Choice between evils — Mythoi

Motif

Choice between evils.

The wise and the foolish. · Wise and unwise conduct. · Choices. · Choice between evils. · view the constellation · filed as J210

Within the index

16 finer motifs beneath it

Four choices, all of which are evil; man to make one choice only Choice: free poverty or enslaved wealth Choice: plainness with safety or grandeur with danger Choice: loss of beauty or speech. Latter chosen Choice: suffering in youth or old age Present evil preferred to change for worse Choice of deaths Captivity preferred to death Enemies make peace rather than slay each other Choice: small injustice permitted rather than to cause troubles of state Rescue alone from shipwreck chosen over drowning with goods Choice between evils: pay tribute or lose both money and life Choice: apparent injustice over greater wrong Difficult choice between relatives Death preferred to other evils Choice between evils – miscellaneous

Carried in tale types

Better in Youth · ATU 938B 1 recorded variant

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