The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
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
After passing half of the its way across the sky (in the day time) or in the underworld (in the night time), the Sun stops to have a rest
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
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
Person comes to the sun, attempts to fulfill the sun's duty but intentionally or because of a lack of skill does it wrong and the earth suffers from heat etc.
(Cf. Earth burned because the bearer of the sun came too low, Boas 2002: 664)
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
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
Animals get meat and fat extracted from some original creature or created otherwise. Some get a lot, some remain lean
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
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
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.
Weak or herbivorous animals were dangerous predators but have been transformed
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
Person plays imitating other animal person. His belly is cut open as a result and intestines turn into vines
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
Human posterior looks in particular way because certain person burned it
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)
Monsters or ghosts try to invade our world. Powerful person or creature is on guard and prevents the invasion
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Fire owner, stealer, or stealer's companion is a rabbit, a hare or (among the Ofaie) a guinea pig
To steal fire from its owner, person pretends to be wet or cold and is granted permission to sit near the fireplace. In a proper moment the stealer carries the fire away and brings it to people
First people or inhabitants of a distant country cook food in the sun; or fire owner lies that he or she cooks food in the sun
To find a person who is hiding somewhere inside the house, another one tries to make her or him laugh
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
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)
Woman is smeared with blood or red paint. Since then women menstruate
Woman masturbates with penis of a big animal killed by a man of her household
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
Person feeds another with the meat of his or her sexual partner who cooks or eats it without knowing whose meat it is
The (adoptive) children or grandchildren and not person's spouse or brother kill the paramour of their (step)mother or father
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
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)
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)
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Person gives a trickster his power (usually skunk gives his charge) but he squanders it all to see the effect. When a real need comes, the device does not work anymore
Lightning emerges from eyes or mouth of the being who is thought to produce thunderstorms
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
Anthropomorphic beings satisfy their hunger cooking food and inhaling the odor
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
Game animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underworld where they often look like humans and have a master
Thunder's enemies are evil spirits, reptiles, animals living in burrows. They hide from him in different objects, Thunder destroys these objects
Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
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
A murderer of a valuable marriage-partner pretends to mourn over him. His trick is exposed, people chase him
A girl or two sisters marry a valuable partner. His rival kills or attempts to kill him or his wives. As a consequence, the women turn into water birds
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
Person perishes because being forced to clean ogre's or animal’s head infected with insects, refuses to bite the insects, spits in disgust or is suspected to do it
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
When husband o brother leaves home to hunt, an evil spirit comes to his wife or sister. The spirit kills her or carries her away. Her baby boys extracted from her womb or born at this time survive
Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty
A small boy (several babies) was thrown away, born by the dead woman, lives in the water (in forest, etc.). Another boy lives with his father or mother. Ultimately the first boy comes to live in the locus of the second one. Often (see motif j25, Babies escape and return) during some time the boy who lives in the wilderness meets secretly with his brother (with other children, with pups that had been fed up by his mother) who lives with the people
Before the hero destroys the antagonists or escapes from them, he finds or receives the remains or possessions that belonged to the antagonists' victim
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
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.
Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
Person stretches his or her leg or neck as a bridge across water body. The fugitives or those who walk ahead cross the bridge; the persecutor or those who are behind usually fall because the person takes his bridge off
Antagonist perishes falling into the water or trying to cross a water body
A person (usually zoomorphic and female) treacherously kills her (his) companion. The victim's children revenge on the murderer killing her own children
Children of the ungulate animal person (deer, doe, antelope) become the enemies of a predator or bigger ungulate animal person. They kill her (him) and (or) successively escape from her (him)
Two co-wives of female companions live together, both have children. Once when they go to work outdoors (usually to gather wild plants), one of them kills and devours another. The victim's children escape
Shooting and an arrow (rare: throwing a ball), person flies on it, after it or ahead of it or sends on the arrow another person
Person is marooned on an islet or on another side of a sea or wide river
Person is imprisoned in a tree-hollow or inside a rock and is released by somebody who makes a hole from outside
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
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 or animal gets into another being through its anus
An ordeal: to survive cold (frosty night outdoors, chamber with ice, cold water and snow)
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
The hero must kill and bring an animal of special (often unusual) color or form
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
Person becomes a master of another after winning a game (game of chance or Intellectual game but not a sport tournament)
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
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
Alive birds and beasts decorate hero's costume and headgear. Imposter steals hero's attire, takes his place but the birds and beasts are mute or cry differently
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 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
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
A group of persons decide to go to the end of the world to meet the Sun or other supreme god. One (or several) of them perish on their way, some reach destination, at least one returns home using the shorter way than the one they have took before
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
The youngest of several brothers remains at home, wounds a red swan or duck, goes away following the bird's trace
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
Rolling head is a dangerous mobster (pursues celestial bodies, people etc.)
A demonic being demands that a person would carry it permanently, clings to his shoulder or back
Life of a person or creature is preserved outside of his (her, its) body. Person or creature dies after the corresponding object is destroyed
After breaking some taboo, coming across a strange object or person, people fall asleep. They do not feel when at night spirits come and injure or kill them
Person who have eaten a prohibited meat or fish turns into monstrous snake or fish
Because people (or certain person) eat the meat of a snake (dragon, strange fish), a flood begins or a landslide occurs, or a river (lake) appears
Person catches fish in a place where it ought not live, i.e. in a forest pond or in a tree hollow isolated from other water bodies. After eating he dies, is transformed and/or attacked by monsters
Person who breaks some sort of taboo (usually has eaten a prohibited food) is thirsty and drinks enormous quantity of water
Person discovers (rare:still fails to discover) another getting to see his or her shadow or reflection in water
To overcome a disaster, hot stones or ashes are thrown into the water
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)
Person turns into monster at night when he remains alone with his companion in the wilderness
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 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
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
One of twin brothers is evil. Being still in the womb, he does not want to be born in a normal way and bursts through his mother’s side killing her
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
A woman turns into demon and pursues her children
Person transforms humans into monsters or animals secretly putting prohibited meat, grease or eggs into their food or provoking them to use a particular object
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
Dangerous cannibal or bush spirit who abducts children, attacks people, etc. is associated with an owl
Treasure, or the like, is thrown back to tempt pursuer to delay
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
Some person makes a wish not taking in mind that his words can have other meaning or accidentally replacing one word with another. As a result, something quite undesirable takes place
God agrees or suggests to fulfill a demand of a man. As a result the latter is transformed into a stone
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, bittern, swan) saves person from dangerous pursuer
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, swan) is a guard in a strange house or land where hero comes
Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
Turtle goes to war, kills people (usually a woman), is caught and killed but continues to live in its animal guise
Person attempts to hunt ducks or geese catching them by the legs. They rise him into the air, he falls down
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is Canada jay
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is mink
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is hawk
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a water bird
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a racoon
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a porcupine
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
An ogre or a stronger animal catches a man or a weaker animal or drives him into a small enclosure. He goes away for a while leaving a watchman. The watchman is unable to fulfill his duty and the man (the weak animal) escapes (usually he dupes the watchman). Most, though hardly all American cases can have post-Columbian African origin
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
One of two animal-persons kills game. In the absence of the stronger one, the weaker one hides the meat to eat it alone later
A small animal (not a predator) or a weak person kills a big game. He asks another (animal-)person to skin or butcher the carcass. The latter is willing but takes or tries to take all the meat for himself
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
Trickster suggests water fowl to dance around him with their eyes shut, kills them one by one. He warns that eyes of a bird who would open them become red. In some versions, the bird who opened its eyes got them really red
Instead of common body discharges a man or a woman urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular person
A small animal asks bigger one to bring him across the stream, rejects one by one all possible places to sit; finds the position that lets him kill the big animal after crossing the stream
Porcupine asks other animal to ferry him across river, rejects different places to sit, occupies a place where he can easily kill the animal after crossing the river and really kills 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.
Hero imperceptibly causes detriment to two persons or creatures. They accuse each other and fight
Two or more personages direct their weapons against the hero who is between them but hit each other
Trickster cooks meat that he got by deception but is unexpectedly jammed between trees or stuck to a stone. An animal (usually fox, wolf or coyote) steals all the meat
Trees squeak in the wind. Trickster hears a noise, climbs up the tree and is caught between limbs
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
Vulture suggests person to carry him in the sky but drops to earth. The person attracts vulture to revenge on him. Or the vulture drops the person (or abandons him on a high rock) to revenge on him for his attempt to catch him
Person joins dancers but then understands that these are trees or reeds moved by the wind
Person insults a partridge-like bird, kills or injures her chickens. The partridge scares him, he falls, usually into a river or lake
A man travels and comes to two or several blind (usually old) persons
An animal person sees that another has something tied to his tail, wants the same tail for himself and has a trouble as a result
Person, animal, fish or (rare) a fruit is eaten up and then revived, usually after all bones (all seeds) being put together
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
Person pierces a bladder with blood or red juice, simulates murder or suicide
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 lost or becomes blind. He walks asking different trees their names and makes decisions according to their answers reaching ultimately his destination
Many animals of one species that all look identical together fulfill the task that would be impossible for any of them if he were alone; the competitors believe that the task was fulfilled by only one animal. Usually a slow and a fast animals agree to race. The slow one puts other animals of his species at the finish or along the distance, each one answering the fast one that he is ahead of him. The fast one accepts his loss
A man marries a woman who initially has guise of an ungulate animal (buffalo, elk, derr, etc.)
Person is able to move or to hover in the air like a feather or a bit of fluff
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 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)
One (animal) person refuses to use different body parts of another besides the only one the use of which causes another’s death
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
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
To revive the dead, person shoots an arrow into the sky (it is suggested that the dead would be afraid of the arrow falling, jump aside and become alive)
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the wolf suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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.
There are two women in the beginning of time, an old and a young one. One or both conceive in a supernatural way. A son or twins are born, they establish natural order and social rules
The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
Being smart and persistent, the turtle (toad, frog) overcomes strong adversaries
Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge
Running away from a dangerous being, person throws an awl or a needle which turn into many awls (needles)
In a dispute about should it be cold (dark) or warm (light), the bear stands for the cold; or the world is dark because the bear hides the sun in his house
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
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
A mouse, a small bird, a porcupine or other animal (rare: person) of a small size gets inside a big ungulate (elk, deer, buffalo, tapir) to kill (and then usually to eat) him
After eating certain food, person produces a hill of excrements that is bigger than he himself
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
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
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
Instead of common body discharges a a man urinates, spits, etc. beads, flowers, gold and other valuables; valuables are produced by the very presence of particular male person. See motif m57a
A woman is impregnated by wind in defiance of her wish
A young woman turns into the bear (in Asia, into the tiger) and attacks her husband or close relatives
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
Trickster burns his own anus to punish it for improper behavior
A woman is murdered. Her son or children (rare: grandchildren, nephews) revenge for her death
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
A bear-person (usually Bear-woman) kills her or his female companion who is associated with a weaker animal – not a predator or a weaker predator. The victim's children revenge on the antagonist killing her own children and / or run away and escape
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they
The beaver had tail which the muskrat has now and vice versa