μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

Wolf unjustly accuses lamb and eats him. When all the lamb's defenses are good the wolf asserts the right of the strong over the weak. (Usually accused of stirring up water from lower in stream.) (Cf. U141.)

The nature of life. · Life's inequalities. · Rights of the strong. · view the constellation · filed as U31

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Scholars’ trail — 8references

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 NovellaRotunda
  • IndonesiaDeVries's list No. 83 (monkey and goat).
  • general Wienert FFC LVI 50 (ET 97), 148 (ST 526)
  • general Halm Aesop No. 274
  • general *Crane Vitry 191 No. 135
  • general Herbert III 12
  • general Alphabet No. 631
  • general Jacobs Aesop 199 No. 2
Within the index

Filed under Rights of the strong.

2 finer motifs beneath it
Cat unjustly accuses cock and eats him. Although all the cock's defenses are good the cat tells him that she can no longer go hungry and eats himCrow exercises rights of strong over dove who cannot defend self. Dove at crow's request sings to save her brood which crow kills after song
Filed beside it
Smallness of offense no excuse when hunter prepares to kill lark. She has stolen but a single grain of wheatCock killed by his captors in spite of his plea of usefulness to manNobleman murders one of the people. Goes unpunishedRich man (king) seizes poor widow's (nun's) cowLion cub killed by bull gives lioness no right to complainWolf as commander orders all booty divided, but keeps his ownRuler exiles subject for trivial remarkRuler forces bishop to ordain ignorant priestPraise what your master likes and scorn what he dislikes
Travels with
Enmity between fisherman and dweller on the river. Fishing stirs up the water and makes it unfit for drinking. (Cf. U31.)
Carried in tale types

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