μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

A fox or a hare? A servant is sent by his master to find a girl for him. If he returns with one he is to say, "I have a fox"; if without, "I have a hare." When he returns he has forgotten the agreement. "I don't know whether it is a fox or a hare, but the girl is down stairs.

The wise and the foolish. · Fools (and other unwise persons). · Bungling fool. · Bungling fool. · view the constellation · filed as J2671.1

ask the rhapsode about this motif →

Scholars’ trail — 1reference

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.

  • general *Wesselski Bebel I 195 No. 69.
Within the index

Filed under The forgetful fool.

Filed beside it
Fool keeps repeating his instructions so as to remember them. (He usually forgets them.)Bungling fool forgets what elephant is called. Says it is an "earth egg" (confused with name for potatoes)Foolish messenger muddles message

wander