The Sun is female, the Moon is male or (more rare) also female
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
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
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
Hare or rabbit is a false deer or it was deer in the past or a close kin of the deer or had horns or antlers or missed opportunity to get them, its ears are the false horns
Animal who has no horns now had them before or missed opportunity to get them
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.
A coming of warm (light, abundant, etc.) or cold (dark, barren, etc.) time is related to the marriage of certain person
To thank or to punish a small mammal like chipmunk or (ground) squirrel, animal or person scratches or paints it producing stripes on its back
Because children do not give water to their mother, she turns into a bird, usually a cuckoo, and flies away
Raven or other carrion-eating bird of dark color and a similar size was originally white
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 turtle or a frog (toad) brings the desired object from the bottom of the water body or from the lower world
Against person's will, butchered, dried or cooked meat, tanned hides, etc. turn back into animals or fish and escape.
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
First fire is sent to earth from the sky or the ancestors ascend to the sky and bring from there fire or warmth
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
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
Person asks another person of the opposite sex about destination or place of her or his genitals. Usually it is made after putting questions about function of other body parts; or person tries to use for sex different parts of the partner's body or tests them before reaching the best place where the genitals should be put
Woman masturbates with penis of a big animal killed by a man of her household
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)
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 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
A girl gets sick. A man comes to cure her but only copulates with her or makes an attempt to do so
Person changes his or (rare) her guise to marry his or her close relative in descending or (rare) ascending line
To realize his or her secret desire (illicit sex, refusal to share food with relations), person pretends to die and is abandoned at a burial place
A woman's husband or male relative asks her (grand)children to invite her to make love with him. The invitation is expressed in an allegoric form. She understands, comes to him
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
Genitals exist by themselves as separate beings, they can be stuck to the human body, remove, etc.
Brother and sister marry each other. When their children get to know about the incest, they kill their parents, or father kills children, or parents suicide, or wife/sister suicides when her husband/brother has died
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)
Different body parts of a being turn into people of different ethnic affiliation or such people receive their names and characteristics according to body parts that they got
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
If called in a loud voice, ghosts do not hear an alive person but hear whisper, yawning, etc.
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
The owner of game animals conceals them underground. One of the ancestors turns into pup, is adopted by owners' children, lets the animals lose
Raven hides or scares game animals preventing hunters to kill them. People outwit him
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
Person receives a container with the soul of a dead person and has to open it not before he gets to particular place or after particular time interval. He opens it too early, the soul fly away
Coyote 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
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Giant water-chthonic or sky serpent or dragon has horns or antlers on its head
Beings without mouth, anus, genitals, whose women do not know how to give birth live in the underworld, in the sky, or in a far-away land
Person visits people who have no anus or mouth. He or his sister marries or tries to marry a local dweller
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)
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)
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
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
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
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
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 (e.g. to a tree) or down (e.g. into a deep cave) by ladder, rope, from branch to branch, etc. The rope etc. breaks or is intentionally destroyed and the hero cannot return to the ground. (All cases of motif K2A, besides the Koreans, also contain motif K2)
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
Person's leg (rare: both legs) is cut, torn, bitten off, injured. He (rare: she) ascends to the sky: to the Moon; turns into the Moon, Sun, star, constellation; blood from the injured leg makes the sky red
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
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
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
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
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
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
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
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
Giving way to a burst of horror or shame, woman or girl runs to the ocean, throws herself into the water or remains on the beach. Her husband or suitor pursues but cannot catch her
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 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
Person makes water or fish available only if girl agrees to marry him and does not do it if the girl is unwilling
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
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 young woman turns into monster and kills her brothers avenging the death of her husband or lover
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
Person that looks weak and feeble asks a man to carry him or her on his back and refuses to leave him
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
A cannibal under a tree plans to eat up a man who has climbed the tree. The man throws down and afar his pray or some object and escapes while the cannibal rushes to this object or is eating the pray
Rolling rock kills people, hero destroys it
At night, a shaman or a bush spirit comes and inserts his hand into the hut to steal food or to make this way love with a sleeping woman. A man who is in the hut cuts the hand off or breaks it
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 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
A person kills those who are passing by him. Usually he does not attack them all of a sudden but first distracts their attention. Usually he throws down his victims into a precipice, lake, etc.
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
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
Cunning fox, jackal or coyote saves particular person or many people, helps them
Dangerous cannibal or bush spirit who abducts children, attacks people, etc. is associated with an owl
A demonic being swallows a multitude of people and animals. When it is killed and cut open, the swallowed ones come out alive or are revived
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
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
Person transforms himself into an object of hunting or fishing, provokes hunters of fishermen to catch or shoot him and carries way the tools that they use (arrows, darts, harpoons, hooks, baits). Or he fishes by turning himself into a hook. Or he is caught but escapes turning back into a person
Person turns into a fish to steal fishing hook or harpoon or he turns into fishing hook to catch a fish
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, bittern, swan) saves person from dangerous pursuer
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 raven
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 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
Food or liquid that person swallows are immediately pouring out from his bottom part
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 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 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)
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
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
A man runs away from the house of powerful person but in the morning awakens in the same house again
Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated
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
Person insults a partridge-like bird, kills or injures her chickens. The partridge scares him, he falls, usually into a river or lake
Animal person puts his tail (penis) down and waits in hope to get something edible. The tail (penis) is torn or cut off, the person escapes or dies
In a difficult situation animal person asks for advice his tail, anus or some beings that are inside him (excrements, parasites, his "sisters", etc.)
A bird of prey or a carrion-eater (raven, owl, hawk; coyote) marries or tries to marry goose-person or other water bird. This marriage is not realized or is a short one
Person is able to move or to hover in the air like a feather or a bit of fluff
Person who gives difficult tasks to the hero and/or person who demands the fulfillment of certain conditions from those who want to marry his daughter is a prominent figure in social hierarchy. He is a head of the socio-political unit of community or super-community level and is neither a member of the hero’s household nor a mythical being
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
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
Those who inhabited the world in the time of creation were saying that real people were to come and so they had to do this and that
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
Person creates river rapids
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
Because of its stupidity or unsocial behavior, the bear suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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
To get rid of a (female) demon or to make a (lady)bird fly away, they are told that their house and/or children are on fire
Woman gets to the sky and marries a sky-dweller
To get rid of a (female) demon, she is told that her house and/or children are on fire
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
A (young) man sets off to find or to return his bride or his wife
Person attracts and catches the carrion-eaters (usually some birds) and thanks to this obtains valuables retrieves valuables (fire, woman, animals, etc.)
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
A woman gets into conflict with her brothers and turns into dangerous demon
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
Two groups of participants compete in fulfilling difficult tasks or are engaged into the game in which one team plays against another (at least two episodes with different participants from both sides). The participants are either anthropomorphic who possess different extraordinary qualities or they are different animals (natural phenomena, elements, etc.). {Texts in which the main participants are anthropomorphic and competitions are win by animals who accompany the hero are not included}
Person succeeds in getting through the opening which is going to bang shut but the stern of his boat, the tail of an animal or a bird, the body of his horse, or his own heel is flatterned, torn off, etc.
Beings without anus or mouth are dwarfs
The sky is constantly moving up and down in respect to earth
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)
Person revives the dead stepping or jumping over his remains
A young woman turns into the bear (in Asia, into the tiger) and attacks her husband or close relatives
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is skunk
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