The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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)
The Moon-person runs out of the lodge and flies up. He forgets to put his footwear on one foot, or somebody attempts to seize him grasping his foot or cuts the foot off. Now the Moon-person lacks one foot or footwear on one of his (or her) feet
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
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
Woman (alone or with her companion) gives birth to or creates not only people but also different creatures and objects
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 drinks a lake or all the water in the world or all the water is originally inside person's belly. When a hole is made in it, the water pours out
Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
The transformer walks along coming across different persons and creatures, transforming them into birds, animals, stones, shrines, etc. (or transforming monstrous animals into present day ones) and introducing cultural norms, landscape features, etc.
Hare or rabbit is a false deer or it was deer in the past or a close kin of the deer or had horns or antlers or missed opportunity to get them, its ears are the false horns
Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them
Certain constellation is a male person whose back is broken or wounded
Ursa major or Polaris are identified with a middle size animal (ermine, fisher, woodchuck) or with a basically anthropomorphic person (with some animal characteristics) hit with a dart or an arrow
It is discussed if darkness or light, cold or warm periods should exist
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.
Weak or herbivorous animals were dangerous predators but have been transformed
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
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
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)
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)
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Raven or other big dark-feathered bird scavenger is the owner, personification, spouse, obtainer or stealer of fire, daylight, or the Sun
The first people or (the first) woman (wife of a primeval ancestor) are made of wood
Woman, female supernatural or animal females are created by changing the sex of a man (or male animals)
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
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
The first men and/or women have no genitals
Genitals exist by themselves as separate beings, they can be stuck to the human body, remove, etc.
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
A deep notch in the tree (or in the sky support) is magically restored as soon as persons or creatures who cut or gnaw it stop working
Person hides in a tree. Somebody tries to fell it but the notch disappears and the tree becomes intact
People are mortal because stone thrown into the water sank. They have missed a chance to be like wood or other organic matter that floated
Raven hides or scares game animals preventing hunters to kill them. People outwit him
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
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
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 male and the female birds bring with them different kinds of precipitations (e.g. the male comes with a hail, the female with a rain). Or (Buryats of Mongolia) one and the same bird brings different kinds of precipitations depending on is it angry or not.
Stars are openings in the firmament; holes in dwelling's covering are thought to be stars
Milky Way is the path of migratory birds (especially wild geese)
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
Ursa major is only one anthropomorphic being, not several persons
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
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
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
Brothers of a man's wife hate him and maroon on an islet
Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
Person climbs up a tree or rock or descends to a cave to get eggs or nestlings from the bird's nest. Another person remains on the ground. They get into conflict and/or the first person is unable to get back to the ground
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)
Hero transforms nestlings or monster bird into common eagles or owls
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
Two stars are men, an old and a young ones. They look different as about their color or brightness but these characteristics do not correlate (the bright star can prove to be an old man and vice versa. Usually two girls wish these stars for husbands and express different preferences (one prefers bright blue star, another wants small and red one, etc.)
A human person admires a star or (rare) the Moon in the sky, expresses desire to marry it or (rare) to get a star-object. Star descends to him or to her or takes him or her to the sky
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
The antagonist sends the hero to the place where he is attacked by dangerous creatures. The hero kills them and brings to the antagonist. The creatures are the antagonist's relatives, pets, or helpers, therefore he or she mourns their death or revives them
When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to killl or to tame a dangerous animal or not to kill certain animal during a hunt, he (she) turns into this animal himself or transforms into it his daughter(s) or wife (husband)
Person makes a sea mammal or fish of wood, it carries another person or persons into the open sea or kills him or them
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.
Mother-in-law of a man takes the appearance of her daughter to replace her
When the imposter takes place of the real wife, the latter turns into owl
Two men spend a night in a forest, take their moccasins or clothes off usually to dry them near the fire. One plans to burn the moccasins or the clothes of another at night. The latter imperceptible interchange their things and the first man burns his own property
Because a small child is ignored or punished by its parents (usually it cries late in the evening), bush spirit or animal carries it away
Gathering berries a woman steps into bear's dung and curses bears. A bear abducts her and marries her. Her human husband, her brothers, or supernatural person kill the bears
A young woman turns into monster and kills her brothers avenging the death of her husband or lover
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 kills (usually in a tree, on a rock, at the edge of a well, of a precipice) and/or throws down one of his enemies. The other enemies do not recognize their comrade and think that their prey is falling down
Body parts of a person or pieces of his flesh are thrown down one by one. (In American Indian versions those who are on the ground usually take them for game, honey, fish)
A person kills those who are passing by him. Usually he does not attack them all of a sudden but first distracts their attention. Usually he throws down his victims into a precipice, lake, etc.
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 small animal digs an underground hole to the place where the monstrous stag, elk, antelope, or buffalo lies. Hero climbs along the tunnel and kills the monster
Dangerous cannibal or bush spirit who abducts children, attacks people, etc. is associated with an owl
A kinfolk (often his mother) or wife (bride) of a sick (ugly, old) man or boy do not care for him. He becomes healthy (and handsome), punishes and/or abandons those who were evil with him
A supernatural helper (usually a loon) makes a blind man to regain his eyesight diving with him into water
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, bittern, swan) saves person from dangerous pursuer
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven
Person turns into tiny object or creature. Touching or swallowing it, the woman conceives and gives birth to a baby-boy. The boy steals valuables or make love to the woman
Person turns into conifer-needle, a tiny particle, a small insect. Swallowing it by chance, the woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a boy
A small child cries and becomes satisfied only when he gets a particular object to play with. This object is of high value and is hidden in the house. As soon as the object is given to him, the child or a person related to him carry it away
Person creates figures that look like enemies or pretends that enemies come. People run away, person gets all valuables for himself
Taking part in storing up food, person pretends to go away for some reason, returns disguised as a monster or predator, people are scared and run away, the deceiver eats up all the food but is ultimately unmasked
Somebody claims that he has been born before present world came into being. His opponent claims the same, and they argue who of them is the older
One person or animal suggests another to slide downhill to kill or harm him or her
Raven (crow) gets the hidden or stolen Sun (daylight)
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 who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
Person believes or pretends that the arrow points should be of coal, bark, grass and the like.
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolverine suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A demonic person provokes his victims to slide downhill and kills them
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
A woman gets into conflict with her brothers and turns into dangerous demon
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
Animals of particular species that were enemies of the heroes are exterminated besides the only pregnant female (rare a female and a male). Thanks to this, these animals still exist
They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with
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
Man marries a polar bear or grizzly who becomes a woman or a woman who becomes a bear
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
The task-giver is the bear who is the hero’s father-in-law
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
A woman becomes the wife of an animal (rare: other non-human being). Her husband cares for her but ultimately the animal, the woman, her children or her relations are killed, she turns into an animal herself, animals and humans become enemies, etc.
A young woman turns into the bear (in Asia, into the tiger) and attacks her husband or close relatives
Woman is dangerous because biting or stinging animal or animals is (are) inside her genitals (and not only the head of such an animal)
In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow)
Planning to get or to return valuables, person turns into baby or in a small objects that has power to impregnate a woman. The picked up or the born baby steals the valuables and acquires his real guise (including cases according to which the girl herself is the desired valuable)
To obtain a desired object, person catches a child or spouse of an animal person (bird, snake, crab) and promises to release it as soon as its parent (spouse)) brings the object
When father-in-law (rare: mother-in-law) asks the hero to kill a bear, he (she) turns into the bear himsel or tranfforms into the bear his daughter or wife (husband)
The sun and/or the moon are inanimate objects thrown up to the sky or fixed in the sky