The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
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 prepares a snare, loop, noose, etc. to catch the Sun and/or the Sun is caught in a snare, tied by a rope, etc.
After the Sun is caught into snare only mouse, shrew or other small animal is able to cut it open
A boy or a girl has a cloak. The Sun spoils it or gives instead a better one
Because the Sun does damage to a person or animal (spoils, burns his cloak, skin, etc.), the person or animal kills him or catches him in a snare
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
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
Person kicks loon or other water bird. Since then this bird has flat tail base and it walks on dry land with difficulty
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
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
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.
An insect feeds on human blood (flesh). Dangerous person asks it where it had sucked blood or whose blood (flesh) is the most delicious. Usually the insect lies or cannot answer (its tongue is cut off) and thanks to this dangerous person attacks certain plants or animals and not people
Thanks to intentional misinformation, Thunder did not get know that
bloodsucking insect has sucked human blood
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
Grateful person decorates (rare: punishes) a bird who lives near water (kingfisher, loon, goose), thence its appearance (crest, beak, feathers)
During the creation of the world or after the world cataclysm animals run around making the earth big, reporting about its condition or they are sent to report the size of the growing earth
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 muskrat (more rare beaver or otter) brings the desired object from under the water
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)
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
Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
Initially women and men live apart from each other. Later they meet each other and become to live together
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
A woman or a girl takes a snake, an eel (i.e. Pacific snake-eel), a lizard, or a worm for husband or paramour. People kill or badly injure him, the woman and/or her progeny or the woman herself is transformed into snake. Cf. motif k76b: the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
A man gets into the village of women. Usually he has to satisfy every woman against his will or every woman claims him for herself
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
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
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
Person marries several non-human wives in succession, every time (besides the last one) is disappointed
Wolf takes part in creation and/or is a brother of the creator who wins demons of the lower world. Wolf is the first person who died and/or becomes the master of the dead
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
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
A girl (or two sisters) travel, usually in search of a proper marriage partner who lives far away or who has gone away. On her way or after reaching the place of destination the girl gets to some unpleasant suitors
After a girl marries a valuable suitor, a rejected imposter or his relations kill him
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
Beings who live in the sky descend to kill people. Usually such a being carries away to its world a person or many people (or person's cut off head or limb). The hero (usually a relation of the perished one) revenges on the dangerous being and/or brings back the victim or victims (his or her head, etc.)
When the hero returns home after a long absence, his relation does not believe at first that it is really he because all this time somebody jeered at him or her imitating the hero's voice, telling that the hero is back, etc.
When hero returns, he finds his mother being tormented during his absence and transforms her (and usually himself) into a certain bird
When hero returns and finds his mother being tormented during his absence, he burns the tormentors producing fire and heat by magic
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
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
A man marooned on an islet or rock in the sea turns into a bird and flies home. When the man who marooned him comes home, the hero is already there
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)
A baby boy has to recognize his father among many men. When his father takes him, the boy urinates at his arms
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
An ordeal: to smoke a huge or poisonous pipe or to remain alive in poisonous smoke
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
Person kills others inviting them to sit on a swing and launching them into water, on rocks, etc.
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
Rolling head is a dangerous mobster (pursues celestial bodies, people etc.)
Person's sharp elbows or (rare) knees are like awls or knives
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
Trickster takes off an object (often a blanket) that lies on or near a rock or other seemingly inanimate object and that has been presented to it. The object pursues or otherwise punishes the stealer
Person suggests to another who looks like being unable to move (rock, stump, fire) a race competition or provokes this object to roll towards him. The competitor becomes to move, burns or crashes the person or runs away with his clothes
Trickster and rock agree to race down slope. The rock rolls with ever greater speed and crashes the trickster
A woman turns into demon and pursues her children
Crossing a body of water or descending a tree, person steps on an certain part of a body of an animal or on a certain animal that have made a chain (usually despite warning that he should not do it) and falls down or drowns as a result
Acquiring possibility to fly, person ultimately falls to the ground or remains in a faraway place being unable to fly any more
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a water bird
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
Food or liquid that person swallows are immediately pouring out from his bottom part
Person's intestines or pieces of flesh from his bottom part fall out. He eats them up taking for a good meat or fat
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 invites birds or animals (usually geese and ducks) to dance or stand around him and concentrate their attention on some activity (usually to dance with their eyes shut), kills them, usually one by one. Or (rare) he dances himself with his eyes shut and then kills water fowl who gather around him
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.
Two or more personages direct their weapons against the hero who is between them but hit each other
Because of his own obstinacy, person suffers of breaking wind permanently and starves because a loud noise produced by him scaring game
A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
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
Before falling asleep, person tells his eyes (which he extracts and puts aside) or his anus to awake him in case of danger. Eyes or anus do not make an alarm or person himself does not react to it. As a result he suffers a damage
Person punishes the part of his body which he selected as his guard for the time of his sleep or absence (he burns his buttocks, breaks eyes)
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
The hero has to come unrecognized to the meeting place of his enemies. He meets an old woman (usually a shaman, a medicine-woman) who goes there, puts on her skin and acquires her appearance
A strip of light or dark feathers or hair on the neck of a bird or animal is its necklace
Person flies across the air but falls down when, despite warning, looks down to earth, flies above villages, becomes to talk, etc.
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws a tool (fire-stone, matches, tinder) creating an obstacle on the way of the pursuer. (A flint is considered as a fire-producing tool and ignored as a hard stone that turns into mountain or rock)
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
Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge
A girl or young woman sets off to find or return her fience or her husband or she escapes from a fanger and ultimately marries happily
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
Another sun, usually less benevolent and/or powerful, existed before the present one
A woman who had changed into demon pursues her own children
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
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
During the time of creation particular species of animals (rare: plants) exchanged certain organs or traits or one animal borrowed an organ from another one but never brought it back. Thence the characteristics of these animals now. In rare cases the back exchange and restoring of the initial situation or the passing of certain organ from one animal to another without compensation are described
The beaver had tail which the muskrat has now and vice versa
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
The heroe's enemy turns into a big fish (usually a sturgent) or (rare) a water mammal that are fished or hunted by people
Birds or humans later changed to birds are sent to explore the earth (is it dry, are any survivals, to investigate why smoke rises to the sky, etc.) or to bring some soil to make the land that would be good for living
Reptiles or invertebrates possess the medicine of immortality; are contrasted with men as immortal with mortals and/or are responsible for originating of death; or a snake's bite inflicts the first death
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
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
Rainbow is a reptile (usually a snake) or (more rare) a fish, or it is related to snake, to its tongue, breath, or to scorpion's tail
Milky Way is the path of migratory birds (especially wild geese)
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
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
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)
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 Canada jay
A girl becomes pregnant without her knowledge thanks to the contact with body liquids of a male person or with objects touched by him (not because of the normal sexual contact, or a wish expressed by the father of her future child, or her mistical contact with a deity). The happy marriage of the girl with her child’s father follows