μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

The corpse handed around. (The thrice-killed corpse.) Dupes are accused of murder when the corpse is left with them. The trickster is paid to keep silent.

Deceptions. · False accusations. · Innocent made to appear guilty. · view the constellation · filed as K2151

ask the rhapsode about this motif →

Scholars’ trail — 12references

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.

  • Italian Novella*Rotunda
  • India*Thompson-Balys
  • JapaneseIkeda.
  • general *Types 1536C, 1537
  • general *Taylor MPh XV 221ff., 226 n. 1
  • general **Suchier Der Schwank von der viermal getöteten Leiche (Halle a. S., 1922)
  • general *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 598
  • general *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 214 No. 438
  • general Köhler-Bolte I 190
  • general Bédier Fabliaux 469
  • general BP II 10
  • general Parsons MAFLS XV (1) 73 n. 3. Spanish: Espinosa III Nos. 176, 189, *Espinosa JAFL XLIX 181–193
Within the index

Filed under Innocent made to appear guilty.

1 finer motif beneath it
Live man thought to be returning corpse pleads with trickster to save him
Filed beside it
Unresponsive corpse. Corpse is set up so that dupe addresses it and when it does not respond knocks it over. He is accused of murder. Most references to K2151 apply to this motif as wellTrickster wounds self and accuses othersEvidence of crime left so that dupe is blamedInnocent man compelled to write treasonable letter. It brings about his death sentenceSham blind man throws suspicion on real blind. He admits his deception so that his companion, who is really blind, is punishedThe dog receives the blows. The cat steals a sausage from the table but the dog receives the blows from the mistressRats cause cats to be killed. The rats unite and all go to houses together, increasing or decreasing their ravages with the increase or decrease in the number of cats. Thus the cats are suspected of the damage and are killedGrandmother causes grandchildren to be whipped: puts dirt and hairs into cooking pot by stealth and sand in the water they draw[First Edition: K2190. Other false accusations.]
Carried in tale types

wander