μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Person pursued by misfortune. (Placidas, Eustacius.) His goods are destroyed, his wife carried off by a ship captain and his children by animals.

Chance and fate. · The ways of luck and fate. · Persistent bad luck. · view the constellation · filed as N251

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Scholars’ trail — 16references

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
  • Jewish*Neuman, bin Gorion Born Judas 2d ed. I 374
  • India*Thompson-Balys
  • Buddhist mythMalalasekera II 113, 793
  • West IndiesFlowers 564.
  • general *Type 938
  • general Herbert III 241
  • general *Oesterley No. 110
  • general *Bolte Zs. f. Vksk. XXVIII 154f.
  • general Alphabet No. 311
  • general *Hibbard 3ff.
  • general Boccaccio Decameron II Nos. 6, 8 (Lee 34, 39)
  • general *Loomis White Magic 112
  • general **Gerould PMLA XIX 335ff.
  • general Dickson 100 n. 7. Irish: *Cross
  • general O'Suilleabhain 42, Beal XXI 315
Within the index

Filed under Persistent bad luck.

7 finer motifs beneath it
Man captured by pirates is maimed, crippled, blinded. He is patient through it all. Finally he is elected ruler by his dead master's subjectsMan who aspires to greater wealth loses all. When he is about to be rewarded by king the latter diesMan who loses fortune marries widow of his rich master. (Cf. N227.)Travelers pursued by misfortuneFortune of the lucky wife. A luckless man becomes successful in all his undertakings when he marries a lucky woman and lives by her luckThe luckless son and his envious father. Seeing a luck-bringing animal at his son's house, the wizard father orders it to be destroyed, but the grandchildren eat of its meat and become fortunateMisfortune pursues farmer
Filed beside it
Bad luck follows man who shoots storkPersecution by bad luck. Wishing to escape it, the luckless couple build themselves a new home. Scarcely do they establish themselves in the new home, when bad luck addresses them from the hearth: "I have already waited for you here three days."Persecution by a god so that will of deity can be followedBad luck banished and freed. The poor man in some way banishes his bad luck and becomes prosperous. Out of envy his rich brother sets it free; it then follows himMessengers announce successive misfortunesSafety in shadow of wall. After many misfortunes the man is apparently safe. The wall falls on himEscape from one misfortune into worseUnlucky classesTrain of troubles from lost horseshoe nail. Master tries to go on in spite of the lossTrain of troubles from sparrow's vengeance. A man runs over the dog, friend of the sparrow. Through the sparrow's vengeance the man loses his horse, his property, and finally his lifeWhether man begs all day or for an hour he gets only a small basket of grainPerson brings bad luck to others
Carried in tale types

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