μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Reductio ad absurdum: the decision about the colt. A man ties his mare to a second man's wagon. The mare bears a colt which the wagon-owner claims, saying that the wagon has borne a colt. Real owner of the colt shows the absurdity (1) by fishing in the street or (2) by telling that his wife is shooting fish in the garden. Neither of these things are so absurd as the decision.

The wise and the foolish. · Cleverness. · Clever persons and acts. · Cleverness in the law court. · Cleverness in the lawcourt – miscellaneous. · view the constellation · filed as J1191.1

Filed across the traditions
  • India *Thompson-Balys
  • India *Thompson-Balys.
  • general *Type 875
  • general **DeVries FFC LXXIII
  • general Köhler-Bolte I 460
  • general *BP II 349ff., 371
  • general *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 212 No. 434
Within the index

Filed under Reductio ad absurdum of judgment.

1 finer motif beneath it
"The sea is on fire" – not more absurd than the decision about the colt
Filed beside it
Suit for chickens produced from boiled eggs. Countertask: harvesting crop produced from cooked seeds The funeral for the ineligible husband. A king awards a young woman to a gardener, who is already married. The young woman performs a funeral ceremony for him. The king is pleased with the jest and takes her into the harem To return the dead elephant alive. Hired elephant dies. Owner demands the live elephant. The god causes the elephant's owner to break pots of the other. Is unable to make specific restitution Reductio ad absurdum of accusation: object-birth slander. (Later children tell toy animals to drink. No harder than for woman to bear objects.) Plaintiff in court beats thief since he had not warned him ahead of time to have witnesses to robbery. Judge has refused to inquire for lack of witnesses Rice pot on pole, fire far away. As easy to cook rice thus as to warm a man at a distance from a lamp on a balcony
Carried in tale types

ask the rhapsode about this motif · search the shelf for “wagon-owner” · wander