The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
The Sun or the Moon is one-eyed (usually another eye was knocked or sucked out but sometimes this defect is not explained
In the beginning it is dark. When the Sun first appears on the sky, primeval beings or part of them perish or turn into animals, spirits, stones
At the moment when the first day or the first night come, (some) people turn into supernatural beings
Different game animals emerge from remains of a murdered person
Insect-person knows the source of food (cultivated plants) and water but does not share his knowledge. To make him speak, ancestors tie a rope around his waist and pull it till the waist becomes narrow (origin of narrow place between breast and belly of insects)
Because the dog was spreading some information, altercated with its masters, was talking in a wrong time, etc. it lost the ability to speak
After the crocodile or caiman swallows or loses fire (that he possessed before), he remains without his tongue; or the crocodile's tongue is cut off to make something related to celestial fire (thunderbolt, sun beams, etc.
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
Inhabitans of the Middle World are (partly) destroyed (or will be destoyed) once by fire or draught, another time by a flood or the world is destroyed with a flood of fire or boiling water
Birds or humans later changed to birds are sent to explore the earth (is it dry, are any survivals, to investigate why smoke rises to the sky, etc.) or to bring some soil to make the land that would be good for living
Fire is stolen from its original owner or brought back to the people from somebody who had stolen it before
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)
Snake (Pacific snake-eel in Polynesia) is in vagina; around the woman's thighs; vagina is a mouth of a snake; a woman with toothed vagina is associated with a snake; a snake crawls out of woman's mouth to bite off the man’s penis during the copulation
The (adoptive) children or grandchildren and not person's spouse or brother kill the paramour of their (step)mother or father
To get know the nature or locality of a person, another fastens a thread to his body and follows it
Cultivated plants or fertile soil to plant them are hidden inside a rock. Birds or Thunders get them destroying the rock
Cultivated plants are found above or inside a mountain
One of the trees is the principal, original one (emerged before all the other; ancestor of wild or cultivated plants; ocean or rivers inside it; world axis; higher than all the others; overshadows sky)
In the other world or in the time of the ancestors food products or materials used by people looked as persons
Serpent (snake-eel in Oceania) or alligator is the original possessor or the source of cultivated plants or wild staples
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
The right way to dispose of container with stinging insects would be to throw it into the river or sea or bury in a far away place, but it was not done
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
Supernatural woman comes to live with humans. Thanks to that, food becomes easily available. She is maltreated, goes away, temporal superfertility is lost forever
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Thunder falls to earth, cannot return to the sky. Usually a human person helps him to do it
A man helps Thunder who fights with his enemy
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 who got into the place of a deity responsible for atmospheric phenomena breaks certain taboo or instructions producing excessive thunderstorm, rain, snowfall or wind
Baby heroes, embryos or objects from which they emerge are found in a river or lake or come to people out of the water
An attempt to revive the killed father (and uncle) is only partly successful because the revived person is unable to be among the living (to be a warrior). The hero decides to abandon him (in the other world) or to let him die forever
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
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
In a non-human world objects of everyday life have appearance of animals and monsters, mainly fish, amphibians and reptiles
A bird with two or more heads on top of one body is described in tales or represented in art
Two girls or young women meet a demon. One or both are not aware of danger. One is eaten up, another escapes
Person who have eaten a prohibited meat or fish turns into monstrous snake or fish
To kill a dangerous animal or monster, acrid or hot liquid (boiling water, resin, soup, etc.) is poured into one of his body orifices
A man does not share food with his wife or kinsfolk. He or his food is transformed (turns into a bird, into worms, etc.) in punishment
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
Mixed traits of toad and jaguar in iconography; a toad or frog transforms into a jaguar; a toad or frog is a jaguar's mother or wife
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
Person pursued by an enemy asks somebody whom he meets to help him. The helper hides him
Person is pursued by an enemy. A bird or animal hides him or her in its mouth (under a wing) and pretends not to be able to open the mouth (to raise a wing) – because of a tooth ache, some injury and the like
A turtle (tortoise, toad, frog) behaves foolishly creating serious problems for himself
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
Punishing a person or animal or restoring his or its body after its disintegration, a powerful being intentionally or by chance puts head to bottoms
A man or an animal beats alligator but it remains unharmed and says that he would be killed if stricken in one special place on his body. The next time the same person strikes alligator this way and kills it
A bear or other dangerous being tears off and carries away a hand of a person and holds it at his sleeping place. Another person steals the hand, gives it back to the owner
A bear or other dangerous being tears off and carries away a hand of a person and holds it at his sleeping place. Another person steals the hand, gives it back to the owner
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the jaguar (ocelote, puma) suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Four (or eight) anthropomorphic male persons support the earth or the sky or are placed at the four cardinal points
The sky or the earth rests upon four or five (cardinal points and the center) supports of any kind (poles, mountains, giants)
The Sun and the Moon are or were enemies, either permanently or in particular situations