μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Ungrateful son reproved by naïve action of his own son: preparing for old age. Man gives his old father half a carpet to keep him warm. Child keeps the other half and tells his father that he is keeping it for him when he grows old.

The wise and the foolish. · Acquisition and possession of wisdom (knowledge). · Wisdom learned from children. · view the constellation · filed as J121

Filed across the traditions
  • Russian Andrejev No. *982
  • Spanish Exempla Keller
  • Italian Novella *Rotunda
  • Chinese Eberhard FFC CXX 256f. No. 201
  • Japanese Ikeda.
  • general *Bédier Fabliaux 463f.
  • general *Pauli (ed. Bolte) Nos. 436, 760
  • general Crane Vitry 260 No. 288
  • general Herbert III 25
  • general *BP II 135, IV 172 n. 14
  • general Scala Celi No. 530
  • general *Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 41. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *996
Within the index

Filed under Wisdom learned from children.

2 finer motifs beneath it
Ungrateful son reproved by naïve action of his own son: preparing for old age (wooden drinking cup or bowl) Undutiful son rebuked by father. Father tells son not to drag him past the threshold, because he had dragged his own father only up to that point when he had thought of putting him out of his house
Filed beside it
Naïve remark of child: "You forgot to strike mother." A father in habit of beating his wife remarks that he has forgot something. The child says, "I know. You forgot to strike mother." Wisdom of child decides lawsuit. King in disguise sees child's game which represents the case Learning the virtue of patience from children. When their meals are stolen, they quietly search for them Parents's misdeeds innocently betrayed by children
Carried in tale types

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