μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif
Scholars’ trail — 6references

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.

  • IndiaThompson-Balys
  • Oceanic*Dixon 199 n. 37
  • Africa (Angola)Chatelain 197 No. 26.
  • general *Chauvin VI 63, 231
  • general *Zachariae Zs f. Vksk. XXX–XXXII 50 n. 2
  • general *Wesselski Arlotto II 215 No. 73
Within the index

Filed under Cleverness in the lawcourt – miscellaneous.

7 finer motifs beneath it
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 decisionSuit for chickens produced from boiled eggs. Countertask: harvesting crop produced from cooked seedsThe 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 haremTo 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 restitutionReductio 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 witnessesRice 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
Filed beside it
The bribed judgeClever interpretation of judge's statementJudge frightened into awarding decisionJudge finds offense is not great when it is his own son who is guilty. [Inadvertant duplication of U21.5.]Pardon in return for confession
Carried in tale types

wander