The constellation
H952 Reductio ad absurdum of task. When an impossible task is given, the hero responds with a countertask so absurd as to show the manifest absurdity of the original task. (Cf. H1023.3.1, H1024.1.1.1.)
A constellation is one motif’s neighborhood in the record — the story-shapes filed around it, the tale types that carry it, and the texts where it is witnessed, every line a receipted link. Click a motif to travel. Click a text to read it. The entry · wander
● motif
● tale type
● on the shelf
● attested
The same sky, in words
filed under
- Task evaded by subterfuge · H950 entry
cross-ref
- Task: hatching boiled eggs; countertask: sowing cooked seeds and harvesting the crop. (Cf. H951, H952.) · H1023.1.1 entry
- Task: hatching eggs immediately; countertask: sowing seeds and bringing in crop next morning. (Cf. H951, H952.) · H1023.1.2 entry
- Task: bringing berries in winter. Reductio ad absurdum: father is sick from snake-bite (impossible in winter). (Cf. H952.) · H1023.3.1 entry
- Task: making a bull bear a calf. Reductio ad absurdum: have a man prepare for childbirth. (Cf. H952.) · H1024.1.1.1 entry