μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif
In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed
Within the index
32 finer motifs beneath it
Short-sightedness in dressingShort-sighted use of fireCarrying the plow horse so as not to tramp up the field. (Cf. J2103.2.)Short-sightedness in rowingCarrying load up hill to roll it down. Fools carry log (millstone) down hill. They realize that they might have rolled it down. They therefore carry it back up hill to roll it downShort-sighted lover is slow to follow up advantagePorridge eaten in different rooms. The porridge in one, the milk in anotherThe slaughter of the ox. In preparation, the feet are cut off the evening beforeShort-sightedness in carpentryShort-sightedness in caring for live-stockShort-sighted fool loses his foodFoolish demands before deathShort-sightedness in dealing with childrenFool lets wine run in the cellar. He (she) falls into a study (or chases a dog) while the spigot is openNo room left for the feast. A peasant on the way to a feast drinks so much ditch-water that he has no room left for the feastBurning up the seal. Numskulls buy a charter from their lord. In celebration they get drunk and use the seal as a candle and forfeit their charterA fleeing fox loses an eye in the briars. Returns the next day and eats it, thinking that it tastes like chickenDisastrous hesitationThe polluted clothes. A Brahmin washes clothes to purify them. As they hang to dry, a dog walks under them and the Brahmin fears that they are polluted. By putting himself on all-fours like a dog and fastening a leaf like a dog's tail he experiments and decides that the dog must have touched the clothes. He therefore destroys them instead of rewashing themDearly bought disgrace. A foolish priest is pushed into the water. "I wish I had drowned; then you would all have been disgraced."Trickster's false creations fail him. A trickster creates men from his excrements (or the like). They melt in the sunThe bear riding the horse lets his paws fall on the horse's flanks. He is caught on a tree and leaves his claws in the horse's fleshThe man who wanted to be dead one day. A husband tells his wife that he has provisions for every day in the year but one. He proposes to play dead for that one day, thinking that the servants will be overcome with grief and cannot eat. After brief mourning, however, they eat more than usual. The man then thinks to frighten them by rising from the dead. One servant thinking the dead man suffering from devils kills himA fool releases a bear while the master is away. The bear plays havoc. The master threatens to cut off the ears of the meddler. The fool asks his dog not to tell on him +8 more

wander