The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
The younger brother (usually the Sun) is created from urine and swaddling clothes of the elder brother (usually the Moon).
Visible sun and/or moon are the Sun's and/or the Moon's eyes. If these eyes were not injured, light and heat would be more intense
Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
The Sun and the Moon (rare: the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are two siblings who live on earth and then ascend to the sky being still young persons
The primeval ancestors come together to choose the best candidate to become the Sun and/or to send the Sun to the sky or to see how the Sun rises to the sky for the first time
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 who holds some object in his or her hands is seen in the moon (rare: in the sun)
Frog or Toad is a wife of the Sun or Moon
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
Person or creature possesses all the fresh water. Another person splashes it out of a container or pond making it available for everybody
Day light (also warmth, the sun, the moon) is kept as a particular object in a container, under a cover, etc.
Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
Persons ponders over what object, feature, or creature it would be appropriate for him or her to turn into. When the choice is made, the persons transforms himself or herself
The transformer walks along coming across different persons and creatures, transforming them into birds, animals, stones, shrines, etc. (or transforming monstrous animals into present day ones) and introducing cultural norms, landscape features, etc.
Certain stars or constellations are interpreted as hunters, their dogs and game that the hunters pursue
In the cosmic hunt tale the game pursued by the hunters is an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)
Ursa major (seven stars or only four stars of a dipper) is identified with an ungulate (elk, deer, mountain sheep, etc.)
Stars of the handle of the Big Dipper are identified with the hunters, the dipper itself with the game (bear or elk) or a neat-barn ravaged by bear
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.
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
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
A weak star near the second star of the handle of the Big Dipper (the Tibetans: Small Dipper) is interpreted as a dog
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)
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
Coyote or fox bring people the fire, the daylight or the Sun
Beaver (in North American) or a small fish (in South America) lets fire owners catch and roast it, then revives and carries the fire away
First fire is sent to earth from the sky or the ancestors ascend to the sky and bring from there fire or warmth
Two companions or brothers live together. The elder conceals his wife from the younger. In his absence, the younger tries to make the woman laugh and this way to get know her hiding place
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
After destruction of previous world, new people (rare: new earth) are made from the bones of the perished race
The first people or first anthropomorphic divine beings descend to earth from the sky.
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)
Seeing a girl on the opposite bank of a river, person uses tricks to have sex with her: sends his long penis, transforms his penis into a bridge or a dam, dives and copulates with a girl from under the water
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
The women of the ancestral community kill or abandon the men
A bird person gets his crest putting on his head a pubic hair of a woman or part of her genitals
A man or boy thinks about incest when he gets to see his daughter(-in-law)'s, sister's, or mother(in-law)'s vagina
To create opportunity to see female genitals, a man throws something combustible into the fire which makes the woman fall on her back and expose her vagina
A man pretends to be weak, ill or injured, asks a woman to carry him on her back. When she agrees, he makes attempt to copulate with her
A man gets to the sky where he has a choice to marry one of two women, one of them being connected with life and another with death
Fox or coyote returns from the sky and disperses seeds or shoots unknown on earth before
One person wants man to live forever, another wants man to be mortal. When somebody dear to the latter one dies, he or she is eager to accept the suggestion of his or her opponent but the original decision cannot be changed
Person does something that makes death inevitable because the death of a child or a woman beloved by another person is indifferent or desirable for him or her
All the fish or (rare) shellfish) was concentrated in one place. Certain person lets it lose or puts it into the rivers or sea
A woman (a girl, several women) keeps all the fish for herself. Man comes and lets fish escape into rivers or sea.
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
Stinging insects (rare diseases) had been inside a container or some enclosure. They escaped to the world when the container or enclosure was foolishly opened
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
Person has a series of suggestions how to make the world easy for living and free of hard work and death. His companion successively rejects them. Their dialogue forever defines conditions of human life
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
Raven is responsible for introduction of permanent death
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
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
The door of a house is opening and closing by itself crashing persons who attempt to come in or out
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
Spider person raises the hero to the sky, helps him or her to return back to earth or otherwise helps to overcome the borderlines between worlds
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 valuable partner whom a girl (two sisters) should marry and an imposter live together in one and the same house
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
Two men or a man and a woman appear from two halves of the cut in two anthropomorphic body or embryo; or another man appears from part of the body of the first one or from his body discharge
Before the hero destroys the antagonists or escapes from them, he finds or receives the remains or possessions that belonged to the antagonists' victim
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
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
Person ascends to the sky (rare: descends from the sky; ascends the cliff) by a rope, a ladder, etc. Another person tries to follow him or her but the rope (the ladder) is broken or severed
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
A person (usually zoomorphic and female) treacherously kills her (his) companion. The victim's children revenge on the murderer killing her own children
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
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
Hero comes across different creatures or persons who do not recognize him. Everyone tells that he is waiting for the Hero to kill him. The hero easily kills or transforms them himself
Persons shoot arrows (darts) which hit each other’s end forming a chain (rope, ladder). Persons climb by this chain to the sky or (rare) across an obstacle
To climb to the sky, person must first to shoot an arrow that reaches the sky and sticks to it
A man maroons another because of jealousy or because he plans to take hold of his wife
Hero climbs up a tree or rock to get eggs, nestlings, fruits, honey, etc. Another person makes the tree (rock) grow higher or thicker and the hero is unable to descend back
Person climbs up a tree or rock or descends to a cave to get eggs or nestlings from the bird's nest. Another person remains on the ground. They get into conflict and/or the first person is unable to get back to the ground
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
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
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 or mother among many people. When his parent takes him, the boy ceases crying
Two stars are men, an old and a young ones. They look different as about their color or brightness but these characteristics do not correlate (the bright star can prove to be an old man and vice versa. Usually two girls wish these stars for husbands and express different preferences (one prefers bright blue star, another wants small and red one, etc.)
A human person admires a star or (rare) the Moon in the sky, expresses desire to marry it or (rare) to get a star-object. Star descends to him or to her or takes him or her to the sky
A sky-dweller marries a woman. Being eager to return home, she secretly descends to the earth
Different from (common) people inhabitants of a distant land fight from time to time with non-human enemies who periodically attack them
Birds or other creatures which not dangerous for common people attack dwarfs who live in another world
Inhabitants of a distant land who have different nature than (normal) human beings struggle from time to time with some non-human enemies. Man helps local dwellers because their enemies are not dangerous for the human beings
Birds attack the inhabitants of a distant land or a man who had got to this land
Birds use their feathers as arrows or their arrows and down stick mouth openings of them enemies
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
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
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 makes a sea mammal or fish of wood, it carries another person or persons into the open sea or kills him or them
An imposter pretends to be the hero to take his position and/or to marry or to violate his woman
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
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
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
Person makes water or fish available only if girl agrees to marry him and does not do it if the girl is unwilling
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
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
A forest woman receives or steals a small boy and brings him up to make him her paramour
Person can be killed only with a particular plant that normally is not used as a weapon
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 who have eaten a prohibited meat or fish turns into monstrous snake or fish
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
An ogre or ogress catches a person and carries his or her prey home but the person escapes on the way or immediately after reaching the ogre's house
An ogress puts her victims into a basket which is filled or smeared with pitch
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
Person ascends, descends, walks head downward or sees the world upside down
Hero's enemy ascends a tree or rock head downward or walks backward letting the hero better possibility to kill him or 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
Person eats food with her toothed vagina or with her or his anus
Person turns into monster at night when he remains alone with his companion in the wilderness
Person or animal is killed or injured with a heavy object dropped from a tree (or rock, etc.). The person or the animal knows that the objects will fall but has falls ideas about its character and weight
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
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)
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
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
Being in a situation when his life depends on a good will of a demon or animal, person either resists or does not resist the temptation to insult or to beat, bite, etc. the latter
Non-human persons work hard to destroy a strong and durable obstacle that blocks access to some place or object
Not to return home empty-handed, a hunter or (rare) a fisherman cuts off a piece of flesh from his body (usually from his calf) or (more rare) extracts his blood or entrails. Usually he brings his flesh or blood to other people pretending that is a good game or fish; or a woman cuts off a piece of flesh from her calf to feed her husband
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 tree or a chain of reeds by which people have ascended to the sky is destroyed. On their way back they fall to the ground. Some of them remain in the sky for ever or longer than others
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is raven
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is mink
Food or liquid that person swallows are immediately pouring out from his bottom part
Person is imprisoned inside a tree, stone, a ball of ice, etc. He or somebody else makes the opening but it is too narrow. The person puts himself to pieces (or turns into fog), inserts them into the opening, outside puts the pieces together again
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 imitates actions of his son- or brothers-in-law or (among Comox and Halcomelem) of his wives
Person plays throwing his eyes or (Alaska Athabascans) his tooth up or away. Eyes or tooth first come back to eye sockets or mouth but eventually are lost
Person loses his eyes because of his playfulness or negligence. He makes new eyes of some substance or/and takes eyes of another person
Person (usually after losing his own eyes), makes new eyes of berries and is able to see again
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)
World is ablaze, fire pursues a person. Some objects or elements do not resist the heat and cannot hide him. The last named gives protection. Earth becomes cool, person continues his travel
Trickster floats down the river or falls from the height and turns into a piece of wood or into a wooden object. Somebody picks it up. Eventually, the trickster acquires his real self, usually in the host's absence
Two (animal) persons compare their feces or vomits to know about the diet and habits of each other (who is the strongest). The weaker one gets to exchange the feces (vomits)
Two animals or persons compare their vomits to know about the diet and habits of each other. The weaker one gets to exchange vomits, to swallow the unusual food before, or to swallow his partner's vomits
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
A man joins a group of dancing women and is killed or injured as a result
In a difficult situation animal person asks for advice his tail, anus or some beings that are inside him (excrements, parasites, his "sisters", etc.)
Unrecognized Transformer meets a man who tells him that he prepares knives (a spear) to kill Transformer. The latter transforms him into deer, his knives or spear into deer antlers
A man comes across (often in the sky) one or two blind persons and cures their 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
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero is associated with the Sun, Moon, Thunder, or Wind (Cloud, Rain)
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
Persons do not understand with whom they are talking and tell the Transformer that they are making weapons to kill such and such a person or thinking about how to hide from him. The Transformer kills them of transforms them into animals
Grateful person decorates (rare: punishes) a bird who lives near water (kingfisher, loon, goose), thence its appearance (crest, beak, feathers)
Woman gets to the sky and marries a sky-dweller
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
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
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
Husband follows his dead wife to the other world but is unable to bring her back or succeeds to do it but loses her once again
Another sun, usually less benevolent and/or powerful, existed before the present one
There are mountains or rocks which permanently collide and separate again from each other or a crack (jaws) in a vertical cliff which is opening and closing
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)
Sacred knowledge, objects and rituals are initially obtained from the denizens of the underwater world
A woman is murdered. Her son or children (rare: grandchildren, nephews) revenge for her death
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they