μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif
Filed across the traditions
  • India *Thompson-Balys
  • Tahiti Dixon 64
  • N. Am. Indian *Thompson Tales 322 n. 160.
Within the index

Filed under Tests of power to survive. Vain attempts to kill hero.

1 finer motif beneath it
Bent tree test. Bent tree is released so as to tear hero to pieces
Filed beside it
Heat test. Attempt to kill hero by burning him in fire Cold test. Attempt to freeze hero to death Poisoned food test. Attempt to kill hero by feeding him poisoned food Poisoned clothing test. Attempt to kill hero by poisoning clothing Test: bite of poisonous snake Clam test. Hero is sent to capture a giant clam, so that he can be killed Clashing rocks test: hero to pass between them Spine test. Attempt to kill hero by throwing him on sharp spine or spike Wedge test. Hero is caught in cleft of tree Hanging test. Unavailing attempt to kill hero by hanging Plank test. Attempt to kill hero by letting plank fall on him Precipice test. Hero is pushed over a precipice Toboggan test. Attempt to kill hero on dangerous toboggan Test: playing game with ferocious beast Drowning test. Unavailing attempt to drown hero
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Resuscitation my frightening dead. Frequently combined with E61 Resuscitation by music Resuscitation by breathing on corpse Death thought sleep. Resuscitated person thinks he has been sleeping. He exclaims, "How long I have been asleep!" Door (gate) entrance to lower world Swallowed person becomes bald Cliff-ogre. Kicks victims over cliff Rectum snakes. Snakes which creep into living man and devour him Pot-tilter. Ogre who tilts a pot so that victims are drawn into it Sucking monster. Giant (sometimes a giant hall or cave) sucks in victims Man with fire moccasins. They set fire to surroundings Place and conditions of childbirth

ask the rhapsode about this motif · search the shelf for “threaten” · wander