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Stith Thompson Motif Index
About this index and how to read it
Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature classifies recurring narrative elements in folktales, myths, legends, ballads and related traditional narratives. Each entry below gives Thompson's motif reference and the description recorded in the index.
The index is large, so this browser displays 250 entries per page. You can search by motif reference or by words in the description, restrict the results to one of Thompson's main letter categories, and click motif references mentioned inside descriptions to follow cross-references. Individual motif pages also show any ATU tale types whose concordance explicitly cites that Thompson reference.
All
A
Mythological Motifs
B
Animal Motifs
C
Motifs of Tabu
D
Magic
E
The Dead
F
Marvels
G
Ogres
H
Tests
J
The Wise and the Foolish
K
Deceptions
L
Reversals of Fortune
M
Ordaining the Future
N
Chance and Fate
P
Society
Q
Rewards and Punishments
R
Captives and Fugitives
S
Unnatural Cruelty
T
Sex
U
The Nature of Life
V
Religion
W
Traits of Character
X
Humor
Z
Miscellaneous Groups of Motifs
| Thompson reference | Description ▲ |
|---|---|
| J684.1 | Fox with lion protector goes hunting alone and is killed. Wienert FFC LVI *59 (ET 214), 92 (ST 58); Halm Aesop No. 41. |
| J811.6 | Fox with three hundred fables ready to tell against lion conveniently forgets them. Jewish: Neuman. |
| J682.1 | Foxes desert their allies, the hares, when they foresee defeat by the eagle. Wienert FFC LVI 48 (ET 64), 106 (ST 187); Halm Aesop No. 236. |
| J426.2 | Friendship of snake and frog ceases when snake wants to eat frog. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2624 | Fright at animals' eyes in the dark. Africa (Angola): Chatelain 209 No. 21. |
| J2615.1 | Fright at noise of mill. North Carolina: Brown Collection I 697; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2615 | Fright at the creaking of a wheelbarrow. Type 1321**. |
| J2627 | Frightened by fireworks. Christensen DF XLVII No. 30. |
| J1062.1 | Frog as beauty doctor unable to cure his own ugliness. Wienert FFC LVI 45 (ET 27), 57 (ET 179), 101 (ST 134); Halm Aesop No. 78. |
| J952.5 | Frog heaps abuse on bullock, who scorns him. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1791.5.3 | Frog leaps into water after elephant's reflection. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J652.1 | Frog persists in living in puddle on road. Disregards advice of another frog and is run over. Wienert FFC LVI 59 (ET 203), 118 (ST 279); Halm Aesop No. 75; North Carolina: Brown Collection I 704. |
| J1772.13 | Frog thinks cattle are distant country. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J955.1 | Frog tries in vain to be as big as ox. Bursts. Jacobs Aesop 205 No. 22; Wienert FFC LVI 58 (ET 192), 93 (ST 61); Halm Aesop No. 84; *Crane Vitry 145 No. 29; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J512.12 | Frog wants to be shod like a horse. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1908.3 | Frog-woman betrays self by croaking. Africa (Nama): Des Schwartzen Menschen Märchenweisheit (Stuttgart, 1929) 140f. No. 27. |
| J1811.2 | Frog's cries misunderstood. U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J752.1 | Frogs decide not to jump into the well. Their spring having dried up, they consider jumping into a well. They decide that the well may also dry up. Wienert FFC LVI 59 (ET 202), 108 (ST 201); Halm Aesop No. 74; Italian Novella: Rotunda (J742). |
| J643.1 | Frogs demand a live king. King Log. Zeus has given them a log as king, but they find him too quiet. He then gives them a stork who eats them. Wienert FFC LVI *78 (ET 436), 110 (ST 217); Halm Aesop No. 76; *Crane Vitry 143 No. 24; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *277; Estonian: Aarne FFC XXV No. *277; Russian: Andrejev No. 277; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J613.2 | Frogs fear defeated bull. See two bulls fighting; know that the loser will take refuge in their marsh. Wienert FFC LVI 55 (ET 151), *148 (ST 531). |
| J613.1 | Frogs fear increase of sun's power which will dry up all their puddles. Wienert FFC LVI *76 (ET 421), 136 (ST 418); Halm Aesop No. 77; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 3189; Legends Nos. 288f. |
| J2211.1 | Frogs reprove ass for lamenting when he falls into morass. "What would you do if you had to live here always?" Wienert FFC LVI 56 (ET 163), 90 (ST 30); Halm Aesop No. 327. |
| J2102.8 | Frogs to eat insects, snakes to eat frogs. Snakes eat numskull's family. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J512.15 | Frogs want to collect honey like bees. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J241 | Fruitful tree chosen. |
| J1076 | Futility of distant travel. |
| J1087 | Futility of expecting stranger to have one's interest at heart. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1082 | Futility of trying to hide an obvious deed. |
| J1064 | Futility of trying to teach the stupid. |
| J1033 | Gardener who plants vegetable tends it best. Wienert FFC LVI 74 (ET 391), 145 (ST 508); Halm Aesop No. 191. |
| J1289.14 | Gem offered by monarch to one who can first go around the kingdom. Trickster goes around king and says king is kingdom. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1919.5 | Genitals cut off through ignorance. |
| J2494 | Getting a box on the ears. The man, advised to cure his wife with a box on the ears, goes to the pharmacy and gets one. He cures his wife. *Type 1372; Fb "ørefigen" III 1182; *Jacobs list s.v. "Box on ears"; Christensen DF XLVII 208 No. 62. |
| J2173.2 | Getting a sword to lift the cheese. A numskull sees a cheese by the side of the road and tries to lift it up with his sword, but the sword is too short. He leaves the cheese and goes away to borrow a longer sword. Meantime someone else takes the cheese. Field Pent Cuckoo 8; England: Baughman. |
| J2129.3 | Getting all the eggs at once. A peasant kills his hen so that he can immediately get all the eggs she will lay during the next year. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 53; Scala Celi 4b No. 21. |
| J2101 | Getting rid of the cat. In a land in which cats are not known, one is bought at a great price. It eats many mice. By misunderstanding, they think the cat is a monster. In order to get rid of it they set the house on fire. *Type 1281; BP II 72 n. 1; Christensen DF XLVII 219ff. no. 82. |
| J2113 | Getting the calf's head out of the pot. A calf gets its head caught in a pot. A fool cuts off the calf's head and then breaks the pot to get it out. Clouston Noodles 89; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1769.1 | Giant thought to be a hill. BP III 333 (Grimm No. 183). |
| J1850 | Gift or sale to animal (or object). |
| J1851 | Gift to animal or object. |
| J1851.3 | Gift to object. |
| J1283 | Gifts from the brothers. A king gives a man a coin. "Is that all you give your brother?" "Are you my brother?" "Surely, we both pray, Our father, etc." "If all your brothers give you as much as I you will be rich." Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 517. |
| J1851.2 | Gifts to birds. Numskulls hear birds calling and give them gifts. Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 260. |
| J1851.1 | Gifts to frogs. |
| J2131.3.1 | Girl hacks off her heel to get shoe on. Fb "hæl" I 727; Spanish: Espinosa II Nos. 111—112, Espinosa Jr. No. 119. |
| J2521.3 | Girl marries man so she will not be ashamed undressed in his presence. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1763.2 | Girl mistaken for stone. Espinosa JAFL XXVII 119—129. |
| J1174.4 | Girls must pay for young man's virginity. Girls repulsed by man climb in his window at night. Become pregnant and demand marriage. Branded as prostitutes and must pay the man. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 17. |
| J2048 | Given things for self and relatives, fool forgets to take his own. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2489.6 | Giving half of savings away: "Whoever gives charity gets double in return." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1781.3 | Glowing wheel supposed to be the devil. Christensen DF XLVII 184ff. |
| J953.12 | Glowworm thinks he shines like stars. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1761.3 | Glowworm thought to be a fire. The bird who tries to keep the monkeys from this error is killed for her pains. Chauvin II 90 No. 32; B[ö]dker Exempler 286 No. 34; Penzer V 58f. |
| J953.10 | Gnats apologize for lighting on bull's horn. He had not felt their weight. Wienert FFC LVI *57 (ET 186), 92 (ST 49); Halm Aesop No. 235; India: Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 136. |
| J953.6 | Gnats think they have thrown horse down. He has only rolled over. *Type 281; Russian: Andrejev No. 281; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1835 | Goat chewing cud angers fool, who thinks goat is mimicking him. Type 1211; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J2136.3 | Goat eats in garden and is caught. Fox says, "If your sense were as long as your beard, you would look for exits as well as entrances." Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 33 No. 128. |
| J1261.1.1 | God as a father-in-law. Nuns tell a man that they are daughters of God. "Come and marry me; I should like such a rich father-in-law." Wesselski Bebel II 120 No. 60. |
| J1559.2 | God as surety; the abbot pays. A young man is ransomed by giving God as surety for the ransom money. He fails to return as agreed. The creditor sees a wealthy abbot, who says that he is a servant of God. He robs the abbot and when the young man finally appears he tells the latter than the debt is already paid by God's servant. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 59; Alphabet No. 503. |
| J2215.5 | God blamed for heavy rain. Since he is an old man he should have known that more rain was unwelcome. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2215.6 | God blamed for letting pumpkin vines produce larger fruit than nut trees. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2215.4.1 | God blamed for scarcity of food. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1262.2 | God in the puddle. A Jew objects to the doctrine that God could exist in the Virgin Mary. A disputant asks if he believes God is everywhere; then if God is in a mud puddle. The Jew agrees. The disputant condemns the Jew for believing that God could exist in a puddle and not in a pure virgin. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 154. |
| J1441 | God of the earth. Question from the king: "Who are you?" "I am God." "Make my eyes larger." "I am only God of the earth and have power only below the girdle." *Köhler-Bolte I 504; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 279 No. 326. |
| J451.3 | God of wealth in bad company. Heracles on his arrival in heaven fails to greet Plutus, the god of wealth: he has seen him in too bad company. Wienert FFC LVI 76 (ET 418), 120 (ST 295); Halm Aesop No 160. |
| J225.0.2 | God punishes many men because of one sinner, like a man who kills hive of bees for stinging of one. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J2052 | God's mercy contrasted with man's short-sightedness. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J1617 | God's omniscience. A woman tells her brother of God's omniscience. When he is ill and the priest has been called, he creeps under some straw and hides. The priest leaves. The man: "If God were so omniscient he might have found me for the priest." Wesselski Bebel II 119 No. 57. |
| J229.13 | God's punishment: the sinner may have twelve years of famine or twelve hours of heavy rainfall. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2215.1 | God's wastefulness. A man is robbed and later the same day is given much money. He complains to God, "What was the use of taking from me what you were going to give back to me after stealing from another?" Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 212 No. 34. |
| J1034 | Gods help those who help themselves. Ox driver must put his shoulder to the wheel before Hercules will help him. Wienert FFC LVI *78 (ET 440), 138 (ST 436); Halm Aesop No. 81; Jacobs Aesop 214 No 61. Cf. also Halm Aesop No. 300. |
| J2093.6 | Gold and jewels sold for trifle. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1176.3 | Gold pieces in the honey-pot. Woman leaves honey-pot with neighbor to guard. It has gold below the honey. Neighbor steals the gold and substitutes honey. Theft proved by gold pieces sticking to sides of pot. (Cf. J1192.2.) Alphabet No. 261; Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas III 58ff., 300f., *Neuman. |
| J1511.20 | Goldsmith sells thinly plated gold; peasant retaliates: a pot of dirt with a little gyav on top. (Cf. J1556.1.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J174 | Good and bad in all books. Author says that a prudent man notes only the good in a vain book; a malicious person, only the bad in a good book. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1422 | Good bath. A cat seeing a mouse leave a bath says, "Good bath!" Mouse: "If I had not seen you!" Chauvin III 55 No. 11. |
| J163.4 | Good counsels bought. *Types 910A, 910B; *Fb "rеd"; Spanish Exempla: Keller; India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 229. |
| J531 | Good shepherd shears his sheep; does not skin them. Emperor thus replies to suggestion of a new tax to be laid on the people. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 742. |
| J2093.4 | Good timber given for useless because wife says they will have only sickness and trouble. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J244 | Goodness preferred to beauty. |
| J247 | Goodness preferred to wealth. Irish myth: *Cross; Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J1852 | Goods sold to animals. *Type 1642; *BP I 59f.; *Chauvin VI 126 No. 280; Fansler MAFLS XII 352. |
| J1853 | Goods sold to object. *Type 1642; *BP I 59; Köhler-Bolte I 135; Spanish: Espinosa III 147. |
| J1791.8 | Goose dives for star, thinking it a fish. The next day when she sees fish, she lets it escape. Chauvin II 89 No. 28; B[ö]dker Exempler 284 No. 30; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1762.1 | Goose mistaken for a tailor. In a ghost house he is thought to be a tailor who snips the devil with his scissors. *Fb "gеs" I 528b. |
| J1561.7 | Grace said in name of the host. Neglected guest thus gets his portion of food. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J2196 | Grain shot down with guns. People unacquainted with the sickle. *Type 1202; *BP II 72 n. 1. |
| J1031 | Grain will be cut when farmer attends to it himself. Lark leaves her young in the cornfield. They hear farmer tell sons to go to neighbors for help in harvesting. Lark tells young not to worry. Same when he sends for relatives. Farmer decides to harvest it himself. Larks move, for they now know that it will be done Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 867; Wienert FFC LVI *70 (ET 341), 126 (ST 351); Halm Aesop No. 210; Roumania: Schullerus FFC LXXVIII No. 93*. |
| J1785.1 | Grasshopper thought to be the devil. *Field Pent Cuckoo 7; England: Baughman. |
| J2112 | Gray hair cured by pulling it out so that the person is bald. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 504; U.S.: Baughman. |
| J411 | Great refuse to associate with lowly. Missouri French: Carrière. |
| J2136.6.1 | Greedy jackal caught in carcass of dead bullock. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J514.5 | Greedy man dissatisfied with gold looks for jewels; finds only iron and eventually nothing. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J514.3 | Greedy man keeps demanding one more thing from complacent man; at last is magically blinded. Campbell-McKay No. 21. |
| J514.4 | Greedy pig looks up into tree for figs. This causes his death. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2125 | Guarding chickens from the fox. Numskull ties their beaks and weights them down in the river with stones. BP III 337ff.; Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 139 No. 1692. |
| J2712.2 | Guess how many eggs I have and you shall get all seven. Christensen DF XLVII 214 No. 73. |
| J2712.1 | Guess what I have in my hand and I will give it to you to make egg-cake with. What does it look like? What outside and yellow inside. It is a hollowed turnip filled with carrots. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 209 No. 15. |
| J1575 | Guest brings along cakes to eat. Stingy host rebuked. Spanish: Espinosa III No. 192; Italian Novella: *Rotunda, Boccaccio Decameron I No. 8 (Lee 23). |
| J1563.5 | Guests frightened away by housewife. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1563.2 | Guests make impossible demands of host: host's representative forces guests to leave by sending them on difficult quest. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| J1072.1 | Guests strike man who tries to interfere in their quarrel. It is their host in old clothes. Guests are humiliated but forgiven. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 415. |
| J1142.2.1 | Guilt detected by quickening heartbeat. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1141.12 | Guilty man freed of murder charge is tricked into making a false accusation for which he is sentenced. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges. |
| J1141.1 | Guilty person deceived into gesture (act) which admits guilt. |
| J2300 | Gullible fools. |
| J2315.2 | Gullible husband made to believe he has cut off his wife's nose. She, in another house, has had her nose cut off by mistake. She makes him believe he has done it by making him angry enough to throw a razor at her. When he throws the razor she claims it has cut off her nose. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2301.3 | Gullible husband removes from wife's garment dust gathered while she lies with another man. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J2301 | Gullible husbands. (Cf. J2311.0.1., J2311.2, J2311.7, J2312, J2313, J2314, J2315, J2316, J2324, J2331.) *Types 1313, 1406; *Liebrecht Zur Volkskunde 124; Bédier Fabliaux 265ff., 475; *Crane Vitry 227 No. 231; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 225 No. 66; *BP III 337; *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 866; B[ö]dker Exempler 280, 296 Nos. 24, 59; Christensen DF XLVII 59; Spanish Exempla: Keller; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2303 | Gullible mother. |
| J2302 | Gullible wives. |
| J1772.10 | Gun thought to be clarinet: one man blows, another presses the "keys". (Cf. K1057.) Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 1861*. |
| J1289.16 | Hairless palms from giving and receiving gold. Jester flatters prince for bounty. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1551.9 | Half of money thrown into tank. The monkey to the grocer: "You sold half water and half milk." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1522.1 | Half price for half a shave. A man asks to be shaved at half price. The barber shaves one side. He must pay the other half for the rest of the shave. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 601. |
| J2132.2.2 | Hand bound to dog's leash: person dragged. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1813.6 | Handful of black pepper taken into mouth instead of cooking it in food. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2174.4 | Hang me right away so I can get back to work. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J975 | Hare demands equal rights for all animals. Reprimanded for presumption. Wienert FFC LVI 57 (ET 181), 92 (ST 43); Halm Aesop No. 241. |
| J61 | Hare instructs his sons to use their eyes to advantage. Type 72*. |
| J885.1 | Hare upbraided by sparrow for letting self be carried off by eagle rejoices when sparrow is carried off by hawk. Wienert FFC LVI 56 (ET 164), 103 (ST 160). |
| J2066.8 | Hare waits in vain for leaves to fall from palm tree. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2066.9 | Hare waits in vain for man's hand to fall off. He sees it dangling. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J455 | Harm of association with flatterers. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 739. |
| J1932.6 | Harvesting early for half a crop. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1455 | Has never died yet. Slave (workman) recommended to master whose recent slaves have died: "He has never died while I owned him." *Clouston Book of Noodles 8; England, U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2174.3 | Having the head dressed before hanging. A man who has hurt his head in trying to hang himself has the head dressed by a doctor and then goes and hangs himself. Clouston Noodles 6. |
| J1636 | He has a family to support. Ruler to servant stealing his game: "If you wish any I'll send you some." U.S.: Baughman; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J876 | Headless king and tailless tiger, each afraid of other, agree to be friends. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1513 | Healed with his own medicine. |
| J2412.5 | Healing with the cherry tree. A man whose wife refuses to talk remembers that a priest drank black cherry juice whenever he lost his voice. He cannot get the cordial but concluding that a limb of the cherry tree will have the same effect beats his wife with is. She is cured. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 715. |
| J232 | Health chosen as the most precious thing. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2572 | Heart may not be able to stand winning mistress. Man told it is well he did not obtain girl he loved because his heart might not have been able to stand it. Heptameron No. 58. |
| J215.3 | Heathcock prefers home with hardships to travel in foreign lands. *Type 232. |
| J2465.4.1 | Heating water for woman to wash in. Boiling water poured over her. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J652.4.1 | Hector warns Trojans against attacking the stronger Greeks. Warning disregarded. Disastrous defeat. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J2133.11 | Hedgehog and crab jump from boat after turtle. They fall on floating leather. Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 128. |
| J311 | Heed not the past. |
| J552.4 | Helmet left for woman to quarrel with. Woman insists upon quarreling with a nobleman. He says, "If you wish to quarrel, I shall leave my helmet here. You can talk to it." Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 641. |
| J1872.1 | Helping the cuckoo. A numskull climbs a tree to help a cuckoo so that he may call louder than the one in the neighboring forest. Meanwhile his horse is eaten by a wolf. *Wesselski Bebel I 137 No. 42. |
| J1811.4.1 | Henpecked husband leaves home. Hears a rooster crow, saying: "Cocky kuko! It's the same everywhere!" He returns home. England, U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1886 | Hens in mourning. Fool puts black clothes on his hen's necks. He tells people that they mourn their mother. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 210 No. 19. |
| J345.1 | Herdsman neglects his she-goats in favor of wild-goats. She-goats die; wild-goats run off. Wienert FFC LVI 72 (ET 368), 106 (ST 181); Halm Aesop No. 12. |
| J153.2 | Hermit explains why anger is sin. Nouvelles de Sens No. 20. |
| J2119.9 | Hero beheads old woman who asks him to cure her of old age. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| J155.1 | Hero directed on journey by princess. Malone PMLA XLIII 401. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| J1730.1 | Hero does not learn his name until after first adventure. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J2047 | Hero keeps on leading his horse without discovering that it is dead. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| J246.2 | Hero, despising weapons, fights with fists alone. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| J582.1 | Hidden goat discovered by his horn protruding above ground. Phaedrus II No. 8; West Indies: Flowers 476. |
| J582.2 | Hidden stag discovered when he begins to eat grapevine too soon after hunters have passed. Wienert FFC LVI 65 (ET 286), *109 (ST 209, 521); Halm Aesop No. 127. |
| J2351.2 | Hidden wolf gives himself away by talking. Cape Verde Islands: *Parsons MAFLS XV (I) *7, 13. |
| J342 | High wages bring expensive living. West Indies: Flowers 475. |
| J1341.12 | Hired man shows in saying grace how better food has resulted from arrival of unexpected guests. Nebraska text: |
| J1341.11 | Hired men sing of displeasure with food; change song when food is improved (cante fable). The Westmoreland text follows: |
| J1742.2 | His address: a big high house. Mayor asked about where he lives, names his village and directs the enquirer to a big high house. Wesselski Bebel I 182 No. 31. |
| J2352.1 | His brother cannot pray either. One brother receives the sacrament; the other is refused it because he cannot pray. He replies that his brother cannot pray either and thus deprives him also of the sacrament. Wesselski Bebel II 107 No. 22. |
| J1274 | His father has been in Rome. A young man comes to Rome who looks like the emperor. Latter asks him if he mother has ever been in Rome. No, but my father has been here often. (Not son but brother.) *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 502; Mensa Philosophica No. 3; Nouvelles Récréations No. 15; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J2174.1 | His last request: a red cap. A man about to be hanged keeps asking for his red cap which he has left in prison. He has no thought of his real peril. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 27. |
| J1286 | His proper title. A peasant goes to a judge and thinking to gain his favor addresses him with high titles. The judge calls him a fool. "I was mistaken, you swine!" *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 262 No. 223. |
| J2015 | His pupils grab a dog's tail and think it is their master's. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2301.2 | His wife has become a widow. Numskull buys cloth used only by widows and is therefore convinced. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1812.4 | Hissing of fire thought to be noise of cooking muffins. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J201 | Hobson's choice: choose what is put before you or nothing. |
| J1242.1 | Hog's head divided according to scripture. To be divided among three students according to their skill in quoting. First: "And they cut one ear off" (takes ear). Second: "And they gave him a box on the ear" (takes other ear). Third: "And they took him away secretly" (takes whole hog away). BP II 361. |
| J1904.3 | Hogs made to sleep in trees to cure their filthy habits. All are killed. England: Baughman. |
| J1942 | Holding in the heat. A numskull ties yarn around the stove to keep the heat from escaping. Type 1271B*. |
| J1289.18 | Holy man asked by king for the heart of religion answers: "You are sitting on your throne and I'm sitting on the ground, so how can I tell." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J153.1 | Holy man's prayer reforms rich man. Holy man prays, "May God bless everything here that is good but cause to disappear all that is bad." Everything disappears. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 199; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J551.7 | Honest servant tells people that shop does not have many customers: dismissed. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1082.1 | Horn will tell the tale. Thus answers goat to herdsman who begs her not to tell master that he has broken off her horn. Wienert FFC LVI 72 (ET 367), 102 (ST 154); Halm Aesop No. 17. |
| J2129.7 | Horse drawn across ice till skin is rubbed off. Type 1212. |
| J1914 | Horse taught to live without food. Dies. Type 1682; Wienert FFC LVI 72 (ET 364), 129 (ST 370); Halm Aesop No. 176. |
| J1766.1 | Horsemen thought to be men mounted on cattle. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J1562.3 | Host hides meat in his clothing. It attracts his dog and he is exposed. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1573 | Host rebukes negligent servant. |
| J344.2 | Host wants to learn Hebrew even at risk of forgetting his own language. Chauvin II 106 No. 69; Bødker Exempler 303 No. 72. |
| J1561.4.1 | Hostess says that she has no spoons. Otherwise she would be glad to give something to eat. A joker brings along the necessary spoons. Type 1449*. |
| J145 | Hostile dogs made friendly by having them fight common enemy, the wolf. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 400; Jewish: Neuman. |
| J2412.1 | Hot onion to the eye. A friend has cured his foot with this remedy. Herbert III 63; Hervieux IV 278 No. 34; *Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 36; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1959.1.1 | Hot sickle put into water to cure its fever. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2102.4.1 | House burned down to get rid of lizard. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2103.3 | House burned down to get rid of rats. (Cf. J2102.4.1.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2102.4 | House burned down to rid it of insects. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 37; *BP III 288; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 244 No. 137; Christensen DF XLVII 219ff. No. 82; India: Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 267. |
| J142.1 | House dog blames master for teaching him lazy habits. Wienert FFC LVI 60 (ET 229), 145 (ST 502); Halm Aesop No. 217. |
| J2387 | How blind men get about. Fool experiments with shut eyes and gets lost. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1903.4 | How can an elephant eat, having tails at both ends? Decision: it lives on air. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2382 | How did the cow get on the pole? A fool hides his purse on a pole on a cliff. A rascal substitutes cow-dung for the money. The fool is interested only in how the cow could have reached the purse. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 236 No. 110; Köhler-Bolte I 497; Rumanian: Schullerus FFC LXXVIII 69 No. 8. |
| J1261.10 | How does goddess with thousand faces blow her noses? India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2221 | How does he know? A rustic refuses to believe reports about hell from a priest who has not been there. Herbert III 82. |
| J1941 | How far his voice will reach. A numskull cries from a tower and then runs away to see how far his voice will reach. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 191 No. 373. |
| J1713.1 | How he knew she was baking cakes. Husband actually knows from observation but wife thinks he has supernatural knowledge and spreads his fame India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1936 | How he looks in his sleep. A man stands before mirror with his eyes shut to see how he looks in his sleep. Clouston Noodles 9. |
| J1301 | How he shall be mourned. Women insist on knowing how a man wants to be mourned when he dies. "Mourn me as a man who was tormented by women talking foolishness." Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 232 No. 86. |
| J1391.4 | How he would act if he were a hawk. A hawk steals a piece of liver from a trickster and flies away with it. The trickster likewise steals some liver from another man and escapes to a high place with it. He says that he is seeing how he would act if he were a hawk. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 214 No. 41. |
| J1291.3 | How many priests should one have in one place? How many fox tails will reach to heaven? All depends on the length of the tails. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 96. |
| J1306 | How marriage was consummated. Mother asks newly-wedded daughter if she approached her husband the first night. Answer: "He approached me." Spanish: Childers. |
| J1291.3.1 | How much cloth would it take to make God's coat? Just as much as for me, for what you have done for a poor person in my name you have done for me. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 325. |
| J1601 | How much the ass cost. As the fool brings the new ass home everyone wants to know how much it cost. He has all publicly assemble and announces just what it cost. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 134 No. 1550C, Espinosa No. 54. |
| J2374 | How the first man killed himself. The second fool imitates the first who leaps from a palm tree by means of a looped rope. The first kills himself. The second wants to see just how it happened and kills himself too. Africa (Ekoi): Talbot 156 No. 2. |
| J2281 | How the fishes got there. Guests of host who waters his wine put little fishes into the wine jug. "Now I confess that I put water into the wine; otherwise the fishes could not be there." *Wesselski Bebel II 109 No. 32. |
| J1305 | How the tail pointed. One who believes in auguries asks peasant woman if she has seen a bird. "Yes, a crow." And in what direction was his tail pointing?" Answer: "Toward the rear!" |
| J2711 | How the tower was built. Fool gives three explanations: (1) It was formerly a deep well; dug up and set out; (2) it was built by a very tall man; (3) it was built flat on the ground and then set up. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 243 No. 27. |
| J2716 | How to find if it is raining. (Cf. W111.2.4.) |
| J2173.9 | How to remove hairs from salt. Washed with water, salt melts away. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2119.6 | How to save the rice. Boy has rice in joined hands and arms around a pillar. Afraid to move lest rice be lost. Roof is removed and boy lifted over pillar. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1735.1 | How to tell the right hand in the dark. Numskull keeps the candle at his right side as he goes to bed so that he can do so. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 235 No. 104. |
| J2133.14.1 | How was the pigeon killed? Fool aims stone at inquirer saying, "I struck him like this." Inquirer is killed. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2062.3 | How was the town burned? India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2214.4 | Human milk as best diet (for baby). Fool therefore will take nothing but milk from his wife and starves the baby. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J179.1 | Humble Brahmin teaches king the difference between "mine" and "thine." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1251.1 | Humiliated lover in repartee with disdainful mistress. (Cf. K1225.1, K1326.1.) Nouvelles Récréations No. 64. |
| J902 | Humility of angels. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J910 | Humility of the great. |
| J905 | Humility of the wise "Sons of the East". (Cf. J191.) Jewish: Neuman. |
| J903 | Humility one of the qualifications of a prophet. Jewish: Neuman. |
| J900 | Humility. |
| J1341.5 | Hungry apprentice attracts master's attention by telling lies on him. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 143 No. 1718, Keller. |
| J1606.1 | Hungry man eats intestines of fish next morning after refusing to do so the evening before. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1341.6 | Hungry shepherd attracts attention. He tells of a cow with four teats who bore five calves. They ask what the fifth calf does while the other four are nursing. "It looks on just as I am doing now." Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 134 No. 1555. |
| J1341.9 | Hungry son gets cherries. He slaps another son, and explains that the other boy was saying that he would not get any of the father's cherries. The father shares the cherries. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1341.10 | Hungry student gets meat. By telling a mewing cat that it could not yet have the bones because no meat has been served him, a collegian calls attention to an oversight on the part of a servant. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1759.2 | Hunter mistakes louse on his eyelash for game. He shoots several times before he notices the trouble. U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1478 | Husband and wife burn their mouths. A wife served overhot soup, forgets and burns herself so that tears come to her eyes She says that her departed father liked soup so much that she weeps when she eats it. The husband is also burned and weeps: "I am weeping because your accursed mother didn't take you with her when she died." Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 238 No. 115; Köhler-Bolte I 498; Indonesian: Coster-Wijsman 71 No. 129. |
| J1541.4 | Husband and wife separate and divide property. Man keeps the house, gives the wife the road. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2342.2 | Husband away three years accepts children born in his absence as his own. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1151.1.2 | Husband discredited by absurd truth. Wife puts fish in furrow where husband plows them up (or like absurdity). At mealtime the husband says, "Where are the fish?" — "What fish?" — "Those I plowed up." He is laughed to scorn. Bédier Fabliaux 196, 436; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2316 | Husband made to believe that his house has moved during his absence. The wife and her confederates transform the house into an inn with tables, signs, drinkers, etc. The husband cannot find his house. *Type 1406; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 274 No. 298; Bédier Fabliaux 266; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J2325 | Husband made to believe that yarn has changed to tow through his carelessness. Thus his lazy wife is relieved from spinning. Type 1405; BP III 44. |
| J2321.3 | Husband makes wife and mother-in-law believe he will bear a sheep. His wife was pregnant when he married her. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges. |
| J1485.1 | Husband mistaken for lover in bed. Farmer has whiskers shaved off, hair cut short. He gets home late, slips into bed with his wife. She runs her hand over his face, says: "Young man, if you're goin' to do anything, you'd better be agittin' at it, 'cause Old Whiskers'll be here pretty soon." U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1541 | Husband outwits his wife. |
| J2342.4 | Husband praises wife's fidelity. Rascal tests it and finds it lacking. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J2342 | Husband refuses to believe in wife's infidelity. |
| J2342.1 | Husband refuses to believe that his wife is unfaithful, even when she is caught in the act. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1147.1 | Husband relates his wife's adultery in pretended dream. She dies from fright. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2301.1 | Husband takes back faithless wife on her oath to be faithful. Heptameron No. 61. |
| J1545.5 | Husband tells wife in indecent posture to "lock up shop". She retorts that he has the key. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J2511.1.1 | Husband to spite wife plays dead. When she tells neighbors that they may come and take dead man's property he gets up. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1431 | I know not how. Sick man: "I came to a place I know not where; something happened I know not how; I am sick I know not where." Doctor: "Go to the pharmacy and buy I know not what, and eat it I know not how, and you will become well I know not when." *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 629; Scala Celi 47b No. 268. |
| J2311.11 | Idiot tells his mother he has been dead twelve years. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1293.2 | If his head is taken off other punishments do not matter. Judge shows criminal mercy: he will not punish him as he deserves, only take off his head. Nouvelles Récréations No. 82. |
| J2213.4 | If the horse can pull one load he can pull two. *Type 1242; Christensen DF XLVII 224 No. 86. |
| J1732 | Ignorance of certain foods. |
| J1743 | Ignorance of dates. |
| J1744 | Ignorance of marriage relations. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges. |
| J1746 | Ignorance of reading. |
| J1738 | Ignorance of religious matters. |
| J1919.5.1 | Ignorant bride castrates groom when jokingly told to do so. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1749.2 | Ignorant notary cannot draw up document. The names of the participants are not the same as those in his sample form. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
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