Cruel uncle — Mythoi

Motif

Cruel uncle.

Unnatural cruelty. · Cruel relatives. · Other cruel relatives. · view the constellation · filed as S71

““I am sure I saw it before you,” said the first speaker again, “and, therefore, it is mine.” “Well, you may have the box, but its contents shall belong to me,” replied the other. They picked up the box, and began to carry it, but finding it somewhat heavy and being anxious to know what it con- tained, they stopped to untie it. “If there are many things in there, I shall have some of them,”’ said the first speaker, who rued her bargain.”

— Tales of the North American Indians, Tale 40 · served from our shelf receiptuncorrected OCR — being verified against the scan

Attested across traditions

North American IndigenousTales of the North American Indians, Tale 40 receipt

In our texts — keyword-matched, unreviewed

Scholars’ trail — 13references

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.

Irish myth*Cross
EnglishWells 19 (William of Palerne)
BretonSébillot Incidents s. v. "oncle"
Italian Novella*Rotunda
GreekAeschylus Agamemnon 1220 (Atreus)
IndiaThompson-Balys
Buddhist mythMalalasekera II 447, 1303
HinduKeith 177
ChineseGraham
HawaiiBeckwith Myth 422
Samoaibid. 473
MonoWheeler No. 29
N. Am. Indian*Thompson Tales 313 n. 127.

Within the index

Filed under Other cruel relatives.

1 finer motif beneath it

Cruel uncle poisons nephew (king)

Filed beside it

Cruel aunt Fratricide Person banishes brother (sister)Man blinds brother. (Cf. S165.)Cruel nephew

Keeps company with — shares receipted episodes

Transformation by putting on skin. By putting on the skin, feathers, etc. of an animal, a person is transformed to that animal Transformation by eating or drinking Clam test. Hero is sent to capture a giant clam, so that he can be killed Wedge test. Hero is caught in cleft of tree Disguise as girl to avoid execution Exposure in boat. A person (usually woman or child) set adrift in a boat (chest, basket, cask)

wander