The Moon is female or bisexual, the Sun is male
The Sun and the Moon (rare: the Sun and a star, the Moon and a star) are two siblings who live on earth and then ascend to the sky being still young persons
Jackal, coyote, or fox are connected with the Moon (usually with the origin of spots on the lunar disc)
The earth is a female person (alone or together with a male person); she is female being or associated with a woman
Sea, river, waters of flood flow out of a small receptacle
A river flows from the body of a female person
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.
Animals of particular species do not hear well the instructions concerning their way of life or the ask God for some benefit but muddle their request. Thanks to this they acquire their present habits. (In the Toraja tale the motif is used to explain the mortal nature of human beings)
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
During the creation of the world or after the world cataclysm animals run around making the earth big, reporting about its condition or they are sent to report the size of the growing earth
During the flood birds or animals escape to some place (mountain, tree, boat, sky). Tips of their tails or other body parts get covered with water or foam and acquire their present color and form
During or before the world cataclysm (deluge, darkness) or (Suruí) in particular place at night, household objects and/or stones, trees, domestic animals turn into wild beasts and monsters
During or before the world catastrophe (deluge, darkness) wild beasts and monsters attack and destroy people
The first people or first anthropomorphic divine beings descend to earth from the sky.
People emerge from drops of blood that fall from the sky
Valuables (earth, soil, sun, crops, fire, sacred knowledge, hunting luck) are got or returned when son or daughter is stolen from his or her parent
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
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
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)
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
Two men or a man and a woman appear from two halves of the cut in two anthropomorphic body or embryo; or another man appears from part of the body of the first one or from his body discharge
Before the hero destroys the antagonists or escapes from them, he finds or receives the remains or possessions that belonged to the antagonists' victim
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
Disguised as a bird, small animal or insect, a man penetrates into the place of a girl (into her father’s house)
An ornitomorphic hero impregnates a girl magically or imperceptibly for her
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)
Person or animal must eat (drink) enormous quantity of food (beverage) or eat or drink poisonous beverage or food
A man must fulfill difficult tasks (to win competition) to receive the permission for a marriage
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
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
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
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
Person suggests to another who looks like being unable to move (rock, stump, fire) a race competition or provokes this object to roll towards him. The competitor becomes to move, burns or crashes the person or runs away with his clothes
Trickster and rock agree to race down slope. The rock rolls with ever greater speed and crashes the trickster
Good or bad luck of a man are particular persons with whom the man meets
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
The antagonist tries to drink a river or sea and bursts
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
In episodes related to deception, absurd, obscene or anti-social behavior the protagonist is fox, jackal or coyote
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
Two animal persons compete to see who could withstand cold all the night. At dawn one is dead
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
Fox catches birds, puts them into a bag and goes away for a moment. Another animal-person opens the bag and puts thorns instead of the birds
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
Loci or objects of three (rare – four) different materials are mentioned in such a way that all of them have positive connotations though unequal value (copper, silver and gold; silver, gold and diamonds, etc.)
Figure of a long-necked creature (llama or nandu) is seen along the axes of the Milkt Way
Because of its stupidity and unsocial behavior, the fox, jackal or coyote suffers a reverse, is injured or dies
Gods, first people or founders of the royal lineages are born from eggs
The river bed follows the way of a snake, fish, dragon or crab; pieces of the snake’s body turn into rivers; a river is a snake
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
Monstrous bird (giant bat) predates on humans. Heroes fight with it
Person attracts and catches the carrion-eaters (usually some birds) and thanks to this obtains valuables retrieves valuables (fire, woman, animals, etc.)
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
A woman is murdered. Her son or children (rare: grandchildren, nephews) revenge for her death
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
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