Escape by false plea. A captive makes a request or proposes an action that permits him eventually to escape

Motif

Escape by false plea. A captive makes a request or proposes an action that permits him eventually to escape.

Deceptions. · Escape by deception. · Escape by false plea. · view the constellation · filed as K550

“She began to sew her moccasins, and all at once she stuck the awl in one of her fingers. The woman threw it away, and it came back and said: “Brother Turtle, I hurt a woman badly. She was using me while she was sewing her moccasins, and I stuck one of her fingers; she threw me away.” “Well done, brothers, now it is my turn,’ said the turtle. The turtle went into camp, and people saw him and said: “What does this mean?”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 38 · served from our shelf receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions

North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 38 receipt

Scholars’ trail — 6references

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.

IndiaThompson-Balys
IndonesiaDeVries's list No. 246
N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 306 n. 109cc
West IndiesFlowers 515.
general *Type 122A
general *BP II 207

Within the index

18 finer motifs beneath it

Escape by equivocal oath. (Cf. K475.)Respite from death granted until particular act is performed "Wait till I get fat." Captured person (animal) persuades his captor to wait and fatten him before eating him Executioner kept busy or interested until rescue comes. Sometimes until he changes his mind Death cheated by moving bed. The man who has chosen Death as his godfather has his bed turned around when he sees Death standing at the foot of his bed. He thus escapes death Man allowed to pick out tree to be hanged on. Cannot find one Escape by persuading captor to talk Rat persuades cat to wash face before eating: escapes Escape because of plea that leaves means of egress open Thumbling in animal's belly persuades latter to go to his father's house for plunder: rescued Ass begs wolf to pull thorn out of foot before eating him: kicks wolf in mouth Escape by pretending to perform errand (do work) for captor Escape by pretending to dance so as to be untied Escape from captor by means of flattery Escape by asserting that captor will have ill luck after killing victim Escape by false prophecy: if corpses are buried in city, it will become a ruin: king releases condemned man To get out of thieves' clutch, man reports high prices in another town Escape by false plea – miscellaneous

Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes

Trickster's burnt flesh becomes gum on trees Transformation to be put in food-bag Transformation to seduce Magic treasure animal killed. (Goose that laid the golden egg)Magic garment (robe, tunic)Magic reawakening of memory. (Cf. D1360, D1910.)Killed game revives and flies away Disintegration: man eats himself up or dismembers himself Person eats self up Trickster joins bulrushes in a dance. He thinks they are dancing when he sees them waving Person frightened into falling down a cliff Deceptive scratching contest

wander