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Motifs — first 20 of 386
- Satan seduces Adam to sin because he is jealous of him. A63.5.1
- God's throne becomes hot because of activities on earth. A152.9
- Culture hero spares certain evil spirits. Old Age, Cold, Poverty, and Hunger beg the culture hero not to destroy them because of their real usefulness to man. A531.1
- Raising of the sky. Originally the sky is near the earth (usually because of the conjunction of the sky-father and earth-mother). It is raised to its present place. A625.2
- Sky is black because once raised by means of dirty stick. A702.8
- Sun hidden at night because afraid to wander. A722.6
- Sun-snarer: burnt mantle. A boy is angered because the sun burned his mantle. He makes a snare and catches the sun and delays him so that everything is burning up. A mouse finally gnaws the snare in two. A728.1
- Eclipses because sun cannot endure tragic happenings of history. A737.10
- Partial eclipses because of ailments of sun or moon. A737.11
- Moon is wife to all twelve brothers of the sun and they have her a month at a time because she ate up her sisters. A753.1.4.2
- Creation because of creator's lonesomeness. Dissatisfied at being alone in center of primeval water, God creates the earth. A832
- Natural features because of combat of huge rock columns with each other. A901.2
- Hills because sky asked earth to wrinkle up its feet. A969.4
- Rocks or hill-tops flat because persons (gods) slept or cooked on them. A972.5.5
- Flood because earth has become too thickly populated. A1019.3
- World-fire because of man's arrogance. A1031.5
- Why the sea is salt: because of wrecked salt ship. A1115.1
- Why days shorten in autumn: the real sun sets very early because the red cockscomb plant, used to kill his brother sun with, grows to its full height during this time. A1156
- Paradise lost. Original happy state forfeited because of one sin. A1331
- Paradise lost because of forbidden fruit (drink). (Cf. A1346). A1331.1
Tale types
- ATU 100 The Wolf is Caught because of his Singing (previously The Wolf as the Dog's Guest Sings)
- ATU 107 Struggle between Dogs and Wolves (previously Dog Leader Fears Defeat Because his Forces are of Different Breeds)
- ATU 122 Animal Loses his Prey because his Victim Can Escape by False Plea (previously The Wolf loses his Prey) [K550]
- ATU 1699 Misunderstanding Because of Ignorance of a Foreign Language (Including the previous Type 1699A)
- ATU 214A Singing Donkey and Dancing Camel (previously Camel and Ass Together Captured because of Ass's Singing)
- ATU 285A* The Adder Poisons the Children's Food because their mother has thrown away her eggs
- ATU 465 The Man Persecuted Because of his Beautiful Wife
- ATU 78A Animal Tied Up because of a Storm (previously Animal Allows Himself to be Tied so as to Avoid Being Carried off by Storm)
- ATU 809* Rich Man Allowed to Stay in Heaven because of single deed of charity