The constellation
J2353 The wife multiplies the secret. To prove that a woman cannot keep a secret the man tells his wife that a crow has flown out of his belly (or that he has laid an egg). She tells her neighbor that two crows have flown. Soon he hears from his neighbors that there were fifty crows
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
beneath it
- Foolish boasts get man into trouble. Man boasts to boss that his brother can do twice the work he does. The boss hires him. The two brothers tell him their father can do as much work in a day as the boys can do in a week. The boss fires them, tells them to send their father to work for him. (Cf. H915, H916, N455.4.) · J2353.1 entry
carried in tale type
- The Wife Multiplies the Secret · ATU 1381D
filed near
- 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 · J2352.1 entry
- Talkative man betrays his companion. When his faults are pointed out he maintains that he is better than his companion, who is immediately investigated · J2352 entry
- Wolf (bear) boasts of having eaten horses. When the horse strikes sparks with his hoofs the lion is frightened and picks up the boastful wolf to show him the horse. He squeezes the wolf to death · J2351.4 entry
- Dupe loses booty through singing · J2351.3 entry
- Foolish boasts get man into trouble. Man boasts to boss that his brother can do twice the work he does. The boss hires him. The two brothers tell him their father can do as much work in a day as the boys can do in a week. The boss fires them, tells them to send their father to work for him. (Cf. H915, H916, N455.4.) · J2353.1 entry
- Numskull talks about his secret instructions and thus allows himself to be cheated. Told not to serve a man with a red beard or to keep sausage for the long winter, etc · J2355 entry
- Fool loses magic objects by talking about them · J2355.1 entry
- Boy talks about his secret instructions and brings his father's theft to light. He is to avoid his companions lest they smell what he has been eating · J2355.2 entry