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).
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
Frog or Toad is a wife of the Sun or Moon
Sea, river, waters of flood flow out of a small receptacle
Frog hides all the water but other person makes it available for everybody
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.
A woman (usually after a conflict with a man or remaining alone) or a man and a woman (married couple, lovers, brother and sister) turn into water mammals
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
When a demonic person (usually an ogress pursuing a man) dies, her or his flesh turns into objects that are found on trees, like fungi, pitch, fruits or nuts
Snail had (the) sharp(est) eyes. Another animal person borrows them and never returns
Person whose body is extraordinary hard and invulnerable or (rare) a small object is broken to pieces that turn into flints or other hard stones (the origin of flints)
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 Sun (the day light) that was absent, stolen or hidden appears (again)
Fire is personified as an (elder) woman, alone or with her husband, master of fire
A lonely woman or married couple surprises childred who live nearby in guise of animals (plants, objects). After this the children preserve their human guise
Magic person reveals his true nature and/or remains with the real people after the object responsible for preserving the non-human appearance (usually an animal skin) is destroyed (usually burned)
Initially men possessed women's biological traits and vice versa (beard, menses, breasts, bearing children)
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
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 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
An anthropomorphic male or an androgyne is the only possessor or leader of women
The women of the ancestral community kill or abandon the men
The women and the men of the primeval community quarrel and abandon each other
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 bird person gets his crest putting on his head a pubic hair of a woman or part of her genitals
A woman cannot understand what does her partner want. She points at, names or suggests different things. At last she points at, names or exposes her genitals. This is the right answer
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
A woman pretends to be a stranger to have sexual relations with her (grand)son, daughter or brother
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
Person commits something shameful, obscene. Presumably, nobody could see him doing it. When he asks people, "What's the news?", they answer that so-and-so (this person) has done such a thing
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
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)
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
Anthropomorphic beings satisfy their hunger cooking food and inhaling the odor
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 door of a house is opening and closing by itself crashing persons who attempt to come in or out
It is necessary to approach a tree which is surrounded with fire, ejects fire, shoots sharp splints, etc.
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
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
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 man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy
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
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
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
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)
By trick or by force, a rival or adversary kidnaps hero's wife or bride. The man gets her back
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
Supernatural male person (often a snake, a dragon) hides clothes of a human girl or sits on it. To return her clothes she had to become his wife
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
When hero dives, the antagonist covers the water surface with ice or net
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 ugly, old, lazy, etc. woman or (in Chaco) a male trickster comes to man under disguise of his wife or bride who is driven out, confined to the underworld, killed, etc.
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
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)
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
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 sticks to an object, usually touching it one by one with his body members. The object is a trap of demonic creature or is a non human creature itself
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
A monster or a big animal dies when fire is kindled in its belly
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)
Stone man kills people but ultimately is killed himself
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
Anthropomorphic beings have huge ears (use them for blankets, umbrellas, etc.)
(Animal) person provokes another to put a part of his body into a split log (between two planks, etc.) and removes the wedge
Non-human persons work hard to destroy a strong and durable obstacle that blocks access to some place or object
Birds and sometimes also animals work hard to break from the outside or from the inside a rock, a tree truck, bonds, etc. to release some beings or themselves from confinement in a small enclosure or trap
A long-necked bird living near water (stork, heron, bittern, swan) saves person from dangerous pursuer
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 a wren
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 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)
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
Raven tricks seals or other water mammals to gather around him and kills them by deception
A man runs away from the house of powerful person but in the morning awakens in the same house again
To obtain valuables person provokes a quarrel between their owners. When the owners become to fight with each other, the valuables fall out
Before finding a part of the body that is the best for some particular function, other parts are proven or enumerated
Person enters a seemingly empty house and attempts to take certain things. Invisible beings prevent him from doing it or objects themselves hurt him
A woman asks a man to tie her before copulation in such a way that a watcher would think she is raped
To provoke a quarrel between two different stones, person (always a raven) 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
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
The only vulnerable spot is near the surface of person’s or creature’s body and not in his inner organs
(Animal) person who became blind borrows eyes but never returns them to the owner
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
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
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
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.
Male person leaves his home and gets to unfamiliar places. On his way, he comes across different strange creatures. After all, he returns home or leaves the earth for the other world. (Rather often a long string of episodes breaks off or the story lacks the beginning and does not explain why the hero is travelling)
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