The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
The Sun and the Moon are two persons one of which is pursuing another in the sky or pursued him or her when they were rising to the sky from the earth
Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
As a result of some intimate contacts and/or love affair, the Moon acquires its present appearance (often, the stains on his face) and/or ascends to the sky
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
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
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
Islands or continent are fished out of the ocean or pulled to their present place by rope
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
Persons ponders over what object, feature, or creature it would be appropriate for him or her to turn into. When the choice is made, the persons transforms himself or herself
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.
People turn into animals, birds or stones at a feast, after the feast, after performing a ritual or after a victory over dangerous enemy
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
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
In the cosmic hunt tale the game pursued by the hunters is a bear
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
Seven main stars of Ursa major are interpreted as a figure of a mammal: bear, deer, mountain sheep, camel, dog
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
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)
When person gets to see that the sky becomes red he or she understands that another person's blood is shed or that another person spilled a red liquid
Bones of fresh-water fish are result of a fighting or military expedition. The bones are arrows that have pierced the fish bodies (gill openings are pierced by arrows) or the small bones are fragments of originally big ones
Fish of two species shoot arrows into each other. Since then there are many small bones in the fish or some bones are forked
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
Grateful person decorates (rare: punishes) a bird who lives near water (kingfisher, loon, goose), thence its appearance (crest, beak, feathers)
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 only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together
The first people or first anthropomorphic divine beings descend to earth from the sky.
A lonely woman or married couple surprises childred who live nearby in guise of animals (plants, objects). After this the children preserve their human guise
While man is asleep, birds turn into girls and sew covering of his canoe
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)
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.
Man and woman embrace each other forever or for a long time
Cesarean operation upon a woman at childbirth as a custom
Person changes his or (rare) her guise to marry his or her close relative in descending or (rare) ascending line
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
Person pretends to die. His or her wife or husband abandons him or her on a burial place. He or she marries his or her paramour
A man mistakes his own reflection in river for a beautiful woman and makes attempts to marry her
A man lets his wife to be eaten up by worms. She either dies or has a narrow escape
Person has a series of suggestions how to make the world easy for living and free of hard work and death. His companion successively rejects them. Their dialogue forever defines conditions of human life
Snow was edible or something edible was falling from the sky instead of the snow
The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
Beings without mouth, anus, genitals, whose women do not know how to give birth live in the underworld, in the sky, or in a far-away land
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 door of a house is opening and closing by itself crashing persons who attempt to come in or out
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
Stars are openings in the firmament; holes in dwelling's covering are thought to be stars
The alive person who is travelling between the worlds is visible for inhabitants of one world and invisible for inhabitants of another
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Shining sky objects or atmospheric phenomena are excrements of sky dwellers
The Pleiades are a group of boys or men, or a group of different people but predominantly males
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
The Pleiades are only one anthropomorphic being, not several persons
Milky Way is the path of the Sun and/or Moon
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
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
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
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
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
A young hero obtains and uses weapons or other powerful objects which belonged to his murdered father
A man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy
A mighty bird thrust its talons into a big fish, whale, water monster, etc. Talons get stuck, the bird is either pulled down under the water or makes itself free with great difficulty
Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
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
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
Hero climbs up (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
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)
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
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
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
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
An ordeal: to remain alive in a closed room full of beasts of prey, poisonous or other dangerous creatures
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
People abandon a boy, a girl, brother and sister, a group of children, or a young family without fire and food. A compassionate person conceals hot coals for the outlaws in the abandoned camp
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
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
A man meets a dangerous giant (or serpent) who proves to be friendly to him. When another giant fights with the first one, the man helps his friend
A man and a friendly giant live together. The friendly giant fights with another one and asks the man for help. This help proves to be crucial because the man badly injures a foot of another giant
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 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
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
Person kills girls (rare: his nephews or younger brothers of his wife) in succession (usually the male person kills his wives). The last of potential victims escapes, usually after finding remains of those who had been killed or imprisoned earlier
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.
A small creature is reared up by people. When it is grown up, it becomes harmful and dangerous
A small creature (often a worm or a reptile) is brought home and reared up or it becomes to live by itself in an artificial body of water. When big, it goes out of human control or becomes something huge and/or dangerous. Cf. motif L13A (The reared up monster attacks people)
The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
Person sticks to an object, usually touching it one by one with his body members. The object is a trap of demonic creature or is a non human creature itself
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
Persons who are dangerous for the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) take for something pleasant and edible those objects, creatures or matters (excrements, snakes, insects, etc.) that are disgusting (not edible)
Person ascends, descends, walks head downward or sees the world upside down
Man's wife, sister or mother eats all the nest food alone, she is transformed in punishment
People who treated badly the hero or his son are pulled into the sea and turn into sea animal or into parts of its body or into parasites on its hide
Person devours his or her own flesh or disembowels himself or herself
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
A girl marries a powerful benevolent man. His first wife is a monster. The man kills her or is glad that she is killed by his human wife
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
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
Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
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 blind man or lad kills an animal. His wife or (grand)mother lies that he has missed, cooks and eats all the meat alone
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
Person or creature who has no wings or is unable to fly on a long distance attempts to ascend to the sky or to fly far away but falls down or, deprived of his wings, remains in a place from which he is unable to return
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
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
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.
One person or animal suggests another to slide downhill to kill or harm him or her
A bird of prey or a carrion-eater (raven, owl, hawk; coyote) marries or tries to marry goose-person or other water bird. This marriage is not realized or is a short one
A man gets a woman thanks to a trick, carries her away in his canoe. She asks permission to go to shore to relieve herself, runs away
A bird-person who usually does not fly away in the autumn makes attempt to fly with migratory birds but is unable to reach destination
The beaver ferries the porcupine and usually throws him into water or abandons on an island
Raven (crow) gets the hidden or stolen Sun (daylight)
Person is able to move or to hover in the air like a feather or a bit of fluff
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
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
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
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
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
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
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A strip of light or dark feathers or hair on the neck of a bird or animal is its necklace
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
Certain bones in the body of living creatures (usually birds and fish) are arrows that were shot into them
Light of the Sun (Moon, Venus) is a torch in hands of the celestial body
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.)
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
The river bed follows the way of a snake, fish, dragon or crab; pieces of the snake’s body turn into rivers; a river is a snake
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
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
Severed human heads are compared with balls or used as balls
From the mouth of a monstrous creature or person who is the enemy of the hero fire is coming out; its breath is fire
They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with
Particular pieces of flesh or inner organs in the bodies of animals, birds, or fish originally belonged to other creatures
A predator animal or a zoomorphic non-reptilian monster with six or more legs is described or represented in art
To kill the hero, his enemies involve him into a game with a dangerous ball (or ice, stone, bone, iron, a walrus head, a biting skull, etc.)
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
Man marries a polar bear or grizzly who becomes a woman or a woman who becomes a bear
Inhabitants of the village of the polar bears who are relations of the hero’s wife give him difficult tasks and tests
(Grand-)mother of a blind man or boy secretly eats meat or fish (usually acquired by her son or grandson) but tells him that there is no food in their house
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)
The Sun and the Moon (rare: the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are two siblings who live on earth and then ascend to the sky being still young persons
The Sun and the Moon are or were enemies, either permanently or in particular situations
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)
Finding a hole in the ground or making it, person gets to see below another world. Usually the earth is seen from the sky
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)
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
Male person leaves his home and gets to unfamiliar places. On his way, he comes across different strange creatures. After all, he returns home or leaves the earth for the other world. (Rather often a long string of episodes breaks off or the story lacks the beginning and does not explain why the hero is travelling)
People (elder brothers, elder siblings, elder sister) disappear (one by one). A lonely woman has baby twins (or more children) who grow up, exterminates the antagonists, usually revives and releases those who had disappeared
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
Two zoomorphic personages decorates each other or somebody decorates each of them