Fool writes letter very slowly: recipient cannot read fast

Motif

Fool writes letter very slowly: recipient cannot read fast.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Absurd lack of logic. · Other logical absurdities. · view the constellation · filed as J2242.2

Filed across the traditions

U.S. *Baughman.

Within the index

Filed under Carrying his own message. A man who is away from home writes a letter to his wife but can find no messenger. He delivers the letter himself and then goes on back to where he has been.

Filed beside it

Scribe cannot write a letter because he has bad leg. Must carry letter in person since no one else can read it

Carried in tale types

Illiterates (previously Learning to Read) · ATU 1331* 1 recorded variant

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