μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

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 well.

Deceptions. · False accusations. · Innocent made to appear guilty. · view the constellation · filed as K2152

ask the rhapsode about this motif →

“Soon he saw some fine, fat buffalo, ten of them, just across the river. Then Porcupine wanted to get across the river, but could not. After some thought he called to the buffalo to stand in line. This was so that he could tell which one was the fattest. Then he picked out the fattest one and told him to swim across the river. When this buffalo came up to Por- cupine, he asked Porcupine where he wanted to sit, on his back or on his tail.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 36 · served from our shelf  receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions
Scholars’ trail — 8references

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.

  • SpanishEspinosa III Nos. 176, 189
  • Italian NovellaRotunda
  • India*Thompson-Balys
  • KoreanZong in-Sob 197 No. 96
  • N. Am. Indian (Micmac)Rand No. 57, (Zuñi): Cushing 255, (Ojibwa): Schoolcraft Hiawatha 246.
  • general *Cox 501
  • general Christiansen Norske Eventyr No. 1536
  • general *Clouston Tales II 242
Within the index

Filed under Innocent made to appear guilty.

2 finer motifs beneath it
Dead dog set up so that woman knocks it over. Must pay damagesLegs of a corpse cause accusation of murder
Filed beside it
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 silentTrickster 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.]
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Jumping contest won by deception
Carried in tale types

wander