Old person as helper — Mythoi

Motif

Old person as helper.

Chance and fate. · Helpers. · Human helpers. · view the constellation · filed as N825

Attested across traditions

North American Indigenous Tales of the North American Indians , Tale 47 receipt

In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed

Middle Eastern The Thousand and One Nights, commonly called, in England, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments , Chapter 18
Middle Eastern The Thousand and One Nights, commonly called, in England, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments , Chapter 19
Middle Eastern The Thousand and One Nights, commonly called, in England, The Arabian Nights' Entertainments , Chapter 22

Filed across the traditions

Spanish Espinosa II Nos. 99–103, 119–121, 126–132.

Within the index

Filed under Human helpers.

3 finer motifs beneath it

Childless old couple adopt hero Old man helper Old woman helper

Filed beside it

Help from little man Lame boy (girl) as helper Help from beggar. (Cf. N825.3.1.) Child as helper. (Cf. N832.) Wise woman as helper Girl as helper Boy as helper. (Cf. N827) Wealthy (powerful) man as helper King as helper Queen as helper Hero (culture hero) as helper Shepherd as helper Cook as helper Hermit as helper Dervish as helper Magician as helper

Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes

Sharp-elbowed women. Kill with their elbows Potiphar's wife. A woman makes vain overtures to a man and then accuses him of attempting to force her Whale-boat. A man is carried across the water on a whale (fish). (He usually deceives the whale as to the nearness of the land or as to hearing thunder. As a consequence the whale runs into the shore or is killed by lightning.) Cruel father

Carried in tale types

The Stolen Clothing (previously Marriage by Stealing Clothing) · ATU 413 1 recorded variant

ask the rhapsode about this motif · search the shelf for “person” · wander