μῦθοι Mythoi
Motif

The fat troll (wolf). A troll eats the watcher's five horses and finally the watcher himself. The master goes to investigate. The troll: "I ate the five horses, I ate the watcher, and I will eat you." Does so. Likewise the wife, servant, daughter, son, and dog. The cat scratches the troll open and rescues all.

Miscellaneous groups of motifs. · Formulas. · Cumulative tales. · Chains involving a single scene or event without interdependence among the individual actors. · view the constellation · filed as Z33.4

Filed across the traditions
  • Danish Kristensen Dyrefabler 68ff. Nos. 131–144
  • Swedish T. Norlind Svenska Allmogens Liv 2d ed. (Stockholm, 1925) 613
  • Russian Andrejev No. 333B*.
  • general *Taylor JAFL XLVI 83 No. 2028
  • general *Fb "ulv" III 970b, "æde" III 1139b, "bjørn" IV 43b
Within the index

Filed under Chains involving the eating of an object. (Members of the chain not interrelated.)

2 finer motifs beneath it
Louse and crow make covenant of friendship: louse eats crow despite crow saying, "If I strike you once with my beak you will disappear; how then can you talk of eating me?" Likewise louse eats loaf of bread, she-goat, cow, buffalo, five sepoys, wedding procession with one lakh of people, elephant, tank of water. A sepoy cuts louse in two with his sword and rescues all The singing wolf. By his singing the wolf compels the old man to surrender his cattle, his children and grandchildren, and finally his wife. The old woman goes in the wolf's service. She returns home bringing butter, etc
Filed beside it
The fleeing pancake. A woman makes a pancake, which flees. Various animals try in vain to stop it. Finally the fox eats it up The fat cat. While the mistress is away, the cat eats the porridge, the bowl, and the ladle. When the mistress returns she says, "How fat you are!" The cat: "I ate the porridge, the bowl, and the ladle, and I will eat you." The cat meets other animals and eats them after the same conversation. Finally eats too many Woman meets a pig. "Good morning." "Why are you up so early?" "I am not up so early. I have drunk seven vats of milk and eaten seven plates of porridge and I shall eat you." She ate the pig
Carried in tale types

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