μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

"Wait till I get fat." Captured person (animal) persuades his captor to wait and fatten him before eating him.

Deceptions. · Escape by deception. · Escape by false plea. · view the constellation · filed as K553

In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed
Filed across the traditions
  • Spanish Espinosa III 446
  • India *Thompson-Balys
  • Africa (Zulu) Callaway 164
  • American Negro (Georgia) Harris Nights 366ff. No. 65 (variant)
  • West Indies Flowers 516.
  • general Wienert FFC LVI 52 (ET 117), 105 (ST 179)
  • general Halm Aesop No. 231
Within the index

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

8 finer motifs beneath it
"Wait till I am fat enough to race you." Hero to be eaten by cannibals when he is fattened enough to beat them in a race. He runs away Calf: "Wait till I grow up." "Let me catch you better game." Captured animal pretends to help captor bring more desirable victim. Escapes Wait for the fat goat. Troll lets the first two goats pass on the bridge so that he may eat the biggest one. He is thrown in the water Ram promises to jump into wolf's belly. Gives him a hard knock. The stunned wolf thinks he has swallowed the ram. (Cf. K579.5.1.) Wolf is requested by horse to start eating from the rear; kicked to death "Soak me in the pond so that I will be juicy." Too dirty to eat. Trickster, cornered by leopard, leaps into swamp, then says he is too dirty to eat. Leopard smells of him and agrees
Filed beside it
Escape by equivocal oath. (Cf. K475.) Respite from death granted until particular act is performed 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
Carried in tale types

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