Mythological motifs

5,822 motifs · page 15 of 30

• Ordering of human life. A1300
• Men at first as large as giants. A1301
• Arrangement of man's bodily attributes. A1310
• Change in bodily form at fall of man. Adam's body was formerly horn-like. (Cf. A1281.1.) A1310.1
• Assembling the body. A1310.2
• Why men are clothed in skin. A1310.3
• Why women have marks on the belly. A1310.4
• Origin of hands and feet. A1311
• The lizard hand. Man's hand is modeled on that of the lizard. A1311.1
• Why God changed right hand into left. Man loses hand with which he gives devil a box on ears. A1311.2
• Origin of fingernails. A1311.3
• Origin of human skeleton. A1312
• Origin of knee-caps. A stone that magically joins self to woman's body. A1312.1
• Why an uneven number of ribs. A1312.2
• Origin of sex-organs. A1313
• Origin of eunuchs. A1313.0.1
• Origin of sex differentiations. A1313.0.2
• Origin of male sex-organs. A1313.1
• Origin of female sex-organs. A1313.2
• Origin of clitoris. A1313.2.1
• Misplaced genitalia. Originally genitals are misplaced. They are properly arranged by the culture hero. A1313.3
• Vaginal teeth broken. Women originally had toothed vaginas. Culture hero breaks teeth so that women will be harmless to men. A1313.3.1
• Origin of women's breasts. A1313.4
• Women at first with breasts on their foreheads. A1313.4.1
• Origin of placenta. A1313.5
• Origin of hair and beard. A1315
• Why men become gray-headed. A1315.1
• Origin of bald heads. A1315.2
• Origin of beard. A1315.3
• Origin of hair around mouth and eyes. Original dispute between Hair and Stomach. Stomach compelled to stay on inside of man. Hair stands on guard at mouth and eyes to see that Stomach does not escape. A1315.4
• Origin of pubic hairs. A1315.5
• Origin of eyelashes. A1315.6
• Origin of facial features. A1316
• Man at first with two faces, separated at birth of first woman. A1316.0.1
• Distribution of noses. The earlier comers receive big noses, the later small. A1316.1
• Forming of the nose. Nose was made from clay taken from the posterior of the already created man. A1316.1.1
• Why men blink. A1316.2
• Origin of eyes. A1316.3
• Distribution of eyes. A1316.3.1
• Why there are one-eyed women. A1316.3.2
• Men originally blind: eyes opened by accident. A1316.3.3
• Origin of ears. A1316.4
• Origin of tongue. A1316.5
• Origin of teeth. A1316.6
• Origin of urine and excreta. A1317
• Origin of other bodily attributes. A1319
• Origin of Adam's apple. Forbidden fruit sticks in Adam's throat. A1319.1
• Why men lack tails. A1319.2
• Why ear-wax is inside the ear. A1319.3
• Why the posterior of man is large. A1319.4
• Origin of the liver. A1319.5
• Origin of blood. A1319.6
• Why the center of man's eye is black: blackened by spirits to make themselves invisible. A1319.7
• Origin of sweat. A1319.8
• Origin of sneezing. A1319.9
• Origin of itching. A1319.10
• Origin of the sensation of tickling. A1319.11
• Originally man rejuvenated himself by snake-like change of skin. A1319.12
• Why man does not change his skin: ancient contest lost by toad, representing man, won by lizard. A1319.12.1
• Why man's neck is its present size. A1319.13
• Origin of man's skin. A1319.14
• Determination of span of life. A1320
• Men and animals readjust span of life. At first, thirty years are given to all animals and to man. For the animals it is too long, for man too short. Man is given a portion of animals' lives. Years 1–30 vigorous (man's own); 30–48 burdens and blows (ass's); 48–60 no teeth (dog's); 60–70 foolish (monkey's). A1321
• Why children learn to walk later than animals. A1321.1
• Determination of relation between birth-rate and death-rate. A1322
• Long span of life for first man. A1323
• Short span of life for first men. A1325
• Why babies die so easily. A1326
• Beginnings of trouble for man. A1330
• Paradise lost. Original happy state forfeited because of one sin. A1331
• Paradise lost because of forbidden fruit (drink). (Cf. A1346). A1331.1
• Paradise lost because of forbidden food. A1331.1.1
• Paradise lost because of brother-sister incest. A1331.2
• Paradise lost because first woman is seduced. A1331.2.1
• Confusion of tongues. Originally all men speak same language. Because of a sin they come to speak different languages. A1333
• Confusion of tongues partly due to lack of understanding of difference between the word for "stick" and the word for "stone." A1333.1
• Origin of death. A1335
• Origin of death from falsified message. A1335.1
• Origin of death: wrong messenger goes to God. A1335.1.1
• Origin of death from bad creator's unsuccessful imitation. The bad creator attempts in vain to endow his creations with life like the good creator. Fails and thus introduces death. A1335.2
• Origin of death from unwise choice. Choice between two bundles, one containing tempting articles, the other everlasting life. People choose the large bundle and lose everlasting life. A1335.3
• Origin of death when early people put on new skins. Child fails to recognize mother, who puts old skin back on. A1335.4
• Origin of death: serpent given immortality instead of man. Renews his skin. A1335.5
• Origin of death: punishment for scorning deity. A1335.6
• Origin of death: disrespectful answer to God. A1335.6.1
• First son who died before his father after the Flood. A1335.7
• Origin of death because world is overpopulated. A1335.8
• Origin of death because people weary of living. A1335.9
• Death sent into the world by culture hero (God) when he got tired of man. A1335.9.1
• Men die because a snake comes to prey on mankind while creator rests. A1335.10
• God of world of the dead demands that men die so he will have subjects. (Cf. A487) A1335.11
• Death origin: God sends a woman to sell poisoned curds to man. A1335.12
• God sends centipede down to introduce death into the world through its poisoned sting. A1335.13
• Death comes into the world by treachery of the gods: stick used by man for scratching his back is changed into cobra. A1335.14
• God punishes man by killing his child: origin of death. A1335.15
• Origin of murder. A1336
• Origin of disease. A1337
• Disease caused by the gods. A1337.0.1
• Pestilence brought to man in box by messenger from creator. A1337.0.1.1
• Disease caused by ghosts. A1337.0.2
• Disease caused by witchcraft. A1337.0.3
• Disease caused by menstrual blood. (Cf. D1003.) A1337.0.4
• Disease as punishment. A1337.0.5
• Disease to prevent man enjoying himself too much. A1337.0.6
• Origin of sickness and misfortune: monstrous births from brother-sister incestuous union. A1337.0.7
• Origin of ulcers. A1337.1
• Origin of cholera. A1337.2
• Origin of epilepsy. A1337.3
• Origin of fever. A1337.4
• Origin of itch. A1337.5
• Origin of leprosy. A1337.6
• Origin of smallpox. A1337.7
• Origin of illness from fire and cold. A1337.8
• Origin of physical defects. Wicked people entering heaven on rope fall to earth and are injured. St. Peter misunderstands what God says and lets them fall. A1338
• Origin of cripples. A1338.1
• Origin of blindness. A1339.1
• Origin of war among men. A1341
• Origin of battle-shouting. A1341.1
• Origin of duelling. A1341.2
• Origin of thefts and quarrels. A1341.3
• Origin of quarrelling. A1342
• Origin of lying. A1343
• Origin of tears and sighs. A1344
• The "three first cries that made their way to God": the cry of the blood of Abel, etc. A1344.1
• Origin of hunger. A1345
• Origin of thirst. A1345.1
• Man to earn bread by sweat of his brow. (Cf. A1331.1.) A1346
• Man must work as punishment for theft of fire. A1346.1
• Man must labor for a living: at first everything too easy. Full crops produce themselves, trees drop sugar etc. A1346.2
• Cotton at first already spun into threads. A1346.2.1
• First people have everything they wish (life without work). A1346.2.2
• Men are too happy: pain and sickness created. A1346.2.3
• Canoes at one time self-propelling. A1346.2.4
• Mankind's escape from trouble. A1348
• Wren helps mankind restore prosperity to the world. A1348.1
• Origin of sex functions. (Cf. A1556.) A1350
• Origin of childbirth. A1351
• Origin of childbirth pains. A1351.1
• Origin of abortions. A1351.2
• Origin of sexual intercourse. A1352
• Origin of unrestricted sexual intercourse between husband and wife. A1352.1
• Means of persuading persons to intercourse. A1352.2
• Former intercourse by navel. A1352.3
• Origin of menstruation. A1355
• Origin of menstruation – Eve and the serpent. It is a punishment because Eve had intercourse with the serpent. A1355.1
• Origin of menstruation – punishment because Eve ate forbidden fruit. A1355.1.1
• Origin of menstruation – Virgin Mary's garment. She hides her garment and a maiden finds it. A1355.2
• Previously men menstruated. A1355.3
• Culture hero teaches women how to rear their children. A1357
• Origin of sterility among women. A1358
• Man's growth and maturity. A1360
• Why children are helpless for so long. A1361
• Why a lad at puberty is energetic and later lazy. A1365
• Origin of mental and moral characteristics. A1370
• Why women are bad. A1371
• Bad women because of head exchanged with devil. Devil (serpent) and woman fight. St. Peter cuts off their heads and exchanges them. A1371.1
• Bad women combination of nine different animals. A1371.2
• Bad women from transformed hog and goose. Peter, having only one daughter, foolishly promises her to three men. He asks the Lord to create two others. This request is granted. The first creature he meets on two successive mornings he is to greet, and they will be transformed. He meets a hog and a goose. His two new daughters have these characteristics. A1371.3
• Origin of other special characteristics of women. A1372
• Why women are prattlers. A1372.1
• Why women laugh much. When Eve sees her first child she laughs over its smallness. A1372.2
• Why women are roving. A1372.3
• Why women have a treble voice. A1372.4
• Why women are deceitful. A1372.5
• Why some women are good-looking. A1372.6
• Origin of pleasant and unpleasant women. Contest arranged by Virgin Mary – laughter forbidden for some time. A1372.7
• Why women never have leisure. Because they refused to show God the way, saying they had no time. A1372.8
• Why women are subservient to men. A1372.9
• Why women keep washing themselves. St. Andrew, sent to get salt to keep people clean, gets drunk and forgets. There is only enough for men. A1372.10
• Why women attract men. A1373
• Why good-looking but soft, useless women attract men. A1373.1
• Origin of jealousy and selfishness. A1375
• Why some married people quarrel and accuse each other of infidelity. A1375.1
• Why man excels woman. A1376
• Origin of laziness. A1377
• Origin of bravery. A1381
• Why people do not fear earthquakes. A1381.1
• Origin of fear. A1382
• Why man is fearful in the jungle. A1382.1
• Origin of shame for nakedness. A1383
• Shame for nakedness appears to first woman. (Leaves for clothes). A1383.1
• Origin of evil inclinations. A1384
• Origin of evil inclinations: punishment for fall of man. A1384.1
• Evil inclination enters body at time of conception. A1384.2
• Origin of drunkenness. A1386
• Origin of hatred. A1388
• Hate released among mankind. A1388.1
• Ordaining of human life – miscellaneous. A1390
• Why other members must serve belly. Result of a debate between members of the body. A1391
• Why all limbs are dependent on body. A1391.1
• First walk by Adam. A1392
• Men live by the breath of the gods. (Cf. A1241.3.) A1394
• Ordaining of human life – additional motifs. A1399
• Origin of laughter. A1399.1
• Origin of dreams. A1399.2
• Origin of sleep. A1399.2.1
• Origin of spitting. A1399.3
• Origin of coughing. A1399.4
• Acquisition of human culture. A1400
• Culture originated by previous race of men. A1401