μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

"Never believe what is beyond belief": counsel proved wise by experience. Man believes when bird tells him that she has a precious gem in her body. (Cf. J21.12, K604.)

The wise and the foolish. · Acquisition and possession of wisdom (knowledge). · Wisdom (knowledge) acquired from experience. · view the constellation · filed as J21.13

Filed across the traditions
  • Spanish Exempla Keller.
  • general *BP IV 149 n. 2
  • general Alphabet No. 191
  • general Gaster Exempla 256 No. 390
  • general Paris Légendes du moyen âge 225ff.
  • general Oesterley Gesta Romanorum No. 167
Within the index

Filed under Counsels proved wise by experience.

Filed beside it
"Consider the end": counsel proved wise by experience. Barber hired to cut king's throat sees on the bottom of the basin the words "Whatever you do, do wisely and think of the consequences." He drops the razor and confesses "Do not act when angry": counsel proved wise by experience. Man returns home and sees someone sleeping with his wife. Though he thinks it is a paramour, he restrains himself and finds that it is a newborn son "Do not go where an old man has a young wife": counsel proved wise by experience. Discovers a murder in an inn "Do not marry a girl from abroad": counsel proved wise by experience "Do not leave the highway": counsel proved wise by experience. Robbers encountered "Do not ask questions about extraordinary things": counsel proved wise by experience. Those who ask question killed "Do not cross a bridge without dismounting from your horse"; counsel proved wise by experience. Man breaks leg "Never wager more than a groat": counsel proved wise by experience. Man loses wife on wager "Do not visit your friends often": counsel proved wise by experience. At last the man is treated shamefully "Do not lend out your horse": counsel proved wise by experience "Do not walk half a mile with a man without asking his name": counsel proved wise by experience. Man runs race unwittingly with his wife's paramour and loses his wife on the wager. (Cf. J21.8.) "Rue not a thing that is past": counsel proved wise by experience. Man lets bird go and then, having listened to bird's false declaration that she had a precious gem in her body, he tries to climb a tree after her and falls "Never try to reach the unattainable": counsel proved wise by experience. (Cf. K604.) "If you wish to hang yourself, do so by the stone which I point out": counsel proved wise by experience. Father has left money which will fall out when the spendthrift son goes to hang himself in despair. "The Heir of Linne." "Go to Goosebridge": counsel proved wise by experience. Man with disobedient wife finds mules beaten there and made to cross bridge "Stay at church till mass is finished": counsel proved wise by experience. Delay saves youth from death
Travels with (Thompson’s cf.)
"Rue not a thing that is past": counsel proved wise by experience. Man lets bird go and then, having listened to bird's false declaration that she had a precious gem in her body, he tries to climb a tree after her and falls The three teachings of the bird (fox). In return for release from captivity the bird (fox) gives the man three teachings. These usually mock the man for his foolishness in releasing what he has. (See for these counsels: J21.12, J21.13, J21.14.)
Carried in tale types

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