, or his own heel is flatterned, torn off, etc.
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
Some migratory birds (or shamns in guse of birds) perish when they reach the border of our world
Man marries a polar bear or grizzly who becomes a woman or a woman who becomes a bear
In course of his matchmaking, hero comes into conflict with persons (more than two) who embody the elements, celestial bodies and parts of the universe
A shaman with his drum ascends to the moon and remains there, his figure is seen in the moon
Inhabitants of the village of the polar bears who are relations of the hero’s wife give him difficult tasks and tests
The sea-gull abducts a girl or a woman but she gets to return to the people
A young woman turns into the bear (in Asia, into the tiger) and attacks her husband or close relatives
A man and a woman of different generations (the father and the daughter, the son and the mother) get into conflict which results in the woman's transformation into the sea mammal. the sovereign of the sea mammals or into the frog (toad)
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)
In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow)
The hero has to come unrecognized to the meeting place of his enemies. He meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a medicine-woman) who goes there, puts on her skin and acquires her appearance
A big reddish star (Betelgeuse or Aldebaran) is associated with an arrow
A person rises to the sky and finds there containers with different (two or more) types of precipitations, atmospheric phenomena, seasons and/or celestial bodies
People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has a baby or finds a baby or she becomes pregnant magically and gives birth to a boy. The boy grows up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared
Fool sees fontanelle on a baby’s head, takes it for abscess and squeezes off. The baby becomes silent, the fool thinks that he fell asleep
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