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
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
The lunar (and solar) eclipse or spots on the lunar disc are expained by the fact that the Sun or the Moon came to a wrong path or that their paths crossed
In the beginning it is dark. When the Sun first appears on the sky, primeval beings or part of them perish or turn into animals, spirits, stones
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
A figure or an imprint of some being or object are seen in the Moon. (For statistical analysis motifs A32A – A32J are also included into A32)
Human being or imprint of human being is seen in the moon
Person who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
Person who went to fetch water and/or holds in hands a container for liquid is seen in the moon
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
Somebody is the only possessor of water or certain beverage. Another person drinks it, escapes and spits out making it available for the people
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
People turn into animals, birds or stones at a feast, after the feast, after performing a ritual or after a victory over dangerous enemy
Person decorates different birds (rare: fish), share fat between anomals. Since then, the corresponding species acquire present characteristics
Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue
Animals (Melanesia: persons) discuss the number of discrete units of time that should be in a certain calendar period or in the night
Toes, claws, feathers, hairs, color stripes, etc. are counted and compared to establish the number of period of time or particular way of alternation of periods
It is discussed if darkness or light, cold or warm periods should exist
A coming of warm (light, abundant, etc.) or cold (dark, barren, etc.) time is related to the marriage of certain person
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
Man pushes his mother-in-law or his wife into a tree hollow, she turns into the creaking of trees or into echo
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)
A turtle or a frog (toad) brings the desired object from the bottom of the water body or from the lower world
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)
During the flood some birds survive clinging to the sky with their beaks
Against person's will, butchered, dried or cooked meat, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish and escape.
The Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
The destiny of creation depends on a person (usually an old woman) who is cooking soup somewhere outside of our world (in the sky, in the Moon, etc.)
The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire)
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Person comes to the owners of fire or light. They feast and dance. He joins them and in a proper moment carries away the valuables
Raven or other big dark-feathered bird scavenger is the owner, personification, spouse, obtainer or stealer of fire, daylight, or the Sun
Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
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
Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
Person does not have a spouse, uses wooden fakes for his wife or her husband
Man makes a wooden doll and pretends that it is alive. Really it is not or it is half-alive. A real woman takes place of a doll, marries the master
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
Woman is nursing a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) as her baby. People kill the monster
A powerful man kills every baby boy born by his wives or by his sister
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
Person who conceals his or her identity comes to his or her lover (at night). Next time, the lover puts a mark on the stranger's face, body or clothes doing this intentionally (to recognize him or her) or by chance (that leads to the identification)
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
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
Man pretends to die because he does not want to share food with the others and eats it alone at his burial place
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
People are mortal because they have been likened to something subject to decay and easy destruction (e.g. to the soft wood and not to the stone)
The alive person comes to the land of the dead to bring back somebody who has recently died (besides stories about shamans who journey to the other world to bring back the soul of a sick person) or, having no particular aim, goes there in company of somebody who had recently died or following his or her tracks
Person comes to the land of the dead and brings back somebody who has recently died or brings his remains. The dead one becomes alive and lives normal life (for some time)
If called in a loud voice, ghosts do not hear an alive person but hear whisper, yawning, etc.
Rivers of tears exist in the other world. Tears shed on earth fill there big containers
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
All the fish or (rare) shellfish) was concentrated in one place. Certain person lets it lose or puts it into the rivers or sea
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
A burned person or creature immediately turns into a multitude of mosquitoes or biting flies
Supernatural woman comes to live with humans. Thanks to that, food becomes easily available. She is maltreated, goes away, temporal superfertility is lost forever
Magic object, device that makes hunting or fishing easy gets into possession of a person who is unable to operate it or abuses it. The device kills or injures the failure himself, other people and/or disappears
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.
Only one pole or mountain supports the earth or the sky
Originally the earth was unstable and swung, then it was fixed up
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)
Way to the place of a certain person is guided by dangerous creatures (which often stand on the both sides of the pathway). Person placates them by gifts or nice talk, and they let him or her go the both ways, sometimes being punished for this by their master
A dog is the lord, guard or guide of/to the land of the dead; or dogs live on the way to the land of the dead
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
The alive person who is travelling between the worlds is visible for inhabitants of one world and invisible for inhabitants of another
Waters of all rivers on earth run to the precipice where they rush down into the underworld
Milky Way is a path of a person who was walking on snow-shoes
A boat is a fish, a living creature with a mouth, it can swallow people
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
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 woman is crying, mucus from her nose (or her tear) turns into a boy who grows up, overcome powerful adversaries
A man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy
After the hero comes back after a long absence and finds his parents enslaved, he tells them to demonstrate openly a lack of respect to their masters and punishes those who were cruel with them
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
Persons shoot arrows (darts) which hit each other’s end forming a chain (rope, ladder). Persons climb by this chain to the sky or (rare) across an obstacle
To climb to the sky, person must first to shoot an arrow that reaches the sky and sticks to it
A lonely woman with her daughter are the only survivors after enemies' attack. The woman rejects a series of animal-persons who come to ask her daughter in marriage but accept a sky-person for her son-in-law. Children of the sky-person and woman's daughter revenge on the enemies
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)
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 or animal gets into another being through its anus
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
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)
Different from (common) people inhabitants of a distant land fight from time to time with non-human enemies who periodically attack them
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
Inhabitants of a distant land who are birds (the bird-people) are afraid of birds or animals, which are not dangerous for humans and which usually attack them regularly
Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land
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
Finding a hole in the ground or making it, person gets to see below another world. Usually the earth is seen from the sky
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
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
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.
When the imposter takes place of the real wife, the latter turns into owl
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
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
People abandon a boy, a girl, brother and sister, a group of children, or a young family without fire and food. The outlaws demonstrate supernatural powers or protectors providing food and lodging. While the abandoned persons have plenty of food other people starve. A person (often a bird like crow, magpie, sea-gull, etc.) visits the abandoned ones and brings from them some food home. This way people get to know that the abandoned ones prosper
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 man disguised as a woman comes to his enemy and kills him at night (usually cuts off and carries away his head)
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
When a woman or a lad comes to the sea bank, she or he is carried away by sea predators (killer-whales, sharks, swordfish). Man descends to the bottom and rescues the woman or lad using his shaman's power
A man descends to the bottom of the sea to rescue his wife. He makes arrangements with a slave who pours water on fireplace producing steam. Hidden behind the steam, the man escapes with his wife
A man comes to the non-human beings to get a woman. He secures the help of a slave repairing his adze or axe
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
Mother of a girl rejects in succession birds (and animals) who come to ask her daughter in marriage, but accepts a man from the sky (the Sun) as her son-in-law
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
People against their will must follow an object, a creature, or a person (usually stick to it) who/which leads or carries them far away, usually into the water or to the sky
An object descends from the sky. Playing children climb on it or stick to it, it carries them away to the sky
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
Person ascends, descends, walks head downward or sees the world upside down
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 monster or a big animal dies when fire is kindled in its belly
Person loses his organ or body part, it is carried away. He finds its new owner, gets his property back
Man's wife, sister or mother eats all the nest food alone, she is transformed in punishment
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
An antagonist carries away the hero or rips off and carries away his limb and hangs the prisoner or the limb (usually over the fire). The hero is suffering from pain. Another personage saves the hero or brings his limb back
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
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
Animal, fish or person wounded by hero runs or swims away, usually with the man's projectile in his or her body. Local doctors are not able to cure the wound (usually because they do not see the projectile). The hero or his companion comes to the place where the wounded one lives and cures him or her (usually extracting his projectile from the wound)
The sky dwellers fish human beings who live on earth with a line and a hook
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
Non-human persons work hard to destroy a strong and durable obstacle that blocks access to some place or object
Birds and sometimes also animals work hard to break from the outside or from the inside a rock, a tree truck, bonds, etc. to release some beings or themselves from confinement in a small enclosure or trap
A male person cuts or roasts his own body to extract meat, lard or blood, cooks it and serves to his guest without injuring himself. Such a food is not considered to be unclean
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
Person commits something that is socially unacceptable. They catch him and injure (cut off) his bill or jaw. Usually he gets his ripped off jaw (bill) back
Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
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 a wren
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 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 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
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
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
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
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
It should be guessed the nature of a big animal or its skin, the content of a box. The correct answer is that the animal is a louse (or a flea), a louse is in the box
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 bird-person who usually does not fly away in the autumn makes attempt to fly with migratory birds but is unable to reach destination
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 has only one leg (and one arm) but has no problems with moving. Unlike motif L85 (one-sided people), the person’s body is complete
To obtain valuables person provokes a quarrel between their owners. When the owners become to fight with each other, the valuables fall out
To provoke a quarrel between a gull and another bird, person (always a raven) tells each one that the other was insulting him
Mistress of animals or fish revives them after being offended
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 man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
A man meets two blind women, makes them see, they are or become birds (geese, ducks, grouses or the like)
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
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
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
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
A fish struggles and knocks its tail against ground cutting off Islands from a mass of land
A man visits the place from there the salmons come to the human world
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
Husband follows his dead wife to the other world but is unable to bring her back or succeeds to do it but loses her once again
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)
All humans, members of a particular ethnic or social group or a ruling dynasty are believed to descend from a mortal man and a woman of supernatural origin
When a man who had got to the land of spirits touches a local dweller the latter dies or becomes sick
Hero is sent to a tree which must fall on him
Souls of the dead walk upon the rainbow to the other world
They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
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)
Wife of a blind man helps him to shoot a game but lies that he missed and secretly eats meat alone
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 pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
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.
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
Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals are initially obtained from the denizens of the underwater world
During the flood birds or animals escape to some place (mountain, tree, boat, sky). Tips of their tails or other body parts get covered with water or foam and acquire their present color and form
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)
In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow)
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
Heroes avenge the murder or captivity of the male relatives: (grand)father, uncles, or the elder relatives in general, the loss of the males being the most traumatic
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
The sun and/or the moon are inanimate objects thrown up to the sky or fixed in the sky