μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Foolish bargains.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd short-sightedness. · Foolish bargains. · view the constellation · filed as J2080

In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed
Filed across the traditions
  • Missouri French Carrière
  • India *Thompson-Balys.
Within the index
14 finer motifs beneath it
Foolish bargain: progressive type Squaring accounts by shaving the wife. A numskull has paid twice the regular amount for a shave. The barber shaves the wife The foolish attempt to cheat the buyer Foolish reward offered The foolish pawn. The woman sells cows and gets one of them back as a pledge for the unpaid purchase price The persuasive auctioneer. The auctioneer praises the man's worthless cow so much in his speech that the man takes her back himself The considerate seller. A numskull having an over-short turban for sale at auction warns the prospective buyer that it is too short Thief warned what not to steal. The numskull tells the thief where his door-key, his cakes, and his roasts are and warns him not to steal them The trusted porters. A man finds a treasure, but is robbed by porters whom he has employed to rid him of the trouble of carrying it Valuables given away or sold for trifle Expensive wood burned to make charcoal To eat a hundred onions. Choice of eating 100 onions, receiving 100 blows, or paying 100 coins. Fool tries onions in vain, then the blows, and finally must give the coins Stupid boy convinced that trading all his silver for worthless cup will gain people's respect Foolish bargain: miscellaneous
Travels with (Thompson’s cf.)
Learning a trade in bed. Working independently, the lazy fellow spoils the materials received – starts making something big, which at the end turns to nothing. For example, begins with forging a plough: this becomes an axe, the axe a knife, and knife a needle, the needle – nothing. (Cf. J2080.)

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