μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Father's counsel: the four wells. Three empty and one full (3 sons and father). Full one can fill the three empty but the three when full cannot fill the one when empty (sons when scattered will not support the father).

Tests. · Tests of cleverness. · Riddles. · Enigmatic statements. · view the constellation · filed as H588.8

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

Filed under Enigmatic counsels of a father. Taken literally bring trouble, but when properly interpreted are valuable.

Filed beside it
Father-in-law gives daughter-in-law enigmatic permission to go home Father's counsel: walk not in sunshine from your house to your shop. (Attend to business, rising early and retiring late.) Father's counsel: let pilav be your daily food. (Eat frugally.) Father's counsel: marry a new wife every week. (Do not see your wife too much.) Father's counsel: on wishing to drink wine go to the vat and drink it. (Stench in vat so great that desire for wine is turned to loathing.) Father's counsel: if you want to gamble, then gamble with experienced gamblers. (If you see how wretched professional gamblers are you will not want to gamble.) Father's counsel: dress up the trunks of trees, cover the road. (Plant the road with fruit trees and betel between the trees.) Father's counsel: find treasure within a foot of the ground. (Sons dig everywhere and thus loosen soil of vineyard, which becomes fruitful.) Father's counsel: dam up the outlets. (Keep expenditures down – not outlets of rice-field as son-in-law thinks) Father's counsel: don't stay too late with a concubine, nor tell her any secret Always eat bread with "honey". (Working diligently, your bread will be as sweet as honey.) "Never greet anyone." (Start your work the earliest, so that not you but others may greet you.) "Always wear new shoes." (Walk the fields bare-footed, wearing your shoes only when nearing the town.) "Have a black look" (frown) "Bite the ear" (do state affairs secretly) "Take people by the locks" (use your influence to make people subservient to you)

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