μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Foolish bargain: horse for cow, cow for hog, etc. Finally nothing left.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd short-sightedness. · Foolish bargains. · view the constellation · filed as J2081.1

Filed across the traditions
  • English Wells 118 (Octovian)
  • India *Thompson-Balys
  • Indonesia Coster-Wijsman 57 No. 84
  • general *Type 1415
  • general *BP II 199
  • general N. Am. Indian (Zuni): Boas JAFL XXXV 74 No. 3. Cf. Africa (Ibo, Nigeria): Thomas 128.
Within the index

Filed under Foolish bargain: progressive type.

Filed beside it
Foolish bargain: good fish for worthless shell; shell with pearl in it for small fish Fool exchanges his wife with ox; thinks something to be wrong with her head (she has been marked with red at the parting of her hair) Fools sent to buy cow procure a monkey instead
Carried in tale types

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