Task: bringing berries in winter. Reductio ad absurdum: father is sick from snake-bite (impossible in winter). (Cf. H952.)

Motif

Task: bringing berries in winter. Reductio ad absurdum: father is sick from snake-bite (impossible in winter). (Cf. H952.)

Tests. · Tests of prowess: tasks. · Nature of tasks. · Impossible or absurd tasks. · Tasks contrary to laws of nature. · view the constellation · filed as H1023.3.1

Cited in the index

general De Vries FFC LXXIII 269 n. 2.

Within the index

Filed under Task: bringing berries (fruit, roses) in winter.

1 finer motif beneath it

Task: procuring cuckoo to sing in winter

Filed beside it

Task: making withered flowers green

Travels with (Thompson’s cf.)

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.)

ask the rhapsode about this motif · search the shelf for “snake-bite” · wander