A man undertakes to do his wife's work. All goes wrong

Motif

A man undertakes to do his wife's work. All goes wrong.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Foolish imitation. · Foolish imitation – miscellaneous. · view the constellation · filed as J2431

Cited in the index

general *Type 1408
general *BP I 321
general Bolte Frey 222 No. 20
general Fb "øl" III 1175a
general Nouvelles Récréations No. 45.

Within the index

Filed under Foolish imitation – miscellaneous.

1 finer motif beneath it

Men exchange duties: each wants to get better of the other, but is cheated, finding the other's work more difficult

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 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.) 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." 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

Carried in tale types

The Man who Does his Wife's Work · ATU 1408 1 recorded variant

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