Misunderstandings because of lack of knowledge of a different language than one's own

Motif

Misunderstandings because of lack of knowledge of a different language than one's own.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Literal fools. · Literal fool – miscellaneous. · view the constellation · filed as J2496.2

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Scholars’ trail — 2references

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.

LithuanianBalys Index No. *2420
IndiaThompson-Balys.

Within the index

Filed under "I don't know" thought to be a person's name. A man in a country that cannot speak his language hears "I don't know" so frequently that he thinks it must be the name of the owner of all the places he inquires about.

Filed beside it

Boy who worked for "nothing at all" goes to town and demands "nothing at all." (Cf. J2489.10.)

Carried in tale types

Misunderstanding Because of Ignorance of a Foreign Language (Including the previous Type 1699A) · ATU 16991 recorded variant
The Changed Order · ATU 1699B1 recorded variant

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