μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

The tail fisher. The bear is persuaded to fish with his tail through a hole in the ice. When he is attacked and tries to escape, he loses his tail.

Deceptions. · Deception into self-injury. · Deception into disastrous attempt to procure food. · view the constellation · filed as K1021

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Scholars’ trail — 10references

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.

  • JapaneseIkeda
  • KoreanZong in-Sob 159 No. 69
  • Eskimo (Mackenzie Area)Jenness 44
  • N. Am. IndianThompson CColl II 438
  • American Negro (Georgia)Harris Remus 120 No. 25, Nights 113 No. 21, (Pennsylvania): Parsons JAFL XXX 214, (Virginia): Smiley JAFL XXXII 361, (South Carolina): Parsons JAFL XXXIV 12.
  • general *Type 2
  • general *BP II 111
  • general *Dh IV 219
  • general Krohn Bar (Wolf) und Fuchs (JSFO VI) 26ff.
  • general *Fb "ræv" III 113b, "bjørn" IV 43a, "ulv" III 971a. Lappish: Qvigstad Lappiske Eventyr II 3, III 3
Within the index

Filed under Deception into disastrous attempt to procure food.

3 finer motifs beneath it
Tail buried (hair tied). Dupe bound fast and then attackedBasket tied to wolf's tail and filled with stones. Wolf is persuaded that it is filled with fishBear persuaded to slide down rock. Wears off tail
Filed beside it
Dupe persuaded to steal food: cannot escapeGetting honey from the wasp-nest. The dupe is stungBeginning with the smallest. Animals are to eat one another up to avoid starvation. The fox persuades them to start with the smallestEating his own entrails. The fox persuades the wolf to do soDupe imitates trickster's thefts and is caughtDupe made to sit on hot stoneHot porridge in the ogre's throat. He is tricked into burning his throatDupe persuaded to climb rope for food: rope breaksStone (hard fruit) thrown into greedy dupe's mouthTrickster pretends to give dupe magic power to produce food. Injures himDupe injures self on fence of thorns surrounding food-plants
Carried in tale types

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