Rich man (king) seizes poor widow's (nun's) cow

Motif

Rich man (king) seizes poor widow's (nun's) cow.

The nature of life. · Life's inequalities. · Rights of the strong. · view the constellation · filed as U35

Scholars’ trail — 3references

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.
general Herbert III 40ff. No. 39
general Hervieux IV No. 40

Within the index

Filed under Rights of the strong.

2 finer motifs beneath it

King seizes old woman's cow Nobles ruin peasant's (widow's) crops with impunity

Filed beside it

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.)Smallness of offense no excuse when hunter prepares to kill lark. She has stolen but a single grain of wheat Cock killed by his captors in spite of his plea of usefulness to man Nobleman murders one of the people. Goes unpunished Lion cub killed by bull gives lioness no right to complain Wolf as commander orders all booty divided, but keeps his own Ruler exiles subject for trivial remark Ruler forces bishop to ordain ignorant priest Praise what your master likes and scorn what he dislikes

wander