Another sun, usually less benevolent and/or powerful, existed before the present one
The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
The Moon is male, the Sun is also male or (much more rare) asexual
Coming together of the Sun and the Moon is the reason of their eclipses
After passing half of the its way across the sky (in the day time) or in the underworld (in the night time), the Sun stops to have a rest
When people see light of day for the first time, they are prohibited to look at it immediately. Those who break this taboo are ruined
Light and/or heat of the Sun and/or Moon originate from their crowns, necklaces or clothes (of feathers, of animal teeth)
As a result of some intimate contacts and/or love affair, the Moon acquires its present appearance (often, the stains on his face) and/or ascends to the sky
Dark spots on the lunar disc are dirt, blood, paint, traces of beating, burning, scratching, etc. on the Moon person's body or face (Kiliwa: spots on the Sun) and do not form any particular figure
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
There is enormous amount of water inside a trunk of a tree or a tree turns into water
A stream of water (with a monster in it) pursues person who tries to escape from it
Person who follows the wild animals turns into one of them or into their master
Chips of wood, branches or pieces of bark thrown or fallen into the water turn into fish and/or aquatic animals
Persons climb to the sky up a rope or an arrow ladder; fallen down rope turns into forest vines
Two teenagers or young people are in search of each other, call each other (or one of them call another): a girl in search of her lost (or dead) brother or brother’s wife, a boy in search of his brother or sister, young parents in seach their child. One or both of them turn into birds with specific cry
Originally the sky was close to the earth, then it has risen up
Formerly or in a certain country the sleep was not known; certain person possesses sleep, is its incarnation or teaches to sleep; the sleep is a particular substance
During or before the world catastrophe (deluge, darkness) wild beasts and monsters attack and destroy people
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
Hummingbird discovers where the fire is (and brings it to people)
To steal fire from its owner, person pretends to be wet or cold and is granted permission to sit near the fireplace. In a proper moment the stealer carries the fire away and brings it to people
Female person is the owner or inventor (but not the personification) of the fire
Before fire became known, people prepared food using warmth of their bodies (usually putting food in their armpits); or a person keeps fire in his or her armpits
First people or inhabitants of a distant country cook food in the sun; or fire owner lies that he or she cooks food in the sun
The first people (or only the first men or the first women) are not created but come to earth from the underworld (from a cave) or from a small enclosure under the earth or on its surface (tree trunk, rock, gourd, etc.). Many people of both sexes and of different ages or people and different species of animals come out together
People live underground or in a small enclosure. When they come out they are attacked by monster or dangerous animal. Monster is killed or transformed
To descend from the sky, ascend from the underworld or come out of the cave, people must pass through narrow hole. A person is stuck in the hole blocking forever communication between different parts of the universe
The first people or (the first) woman (wife of a primeval ancestor) are made of wood
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)
First people or people made by Creator's rival were imperfect, not completely anthropomorphic (often: had webbed fingers)
For different reasons, sexual contact with a woman is deadly dangerous for a man
Small creatures in female or male genitals are dangerous for the partner
A girl or young woman who is usually occupied with domestic work (is cooking, weaving, etc.) sits on the ground and copulates with a penis-like creature that crawls from below into her vagina
To kill snake or worm paramour of a woman or girl, person pours on it boiling water, resin or spills live coals
A woman or a girl takes a snake, an eel (i.e. Pacific snake-eel), a lizard, or a worm for husband or paramour. People kill or badly injure him, the woman and/or her progeny or the woman herself is transformed into snake. Cf. motif k76b: the snake-husband becomes and remains a handsome man
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
Certain woman or a group of women takes for a paramour a big land animal. Husbands, brothers or (adoptive) children kill or maim paramour and (sometimes) the woman
The (adoptive) children or grandchildren and not person's spouse or brother kill the paramour of their (step)mother or father
Person knocks the gourd vessel that floats above the water to call water monster or serpent. Usually a woman calls this way her monstrous paramour
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)
An (ostensibly) sick (ugly, weak, poorly clad) person remains at home when others go to the feast. The person comes by himself or herself looking like a handsome man or beautiful girl. The man (woman) does not recognize him (her) and feels against her (him) sexual interestю (All texts with motif k57, Chinderella, are also included into f62)
Person summons with a certain signal a non-human being (usually his or her sexual partner or his or her protégé). Another person spies, uses the same signal or pronounces the same words and kills the being who comes to him (or uses this being sexually 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)
Ancestors try to fell a tree (more rare a high rock) that has different useful fruits on its branchs (on its top) or contains water and fish in its tunck. The notch disappears as soon as the woodcutters abandon their work for a while or periodically
A deep notch in the tree (or in the sky support) is magically restored as soon as persons or creatures who cut or gnaw it stop working
A deep notch in the tree is magically restored when persons or creatures who cut it go away to take a rest. They get to fell the tree after they begin to burn the cut off chips or to carry them far way
A tree which trunk is cut through do not fall because it is hold from above
A giant tree (often with water inside it or with different cultivated plants on its branches) grows out of the human body or is transformed person
Before acquisition of cultivated plants people ate rotten or soft (Ceiba L., Ochroma Sw.) wood; some people eat rotten wood
Before acquisition of cultivated plants (fire, hunting skills) people ate dirt, mud or stones
Before acquisition of cultivated plants people ate fungi. Fingi is a food of non-human beings. Fungi is a false food of inferior quality
Ants are the first who find cultivated plants (corn or manioc) which are concealed from the others in particular place
A person asks people to abandon him or her in the forest, to burn or drag him or her around the future garden plot, to burn her in her house, etc. People fulfill the person's wish and find cultivated plants growing on the place
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)
Person or creature is transformed. Separate parts of its (his, her) body give origin to different plants, mostly edible or cultivated
Game animals were concentrated in one single place. Certain person lets them disperse in the world
Container with valuables or with dangerous creatures is opened (before time). Its content goes out of control or disappear
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
Seeing two women who have come together or in succession, man has to choose one of them. Usually he takes the one who is less pretty and smart or more dangerous inflicting troubles on himself and humanity
The lightning (and thunder) is (produced with) an object (axe, sword, mirror, belt, stones, skin, etc.) in hands of anthropomorphic being
Game animals live inside a mountain, in a cave or in the underworld where they often look like humans and have a master
It is necessary to approach a tree which is surrounded with fire, ejects fire, shoots sharp splints, etc.
Tree fungi are steps, small platforms, umbrellas, obstacles that make moving easier or more difficult, provide a shelter or cover
It to point at the rainbow, pointing finger or entire arm will rot, wither or become crooked
Stars are people, ghosts, anthropomorphic beings (interpretations of unique star objects like Venus or Polaris as persons not considered)
Waters of all rivers on earth run to the precipice where they rush down into the underworld
The Pleiades are any people (of any ages and sex, combined data of i99-i100a)
Heroes avenge the murder or captivity of the male relatives: (grand)father, uncles, or the elder relatives in general, the loss of the males being the most traumatic
A woman or a girl is in search of her husband (lover) or kinsmen or a man sets out on a journey to his bride. She (he) loses her (his) way because signs that should direct her or him to the right place had been changed
A woman or a girl is in search of her husband or other person. Bird feathers at the cross-road or near the person's dwelling mark the correct or the wrong way
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 girl or two sisters get to old woman who suggests them to marry her son. It is a worm or alive penis preserved by its mother in a pot. The girl (the sister) rejects it, runs away
A girl gets to see her bridegroom for the first time at a feast and then sets off to his place following instructions received from him
Two sisters (if more, only two play a significant role in the plot) travel and meet an unpleasant suitor or get to an ogre
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
Two halves of one animal or person which was cut in two turn into two animals of different species or into foreigners
Hero asks how one of his parents died and receives a series of false answers. Usually he successively exposes himself to the same dangers, survives and thus demonstrates that truth is still concealed from him
A murdered parent of the hero comes to him as a ghost and informs about the circumstances of his or her death
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 young hero obtains and uses weapons or other powerful objects which belonged to his murdered father
A man turns into powerful bird or creates it. The bird carries away his enemy
Person or his helper draws his enemies on the unstable bridge and destroys it. The enemies fall into water, into a precipice
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
The Moon's wife or sister tries to follow him to the sky but is unable to do it
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
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
A vine grows from person's or animal's tears, mucus, urine, etc.
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)
Hero substitutes powerful person's weapon or amulet with a fake
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
Flying person or creature abducts a woman but is ultimately killed or the woman escapes from him
Wife of a chief abandons him with vultures (usually by her own will being untrue to her husband). The chief (Witoto: her own brother) brings her back
A powerful supernatural wants to check if his guest made love with his wife or daughter. The person is impotent or (successfully pretends to be) chaste and is rewarded or at least gets no harm. Usually the same episodes repeats with another person who is dissolute or unable to control himself. This person is punished
First one, then another man meets a powerful person or persons. The first man is worthy and rewarded with treasure, prestige or the like. The second man (or two men) follows him, behaves in a wrong way and is punished
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
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)
Demons (or one of them) attack people and return to their den (usually a cave or tree hollow). People make suffocating fire around the den killing most or all of the demons
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
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
Non-human persons work hard to destroy a strong and durable obstacle that blocks access to some place or object
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
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is an opossum
Person dies or is humiliated after some object that he or she made of wax, resin, excrements and/or took for something worthy are melted down
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
Stars are children of the Moon and/or the Sun
Killing (injuring, offending) of some cruature (usually related to water) triggers deluge
Gods, first people or founders of the royal lineages are born from eggs
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
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
Mother tries to kill her son (children) because he interferes with her love affair
First seeds (sprouts, tubors) of cultivated plants or of important edible wild plants are brought from the sky (received from the sky-dwellers)
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
To kill the hero, his enemies involve him into a game with a dangerous ball (or ice, stone, bone, iron, a walrus head, a biting skull, etc.)
Woman is dangerous because biting or stinging animal or animals is (are) inside her genitals (and not only the head of such an animal)
A girl (a woman, a group of women) intentionally takes a penis-being, a snake, an eel, a lizard, a worm, a big water animal or water monster or a big terrestrial mammal for paramour. People kill or maim the paramour, the woman and/or her progeny or she is transformed herself into an animal. She is blamed for her behavior
Before the cultivated plants or edible wild plants become known, people ate (decomposed) wood, bark, mud, stones, fungi
Children (son, sons, son and daughter) of the murdered woman or man revenge on persons who have marital or close kin relations with the victom
Persons avenge the death of their father, mother or other relatives who are one (rare two) generations older than they