μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Uriah letter changed. Falsified order of execution. A messenger is sent with a letter ordering the recipient to kill the bearer. On the way the letter is changed so that the bearer is honored.

Deceptions. · Escape by deception. · Death order evaded. · view the constellation · filed as K511

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“Proetus believed her, and gave him a letter to take to Iobates, in which it was written that he was to kill Bellerophon. Having read the letter, Tobates ordered him to kill the Chimera, believing that he would be destroyed by the beast, for it was more than a match for many, let alone one; it had the fore part of a lion, the tail of a dragon, and its third head, the middle one, was that of a goat, through which it belched fire.”

— The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK II, ch. III · served from our shelf uncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

On our shelf — the index’s citations, resolved to served chapters
Scholars’ trail — 18references

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.

  • Greek*Frazer Apollodorus I 151 n. 2 → on our shelf: The Library (Bibliotheca), BOOK II, ch. III
  • JewishNeuman
  • India*Thompson-Balys
  • Buddhist mythMalalasekera I 828
  • JapaneseIkeda
  • AfricaFrobenius Atlantis IV 290.
  • general *Types 428, 930
  • general *Aarne FFC XXIII 69ff., 91
  • general *BP I 282
  • general *Fb "brev" IV 61ab
  • general *Chauvin VIII 143ff. Nos. 145ABC
  • general *Cosquin Études 143ff.
  • general Gunkel Märchen im alten Testament (Tübingen, 1921) 132
  • general *Boje 79
  • general *Penzer I 52, II 113f., III 277ff.
  • general Alphabet No. 593
  • general *Dickson 235 n. 33
  • general Tupper and Ogle Walter Map 271. Icelandic: Hdwb. d. Märchens I 326 nn. 16–26, Herrmann Saxo II 262ff. I, *Boberg
Within the index

Filed under Death order evaded.

2 finer motifs beneath it
Death evaded by persuading executioner that another victim was ordered. (E.g., boy has been ordered to kill hare. Hare persuades the boy that the father said, "Kill the rooster for the hare.")Ogam inscription on shield orders that bearer (who does not know meaning) shall be killed. Poet (who recognizes the meaning) reports to king that inscription means a request for honorable treatment
Filed beside it
Compassionate executioner. A servant charged with killing the hero (heroine) arranges the escape of the latterBribed executioner releases culpritDisguise as girl to avoid executionEscape by hiding
Travels with
Magic object acquired by exchanging letters. (Cf. K511)
Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes
Chimera. Combination of lion, dragon, and goat. Breathes firePotiphar's wife. A woman makes vain overtures to a man and then accuses him of attempting to force her
Carried in tale types

wander