The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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
Light and/or heat of the Sun and/or Moon originate from their crowns, necklaces or clothes (of feathers, of animal teeth)
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)
Frog or toad are seen in the moon or the Moon is associated with them
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.
Frog or Toad is a wife of the Sun or Moon
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)
Two male anthropomorphic creators compete in producing things. One of them is or becomes master of the underworld and/or spirits while another is associated with humans
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
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
The dog or other domestic animal speaks aloud about those details of its masters' life that they would prefer to conceal. He is punished by depriving his ability to speak
Weak or herbivorous animals were dangerous predators but have been transformed
Aurora borealis is spirits (of the dead) who run holding burning torches, play or fight with each other
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)
An aquatic bird dives and brings the desired object from the bottom
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)
The first people (or only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together
First people or animals ascend or descend to earth. The two-headed monster attempts to follow them but is prevented from coming to the earth
When a woman of the child-bearing age tries to come from one world to another (e.g. from sky to earth), the communication between the worlds is blocked or broken forever
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
The (adoptive) children or grandchildren and not person's spouse or brother kill the paramour of their (step)mother or father
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)
In the other world or in the time of the ancestors food products or materials used by people looked as persons
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Creatures that produce rain and/or thunderstorms are birds or anthropomorphic beings with wings; or (rare) some or all birds are connected with thunder, lightning or rain though Thunder is not a bird
Lightning emerges from eyes or mouth of the being who is thought to produce thunderstorms
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
A turtle, toad, or frog supports the earth (sky) or is its embodiment
A woman who is pregnant or has a small child falls from the sky. She or a daughter born by her dies but her (grand)son is grown up
Person gets to the sky, makes hole through the firmament digging out a root. Usually woman's husband or his kinsmen warn her against digging out a special bulb or tuber; breaking taboo, she gets to see the earth, decides to descend
Pursuing a porcupine, woman climbs a tree and gets to the upper world
Finding a hole in the ground or making it, person gets to see below another world. Usually the earth is seen from the sky
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
A man marries a non-human woman. In her world, she has another husband or suitor. She returns to her world, human husband follows her. He stands tests and/or fights with local inhabitants, gets his wife back
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
To return or to get his or her son, wife, husband, domestic animal or (rare) object, person must recognize her, him or it among several identical persons, animals or objects
Person must recognize her (or his) son or husband among several identical persons or animals
Abandoned children are tied to a tree. Helpful dog or other animal unfastens them
After having sexual contact with a dog, a woman gives birth to his children. The puppies turn into humans and usually become ancestors of particular groups of people
A man disguised as a woman comes to his enemy and kills him at night (usually cuts off and carries away his head)
Several companions have extraordinary abilities (one who runs fast, one who eats great quantities, one who produces or can withstand severe frost, etc.); a hero comes across and takes for companions several men, each of them being involved into a special and unusual activity
One brother marries a girl, another a frog or toad, both bring them to their parents, or one man takes two wives, a woman and a frog. Both wives have to pass a test. Values of the girl are highly assessed, the frog’s poor qualities are revealed
Person who have eaten a prohibited meat or fish turns into monstrous snake or fish
A baby or small child proves to be a demon, devours or injures people
A small animal digs an underground hole to the place where the monstrous stag, elk, antelope, or buffalo lies. Hero climbs along the tunnel and kills the monster
After digging a tunnel under a lying monstrous animal, a small animal (usually a mouse) bites off the monster's hair at a certain place. Hero kills the monster thrusting his spear or arrow through the hairless place into the monster's heart
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
Two or four boys go to war or are on their way home. A long serpent-like creature blocks the passage, they cannot find a path around it and burn it through. One eats its roasted meat and turns into serpent himself or dies
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
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
Trickster asks an animal to transform him but breaks condition of transformation and acquires his original guise. Usually he asks a big horned animal (buffalo, elk) to turn him into buffalo (elk) too. Animal charges, trickster is scared. Next time he remains on the place, turns into buffalo but trying to transform the same way another person, turns back into his own self
Somebody claims that he has been born before present world came into being. His opponent claims the same, and they argue who of them is the older
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 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
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with an animal, a bird or a fish
A woman sits (jumps) on the face (back) of the Moon man and now is seen as the shadows on the lunar disc
Each of several men (male animals of different species) surpasses all others in some kind of activity. They get to the place of their adversaries and thanks to their special qualities win different competitions and survive in dangerous situations. The tale is not related to the quest of a marriage partner
Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge
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
Person feeds others a food that is extracted from his, hers or somebody else’ body or is polluted by body extractions not informing about the source of the food
A man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
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
The duck (or an aquatic bird similar to the duck) dives and brings a piece of earth that is transformed into the dry land (it is the only or the only successful diver)
The Sun has the mother who shares with him (rare: her) his dwelling place