There is enormous amount of water inside a trunk of a tree or a tree turns into water
Constellation of Orion or the Belt of Orion is identified with only one male person, usually with a warrior or hunter
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.
After the original fire is stolen by the ancestors, a partridge size forest bird (Penelope sp.; Anhima cornuta; etc.; jacu, paujil) swallows burning coal and (besides the Andoque) its neck becomes red
People fell giant tree. The fallen tree and/or its stump turns into mountain(s) or rocks
During the flood or in the beginning of times fruits, seeds or other objects are dropped into water one by one, usually by a person who has climbed a tree. As far as the objects fall, water recedes and the dry land appears
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
The fire is personified as an elder man (alone or with his wife, mistress of fire)
Female person is the owner or inventor (but not the personification) of the fire
First fire was hidden in genitals or anus of a woman
Crocodile or cayman is an original or temporary owner of fire or lighting
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
After destruction of previous world, new people (rare: new earth) are made from the bones of the perished race
Person observes traces of some activity that takes place in his (rare: her) house in his (her) absence and then takes by surprise the responsible one
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)
People learn from aquatic birds how to make canoes or how to paddle; or the first canoe is a transformed bird or is made of bird bones
People learn how to decorate ceramics or baskets (usually learn decorated patterns) thanks to a water creature
Getting into the body of certain being, person obtain knowledge of rituals, songs, ornaments, poison or drugs and then brings it to people
Child is born from a tumor or swelling on person's body (on thigh, knee, finger, etc.) or is temporarily placed there or child grows from blood that flew out from a cut
Man takes or attempts to take a wife who is connected with the underwater world (fish, crab, snake, water animal and the like)
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
Human or monkey's genitals becomes red after being injured during copulation with the girl who had toothed vagina or had not any vagina
Women were possessors of the sacred knowledge, sanctuaries or ritual objects which are now taboo for them or they made attempts to acquire such a knowledge or objects
There are (or were) women who live apart from men in their own village or villages
To lure prohibited sexual partner into his or her hammock, person imitates or interpretes in a certain way voices of birds and animals
Two companions or brothers live together. One has a wife which he conceals. Another suspects her existence, destroys her or tries to get a wife also for himself
Fruits and shoots of different cultivated plants grow on the branches of one tree (on one vine) or certain plant has a tree form that is alien to it in nature
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)
Serpent (snake-eel in Oceania) or alligator is the original possessor or the source of cultivated plants or wild staples
Food crops emerge from remains of a woman or girl
Frog or toad is related to acquisition of cultivated plants
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different objects or creatures (only etiological narratives are considered)
All the fish or (rare) shellfish) was concentrated in one place. Certain person lets it lose or puts it into the rivers or sea
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
Milky Way is a sky river, water body, chain of beings that swim
Milky Way is the path over which souls travel to the beyond or a path of the funeral procession
Birds, first of all vultures and eagles, live in the sky, usually at one or more layers of the upper world
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
When constellation of Heron appears on the sky, the rain season begins
Walking in search of her husband, boyfriend, kinsmen, shelter woman or girl gets to the house of dangerous creatures where she is injured or killed
Setting off (usually in search of her husband, boyfriend or kinsmen), woman gets to the place of dangerous felines
Setting off (usually in search of her husband, boyfriend or kinsmen), woman gets to the place of female toad or frog
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)
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
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'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 man consciously marries a woman related to the non-human world
The hero has to carve the representa-tion of the head of a person who never opens his face. Usually such a representation decorates the wooden bench
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Hero demonstrates his supernatural abilities remaining alive in a burning hot chamber, stove, bonfire, among burning vegetation
In a non-human world objects of everyday life have appearance of animals and monsters, mainly fish, amphibians and reptiles
A small creature is reared up by people. When it is grown up, it becomes harmful and dangerous
A small creature (often a worm or a reptile) is brought home and reared up or it becomes to live by itself in an artificial body of water. When big, it goes out of human control or becomes something huge and/or dangerous. Cf. motif L13A (The reared up monster attacks people)
A bird with two or more heads on top of one body is described in tales or represented in art
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
Persons who are dangerous for the hero (demons, robbers, merchants) take for something pleasant and edible those objects, creatures or matters (excrements, snakes, insects, etc.) that are disgusting (not edible)
Person ascends, descends, walks head downward or sees the world upside down
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
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
Person or creature pretends to be afraid of a particular sort of treatment that really cannot do him any harm
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is an opossum
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the jaguar (ocelote, puma) suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
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 discovers that somebody steals game or fish from his trap or devastates his garden. He or his guards catch the thieves who prove to be (the first) women or the thief is the water being whom the hero lets go after receiving a woman for ransom
A boy or young man comes to steal food of a person who is elder than he. Usually he is caught but not punished and invited to live with the elder person
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is a monkey
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 or tests to the hero or heroine lives in the sky but is not associated with the Sun, Moon, Thunder or Wind
There is a constellation identified with a bird that corresponds to several big constellations in European traditions (mostly Ecuatorial and not Circum-Popar).
Being smart and persistent, the turtle (toad, frog) overcomes strong adversaries
Heroes (usually one or two), being still babies or embryos, escape or are thrown away, often into the water. To bring them back into the human world, they are lured (persuaded) to come out or caught with difficulty
Person attracts and catches the carrion-eaters (usually some birds) and thanks to this obtains valuables retrieves valuables (fire, woman, animals, etc.)
All humans, members of a particular ethnic or social group or a ruling dynasty are believed to descend from a mortal man and a woman of supernatural origin
Two brothers (companions) live In the epoch of the creation. One of them is smart and selfconfident, another is weak and makes mistakes. They are not enemies and demonstrate their qualities in two or more episodes
Woman is dangerous because biting or stinging animal or animals is (are) inside her genitals (and not only the head of such an animal)
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
A person spends a night in the forest. One of the forest dwellers has fire. After the person does something wrong, this fire is lost
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
During the flood some persons survive in a tree