μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Ordeal by exposure. (Cf. S141, S331.)

Tests. · Tests of truth. · Tests of guilt or innocence. · Ordeals. · view the constellation · filed as H236

Filed across the traditions
  • India Thompson-Balys.
Within the index

Filed under Ordeals. Guilt or innocence thus established.

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 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
Travels with (Thompson’s cf.)
Exposure in boat. A person (usually woman or child) set adrift in a boat (chest, basket, cask) Exposure of child in boat (floating chest). See references for S141, nearly all of which refer to this motif

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