The bungling host. A trickster (animal) visits various animals who display their peculiar powers in obtaining food (often magic). He returns the invitation and tries to provide food in similar ways. He fails and usually has a narrow escape from death. (Cf. J2411.3.)

Motif

The bungling host. A trickster (animal) visits various animals who display their peculiar powers in obtaining food (often magic). He returns the invitation and tries to provide food in similar ways. He fails and usually has a narrow escape from death. (Cf. J2411.3.)

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Foolish imitation. · Foolish imitation – miscellaneous. · view the constellation · filed as J2425

ask the rhapsode about this motif →

“He went up the mountains, singled out a large buck deer, which he teased, and called names, such as “big posterior,” “hairy posterior,” “short-tail.”’ The buck at last grew angry and charged the Magpie, who ran away. He just kept a little ahead of the buck, so as to encourage him, and led him right into the snare, in which his antlers stuck fast, whilst the Magpie jumped over it, and turning round, stabbed the entangled buck to death.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 35 · served from our shelf receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions

North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 35 receipt

Scholars’ trail — 4references

The index’s own references — the collections where scholars sighted this story-shape, tradition by tradition. Titles on our shelf are live links; the rest is the frontier, not yet shelved.

N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 301 n. 103, Speck U Pa I 141 n. 2
Cape Verde IslandsParsons MAFLS XV (1) 27 n. 1
JamaicaBeckwith MAFLS XVII 280 No. 97.
general Lepers Island: Dixon 128

Within the index

Filed under Foolish imitation – miscellaneous.

Filed beside it

The fool spits in the hot porridge. He has seen the smith spit on the hot iron The scythe cuts one man's head off. All have theirs cut off The eye-juggler. A trickster sees a man throwing his eyes into the air and replacing them. He also receives this power but he must not use the power beyond a specified number of times. When he does so, he loses his eyes. He usually gets animal eyes as substitutes The sharpened leg. A trickster sees a man with a sharpened leg. He also receives the power of sharpening his leg without harm if he will use it but four times. He breaks the tabu and is left with his leg sticking in a tree Numskull wants to be shaved too. He sees another man being shaved and thinks that the man is having his ears cut off. He orders his wife to cut off his ears Numskull praises his daughter as being pregnant. He tries in vain to sell his cow and succeeds only when he says that she is with calf. When suitors come wooing his daughter, he tries the same plan disastrously Numskull puts money into the exchange so as to participate in the business. He hears that great lords take a part in the business of the exchange where he sees great heaps of money. He throws down a penny and says, "You may like it or not, but I want money in the exchange, too."A man undertakes to do his wife's work. All goes wrong Man saved from well by rope. Disastrous attempt to save him from tree in same way Protecting as the stork does. Man has had stork protect him from rain by covering him with his wing. Man tries to protect his wife from rain with his arm

Travels with

Unsuccessful imitation of magic production of food. (Cf. J2425.)

wander