Ordeal by rope-walking — Mythoi

Motif

Ordeal by rope-walking.

Tests. · Tests of truth. · Tests of guilt or innocence. · Ordeals. · view the constellation · filed as H225

Filed across the traditions

Africa (Basuto) Jacottet 182, (Ekoi): Talbot 402
Jamaica *Beckwith MAFLS XVII 238 No. 9.

Within the index

Filed under Ordeals. Guilt or innocence thus established.

2 finer motifs beneath it

Ordeal: walking on ladder of knives Ordeal: walking on eggs

Filed beside it

Ordeal by fire. Suspected person must pass through or jump over fire to determine guilt or innocence Ordeal by water. Guilt or innocence shown by ability to swim Ordeal by poison Ordeal by crocodiles (snakes). Judgment depends on whether person is devoured or rejected by crocodiles 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.)

ask the rhapsode about this motif · search the shelf for “rope-walking” · wander