The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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
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
Person who had been carried up to the moon took hold of a bush or a small tree and is seen now on the lunar disc together with this bush
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.
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
Person paints birds or animals or they paint each other. Some of them are not satisfied with the result
Animals (Melanesia: persons) discuss the number of discrete units of time that should be in a certain calendar period or in the night
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.
A coming of warm (light, abundant, etc.) or cold (dark, barren, etc.) time is related to the marriage of certain person
Chips of wood, branches or pieces of bark thrown or fallen into the water turn into fish and/or aquatic animals
Man pushes his mother-in-law or his wife into a tree hollow, she turns into the creaking of trees or into echo
Waves of the sea petrified and turned into dry land with mountain chains
Wind stops to blow (after blowing too much). Person comes to him and creates the desirable balance. Since then, wind blows but usually not too much
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)
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)
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
Certain person is made of improper material and proves to be short-lived or unfit for fulfilling his functions
Certain person is made of human excrement or carrion
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)
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
Person sticks out of the ground his penis that looks like a plant (provoking a woman to sit on it)
Woman is nursing a worm (caterpillar, reptile, fish) as her baby. People kill the monster
Certain woman or a group of women take for paramour a big water animal (caiman, otter, sea-lion, whale, anaconda; rare: water bird, crab), water spirit or monster. Husbands, brothers or (adoptive) children kill or maim paramour and/or (sometimes) the woman
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
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)
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
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
Woman makes vain overtures to young man and/or falsely accuses him of sexual abuse. Her husband believes that the young man is guilty, kills or tries to kill him
To accuse a man or boy of (sexual) abbuse, a woman tears her clothes, smears or scratches her body pretending to be attacked
A woman revenges on a man who rejected her love but necessary not pretends to be an object of sexual harassment from his part
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.
Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually himself)
A girl (wife) rejects an ugly youth (her husband). He becomes handsom (usually thanks to the help of a supernatural person). Those who were evil to him are punished
Animals ask God to make people mortal because people would be too numerous and step on the animals, deprive them of their food and habitat, or because the animals want to feast on the human corpses
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)
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
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
Only one pole or mountain supports the earth or the sky
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
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
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 people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
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)
Several bright stars of Big Dipper or other constellation are poles which support or stretch an object like skin, shelter, etc.
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
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 woman is crying, mucus from her nose (or her tear) turns into a boy who grows up, overcome powerful adversaries
Hero's parents are killed by turtle who pulled them under the water
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
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
Chain of arrows is used to pull or push the sky or the Sun lower or higher or to break a hole in the sky
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
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
To lure the hero into a trap or to send him far away, the antagonist makes a bird or nestlings of excrements or guts
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)
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
A man marries an ogress' daughter, kills her mother. The wife revenges on him, gets to cut off his leg
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
Digging roots or gathering sea food on a beach, a woman finds baby-boy. Usually her mother warns her not to dig a certain bulb or not to do it in a certain way. Breaking taboo, the woman finds or conceives baby-boy
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
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
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
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
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
Small objects and animals (rare: animals alone but including those who really are harmless) revenge on a powerful enemy making attack on him in succession (usually they hide in his or her house); the enemy is badly injured, runs away or dies
Objects and/or domestic animals live in a house. When dangerous enemy comes, they attack him, he dies or escapes (all texts with K77A and K77B included)
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
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 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)
Person or creature has another face (another mouth) on the back of his (her, its) head
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
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
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
Hero hides in a tree from an ogre. Before the ogre gets to fell the tree, the hero flies away or a bird helps him to escape
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
The antagonists acquire person’s organ or body part (his remains) . Another person gets back what has been stolen and the first one revives (becomes strong again)
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
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a comb (a brush) that turns into mighty obstacle (usually a thicket) on the way of the pursuer. (In South America the motif is probably of European origin)
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws objects that turn into mighty obstacles on the way of the pursuer. One of the thrown objects is a whetstone which turns into a mountain
A bear or other dangerous being tears off and carries away a hand of a person and holds it at his sleeping place. Another person steals the hand, gives it back to the owner
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
The hero gets to see a person who cannot move being nailed to the ground (misses the lower part of the body, etc.) but escapes the same fate
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
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
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 pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
Person is pursued by an enemy. A bird or animal hides him or her in its mouth (under a wing) and pretends not to be able to open the mouth (to raise a wing) – because of a tooth ache, some injury and the like
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, swan) is a guard in a strange house or land where hero comes
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven
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 baby, is picked up by the owner of valuables, steals the valuables or makes love to a woman. The baby is not a demonic creature and does not plan to kill those who picked him up (cf. motif L60)
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
Person (always a raven) kills a whale. When people come, he tells them about some circumstances that can make the meat dangerous. People do not dare to touch the meat and the deceiver eats it alone
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.
To obtain valuables person provokes a quarrel between their owners. When the owners become to fight with each other, the valuables fall out
To get valuables (food, fire) concealed by their owner, person pretends that the valuables are already in his possession
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
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)
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
Person enters a seemingly empty house and attempts to take certain things. Invisible beings prevent him from doing it or objects themselves hurt him
Person dies or is humiliated after some object that he or she made of wax, resin, excrements and/or took for something worthy are melted down
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)
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
Person is able to move or to hover in the air like a feather or a bit of fluff
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
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 wife from the non-human world agrees to live with the mortal man but abandons him when he becomes unfaithful to her (when he visits his mortal wife)
A man visits the place from there the salmons come to the human world
Creaking of trees is a voice of a transformed person
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a small vessel with oil. The oil turns into the lake or river. (Only North American variants are considered. In the Old World the motif is rare and is not restricted to particular region. In North America the oil to anoint the haur is probably meant in all cases).
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
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)
Hero is sent to get bark of a tree that is dangerous to those who come near it
They (promise to) give a child the Sun (and or the Moon) to play with
Voice of a person who lived in the bygone times is still heard (most often it is an echo)
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
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
Person has sharp nails or knife-like hands to kill people
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 girl (a woman, a group of women) intentionally takes a penis-being, a snake, an eel, a lizard, a worm, a big water animal or water monster or a big terrestrial mammal for paramour. People kill or maim the paramour, the woman and/or her progeny or she is transformed herself into an animal. She is blamed for her behavior
Certain woman or a group of women takes for a paramour a big land animal. Husbands, brothers or (adoptive) children kill or maim paramour and (sometimes) the woman
Rivers were flowing or according to the original plan had to flow in both directions; somewhere there is a river that flows in both directions
In three or more different episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven (crow)
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
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
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
Children (son, sons, son and daughter) of the murdered woman or man revenge on persons who have marital or close kin relations with the victom
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