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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 ▲ |
|---|---|
| J2233 | Logically absurd defenses. Thief brought to judgment for breaking into house blames mason for building poor house. Mason blames maker of mortar, who blames potter, who blames pretty woman who diverted his attention. She blames goldsmith who caused her to go for her earrings. Goldsmith has no one to blame but he is too old to make a good execution. Hence a shopkeeper across the way is convicted. Clouston Noodles 87; *Wesselski Hessische Blätter f. Vksk. XXXII 23; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J2127 | Looking for the hole. Numskull is to carry a can of oil with especial care since it has a little hole in it. In order to find the hole he turns the can about and lets all the oil run out. Penzer V 84; Von der Leyen Das Märchen 78 and Herrigs Archiv CXIV 20 n. 2; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J703.1 | Looking for the keys of the abbey. Monk goes about with downcast eyes until he is made abbot; then lives in luxury. He explains that he was looking for the keys of the abbey. Now he has them. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 500. |
| J2131.4.1 | Looking through the gun barrel. The numskull (stupid ogre) is shot. Types 1158, 1228. |
| J2228 | Loss of eating contest because of weak legs. The sheep thinks that that is the reason for loss of the contest. Type 203*; Russian: Andrejev No. 203. |
| J2085.1 | Lost ass, saddle, and bridle offered as reward to the finder. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 231 No. 496. |
| J97 | Lotus flower flourishes as long as it is in water: king should not leave castle. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J261 | Loudest mourners not greatest sorrowers. Wienert FFC LVI 83 (ET 496), 142 (ST 485); Halm Aesop No. 369. |
| J1142.2 | Love detected by quickening pulse. A woman's adulterous love detected through her pulse quickening at mention of her lover. *Herbert III 268; Oesterley No. 40; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J952 | Lowly animal tries to move among his superiors. Detected. |
| J951 | Lowly masks as great. |
| J955 | Lowly tries in vain to be greater than he is. |
| J1566 | Luxury of host rebuked. |
| J1141.2 | Magician assigned three places at a table. He confesses to carrying two persons in his body. Wesselski Märchen 186 No. 1; Chavannes 500 Contes I 378. |
| J1149.8 | Magistrate detects thief's complicity by associating cut hand with companion's severed head. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1149.9 | Magistrate finds thieving innkeepers guilty of arson. Silver buckles are not melted by the fire. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J551.5 | Magpie tells a man that his wife has eaten an eel, which she said was eaten by the otter. The woman plucks his feathers out. When the magpie sees a bald man, she says, "You too must have tattled about the eel." *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 6. |
| J1346 | Maid rebukes pilgrim for eating too much. "If both of us had been present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes you would have eaten me too!" Pilgrim: "I wouldn't have eaten you but I would have chewed on you a bit!" Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles No. 83; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J713 | Make use of proper seasons for crops. |
| J1511.1 | Make-believe eating, make-believe work. At table the peasant says, "We will only act as if we were eating." At work the servant replies, "We will only act as if we were working." *Type 1560. |
| J2489.12 | Making money. "Rupees make more rupees." Stupid peasant sticks his sole rupee in hole and loses it. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1269.2 | Man absents self from church because he does not like to hear people slandered. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 797. |
| J1785.4.1 | Man addresses colt: "Abide, Satan! I am a righteous man and a psalm singer." England: Baughman. |
| J247.1 | Man advised to choose good poor man for his daughter's husband rather than rich man. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J551.4 | Man asked to tell truth says that his host, his hostess, and the cat have but three eyes between them. He is driven off for his truth telling. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 3. |
| J1309.1 | Man asks naked Indian if he is not cold. Indian asks if man's face is cold. Man replies that it is not. Indian replies: "Me all face!" U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1866.1 | Man avenges brother's death by wholesale slaughter of wild pigs. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1866 | Man avenges self on animals by wholesale slaughter. |
| J1261.1.3 | Man barks his shins on dark night. "By the great bugaboo! If I was the Almighty and had a moon, I'd hang it out on a night like this." U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1511.2.1 | Man bathing rich man uses sand instead of sandalwood: "Consider the sand of the Ganges to be sandalwood." When man asks for his fee, other takes a frog and gives it to him: "Know that the frog of the Ganges is a cow." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1863.1 | Man beats calves because the bull has butted him over the fence. England: Baughman. |
| J1867.1 | Man beats his foot for slipping. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2311.1.1 | Man believes he is to die when he breaks wind. Lies down for dead. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2311.1.4 | Man believes he will die when he gets a scarlet thread on his coat. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J2311.1.3 | Man believes, he will die when water falls on his head. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J11.1 | Man bitten by snake fears snake-like rope. Jewish: Neuman. |
| J142.2 | Man blames master for not correcting him in youth. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 315. |
| J1174.2.1 | Man breaks promise to sleep chastely with woman. Decision: deceived fiance is to sleep with seducer's wife, if he ever marries. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J163.1 | Man buys a pennyworth of wit. Nouvelles de Sens No. 6; English: Wells 179 (A Peniworth of Witte); West Indies: Flowers 474. |
| J817.1 | Man called a rogue by a nobleman makes a joke of the insult. He thus avoids trouble. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 476. |
| J1263.4.2 | Man calls Saints Peter and Paul fools for enduring poverty if rich abbots can reach heaven, too. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2316.1 | Man cannot recognize his own house which has been turned into a mansion by emperor. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2132.1 | Man catches buffalo by rope and is dragged to death. Africa (Ekoi): Talbot 155 No. 1. |
| J883.1 | Man compelled to live on peas takes comfort when he sees a man once rich eating the hulls. Chauvin II 150 No. 10; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1786.1 | Man costumed as demon thought to be devil; thieves flee. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J246.1 | Man criticizes the devil because his deeds are not fair. Devil says that they are strong nevertheless. Hence strong speakers rather than clever are to be preferred. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 609. |
| J1114.1 | Man deceived by his hireling. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 1855*. |
| J674.2 | Man decides to make himself strong in peaceful times rather than wait until attacked. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1369.1 | Man decides to spend 100 florins to become known. Friend: "You had better spend 200 so as to not be found out." Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1076.1 | Man desirous of traveling sent six miles to deliver a letter. Told that he has now seen the world, for he will never see more than valleys, hills, fields, meadows, water, streets, cities, and villages. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 590. |
| J1054 | Man disregards mother's warning and is punished. French Canadian: Sister Marie Ursule. |
| J1055 | Man disregards priest's warning and is punished. French Canadian: Sister Marie Ursule. |
| J652.3 | Man disregards priest's warning that he will seduce his wife. Adultery committed. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1074.2 | Man does not court ugly woman: she might say yes. Therefore he keeps silent. Spanish: Childers. |
| J2012.5 | Man does not know himself from another identically clad. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 214 No. 43. |
| J2016 | Man does not recognize his name when it is called: he is accustomed to hear his nickname. (Cf. K1984.3.) U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1791.7 | Man does not recognize his own reflection in the water. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 276 No. 311; Penzer VI 86f.; India: Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 17; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 441; American Negro: Harris Remus 68 No. 14. |
| J1864 | Man flogs his shot. On a rainy day when shot will not go a man flogs the shot. It goes and he shoots a deer. Africa (Vai): Ellis 189 No. 4. |
| J211.1.1 | Man gives all his wealth away, for it is better to die than to give up virtue. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2469.3.1 | Man gives up half property. Slave cut in two. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J571.4.1 | Man has disinterested party punish servant for him lest he himself be unfair in his anger. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2215.3 | Man honored above God: the dead hen. A fool finds a dead hen and cooks it and serves it for dinner. When reproached he says "How should it be unclean when God has killed it instead of men?" Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 270 No. 273. |
| J883.2 | Man in cold consoles himself thinking of rich men in hell or prison. Herbert III 8; Crane Vitry 179 No. 108. |
| J651.2 | Man inattentive to the danger of drowning enters water to save treasure and is drowned. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1289.12 | Man is arrested for drunkenness; he is so drunk that trial must be postponed. When he is tried later, he is told how at the earlier trial he had kept repeating that the judge was a very wise judge. When he hears this he admits that he must have been very drunk. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2217.2 | Man is describing lakes. "One is bottomless; the other is deeper than that." England: Baughman. |
| J2214.5 | Man is servant of the animals (for he supplies feed for them). Fish so reason. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J96 | Man kills nest of ants: so God punishes man. (Cf. J225.0.4.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2106 | Man kills self to make quarrelsome wife a widow. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2131.3.3 | Man lays piece of wood on his leg to saw it: saws leg off. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2146.2 | Man leaps into river and drowns in effort to save his treasure. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J27 | Man learns the fear of Death by meeting Life. Life (old woman) beheads him and replaces his head backwards. Simpleton left in fear for hours before head is readjusted. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J345.2 | Man leaves farming for fishing. When water dries up he goes hungry. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2175.4 | Man lets his infant son play in river. Son drowns. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2013.2 | Man made to believe that he is a dog. He barks at people. *Type 1406; Bédier Fabliaux 265ff.; *Crane Vitry 227 No. 231. |
| J2321 | Man made to believe that he is pregnant (has borne child). Chauvin V 185 No. 107; Penzer V 69; von der Hagen Gesammtabenteuer II *ix, 49 No. 24; Boccaccio Decameron IX No. 3 (Lee 277); Christensen DF XLVII, DF L 78; Italian Novella: *Rotunda; U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2013 | Man made to believe that he is someone else. *Chauvin VIII 96 No. 67; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1786.3 | Man mistaken for Famine and Cholera in person. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1761.8 | Man mistakes dragon for log, sits on it. (Cf. B11.) England: Baughman. |
| J2171.6 | Man on camel has doorway broken down so he can ride in. It does not occur to him to dismount. (Cf. J2199.3.) India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J861.2 | Man on sinking ship eats salt. Otherwise he will not enjoy the large amount of water that he must drink. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 235; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J2060.2 | Man plants hedge: sheep will leave wool on the thorns and bring riches. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J822 | Man plays fool to protect himself in dealing with king. |
| J326 | Man prefers servant girl who is present to her absent mistress. Nouvelles Récréations No. 1. |
| J2213.8 | Man prefers small oysters, since he will get more to the hundred. England: Baughman. |
| J417 | Man prefers to live with ordinary rather than with pious man. He will be virtuous by comparison. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J822.1 | Man pretends idiocy so as to avoid compromising himself when summoned to testify by two rival queens before the king. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1867 | Man punishes offending part of his body. |
| J2716.2 | Man put out tubs to see if rain is still falling. England: Baughman. |
| J1874.2 | Man puts bag of meal on one side of saddle, balances it on the other side with a rock. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1772.5 | Man puts food bowl on head thinking it a helmet. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 413. |
| J221.1.2 | Man rebukes servants for telling him of his wife's unfaithfulness. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J823 | Man recounts unpleasant happening to king when in good humor and draws laugh; rest draw punishment. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J343 | Man refuses cure which brings greater inconvenience. |
| J347.5 | Man refuses rich marriage with house filled with dangerous wild animals. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1552.3 | Man refuses to lend horse: sued for consequent damages. The would-be borrower gets one from another neighbor. He overworks the horse and renders him useless. The owner of the horse sues the man who had refused to lend his animal. Reasoning: "If he had lent his horse this would not have happened to mine." Settled by compromise. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J347.1 | Man refuses vast wealth because with it will come covetousness. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1786.8 | Man reported to be dead so that people flee from him as from a ghost. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J563 | Man resuscitates a lion which devours him. *Krappe Papers and Trans. of Jubilee Congress of Folk Lore Society (London, 1930) 277ff.; Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas II 270, *357, *Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J229.9 | Man retains questionable bride for fear of getting one who is worse. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1495.1 | Man runs from actual or from supposed ghost. The ghost runs beside him. The man stops to rest; the ghost stops, says, "That was a good run we had!" The man says, "Yes, and as soon as I get my breath, I'm going to run some more." U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J2434 | Man saved from well by rope. Disastrous attempt to save him from tree in same way. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J2173.8 | Man saves trouble by milking cow directly into his mouth. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1319.1 | Man says: "I do love my enemies and I have great affection for them that hurt me." (Enemies are rum and hard cider.) U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2217.1 | Man says: "That's the best horse in all England, but I have one in my stable worth ten of him. (Cf. J1743.1.) England: Baughman. |
| J2025.1 | Man searches for axe which he carries on his shoulder. Africa (Ila, Rhodesia): Smith and Dale II 407 No. 4. |
| J1785.4 | Man sees Hereford cow at night; thinks it is devil, says, "Devil I deny thee! I am a psalmsinger and a worshiper of God!" England: Baughman. |
| J675 | Man slays another in order not to be slain himself. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| J1782.4 | Man sleeping in stable (abandoned cabin) thinks entering animals are ghosts: kills them. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 3445, Legends Nos. 872ff.; U.S.: Baughman. |
| J2113.1 | Man strikes off donkey's head to punish it. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1765.2 | Man taken to be sheep. (Cf. X424.) India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1936.1 | Man takes mirror to bed to see whether he sleeps with his mouth open. England: *Baughman. |
| J1161.10 | Man tells servant that he may have anything he can take with his teeth (eat). Servant takes master's cape with his teeth. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J2321.2 | Man thinks he has given birth to a child by letting wind. Italian: Basile Pentamerone II No. 3; Christensen DF XLVII 228 No. 93. |
| J1838 | Man thinks own toe is snake's head and cuts it off. (Cf. J1782.8.) North Carolina: Brown Collection I 699. |
| J2317.1 | Man thinks that he has diabetes. Rascals have sewed his trouser leg till it is too tight. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 680. |
| J1786 | Man thought to be a devil or ghost. Lithuanian: Balys Legends Nos. 868—871, 890; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1786.5 | Man thought to be devil by lion. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1791.5.2 | Man throws stone at own reflection in water. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1072 | Man to be judged by his own qualities, not his clothes. |
| J323 | Man to be reforged chooses present unhappiness. He is in heaven and God is to reforge him, but he chooses not to change. Indonesian: *DeVries's list No. 239. |
| J163.2 | Man to bring wife a purseful of sense. *Bédier Fabliaux 451. |
| J561.1 | Man tracking gorilla sees animal's strength. Wisely refrains. Africa (Fjort): Dennett 69 No. 14. |
| J2085.1.1 | Man trades his only horse for a set of harness. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J322.1 | Man wagers he can run with his head off. Asked what it will profit him, he says that it will profit his family. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 567. |
| J1731.2 | Man wants roasted honeycomb. Unwilling to admit that he does not know what a honeycomb is, a stupid man asks the innkeeper's wife to roast a slice of honeycomb. Spanish: Childers. |
| J2327 | Man who asks for good weather given a box full of hornets. He thinks that it is filled with the weather. Köhler-Bolte I 324. |
| J1545.3.3 | Man who continually threatens to leave wife mortified when she tells him to go; pretends his buffalo is dragging him home (after he does leave). India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1073.1 | Man who never does any piece of work so well that he cannot improve it. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 310. |
| J1394.2 | Man who rises too early. The king in order to correct the habit has him robbed. He says that robbers get up even earlier than he. Chauvin II 196 No. 26. |
| J882.3 | Man whose wife gives him bath only once a week comforted by one who does so once a year. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J882.2 | Man with unfaithful wife comforted when he sees jealous husband who carefully guards wife cuckolded. *Wesselski Märchen 185 No. 1; Köhler-Bolte II 625; Italian Novella: *Rotunda; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J882.1 | Man with unfaithful wife comforted when he sees the queen's unfaithfulness. Wesselski Märchen 185 No. 1; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J882 | Man with unfaithful wife comforted. |
| J221.3 | Man would rather pay 500 florins he did not owe than have it said he did not pay debts. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1289.11 | Man, fined for sabbath-breaking, asks for receipt, explains that if God asks for it, he will not have to journey to hell to get it from the judge. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J685.1 | Man, lion, and bear in pit. Bear tells lion not to eat the man, since he would grow hungry again. Rather they should have the man use his intelligence to get them out. Chauvin III 64 No. 29. |
| J1174.5 | Man's torn garment as proof of his innocence of rape. If he were the assaulter, the torn garment would be woman's. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J2217 | Many times the superlative. |
| J765 | Mark the way one is going in an unfamiliar country. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| J1922.3 | Marking the place in the sand. Vessel left under mound in sand while owner is swimming. Others make similar mounds so that it is lost. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1922.1 | Marking the place on the boat. An object falls into the sea from a boat. Numskulls mark the place on the boat-rail to indicate where it fell. *Type 1278; *Fb "bеd" IV 87a; *Clouston Noodles 99; Penzer V 92f.; Japanese: Ikeda. |
| J1922.2 | Marking the place under the cloud. Numskulls leave a knife in the field, marking the place by putting it under a heavy cloud. Next day the cloud is gone and the knife lost. Clouston Noodles 53; England: Baughman; Japanese: Ikeda. |
| J1922 | Marking the place. Christensen DF XLVII 177ff. |
| J414 | Marriage with equal or with unequal. |
| J2463.2 | Marrying a stranger. The girl shortly to be married complains: "It was all very well for you, mother, to marry father, but I am to marry a complete stranger." Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *1468; Russian: Andrejev No. *2078A; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1793 | Mask mistaken for face. Jacobs Aesop 204 No. 20; Wienert FFC LVI 75 (ET 405), 124 (ST 333); Halm Aesop No. 47. |
| J2136.5.6.1 | Master asked to help in the theft. The fool sent in by thieves is told to bring out the heaviest thing. As this is a grain-grinder and he cannot carry it, he wakes the master of the house to help him. Clouston Noodles 142; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2334 | Master persuaded to buy big fish since small ones creep out of all parts of his body. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 699. |
| J1511.9 | Master says that he has eyes in back of head: servant cheats him. Holds up food to master's back and then not having objection raised, eats it. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2178.1 | Master sets servant example by eating rind first: fills up and never reaches the fruit. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2461.4 | Master tells servant (sarcastically) to take a year to do errand. Servant stays away a year and then returns to claim salary. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J571.4.2 | Master when angry will not punish servant who has ruined him. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1131 | Maxims for use of law court. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J1176.2 | Measuring the dregs. Some full and some half-full wine casks left with man by neighbor, who accuses him of theft. Fraud of accusation detected by measuring the dregs. Oesterley No. 246; Herbert III 237; Ward ibid. II 239; *Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 45; Spanish Exempla: Keller; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J2133.6.1 | Measuring the tower by piling up hampers. They place hampers on top of one another. The fool has them take out the two on the bottom. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 141 No. 1703, Espinosa III 147; Africa (Ashanti): Werner African 125. |
| J1856.1 | Meat fed to cabbages. *Type 1386; BP I 520; Indonesia: Coster-Wijsman 60 No. 92. |
| J2066.3 | Men (animals) wait in vain for nuts to fall from a tree. Africa (Ila, Rhodesia): Smith and Dale II 410 No. 8; American Negro: Harris Nights 223 No. 38. |
| J1796.1 | Men build hedge to keep in the moonlight. (Cf. J1904.2.) England: Baughman. |
| J1879.1 | Men drag carts on to roof to shade it from the sun. England: *Baughman. |
| J2431.1 | Men exchange duties: each wants to get better of the other, but is cheated, finding the other's work more difficult. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2133.5 | Men hang down in a chain until top man spits on his hands. They all fall. *Type 1250; Köhler-Bolte I 113; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 242 No. 124; *Bolte Schweiz. Arch. f. Vksk. XXIII (1920-21) 36ff.; Clouston Noodles 46; Christensen DF XLVII 179ff., 193 No. 7; Virginian: Parsons JAFL XXXV 302; Chinese: Chavannes II 324. |
| J2233.1.1 | Men hang old bedridden weaver instead of young, valuable member of colony after the young man has accidentally killed an Indian. The Indian tribe demands punishment. U.S.: Baughman. |
| J1738.8 | Men hide so that God will not see their sin. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J2716.1 | Men must go to look in the pool to see if rain is falling. England: Baughman. |
| J2214.6 | Men must have been calves once (for they are fond of milk). Fish so reason. (Cf. B233.1.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J911.1 | Men not chosen for their ignorance; else he should have reached heaven. Upbraided for not knowing answer to question, man answers that he was chosen for his position because of what he knew, not of what he did not know. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 224 No. 462. |
| J87 | Men shamed for their cowardice by woman standing naked before them. (Usually connected with Jus Primae Noctis [T161]). Wesselski Archiv Orientální I 83f.; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *2429. |
| J1786.6 | Men, on first seeing wives with hair, think they are witches and run away. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J23 | Merchants try honesty for a year and find that it pays. So advised by priest when they said that they could not do business without dishonesty. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 394; Irish: Beal XXI 307, O'Suilleabhain 25. |
| J2192.1 | Message after a week. A fool is sent to tell his master's wife that he will not return that day for dinner. He delays the message for a week. Italian: Crane Italian Popular Tales 378. |
| J2489 | Metaphors literally interpreted—miscellaneous. |
| J2470 | Metaphors literally interpreted. India: *Thompson-Balys; N. A. Indian (Wyandot): Barbeau GSCan XI 224 No. 68. |
| J1269.10 | Mice die of hunger. Complaints against underpaid priest that he does not stay at home. Says he cannot stay at home for the mice are dying of hunger since he receives only forty florins a year. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 773. |
| J1512.1 | Milk from the hornless cow. A king demands a hundred men's drink from the milk of a hornless dun cow from every house in the land. Wooden cows are made and bog-stuff substituted for milk; the king must drink it. Irish: MacCulloch Celtic 26, *Cross. |
| J2132.3 | Milker ties cow's tail to himself. Bees sting the cow. Type 1849*. |
| J1531.1.1 | Mill has given birth to horse. Jackal as judge comes late. "Tank of water caught fire." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1041.2 | Miller, his son, and the ass: trying to please everyone. Miller blamed when he follows his son on foot; when he takes the son's place on the ass; when he takes the son behind him; and when he puts the son in front of him. *Chauvin II 148 No 2, III 70, 145, VIII 140; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 244 No. 541; Herbert III 420; *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 577; Scala Celi 135a No. 745; Alphabet No. 765. — England: Baughman; Spanish Exempla: Keller; Italian Novella: *Rotunda; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J245.1 | Millstone preferred to jewels. Man shown jewels that cost much money; he replies that he has better stones (millstones) that earn that much. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 164; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J80.2 | Minister taught by parable to make obeisance to the new king. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1141.14 | Minister threatens divine punishment to thief in congregation. The thief confesses. England, U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J185.1 | Minister's clever daughter-in-law uses wisdom to defeat Brahmin's wealth. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J451.4 | Mirror begrimed by snail. Wienert FFC LVI 75 (ET 412), 120 (ST 300). |
| J1060 | Miscellaneous aspects of wisdom. |
| J1149 | Miscellaneous means of detecting. |
| J1559 | Miscellaneous retorts concerning borrowing and lending. |
| J2146.1 | Miser jumps into a ravine to retrieve single grain. Breaks both legs. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1061.4 | Miser's treasure stolen. Advised to imagine that his treasure is still there: he will be as well off as before. Wienert FFC LVI 84 (ET 503), 133 (ST 392); Halm Aesop No. 412; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 259 No. 201; Italian Novella: Rotunda; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1485 | Mistaken identity. A bride slips up behind her husband and kisses him. He is annoyed. She: "Pardon me, I did not know it was you" Clouston Noodles 94. |
| J1823 | Misunderstanding of church customs or ceremonies causes inappropriate action. |
| J2496.2 | Misunderstandings because of lack of knowledge of a different language than one's own. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *2420; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1823.1 | Misunderstandings concerning images of Christ. |
| J831 | Mohammed goes to the mountain (tree) when the mountain will not come to him. Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin *II 190 No. 372. |
| J958 | Mole pretends that he sees, smells, and hears. His mother tells him to claim no more senses than he has. Wienert FFC LVI 63 (ET 260), 101 (ST 146); Halm Aesop No. 71. |
| J1085 | Money does not always bring happiness. |
| J1853.1.1 | Money from the broken statue. Fool sells goods to a statue and when it will not pay him knocks it to pieces. He finds a treasure inside. (Cf. J1852.1.) Type 1643; *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 211 No. 426; Wienert FFC LVI 80 (ET 459), 138 (ST 430); Halm Aesop No. 66; Chauvin VIII 94 No. 65; Italian: Basile Pentamerone I No. 4. |
| J1161.4 | Money in the stick. Before swearing, the cheater hands a stick containing the stolen money to the man he has stolen it from. He then swears that he has repaid it. *Köhler-Bolte I 137; *Zachariae Zs. f. Vksk. XXXIII—XXXIV 78; **Lewy ibid. XXXVII—XXXVIII 83; Spanish Exempla: Keller; Jewish: *Neuman, *Gaster Exempla 210 No. 121a. |
| J1931 | Money tested by throwing it into a stream to see if it will swim. Good coins are supposed to swim, counterfeit to sink. *Type 1651; BP II 75; *Fb "penge" II 804a; Russian: Andrejev No. 842*. |
| J495 | Monk chooses solitude and loneliness to company and temptation. By living alone he escapes sin. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J557.1 | Monk discouraged by large amount of work to be done persuaded to undertake but a small amount each day. The small task will be done; the large one will merely discourage. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 262; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J215.4 | Monk goes to wilderness to escape work on material things. Finds that he must work to live and returns to monastery. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1361 | Monk says that he is a stallion. In reply to women's taunts he boasts of his powers. A woman calls on the devil to come and ride him. Bolte Frey 253 No. 97. |
| J91 | Monk shames accuser by telling parable. Wind, Water, and Modesty (Sense of Shame). The first two give their addresses but the third says she has no address as no one wants her. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1261.8 | Monk's cordon cannot stand the strain. Franciscan claims that his cordon will save him from Hell. Benedictine answers that he once had a dream in which he saw St. Francis throw his cordon to save members of his order in Purgatory and so many clung to it that it snapped. (Cf. Q291.1.) Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J581.3 | Monk's enemies quarrel and thus save him. Robber who wants to steal monk's cow and devil who wants to steal his soul quarrel as to which shall begin first; they thus awaken him and the neighbors. Chauvin II 97 No. 53; Bødker Exempler 296 No. 58; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2413.4.3 | Monkey cuts his throat, thinking that he is imitating the cobbler. Nouvelles Récréations No. 19. |
| J2133.10 | Monkey jumps into water after a butterfly. Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 77. |
| J2133.2 | Monkey jumps over a ravine with his sword girded on. Falls to his death. Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 79. |
| J1790.3 | Monkey seeing tiger attack his shadow is frightened so that he falls from tree. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2413.6 | Monkey sneezes in king's presence like rabbit. Killed. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J648.1 | Monkeys planning to found a city desist lest with walls up it will be easier to catch them than before. Wienert FFC LVI *61 (ET 240), 108 (ST 200); Halm Aesop No. 361. |
| J81.0.1 | Monotony of restriction to one's favorite food. Counselor refuses to arrange extramarital pleasures for his lord. Ruler feeds him only his favorite food until the counselor protests the monotony. Ruler drives home his point. Italian Novella: Rotunda, Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles No. 10. |
| J1791.3.3 | Moon's reflection thought to be gold in water. Fools dive for it. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1796 | Moonlight thought to be substance. |
| J731.1 | More than one swallow to make a summer. Spendthrift youth seeing swallow concludes that summer has come and sells his clothes. There is frost the next day and he is cold. Wienert FFC LVI 70 (ET 348), 122 (ST 316); Halm Aesop No. 304. |
| J2213.5.1 | More than twenty commandments. Numskull asked the number of commandments replies that there are twenty. He explains to another that he knows there must be more than twenty because the minister would not accept his answer. Scotland: Baughman. |
| J881.1 | More timid than the hare. Hares take heart when they see that frogs are more timid than they. *Type 70; *Dh IV 97ff.; Wienert FFC LVI *62 (ET 245), 116 (ST 266); Halm Aesop No. 237; Jacobs Aesop 204 No. 15. |
| J1063.1 | Mother crab blames her children for not walking straight. Jacobs Aesop 211 No. 48; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1142.4.1 | Mother's weeping for thief made to seem natural. |
| J861.3 | Mouse (fly) dying in meat tub is happy that he has eaten to satisfaction. Wienert FFC LVI *64 (ET 274), *143 (ST 495); Halm Aesop No. 292. |
| J411.8 | Mouse on lion's mane. Lion angry at impudence of mouse. Wienert FFC LVI *56 (ET 167), 113 (ST 238); Halm Aesop No. 257. |
| J132 | Mouse teaches her child to fear quiet cats but not noisy cocks. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 530. |
| J512.7 | Mouse, bird, and sausage keep house together. When they exchange duties all goes wrong. *Type 85; *BP I 206, III 558; Indonesia: DeVries's list No. 135. |
| J1977 | Mouth and ears stopped up lest wisdom escape. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1823.4 | Move away from Moslem land so that Allah need not be feared. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2104 | Moving the fireplace. When it gives too much heat numskulls decide to move it instead of putting out the fire. Type 1325*. |
| J815.3 | Muddy bath prepared for blemished king. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J954.1 | Mule as descendant of king's war-horse. Fails to mention his mother. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 170; *Crane Vitry 147 No. 33; Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 30; Spanish Exempla: Keller; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1264.7 | Multiplying his talents. Priest is entrusted with reforming five dissolute nuns. Gets all five with child. The priest is rebuked for not using his "talents" when tempted. He answers: "God gave me five talents and I have added five more!" (Pun on word talent.) Nouvelles Récréations No. 4; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J1145.1 | Murderer detected by actions of murdered man's dog. Attacks murderer whenever possible. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 434. |
| J1813.1 | Mushrooms shrink in water. Fool kills his wife because he thinks that she has eaten part of them. Africa (Ila, Rhodesia): Smith and Dale II 412 No. 11. |
| J1467 | Must drink from the common cup. A man always drinks out of his own cup. In storm at sea a sailor says, "Today we all drink out of the same cup (the sea). *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 247. |
| J867 | Mutual and undeserved compliments: donkey to camel, "What a beauty you are"; latter answers, "What a sweet voice you have." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J2312 | Naked person made to believe that he is clothed. *Types 1406, 1620; *Clouston Noodles 163; *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 866; H. C. Andersen "Kejserens ny Klæder"; Christensen DF L 64; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| J2493 | Names of dogs literally interpreted. The names are "The Shepherd" and "Get the stick". When the man calls his dogs to dinner, the thief thinks that he is telling the shepherd to get a stick. Type 1530*; Russia: Andrejev No. 1530*. |
| J1911 | Nature of a baby misunderstood. |
| J2349 | Nature of gullibility—miscellaneous. |
| J2310 | Nature of gullibility. |
| J122 | Naпve remark of child: "You forgot to strike mother." A father in habit of beating his wife remarks that he has forgot something. The child says, "I know. You forgot to strike mother." Wesselski Mönchslatein 170 No. 133. |
| J2341 | Near-sighted man persuaded by doctor that he can see. Nouvelles Récréations No. 28. |
| J702 | Necessity of work. |
| J1391.8 | Needles and anchors. Fox leaving merchant's warehouse: "I had wanted a needle as big as an anchor and an anchor as small as a needle." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J511.1 | Negro tries in vain to be washed white. Wienert FFC LVI *46 (ET 48), *87 (ST 5); Halm Aesop No. 13; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1904.4 | Nest built in tree for fish. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1073 | Never use your entire resources. |
| J2214.12.1 | Newcomer undresses to swim a five-foot stream. He has walked all morning toward a mountain that seems only five miles away, but which is actually sixty miles from his starting point. Canada, U.S.: *Baughman. |
| J1394.1 | Night study. A thief having scorned Demosthenes for his constant study, the latter says, "I know that you have not failed to notice that I study much at night." *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No 801. |
| J2199.3 | Nine men try to lift bull over the fence. One gets the idea of taking it through the gate. (Cf. J2171.6.) England: *Baughman. |
| J1149.12 | Ninety-nine wise men and one fool ordered to pour milk into a tank all at one time: only the fool obeys. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J1511.7 | No clothes needed for Day of Judgment. Friends tell a man that the next day is the Day of Judgment and urge him to kill a lamb and give a feast. He apparently consents. He then burns up their clothes. They will not need clothes on the Day of Judgment. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin I 212 No. 31. |
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