μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Whale thought to be island. Sailors light a fire on his back.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd misunderstandings. · One thing mistaken for another. · Animal or person mistaken for something else. · view the constellation · filed as J1761.1

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Scholars’ trail — 9references

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.

  • Jewish*Neuman
  • HinduPenzer II 193
  • IndonesianDeVries's list No. 210.
  • general *Chauvin VII 9 n. 1 No. 373A
  • general *Fb "fish" I 296b, "ø" III 1159b
  • general Gunter 84
  • general *Gaster Beiträge 53ff.
  • general *Reinhard PMLA XXXVIII 448 n. 84. Icelandic: *Boberg
  • general Bødker Exempler 286 No. 34
Within the index

Filed under Animal thought to be object.

2 finer motifs beneath it
Turtle thought to be an islandSerpent is taken for island
Filed beside it
White mare thought to be churchGlowworm thought to be a fire. The bird who tries to keep the monkeys from this error is killed for her painsFish thought to be chewed sugar-cane. Numskulls therefore throw away their fishWolf thought to be log of woodSnake thought to be flute. Bites tiger who tries to play fluteLiving toad or beetles thought to be lost food and therefore eaten by numskullsMan mistakes dragon for log, sits on it. (Cf. B11.)Bear mistaken for a floating log (blanket)Blind men and elephant. Four blind men feel an elephant's leg, tail, ear and body, respectively, and conclude it is like a log, a rope, a fan, and something without beginning or endFool mistakes dung-beetles for fruit: eats them
Carried in tale types

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