Tests

2,753 motifs · page 5 of 14

• Painting on wife's stomach as chastity index. H439.1.1
• Drinking-tube as chastity index: retains taste of another's lips. H439.2
• Other indications of chastity. H440
• Talking private parts betray unchastity. H451
• Disguise to test bride's chastity. H452
• Chastity test: king weighs princess against a flower. H455
• Wife tests. H460
• Test of wife's patience. Griselda. Children stolen and attendance at wedding to another demanded. H461
• The clever wife in disguise wins a second wife for her husband. H461.1
• Test of wife's endurance. Haughty princess married to beggar and must endure poverty and menial work. H465
• Feigned death to test wife's faithfulness. H466
• Feigned absence to test wife's faithfulness. H466.1
• Other tests of wife's love or faithfulness. H467
• Feigned illness to test wife's love. Husband feigns loss of genitalia. H467.1
• Wife's faithfulness tested by proposal in another's name. H467.2
• Test of wife's ability to keep secret. H472
• Test of wife's ability to keep secret: the buried sheep's head. Husband tells her that he is burying head of murdered man. She is to keep secret. She tells. When head is dug up it is sheep's head. H472.1
• Test of wife's obedience. H473
• Test of wife's obedience: finger in hole. Disobedient wife puts her finger into the hole where her husband has fixed sharp nails. H473.1
• Test of wife's obedience: the one command. Upon his wife's insistence that he test her by giving one command the husband tells her not to go into the oven while he is away. She does so and oven falls on her. H473.2
• Test of wife's obedience: not to eat leeks. Although she does not like them, she immediately begins to want them. H473.3
• Man leaving home warns wife not to wash face in puddle in dunghill. She does. He cannot understand why; she cannot explain. H473.4
• Test of wife's obedience: decorating house. H473.5
• Complacent wife agrees with all of husband's absurd statements. H474
• Husband tests false wife by sleeping on her hair. Had always done so with true bride. H476
• Wife tests – miscellaneous motifs. H479
• Widow prepared for suttee can lift by little finger heavy stone by temple. H479.1
• Father tests. Test as to who is unknown father of child. H480
• Infant picks out his unknown father. H481
• Infant indicates his unknown father by handing him an apple. H481.1
• Baby picks out his disguised father from a crowd by handing him a bow. H481.1.1
• Infant picks out his unknown mother. H482
• Animals compete as messenger to call father of new-born child. Their voices are tried. H483
• Test of unknown father: gold on street. Princess has gold put on street leading to her. The man who rides over the gold-covered street without noticing is the father of her child. H485
• Test of paternity. Child tested to see if it is child of certain father. H486
• Test of paternity: adhesion of blood. Blood of real son will adhere to dead father's bones. H486.1
• Test of paternity: shooting at father's corpse. Youngest of supposed sons refuses to shoot and is judged the only genuine son of dead emperor. H486.2
• Other marriage tests. H490
• Test of mother's and father's love for children. H491
• In large family father unwilling but mother willing to sell children. H491.1
• Test of faithfulness of husband and wife. H492
• Husband refuses to murder his wife for high honors; wife agrees to murder husband. H492.1
• Husband has a friend woo his wife: she is seduced. H492.2
• Husband has friend woo his wife: wife is generous to certain point only. Husband makes her wear dress symbolic of her generosity – blouse of coarse cloth; dress of gold brocade. H492.2.1
• Husband has friend woo his wife: seduction narrowly averted by frightened husband's intervention. H492.2.2
• Husband castrates himself to test wife's faithfulness. H492.3
• Virility test for husband. H493
• Maternity test: to produce a baby within a year. H494
• Mother test. H495
• Baby finds its mother, goes to her for suckling. H495.1
• Mother test: milk goes long distance into child's mouth. H495.2
• Old woman suckles all babies at son's circumcision to prove she has borne child. H495.3
• Test of cleverness or ability. H500
• Sons tested for skill. H500.1
• Test of wisdom. H501
• Test of wisdom: wise man sends ruler magic gems. Ruler admires their beauty but neglects to inquire of their virtues. H501.1
• Wise man answers questions of many with single speech. H501.2
• Sons tested for wisdom; given same amount of money. What will they do with it? H501.3
• Test of learning. H502
• Test of religious learning. H502.1
• Test of musical ability. (Cf. H509.4.) H503
• Song duel. Contest in singing. H503.1
• Test of skill in handiwork. H504
• Contest in lifelike painting. H504.1
• Contest in lifelike painting: fly on saint's nose. Second artist in first artist's absence paints a fly on a saint's nose in a picture. On his return the first artist tries to drive away the fly. H504.1.1
• Contest in lifelike painting: mare and curtain. First artist paints a mare so realistic as to deceive a stallion. Second paints a curtain which deceives the first artist. H504.1.2
• Contest in lifelike painting: grapes and curtain. First artist paints a bunch of grapes so realistically that it attracts the birds. The second artist paints a curtain which deceives the first artist. He wins. H504.1.3
• Barber's contest in shaving (without waking man). H504.2
• Test of cleverness: uttering three wise words. Youths called on to do so display by their answers extraordinary powers of deduction. H505
• Test of cleverness: uttering three truths. H505.1
• Test of resourcefulness. H506
• Test of resourcefulness: weighing elephant. Man puts him on boat; marks water-line; fills boat with stones until it sinks to same line; weighs stones. H506.1
• Test of resourcefulness: finding how many people are in dark closed room. Fills room with evil smell; men call each other by name and disclose number. H506.2
• Test of resourcefulness: carrying wolf, goat, and cabbage across stream. Man is to set across a stream, in a boat that will hold himself and only one other object, a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. He must do this so that the wolf doesn't eat the goat, nor the goat the cabbage. Two solutions: (1) (a) take goat over, (b) take wolf over and goat back, (c) take cabbage over, (d) take goat over; (2) (a) take goat over, (b) take cabbage over and goat back, (c) take wolf over, (d) take goat over. H506.3
• Test of resourcefulness: putting thread through coils of snail shell. Thread tied to ant who pulls it through. H506.4
• Test of resourcefulness: to swing seventy girls until they are tired. H506.5
• Test of resourcefulness: not to sit at the foot of couch. Servant gives prince a lemon to place on it indicating which is head and which foot of couch. H506.6
• Test of resourcefulness: to eat food without untying cloth containing it; hole torn in cloth. H506.7
• Test of resourcefulness: to get melon out of jar without breaking it. Melon is planted in jar made of unbaked clay. Jar is wrapped in a wet cloth so that it collapses. H506.8
• Test of resourcefulness: to cook rice without fire (in hot sand). H506.9
• Test of resourcefulness: to find relationships among three sticks: they are put in vessel of water; degree of sinking shows what part of tree each comes from. H506.10
• Test of resourcefulness: to discover how old, respectively, three horses are. Youth drops water on each; one jumps fifteen paces only, another twenty, and the last bounds in air and gallops. H506.11
• Wit combat. Test in repartee. H507
• Princess offered to man who can defeat her in repartee. H507.1
• Princess defeated in repartee by means of objects accidentally picked up. E. g., Hero: What red lips you have! Princess: There is fire inside. – Hero: Then boil this egg (producing egg). H507.1.0.1
• King defeated in repartee by boy, who thus wins girl. Boy: "Who would give a man a bath, feed him his rice, and then bring him the tamal-pan to chew?" King: "No one but a wife." Boy claims minister's daughter. H507.1.0.2
• Princess offered to man who can defeat her in argument. H507.1.1
• Test: making senseless remarks. King brought to say, "What is the sense in that?" H507.2
• Contest in wishing. H507.3
• Three brothers contest in wishing. Third wishes for all that the other brothers have wished for. H507.3.1
• Wit combat among three sisters for additional dowry. Replies to husbands when their premarital pregnancy is noticed. H507.4
• Contest in scolding as introduction to battle. H507.5
• Literary contest won by deception: he who will be first silenced is the loser. When the false teacher answers in nonsense syllables, the true scholar is speechless and so loses contest. H507.6
• Test: finding answer to certain question. H508
• King propounds questions to his sons to determine successor. H508.1
• Bride offered to man who can find answer to question. H508.2
• Tests of cleverness or ability: miscellaneous. H509
• Test: threading needle. Guest of convent is given choice of nuns. On the morrow he is given three opportunities to thread a needle. Success means reward, failure confiscation of his belongings. H509.1
• Contest in making mouths water. Hero uses certain berry that always causes mouths of onlookers to water. H509.2
• Chess game as test. H509.3
• Tests of poetic ability. (Cf. H503.) H509.4
• Test: supplying missing half-stanza. H509.4.1
• Contest in adding a verse which makes the first poet ridiculous. H509.4.1.1
• Riddles proposed as tests of poetic ability. H509.4.2
• Understanding poem as test. H509.4.3
• Test: telling skillful lie. H509.5
• Test: telling five lies which should so closely resemble the truth the tester will believe them himself. H509.5.1
• Tests in guessing. H510
• Princess offered to correct guesser. H511
• Three caskets. Princess offered to man who chooses correctly from three caskets. H511.1
• Choice of two sword sheaths (from one a gold shaft protrudes; from the other, a silver). H511.1.1
• Suitor must prefer princess to treasures. H511.1.2
• Test: to guess which of veiled sisters has golden hair. H511.2
• Guessing with life as wager. H512
• Guessing contest between kings. H515
• Test: guessing trolls' names in order to save one's life. H516
• Curse evaded by guessing names in magic writing. H517
• Test: guessing unknown propounder's name. H521
• Test: guessing unknown propounder's age. H521.1
• Test: guessing unknown animal (plant). H522
• Test: guessing origin of certain skin. H522.1
• Test: guessing nature of certain skin – louse-skin. Louse (flea) is fattened and its skin made into coat (drum, etc.) H522.1.1
• Test: guessing nature of certain skin – wolf-skin. H522.1.2
• Test: guessing origin of animal lungs. Lungs of fattened lizard are further inflated. H522.1.3
• Test: guessing nature of certain plant. Plant came from scrapings of princesses' bodies. H522.2
• Test: identifying what type of rice is in sack. H522.3
• Test: guessing nature of devil's possessions. H523
• Test: guessing nature of devil's horse. Answer: he-goat. H523.1
• Test: guessing nature of devil's cloth. Answer: goat-skin. H523.2
• Test: guessing nature of devil's gold cup. Answer: cup of pitch. H523.3
• Test: guessing nature of devil's roast meat. Answer: dead dog. H523.4
• Test: guessing nature of devil's spoon. Answer: whale rib. H523.5
• Test: guessing nature of devil's wine glass. Answer: horse's hoof. H523.6
• Test: guessing nature of devil's plate. Answer: stone. H523.7
• Test: guessing nature of devil's purse. Answer: whip. H523.8
• Test: guessing person's thoughts. H524
• "What am I thinking?" "That I am the priest." So answers youth masking as priest. H524.1
• Test: guessing princess's birthmarks. H525
• Question: "What is under my cloak?" Questioner has branch of blackthorn laden with berries under her cloak. H526
• Guessing: whether more of a certain stone is above or below ground. A test set by heathen king for a saint. H527
• Guessing sex of unborn child (or animal). H528
• Test: to prophesy offspring of cow and mare. H528.1
• Riddles. Only such riddles are treated in this work as appear in tales, ballads, myths, or the like. H530
• Propounding of riddles. H540
• Supernatural creatures propound riddles. (See also H541.1.1, H543, G681.) H540.1
• Queen propounds riddles. H540.2
• Queen of Sheba propounds riddles to Solomon. H540.2.1
• King propounds riddles. H540.3
• Riddles sent to Solomon by King Hiram. (Cf. H548.) H540.3.1
• Saint as propounder of riddles. H540.4
• Bridegroom propounds riddles at wedding feast. H540.5
• Riddle propounded with penalty for failure. H541
• Riddle propounded on pain of death. (Cf. H512.) H541.1
• Sphinx propounds riddle on pain of death. H541.1.1
• Riddle propounded on pain of loss of property. H541.2
• Fine for failure to solve riddle. H541.2.1
• Riddle propounded on pain of loss of official position. H541.3
• Death sentence escaped by propounding riddle king (judge) cannot solve H542
• Riddle assigned defendant in action. If he solves it he wins suit. H542.1
• Escape from devil by answering his riddles. H543
• Devil held off from person by answering his riddles. St. Andrew the Bishop, and the Devil. The Devil, in form of beautiful maiden visits a holy bishop. St. Andrew appears as a pilgrim, answers the questions through which the devil seeks to keep him at a distance and discomfits the devil. (Cf. B302.22.3.) H543.1
• Child in cradle guesses devil's riddle: all are saved. H543.2
• Answers found in other world to riddles propounded on way. H544
• Riddle contests. H548
• King and rabbi exchange riddles. H548.1
• Princess offered to man who can out-riddle her. H551
• Man wins wife by instructing her how to answer her mother's riddles. H551.1
• Woman gives self to solver of riddles. H551.2
• Man marries girl who guesses his riddles. H552
• Solvers of riddles. H561
• Clever peasant girl asked riddles by king. H561.1
• Clever peasant wife asks king riddles. H561.1.0.1
• Conflict between peasant and nobleman decided so that each must answer riddles: peasant's daughter solves them. H561.1.1
• Clever daughter construes enigmatic sayings. H561.1.1.1
• Found mortar taken to king reveals peasant girl's wisdom. Peasant finds mortar in his field and against his daughter's advice takes it to the king, who demands the pestle as well. Peasant laments that he has not followed daughter's advice. King summons her. H561.1.2
• King and abbot. King propounds three riddles to abbot to answer on pain of death. Herdsman disguises as abbot and answers questions. H561.2
• Solomon and Marcolf. Witty questions and answers between youth and servant. H561.3
• King Solomon as master riddle-solver. (Cf. H540.2.1, H540.4.) H561.3.1
• King and clever youth. King asks questions; youth returns riddling answers. H561.4
• King and clever minister. King propounds riddles and questions to his clever minister. H561.5
• King and peasant vie in riddling questions and answers. H561.6
• King and peasant: the plucked fowl. The king gives riddling questions to a peasant, who always interprets them right. The king says that he will send the peasant a fowl which he shall pluck. The king gives the same questions to his courtiers, who cannot interpret them. They pay the peasant good money for the answers. Peasant tells king that he has plucked the fowl. H561.6.1
• Druid as solver of riddles. H561.7
• Cleric as solver of riddles. H561.8
• Clever prince interprets enigmatic statements. H561.9
• Saint as solver of riddles. H561.10
• Inscription on home of riddle-solver "I have no care." H562
• Riddle propounded from chance experience. On way to riddle trial youth sees things that give him a clue for his riddles. H565
• Happenings before feast give Samson clue for riddles. H565.1
• Means of solving riddles. H570
• Counterquestions. Riddles answered by a question that reduces the riddle to an absurdity. H571
• Counterquestion: "What is difference between you and an ass? What is difference between you and a cushion." H571.1
• Reductio ad absurdum of riddle: stallions of Babylon. "Why is my mare restless when stallions of Babylon neigh?" Hero beats cat for having strangled a cock last night in Babylon (impossible distance away). H572
• Answer to riddle found by trickery. H573
• Riddle solved with aid of hidden informant. H573.1
• Problem of why certain person cannot sleep solved by trickery. H573.2
• Riddle solved by listening to propounder talk in his sleep. H573.3
• Riddles solved with aid of propounder's wife. (Cf. G530.2, H335.0.1, H974.) H574
• Accidental discovery of answer to riddle. H575
• Enigmatic statements. Apparently senseless remarks (or acts) interpreted figuratively prove wise. H580