The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
Some creature or creatures regularly (sunrise and sunset, summer and winter, lunar phases) or irregularly (solar and lunar eclipses, eschatological events) attack the luminaries or shade their light
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 prepares a snare, loop, noose, etc. to catch the Sun and/or the Sun is caught in a snare, tied by a rope, etc.
The Sun is caught into snare made of the pubic hair of hero's female relative
After the Sun is caught into snare only mouse, shrew or other small animal is able to cut it open
Original earth was small and later increased in size or the fertile soil grew from a small amount of original substance
The sea is alty because the wolverine or the fox bathed in it or urinated into it
Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
Ursa major is identified with a fisher (mustela pennati)
Ursa major or Polaris are identified with a middle size animal (ermine, fisher, woodchuck) or with a basically anthropomorphic person (with some animal characteristics) hit with a dart or an arrow
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
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
Alcor (a weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper) is selected as a particular sky object
Person whose body is extraordinary hard and invulnerable or (rare) a small object is broken to pieces that turn into flints or other hard stones (the origin of flints)
The heroe's enemy turns into a big fish (usually a sturgent) or (rare) a water mammal that are fished or hunted by people
Angry against the birch, person beats or cuts it, whence scratches and slashes on its bark
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)
Warm season is obtained from its original owners
Animal-people come to steal summer from its owner. One of them in guise of an elk or caribou diverts the owners' attention or puts to float a log that the owner takes for an elk and pursues. The summer is successfully stolen and brought to the people
A boy or (among the Kutenai) a woman weeps, asking for an element that is absent, i.e. for summer, fire, or rain
Female person is the owner or inventor (but not the personification) of the fire
First fire was hidden in genitals or anus of a woman
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
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
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
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
When a person sees a dangerous enemy, he or she shams dead taking his or her clothes off, or the enemy takes off them himself. The enemy believes that it is a corpse, lets it alone
Person marries several non-human wives in succession, every time (besides the last one) is disappointed
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)
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
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
Game animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underworld where they often look like humans and have a master
Rainbow is the ornamented part of the clothes, its decoration, a belt
Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
When hero returns, he finds his mother being tormented during his absence and transforms her (and usually himself) into a certain bird
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
Hero or his helpers cut or gnaw through bow- and other strings of the enemies, make holes in their canoes in order to forestall pursuit
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
Person is imprisoned in a tree-hollow or inside a rock and is released by somebody who makes a hole from outside
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 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
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
A demonic or animal person steals a boy and pretends to be his real mother or father. The boy gets to know the truth, leaves the false parent
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
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
Person's sharp elbows or (rare) knees are like awls or knives
The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
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
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
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
Person ties another one (usually a child) to a fishing line to use him as a bait or orders the tied one to catch fish with his hands
Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
Acquiring possibility to fly, person ultimately falls to the ground or remains in a faraway place being unable to fly any more
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolverine suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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
Trickster who flies over a village falls to the ground. They bind him and defecate on him
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 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
Person kills game (usually by deception), gets to see how thieves carry it away but is unable to intervene
After eating certain plant, small animal, or rubbing it over his body, person suffers from itch, diarrhea, or from breaking wind
Because of his own obstinacy, person suffers of breaking wind permanently and starves because a loud noise produced by him scaring game
Small animals or insects dance or feast inside a big animal skull or food is there. Person inserts his head into the skull and cannot take it out for a long time
An old woman defecates or breaks wind over a man. He kills her inserting a cutting object into her anus or vagina
Rock chases or otherwise punishes person who has offended it (usually deceived it or has taken objects that belong to Rock)
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)
To provoke a quarrel between two different fish, person tells each one that the other was insulting him
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
Ursus major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with the game animal or anmials (usually pursued by the hunter)
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
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
A man gets into the nest of a giant bird on a high rock or tree. He descends to the earth killing the bird and fixing its feathers or wings to his body or (more often) using the bird’s nestling (riding on its back, holding its feet, fixing its feathers or wings)
Person flies across the air but falls down when, despite warning, looks down to earth, flies above villages, becomes to talk, etc.
Small creatures in female or male genitals are dangerous for the partner
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
Another sun, usually less benevolent and/or powerful, existed before the present one
Body members of a person has the form of cutting or piercing weapon
The world was or will be (almost) burned when several suns had (will) appear(ed) simultaneously; or the only sun was too hot (or bright)
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
Woman is dangerous because biting or stinging animal or animals is (are) inside her genitals (and not only the head of such an animal)
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