Ordeal by water. Guilt or innocence shown by ability to swim

Motif

Ordeal by water. Guilt or innocence shown by ability to swim.

Tests. · Tests of truth. · Tests of guilt or innocence. · Ordeals. · view the constellation · filed as H222

Scholars’ trail — 10references

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

GreekFrazer Pausanias III 388
LithuanianBalys Index No. 3664
JewishNeuman
IndiaThompson-Balys
West IndiesFlowers 456.
general *Kittredge Witchcraft 232ff., 536ff.
general Penzer VIII 195f.
general Basset RTP VII 285
general *Fb "svømme" III 695b, "vand" III 999b, "vandprøve" III 1005b
general Loomis White Magic 41. Irish myth: *Cross

Within the index

Filed under Ordeals. Guilt or innocence thus established.

5 finer motifs beneath it

Ordeal by water applied by druids Legitimacy of children tested by dipping them in river Ordeal by holy water. If simpleton closes his eyes to holy water he is possessed; if he laughs he is merely an idiot Guilt or innocence shown by effect of enchanted water Sanctity of books tested by throwing them into water

Filed beside it

Ordeal by fire. Suspected person must pass through or jump over fire to determine guilt or innocence Ordeal by poison Ordeal by crocodiles (snakes). Judgment depends on whether person is devoured or rejected by crocodiles Ordeal by rope-walking Ordeal by balance. Defendant is weighed twice. He must be lighter second time Ordeal: carrying murdered man's blood. Must not spill it Ordeal by creeping under a sod partially detached from the earth without its falling down Ordeal by bread and cheese. Declaration: if I am not innocent may I choke on bread and cheese Ordeal: taking stone out of bucket. Color indicates guilt or innocence Scales test: weighing witch against Bible Ordeal: cock under pot crows when guilty person touches pot Ordeal by exposure. (Cf. S141, S331.)

wander