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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 ▲ |
|---|---|
| J217 | Captivity preferred to death. |
| J1024.1 | Captured elephants pull all at once and escape from net. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1179.13 | Cardinal's clever decision: that the monks who arise earliest may sound matins. There had been a great argument over this privilege. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J648 | Care against future imprisonment. |
| J643 | Care against future tyranny. |
| J818 | Care in advising a king. |
| J657 | Care in selecting the creature to carry one. |
| J2136.5 | Careless thief caught. |
| J2197 | Carpe diem. An abbot is planning to build a palace. The fool: "Why go to all that trouble? Just enjoy yourself with wine, women, and song." Wesselski Bebel I 179 No. 22. |
| J1891.2 | Carpenter blames the nails. On his deathbed refuses to forgive nails which ruined his tools. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 702. |
| J2242 | Carrying his own message. A man who is away from home writes a letter to his wife but can find no messenger. He delivers the letter himself and then goes on back to where he has been. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 233 No. 456. |
| J2165 | Carrying load up hill to roll it down. Fools carry log (millstone) down hill. They realize that they might have rolled it down. They therefore carry it back up hill to roll it down. Type 1213; Clouston Noodles 59. |
| J2163 | Carrying the plow horse so as not to tramp up the field. (Cf. J2103.2.) Type 1201; *Wesselski Bebel I 138 No. 43. |
| J2462.2 | Casting sheep's eyes at the bride. The foolish bridegroom is told to cast sheep's eyes at the bride. He buys some at the butcher shop and throws them at her. *Type 1685; *BP I 311; *Fb "øje" III 1166a; *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 762; Spanish: Espinosa III 147. |
| J2133.3 | Cat crawls to steeple and tries to fly. Falls. Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 295 No. 15. |
| J1785.5 | Cat mistaken for devil. Fool in the dark mistakes cat's eyes for embers. Is attacked by the cat and he thinks it is the devil. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J766.1 | Cat only drives rats away; if she killed them she would no longer have employment. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1908.2 | Cat transformed to maiden runs after mouse. *Hertel Zs. f. Vksk. XXII 244; **Rohde Kleinere Schriften II 212ff.; Wienert FFC LVI *45, 71, 78 (ET 34, 351, 444), 86 (ST 1); Halm Aesop No. 88; Jacobs Aesop 218 No. 76; Spanish: Espinosa III 275-277; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1759.5 | Cat's tail mistaken for worm. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1521.5 | Catching by words. |
| J1025.2 | Cats unite in battle against a wolf. They destroy wolf. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J585 | Caution in eating. |
| J1284.2 | Cease being a king. A widow asks justice of a king. The latter says that he is too busy to hear her. "Then cease being a king," replies the widow. Her bold reply wins an audience with the king. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1264.2 | Celibacy at the altar. Monk says, "I vowed three things: poverty in the bath, obedience at the table, and celibacy at the altar." *Wesselski Bebel II 133 No. 100. |
| J85 | Chair over fiery pit as figure of precariousness of life. Wesselski Mönchslatein 94 No. 78; Alphabet No. 685. |
| J2272.1 | Chanticleer believes that his crowing makes the sun rise. Disappointed when it rises without his aid. *Vossische Zeitung 17. Sept. 1910; India: *Thompson-Balys; N. A. Indian (Hopi): Voth FM VIII 176 No. 55. |
| J1149.2 | Cheater discovered by fishing in the street. Man arouses the curiosity of the rascal who has swindled his wife. Type 1382. |
| J1216 | Cheater put out of countenance by raising alarm. Wine seller carries water into his cellar. Man raises alarm pretending that he thought the house must be afire. Wesselski Bebel II 109 No. 31. |
| J1141.3 | Cheaters examined apart; first made to repeat paternoster. Others think that he has confessed and truth is discovered. *Herbert III 202; Oesterley No. 128. |
| J1881.1.1 | Cheeses thrown down to find their way home. Clouston Noodles 35; Field Pent Cuckoo 4. |
| J1276.2.1 | Child born on wedding night. Groom leaves. Can't afford a child every time he lies with his wife. Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles No. 29; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1276.1 | Child born one month after marriage. Father-in-law to son-in-law: "Do like my grandson and you will always be ahead of others." Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J147 | Child confined to keep him in ignorance of life. Useless. *Chauvin III 97 No. 1; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J761.1 | Child finds gray hair in wicked father's head. Father sees that it is time for him to reform. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 292. |
| J125.2.1 | Child unwittingly betrays his mother's adultery. Tells father not to step across chalk line drawn around secretary; if he does secretary may do to him what he did to Mother the other day. Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles No. 23. |
| J1842.4 | Child's stomach split open to cure him of wandering. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2370.1 | Children ask parents too difficult questions. Get no answers. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1273 | Children by day and by night. Artist paints beautiful children but his own are ugly. One kind, he says, are made by day, the other by night. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No 412; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J325 | Children choose father they know rather than real father they do not yet know. Woman confesses that child is not by her husband. Child, however, chooses to keep the father he knows. (Cf. J391, J1279.1.) Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 809. |
| J229.5 | Choice between bad master, bad official, or bad neighbor. Bad master can do evil if he desires to do so; bad official can harm a poor person and complain against him to his master; bad neighbor can betray secret things about his neighbors. Bad neighbor worst. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 586. |
| J233 | Choice between desire and duty. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga I 235, Boberg. |
| J201.1 | Choice between eggs: one egg or none. Nouvelles Récréations No. 50. |
| J229 | Choice between evils—miscellaneous. |
| J223 | Choice between evils: pay tribute or lose both money and life. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J210 | Choice between evils. |
| J267 | Choice between flattering lies and unflattering truths. |
| J231.2 | Choice between love and wisdom. Greek: Fox 76 (Herakles). |
| J266 | Choice between short and dangerous or long and sure way. (Cf. J21.5.3.) Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| J240 | Choice between useful and ornamental. |
| J260 | Choice between worth and appearance. |
| J242.7 | Choice of a learned crow: a dead cat better than a golden crown. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J400 | Choice of associates. |
| J216 | Choice of deaths. |
| J226.1 | Choice of freeing one son: adopted son or long-missing son. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J496 | Choice of friend over mistress. Given the choice of his friend or his mistress, man chooses his friend. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J229.3 | Choice: a big piece of cake with my curse or a small piece with my blessing. Type 480; *Roberts 138; BP I 214. |
| J225 | Choice: apparent injustice over greater wrong. |
| J226.2 | Choice: blind son with long life or healthy son with short. Latter chosen. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J494 | Choice: death and revenge preferred to life. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| J226.3 | Choice: foolish son always with him or four wise daughters who will leave him. Latter chosen. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J211 | Choice: free poverty or enslaved wealth. |
| J213 | Choice: loss of beauty or speech. Latter chosen. Type 710; BP I 13ff. |
| J212 | Choice: plainness with safety or grandeur with danger. |
| J230 | Choice: real and apparent values. |
| J221 | Choice: small injustice permitted rather than to cause troubles of state. |
| J229.1 | Choice: staying at home with loving wife or going to tavern and having unfaithful wife. Man chooses latter. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 205. |
| J214 | Choice: suffering in youth or old age. *Wesselski Märchen 236; Fb "rig" III 55a; Irish myth: Cross; English: Wells 114 (Sir Isumbras); Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *937; Russian: Andrejev No. *931 I; Rumanian: Schullerus FFC LXXVIII No. 948*. |
| J483 | Choice: to do that which one knows or to learn something. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 104. |
| J370 | Choices: important and unimportant work. |
| J390 | Choices: kind strangers, unkind relatives. |
| J340 | Choices: little gain, big loss. |
| J350 | Choices: small inconvenience, large gain. |
| J200 | Choices. |
| J1263.6 | Choosing his confessor. Ruler explains: "I want a lying priest so that if he repeats my confession he will not be believed." Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1823.1.1 | Christ accused of trying to fool the people. Fool sees the image of Christ elevated on Ascension Day to the beams of the church. He accuses Christ of having fooled the people into believing that he has gone to heaven. Wesselski Bebel II 158 No. 181. |
| J2477 | Christ has too many debts. St. Peter is to give Christ to a woman as husband. She hears people say, when they are asked for money, "When Christ pays me, I will pay you." The woman says that Christ has too many debts. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 657; Irish: Beal XXI 305. |
| J1263.1.4 | Christ's disciples did not pass the examination. Ignorant student unable to pass his examination thus consoles himself. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 856. |
| J1823.1.2 | Christ's image has broken his arm. A man refuses to have anything to do with the crucifix because once an image of Christ has fallen on him in church and broken his arm. Reminded that this image is not the same, he replies that it is the son of the other and is just as bad. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 270. |
| J1825.1 | Christian laws are profitless, Turkish ambassador says. Good people do not need them; bad people do not reform as a result of them. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1263.3 | Christians have a merciful God. Jew so decides when he thinks of the scandalous life of the court of Rome. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 777; Boccaccio Decameron I No. 2 (Lee 2); Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J712.1 | City without provisions but with much money starves. Chauvin V 34 No. 16; Jewish: Neuman. |
| J1214.1 | Claim that dog-head captured game. Two hunters, one with dog and other with dog-head, dispute. The claim that the dog-head captured the game is allowed and then the alarm is raised that the owner of the, game is coming to punish the theft. Jamaica: Beckwith MAFLS XVII 243 No. 19. |
| J2104.1 | Cleaning the church by moving it. A cow fouls a church. Numskulls try to move the church with ropes. Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 293 No. 4. |
| J2465.5 | Clearing out the room. Fool throws out all the furniture. *Type 1685; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1263.5 | Clergy in no need of spectacles. Many do not pray at all, many know their prayers by heart, and the great prelates look through their fingers *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 514. |
| J1115.3 | Clever barber. Penzer III 99ff. |
| J1118 | Clever bird. |
| J1113 | Clever boy. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1124 | Clever court jester. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1111.3 | Clever daughter-in-law. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1675 | Clever dealing with a king. |
| J1174 | Clever decisions concerning kissing and rape. |
| J1661.1.10 | Clever deduction of wise man: the theft of a cauldron detected. Cauldron has been buried in river. Thief has no taste of salt on his body: he must have been immersed in fresh water recently. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1661.2 | Clever deductions by eating, smelling, drinking, etc. Penzer VI 285; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1661 | Clever deductions. |
| J1241 | Clever dividing which favors the divider. India: *Thompson-Balys; Japanese: Ikeda; West Indies: Flowers 481. |
| J1249 | Clever dividing—miscellaneous. |
| J1115.1 | Clever gambler. Penzer IX 25 n. 1; Pierre Faifeu No. 10. |
| J585.1 | Clever girl refrains from eating figs which would bring on magic sleep. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 116 No. 970. |
| J1111 | Clever girl. **DeVries FFC LXXIII; *Chauvin VII 118 No. 387; Köhler-Bolte II 602 No. 1; *BP III 202; Bloomfield JAOS XXXVI 65.—Irish myth: *Cross; Icelandic: Boberg; Jewish: Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Graham. |
| J1115.10.1 | Clever governor. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1675.7 | Clever hero feigns dullness so as to avenge himself on king. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1193 | Clever interpretation of judge's statement. |
| J873.2 | Clever jackal covers up his clumsiness in catching cows by saying he was running to and fro because he was looking for the fattest calf. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1171.3.1 | Clever judgment: man must belong to the third wife because the first had buried him and the second did not protect him. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1179 | Clever judicial decisions — miscellaneous. Africa (Angola): Chatelain Nos. 10, 42, 49. |
| J1170 | Clever judicial decisions. |
| J1545.7 | Clever laughter and response of wife stops husband from fondling maid. Heptameron No. 54. |
| J1116.1 | Clever madman. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1111.6 | Clever maidservant. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1210 | Clever man puts another out of countenance. |
| J1189 | Clever means of avoiding legal punishment—miscellaneous. |
| J1180 | Clever means of avoiding legal punishment. |
| J1115.7.1 | Clever merchant profits by being robbed. Monkeys steal his caps. Traps monkeys and sells them. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1115.7 | Clever merchant. |
| J1115.10.2 | Clever minister. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1111.5 | Clever minister's daughter. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1115.5.1 | Clever minstrel gets a new robe. Has tattered robe mended with scarlet. Ridiculed "I wish the rest of the robe were of the same material". Is given one. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1115.5 | Clever minstrel. Thien Motive 28. |
| J1115.10 | Clever official. |
| J1118.1 | Clever parrot. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1111.4 | Clever peasant daughter. *Type 875, *BP II 349; **DeVries FFC LXXIII; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1115.6 | Clever peasant. *Hdwb. d. Märchens I 187b. |
| J885 | Clever person's defeat pleases inferior. |
| J1110 | Clever persons. Irish myth: *Cross; Missouri French: Carrière. |
| J1115.2 | Clever physician. Penzer II 2 n. 1; Irish myth: *Cross. |
| J1169 | Clever pleading—miscellaneous. |
| J1164 | Clever pleading: fighting for King of Kings. Knight hailed before king for fighting blasphemer, tells king that he would fight to protect the honor of the king's name so why not for the name of the King of Kings? Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1162.4 | Clever pleading: youth in court for calling king a fool, proves truth of statement because king allowed self to be duped by alchemist. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1160 | Clever pleading. |
| J1500 | Clever practical retort. |
| J123.1 | Clever prince overrules seemingly just decisions of king. Jewish: Neuman. |
| J1115 | Clever professions. |
| J1115.8 | Clever prostitute. Gives advice on many questions. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1114 | Clever servant. (Cf. J1111.6, J1341, J1561.4, N25, P360, W111.2.) |
| J1115.9 | Clever shepherd. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1111.6.1 | Clever slave girl. Jewish: Neuman. |
| J1114.0.1 | Clever slave. (Cf. J1111.6.1.) Jewish: *Neuman. Cf. Aesop. |
| J1664 | Clever solution of debated question. |
| J1142.4.1.1 | Clever son falls from tree, so mother's tears over dead body of father being carried through street will seem natural. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1115.4 | Clever tailor. *Type 1640; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "tailleur". |
| J1211.2 | Clever thief may keep booty. He has seen his victim in a disgraceful position and is allowed the booty as a price for his silence. *Köhler-Bolte II 594; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 263 No. 236; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1672 | Clever use of human weakness. Penny demanded of every bad man, two pennies of every good man. Thus two pennies received from every man. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J1250 | Clever verbal retorts—general. Boccaccio Decameron Day 6 (Lee 176ff.); Italian Novella: *Rotunda; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1675.1 | Clever ways of attracting the king's attention. |
| J1675.2 | Clever ways of breaking bad news to a king, who will kill bearer of bad tidings. |
| J1655 | Clever ways of concealing jewels (treasure). |
| J1112.3 | Clever wife advises husband how to succeed on adventures. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1112.5 | Clever wife obtains secrets from husband by questioning him. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| J1521.2.1 | Clever wife of king's adopted son keeps king distracted on deathbed so that he cannot disinherit husband. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1112 | Clever wife. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1122 | Clever younger generation. |
| J1150 | Cleverness connected with the giving of evidence. |
| J1140 | Cleverness in detection of truth. |
| J1130 | Cleverness in law court—general. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J1190 | Cleverness in the lawcourt—miscellaneous. |
| J31.1 | Cleverness of men disguised as peasants dissuades rivals from dispute. Wise men of two rival cities engage in dispute. One delegation disguises as peasants and debates with their adversaries. Latter withdraw fearing how clever the educated must be if their peasants are so learned. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1100 | Cleverness. |
| J2244 | Climb down as you climb up. A peasant falls out of a tree. A neighbor advises him not to climb trees. Another suggests that he always climb down a tree with the same skill and rapidity that he climbed up. Bolte Frey 222 No. 18; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1873.2 | Cloak given to a stone to keep it warm. Köhler-Bolte I 71; Christiansen Norske Eventyr 140 No. 1651; Japanese: Ikeda. |
| J1789.2 | Clock ticking thought to be gnawing of mice. Type 1323*; Christensen DF XLVII 187. |
| J2102.6 | Clothes burned to rid them of insects. Wienert FFC LVI 65 (ET 288), 128 (ST 362); Halm Aesop No. 411. |
| J1561.1 | Clothes thrown into the cooking food. A trickster when told that food cooking is clothes being boiled retaliates by throwing his dirty hose into the pot. *Wesselski Arlotto II 247 No. 153; *Wesselski Gonnella 130 No. 23; Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 240. |
| J2491 | Clothing the servant. The master is to clothe the servant (at his expense). The servant insists that his master shall put on his clothes for him. Type 1569**. |
| J2277.1 | Clouds supposed to come from smoke. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J134.1 | Cock's second mate lets her stepchildren starve: woman warns husband accordingly. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J551.1 | Cocks who crow about mistress's adultery killed. Discreet cock saves his life. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 9; Oesterley No. 68; Herbert III 206. |
| J1875.4 | Coin weeps. Numskull thinks money piece covered with perspiration after he has held it for awhile is weeping. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1655.3 | Coins concealed in jar of oil (pickles). India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1772.3 | Coins thought to be red beans. Italian: Basile Pentamerone I No. 4. |
| J1772.3.1 | Coins thought to be uncooked cakes. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2311.7 | Cold hands and feet for the dead man. His wife has told him that one tells a dead person by his cold hands and feet. He freezes his feet and hands and lies down for dead. Wolves eat his ass. "Lucky for you that his master is dead!" *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 225 No. 66; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J864 | Comfort in the contemplation of impossible pleasure. |
| J2516.3.3 | Command to use only one phrase. King let drown in bath. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1521.3 | Command would become permanent. A ruler receives gifts from his subjects and later demands them as he due. The fool sets the nobleman's bed on fire. When the nobleman commands him to put the fire out he refuses, since he would ever afterward have to be putting out fires. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 44. |
| J461.2 | Common wives of man debate as to which has helped him most. Help of each was indispensable. Africa (Vai): Ellis 235 No. 56, 255 No. 52. |
| J2417.1 | Company to sing like leader. When his foot is caught in a wheel, they keep repeating his call for help as a song. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 1694*; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX 285 No. 64, FFC CXXVIII 244f. No. 148. |
| J1174.2 | Complaint about the stolen kiss. Woman is allowed to take one in return. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 254 No. 173. |
| J1213.1 | Complaint about the stolen ox. A thief steals a calf and keeps the hide. The owner makes a hue and cry about a stolen ox. The thief produces the calfhide: "You thief, to demand an ox for a calf!" Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 209 No. 16, cf. 254 No. 177. |
| J1875.2 | Complaint of the porridge pot. The woman thinks the boiling pot is complaining. Type 1264*; Russian: Andrejev No. 1264. |
| J1398 | Compliments from the hangman. A man complimented a hangman on the good job he had done in hanging a thief. The hangman takes off his hat: "One thief I hang, to the other I take off my hat." Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 591. |
| J2214.2 | Conclusion: youth and age are alike. Reason: he tried in vain as a youth to lift a certain stone; he has also tried in vain as an old man. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 265 No. 240. |
| J1181.3 | Condemned man wins pardon by clever remark. Fool is allowed to jump off cliff (balcony) as punishment. Master expresses surprise that in three trials he has failed to hurl himself from the height. The jester offers the prince four trials. Amused prince pardons the jester. Spanish: Childers. |
| J1155.1 | Confession discredited by claim to be notorious liar. (Cf. X905.) U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1141.4 | Confession induced by bringing an unjust action against accused. False message to thief's wife to send the stolen jewel case as bribe to the judge. She does. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 723, *Zachariae Zs. f. Vksk. XXXIII—XXXIV 78; Köhler-Bolte I 535; *Wesselski Arlotto I 222f. No. 67; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1263.7 | Confession made easy. Peasant sees priest at work in the fields. Tells him he wishes to confess. He is told to put money in the box and take the same penance as the year before. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1141 | Confession obtained by a ruse. *Chauvin VIII 89 No. 58; Nouvelles Récréations No. 28. |
| J1141.10 | Confession obtained by making thief fear for his life. (Told that crossbow would shoot guilty person as he passed before it.) Pierre Faifeu No. 22. |
| J1141.1.11 | Confession of debt secured by having defendant dispute as to whether cat was present when debt was made. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1263.1.2 | Consecration of the ignorant priest. A bishop disgusted with priest's ignorance says, "Who consecrated you as priest?" — "You did, the time I gave you ten florins." Wesselski Bebel I 221 No 114. |
| J751 | Consider difficulties of course you are about to undertake. |
| J869 | Consolation by a trifle—miscellaneous. |
| J860 | Consolation by a trifle. |
| J870 | Consolation by pretending that one does not want the thing he cannot have. |
| J865 | Consolation by thinking of some good aspect of a situation. |
| J866 | Consolation by thinking of the past. |
| J880 | Consolation by thought of others worse placed. |
| J861 | Consolation for misfortune found in food. |
| J890 | Consolation in misfortune—miscellaneous. |
| J893.1 | Consolation: priest tells blind man that even flies have eyes but only man has the inner eyes of the soul. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J893 | Consolation: spiritual recompense for temporal misfortune. |
| J861.1 | Consoled by a drop of honey. Man in pit surrounded by perils thus comforts himself. **Kuhn Der Mann in Brunnen (Stuttgart, 1888); *Chauvin II 85 No. 17, III 100 No. 6; Bødker Exempler 276 No. 16; Herbert Catalogue of Romances III 12; *Crane Vitry 191 No. 134; Alphabet No. 623.—Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J451 | Contagiousness of bad company. |
| J229.8 | Contentment with evil master for fear of worse successor. Scala Celi 21a No. 128; Herbert III 35ff.; Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 45; Spanish Exempla: Keller; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J242.1 | Contest between rose and amaranth: worth lies not in beauty. Wienert FFC LVI 43 (ET 4), *142 (ST 484); Halm Aesop No. 384. |
| J242.6 | Contest in beauty between swallows and crows (ants and flies): worth lies not in beauty. Wienert FFC LVI 43 (ET 5, 9), 124 (ST 330), 142 (ST 482); Halm Aesop No. 415. |
| J2499.6 | Conventional greeting phrase taken literally: "Come and share it." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1804 | Conversation by sign language mutually misunderstood. *Nyrop Dania II 49ff.; India: *Thompson-Balys; Japanese: Ikeda. |
| J1813 | Cooking processes misunderstood. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2626.1 | Cornered paramour threatens the husband. Admits guilt. Husband: "Had you denied it I would have killed you!" Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1545.8 | Corpse to be cut in two for easy carrying. Husband who feigns death hears wife propose this. He upbraids her; she replies: "If you had really died I should have given myself up to be burnt." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1772.8 | Cotton pods knocked off by bullock thought to be lumps of bullock's fat. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J672.2 | Cotton put in ears so as not to hear abusive words. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2517 | Couldn't wait to dress. The overzealous visitor rides naked to see his friends. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 233 No. 93. |
| J171.1 | Counsel: if you take it you will be sorry; if you don't you will also be sorry. This advice given hero by helpful horse. *Köhler-Bolte I 468f., 542. |
| J21.52 | Counsels proved wise by experience—miscellaneous. |
| J21 | Counsels proved wise by experience. *Types 910A, 910B, 910C, 910D; *Cosquin études 85ff., 100ff.; Icelandic: *Boberg; Jewish: *Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J311.1 | Count only the waves before you. Fox sees man trying to count the waves. Advises him to count only those immediately before him and to pay no attention to those which have already passed. Wienert FFC LVI 70 (ET 340), 144 (ST 496); Halm Aesop No. 60. |
| J1511.10 | Counterfeit money burned up. A priest who has lent money to a Jew, but will not lend to a farmer, on being reproached by the latter, says that the money he lent the Jew was "false". When the Jew gets to know of this, he claims that as soon as he heard the money was false he burnt it up. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *1772. |
| J2031 | Counting wrong by not counting oneself. Numskulls conclude that one of their number is drowned. *Type 1287; *BP III 149 n. 1; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 267 No. 261; *Clouston Noodles 28ff., 192; *Field Pent Cuckoo 8; Köhler-Bolte I 112; Christensen DF XLVII 181ff. — Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 317 No. 153; India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: Coster-Wijsman 66 No. 111. |
| J1742.1 | Countryman expects to find persons from his own village when he travels to another land. *Wesselski Bebel II 139 No. 122. |
| J1742.5 | Countryman misunderstands comforts of city. Thinks latrine is kitchen, refuses to take a walk because he fears high houses will fall upon him, etc. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1742.3.1 | Countryman visiting rich relative in the city refuses to eat dessert: "No, I am not hungry." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1211.3 | Courtier having observed king's amour shields him and gains pardon. Answers in clever proverbs when called on to say what he has seen. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1904.1 | Cow (hog) taken to roof to graze. *Type 1210; *Köhler-Bolte I 66, 135; *Fb "ko" II 241a, "tyr" III 908b; Christensen DF XLVII 219 No. 81; English: Clouston Noodles 55; Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 295 No. 15; Spanish: Espinosa III 147 Nos. 181—188. |
| J1905.6 | Cow killed in order to get all the milk at once. (Cf. J2129.3.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1863 | Cow punished for calf's misdeeds. Blamed for not teaching calf better. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 236 No. 108. |
| J2119.8 | Cow tied tight with stones in order not to blow away, but is unable to do all others things too. Christensen DF XLVII 216 no. 76. |
| J561.2 | Cow-herd looking for cattle thief recognizes him in the lion. Desists. Wienert FFC LVI 67 (ET 318), 109 (ST 213); Halm Aesop No. 83. |
| J2626 | Coward boasts of what he would have done after danger is over. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2625 | Coward is frightened when clothing catches on thistle. (Cf. N384.2.) Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J2600 | Cowardly fool. *BP II 555. |
| J1919.9 | Cowboy shoots his wife when she breaks her leg (or is injured in another way). U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1782.1.1 | Cows in church thought to be ghost. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1117.2 | Coyote as trickster. N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 294ff. |
| J2133.3.1 | Coyote attempts to fly from a treetop: falls. N. A. Indian (California): Gayton and Newman 85. |
| J2136.1 | Coyote wears fox's rattle; caught in brush and injured. N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 306 n 109bb. |
| J1762.3 | Crab caught on tiger's tail thought to be pursuing man. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J512.1 | Crab comes ashore: killed by fox. Wienert FFC LVI 50 (ET 91), 90 (ST 28); Halm Aesop No. 186. |
| J1762.1.2 | Crab mistaken for tailor. Christensen DF XLVII 171. |
| J631 | Crab takes hold of heron's neck and fearing attack cuts neck and kills him. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1785.2 | Crab thought to be the devil. Becomes red. Type 1310*. |
| J2415.3 | Crab tries to imitate bird who lays egg in pot of boiling water. Falls in instead of being rewarded. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J216.3 | Crab would rather be killed outright than imprisoned and starved. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J758.2 | Crane advises fool to empty reservoir so he can reap all grain. Crane eats fish left at bottom. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J657.3 | Crane persuades fish to let him change him from one lake into another: he eats fish. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2413.7 | Crane tries to catch fish like hawk. Is mired at water's edge. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1052 | Cranes disregard warnings and are killed. Wienert FFC LVI 67 (ET 315), 117 (ST 276). |
| J1025.1 | Cranes fighting as allies defeat all enemies. If they quarrel they are doomed. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1872 | Creaking limbs. Numskull hears limbs creaking in the wind. He is sorry for them and holds them apart. While he is caught between them his enemies take advantage of him. N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 297 n. 85. |
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