Did the calf eat the man? A fool, liking the shoes on the feet of a man hanged on a gallows, cuts off the swollen feet in order to carry off the shoes. In the room in which he sleeps that night is a newborn calf. The next morning the man takes the shoes but leaves the feet. Peasants agree that the calf has eaten the man all but the feet. They burn the house to destroy the calf

Motif

Did the calf eat the man? A fool, liking the shoes on the feet of a man hanged on a gallows, cuts off the swollen feet in order to carry off the shoes. In the room in which he sleeps that night is a newborn calf. The next morning the man takes the shoes but leaves the feet. Peasants agree that the calf has eaten the man all but the feet. They burn the house to destroy the calf.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd misunderstandings. · Physical phenomena misunderstood. · view the constellation · filed as J1815

Filed across the traditions

Danish Christensen DF L 65, Nyrop Dania I (1890) 283ff., cf. II 68ff.
U.S. Baughman.
general Type 1281
general *Wesselski Bebel I 231 No. 144

Within the index

Filed under Physical phenomena misunderstood.

Filed beside it

Animal cries misunderstood Other sounds misunderstood Cooking processes misunderstood Numskull stays till he has finished. As he is making water he hears a brook flowing and mistakes what it is. He waits for a day and a half Fool thinks gold is being destroyed when snails crawl over it Fool thinks belly is speaking to him; stabs himself. Other animals are shouting at him Animal's action misunderstood Physical phenomena misunderstood – miscellaneous

Carried in tale types

Getting Rid of the Man-eating Calf · ATU 1281A 1 recorded variant

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