The wise and the foolish

3,525 motifs · page 1 of 18

• Acquisition and possession of wisdom. J0
• Wisdom (knowledge) acquired from experience. J10
• Shipwrecked shepherd distrusts the sea. He had formerly envied sailors. J11
• Man bitten by snake fears snake-like rope. J11.1
• Young ass avoids food eaten by animals before being slaughtered. Runs to his mother and asks to have all remains of the hog's food taken out. J12
• Young sparrows have learned to avoid men. Sparrow quizzes his four young as to how to avoid danger from men. Their year of experience has taught them enough. J13
• Old racehorse in mill laments vanity of youth. J14
• Serpent (bird) having injured man refuses reconciliation. He knows that neither can forget their injuries. J15
• Dove disregards experience and loses brood. Rebuilds her nest in the place where she has lost former brood. J16
• Animal learns through experience to fear men. In spite of the warning of another animal he approaches man and is shot. J17
• Tiger, jackal, and bear each learn to fear man. They report him as head-thumper (he has beaten the tiger), turn-twister (he has swung jackal by tail), and top-tumbler (he has fallen out of tree on bear). J17.1
• Wisdom acquired from beating. Incognito prince, beaten for his courtesy, realizes his folly and returns home. J18
• Counsels proved wise by experience. J21
• "Consider the end": counsel proved wise by experience. Barber hired to cut king's throat sees on the bottom of the basin the words "Whatever you do, do wisely and think of the consequences." He drops the razor and confesses. J21.1
• "Do not act when angry": counsel proved wise by experience. Man returns home and sees someone sleeping with his wife. Though he thinks it is a paramour, he restrains himself and finds that it is a newborn son. J21.2
• "Never attack anyone before unsheathing and returning sword three times": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.2.1
• Sleep before committing suicide. After sleeping you will feel differently about suicide. J21.2.2
• "Do not draw your sword against the innocent": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.2.3
• "Do not uncover weapon in an assembly": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.2.4
• "Do not shed the blood of women": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.2.5
• "Control your anger at the beginning": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.2.6
• "Do not go where an old man has a young wife": counsel proved wise by experience. Discovers a murder in an inn. J21.3
• "Do not marry a girl from abroad": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.4
• "Do not leave the highway": counsel proved wise by experience. Robbers encountered. J21.5
• "Do not prefer a new road to an old one." Those who take the new one are killed by robbers. J21.5.1
• "Take side road rather than main one where three roads meet": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.5.2
• "A way short yet long": counsel proved wise by experience. (Cf. J266.) J21.5.3
• "Do not ask questions about extraordinary things": counsel proved wise by experience. Those who ask question killed. J21.6
• "Do not cross a bridge without dismounting from your horse"; counsel proved wise by experience. Man breaks leg. J21.7
• "Never wager more than a groat": counsel proved wise by experience. Man loses wife on wager. J21.8
• "Do not bet": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.8.1
• "Do not visit your friends often": counsel proved wise by experience. At last the man is treated shamefully. J21.9
• "Do not prolong a friendly visit." Guest stays so long that host gives him black bread instead of white. J21.9.1
• "Do not lend out your horse": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.10
• "Do not walk half a mile with a man without asking his name": counsel proved wise by experience. Man runs race unwittingly with his wife's paramour and loses his wife on the wager. (Cf. J21.8.) J21.11
• "Rue not a thing that is past": counsel proved wise by experience. Man lets bird go and then, having listened to bird's false declaration that she had a precious gem in her body, he tries to climb a tree after her and falls. J21.12
• "Never believe what is beyond belief": counsel proved wise by experience. Man believes when bird tells him that she has a precious gem in her body. (Cf. J21.12, K604.) J21.13
• "Never try to reach the unattainable": counsel proved wise by experience. (Cf. K604.) J21.14
• "If you wish to hang yourself, do so by the stone which I point out": counsel proved wise by experience. Father has left money which will fall out when the spendthrift son goes to hang himself in despair. "The Heir of Linne." J21.15
• "Go to Goosebridge": counsel proved wise by experience. Man with disobedient wife finds mules beaten there and made to cross bridge. J21.16
• "Stay at church till mass is finished": counsel proved wise by experience. Delay saves youth from death. J21.17
• "Do not trust the over-holy": counsel proved wise by experience. Wife so modest she will not travel with husband (adulteress); priest so pious he will not tread on worm (thief). J21.18
• "Start your journey early in the day": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.19
• "Prepare for night camp while it is still day": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.20
• "Do not cross a swollen stream until it has run down": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.21
• "Do not tell a secret to a woman": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.22
• "Rise earlier": counsel proved wise by experience. Man seeking explanation for being in debt arises earlier and catches his servants stealing. (Cf. H588.1.) J21.23
• "Do not make a horse run down hill": counsel proved wise by experience. Horse breaks its neck. J21.24
• "Do not keep bad company": counsel proved wise by experience. Breaking of father's first counsel causes the breaking of all the others. J21.25
• "Don't be too greedy in making a trade": counsel proved wise by experience. Man refuses fifty ducats for horse. Horse suddenly dies. J21.26
• "Do not adopt a child": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.27
• "Do not trust a ruler who rules by reason alone": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.28
• "Keep head dry, feet warm, and eat meat": counsel proved wise by experience. King recovers from illness. J21.29
• "Never have to do with a woman unless wed to her": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.30
• "Do not marry a woman before seeing her and finding her to be your equal": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.31
• "Do not marry more than one woman". Man who wanted three, marries one and is weakened greatly. J21.32
• "Bathe by yourself and not in the common bathing place": counsel proved wise by experience. Man forgets purse in bath house. J21.33
• "Move stool before sitting on it": counsel proved wise by experience. Man thus saves self from falling into well. J21.34
• "When in a strange place look about you": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.34.1
• "Do not sit on a bed without touching it first": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.34.2
• "Ruler should follow advice of majority" (not his own fancy): counsel proved wise by experience. Thus finds money on body of dead traveler. J21.35
• "Neglect not what four or five people say": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.35.1
• "Do not go alone on journey": counsel proved wise by experience. Helpful crab saves from attack by crocodile. J21.36
• "Do not take a woman's advice": counsel proved wise by experience. (Cf. J21.22.) J21.37
• "May God spare you from an evil man or evil woman." To teach a friend the wisdom of this greeting a man borrows money and then his creditor's coat from him. In court the lender is discredited. J21.38
• "Do not travel without money": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.39
• Don't require honor from a strange country": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.40
• "Be cautious before allowing yourself to fall asleep in a strange place": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.41
• "Sleep not in an inn": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.41.1
• "A stranger does not close his eyes in sleep lest he close them in death": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.41.2
• "He who lies awake gains; he who sleeps loses": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.41.3
• "Before eating food at a strange place throw some at an animal and watch": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.42
• "A country not examined in disguise will always be ruined": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.43
• "Lean upon no relation in the hour of distress": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.44
• "Do not undertake to be an arbitrator without being asked": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.45
• "Do not make friends with a policeman (soldier)": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.46
• "You can only call your wife your own so long as she is with you": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.47
• "Do not send your wife for a long visit to her parents": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.47.1
• "Don't do anything without investigation": counsel proved wise by experience. A purse full of money was found in dead man's pocket by gravedigger. J21.48
• "Never give a cup made of a single ruby as a present to the king": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.49
• "Idleness begets woe; work brings happiness": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.50
• "Do not stand and watch two people fighting": counsel proved wise by experience. Man does so and is called by both parties to depose in favor of both or he will be beheaded. J21.51
• Counsels proved wise by experience – miscellaneous. J21.52
• Disciple who stays in a city where everything is sold at one price finds justice is not even there. (Cf. F769.1.) J21.52.1
• "Never be rude to a self-made man of low birth": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.52.2
• "Hardened clay is hard to mold": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.52.3
• "Never publish a man's sin if you can help it": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.52.4
• "Never dismiss and old servant for his first fault": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.52.5
• "When a man attacks you, kill him whether he be king or prince": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.52.6
• Boy who says "I know" gets into all sort of difficulties; now says "I don't know." J21.52.7
• "Nothing happens that does not work for one's good": counsel proved wise is experience. J21.52.8
• "He who throws himself against a wave is overthrown by it": proved true. J21.52.9
• Precepts of the lion to his sons. Only the younger keeps them and is successful. J22
• Precept of the lion to his sons: beware of man. J22.1
• Precept of the lion to his sons: honor the woods. J22.2
• Precept of the lion to his sons: keep peace with the neighbors. J22.3
• Merchants try honesty for a year and find that it pays. So advised by priest when they said that they could not do business without dishonesty. J23
• Fools learn to be peaceable. Two fools in the habit of striking people are brought together when they strike each other until they appreciate the value of peace. J24
• Why great man plays with children. This is to be learned only when one has children himself. Anecdote of Agesilaus. J25
• Enemies can be won more by kindness than cruelty. Romans learn this by experience. J26
• Man learns the fear of Death by meeting Life. Life (old woman) beheads him and replaces his head backwards. Simpleton left in fear for hours before head is readjusted. J27
• Wisdom (knowledge) acquired from inference. J30
• Encounter with clever children (woman) dissuades man from visit. On way to a city meets children and they are so clever that he turns back home, fearing how clever their parents must be. J31
• Cleverness of men disguised as peasants dissuades rivals from dispute. Wise men of two rival cities engage in dispute. One delegation disguises as peasants and debates with their adversaries. Latter withdraw fearing how clever the educated must be if their peasants are so learned. J31.1
• Arrow as man's message shows lion how terrible man himself must be. J32
• Blind man who feels young wolf recognises his savage nature. J33
• Odor of the wine cask. How fine wine must been been to leave so good an odor. J34
• Wisdom (knowledge) acquired from observation. J50
• Sight of deformed witches causes man to release wife from spinning duty. They tell him that their deformity has come from too much spinning. J51
• King observes retaliation among animals: becomes just. Dog breaks fox's foot; man breaks dog's; horse breaks man's leg; horse steps in hole and breaks his. J52
• Understanding of universality of death from watching animals prey on one another. J52.1
• King descends to bottom of sea in glass barrel to learn wisdom from observing fish. J52.2
• Army saved from ambush by observation of birds' movements. Birds fly from part of woods in which ambushed men lie. J53
• Ruler learns lesson from the example of an exiled king. Rewards the exile rather than a successful merchant. J55
• Unscrupulous conduct of business learned from observation of usurer's own practices and used against him. J56
• Ruler learns lesson from seeing city governed by king as uncharitable as he. J56.1
• Hare instructs his sons to use their eyes to advantage. J61
• Observation of dying people for a year takes man's thoughts from lust. J62
• Ducklings take to water from instinct. Bridegroom thus brought to understand bride's expertness in lovemaking. J64
• Birds having learned their possible dangers are forced from nest by mother. J65
• Drops of water make hollow in stone: thus repeated impressions penetrate mind. J67
• Lazy pupil determines to be more diligent by watching man building home one wattle at a time, and seeing how water fills hole one drop at a time. J67.1
• Wisdom (knowledge) taught by parable. J80
• Three thousand parables of Solomon. J80.1
• Solomon proves to his mother the inferiority of woman's wisdom. J80.1.1
• Minister taught by parable to make obeisance to the new king. J80.2
• The dishes of the same flavor. Man thus shown that one woman is like another and dissuaded from his amorous purpose. J81
• Monotony of restriction to one's favorite food. Counselor refuses to arrange extramarital pleasures for his lord. Ruler feeds him only his favorite food until the counselor protests the monotony. Ruler drives home his point. J81.0.1
• Society is like a dish: must be properly mixed. Plates having salt, pepper, fish, etc. not edible without mixing. J81.1
• To each his appropriate food. Woman gives morsel of various foods to each guest, with explanation. J81.2
• Parable comparing canons to a stew made of their individual meals. J81.3
• Priest walks in the mud. Congregation follows evil ways of priest. He walks in mud but they will not follow him. He thus shows them the folly of following his evil ways. J82
• The gray and the black hairs: enemies reconciled. Duke summons two inveterate enemies. Has them tear out one of his hairs, one a gray, the other a black. Both pain him equally. He shows how their quarrels hurt him. They are reconciled. J83
• Picking up water thrown on ground no harder than the undoing of slander. J84
• Chair over fiery pit as figure of precariousness of life. J85
• Rocks falling together and thread entering needle's eye suggest sexual intercourse: hence its beginning. J86
• Men shamed for their cowardice by woman standing naked before them. (Usually connected with Jus Primae Noctis [T161]). J87
• Wisdom taught by parable: cloud which gives rain to thirsting crops or drops it in ocean. J88
• Monk shames accuser by telling parable. Wind, Water, and Modesty (Sense of Shame). The first two give their addresses but the third says she has no address as no one wants her. J91
• Boy saves life by showing father foolishness of plowing up his crop. Father has been persuaded to kill child. J92
• Difficulty of thinking of God when occupied with worldly affairs. Shown by test: holy man made to carry milk without spilling. So occupied he forgets to think of God. J94
• Fool digs holes in edge of road. Only those departing from straight path will fall in. Truth of principle later seen. J95
• Man kills nest of ants: so God punishes man. (Cf. J225.0.4.) J96
• Lotus flower flourishes as long as it is in water: king should not leave castle. J97
• Stones shaken in jar: difficulty in learning many dialects. J98
• Wisdom (knowledge) taught by parable. J99
• Relative pleasures of sexes in love taught by parable. J99.1
• Father bequeathes four pots to sons: eldest finds earth in his; second, bones; third, rice husks; youngest, rupees (eldest to get land; second, cattle; third, grain; youngest to keep money). J99.2
• Wisdom (knowledge) taught by necessity. J100
• Crow drops pebbles into water jug so as to be able to drink. J101
• Bear learns how to catch crabs with his hairy claws. J102
• Wisdom learned from children. J120
• Ungrateful son reproved by naïve action of his own son: preparing for old age. Man gives his old father half a carpet to keep him warm. Child keeps the other half and tells his father that he is keeping it for him when he grows old. J121
• Ungrateful son reproved by naïve action of his own son: preparing for old age (wooden drinking cup or bowl). J121.1
• Undutiful son rebuked by father. Father tells son not to drag him past the threshold, because he had dragged his own father only up to that point when he had thought of putting him out of his house. J121.2
• Naïve remark of child: "You forgot to strike mother." A father in habit of beating his wife remarks that he has forgot something. The child says, "I know. You forgot to strike mother." J122
• Seducer about to seduce mother of child refrains when child wisely remarks that he is sad because his father has left his mother exposed to such dangers. J122.1
• Wisdom of child decides lawsuit. King in disguise sees child's game which represents the case. J123
• Clever prince overrules seemingly just decisions of king. J123.1
• Learning the virtue of patience from children. When their meals are stolen, they quietly search for them. J124
• Parents's misdeeds innocently betrayed by children. J125
• The wine needs no further water. Guests asks small daughter of innkeeper for water to put into his wine. She says, "You will not have to do that for mother poured a whole tubful into the cask today." J125.1
• Adulteress betrayed by little child's remark. J125.2
• Child unwittingly betrays his mother's adultery. Tells father not to step across chalk line drawn around secretary; if he does secretary may do to him what he did to Mother the other day. J125.2.1
• Wisdom (knowledge) acquired from animals. J130
• Mouse teaches her child to fear quiet cats but not noisy cocks. J132
• Animal gives wise example to man. J133
• One wild goat steps over another. They thus pass each other uninjured on a cliff. This shows advantage of peaceableness. J133.1
• Ass refuses to drink after it has had enough. Thus teaches lesson to master. J133.2
• Trained deer drinks wine till he breaks his leg but thereafter abstains. Thus teaches lesson to master. J133.3
• Woman will not follow donkey on safe path: attacked by robbers. J133.4
• Squirrel tries to dip out lake with his tail: difficulty of reforming the world. J133.5
• Big fish eat little: robber will plunder weak neighbors. J133.6
• Animal behavior teaches man what to avoid. J134
• Cock's second mate lets her stepchildren starve: woman warns husband accordingly. J134.1
• Departing animal gives man counsels. J135
• Crow inspects the three worlds in search of happiness. J136
• Wisdom learned from example of insects. J137
• Wisdom (knowledge) through education. J140
• Youth educated by seven sages. J141
• Lack of proper education regretted. J142
• House dog blames master for teaching him lazy habits. J142.1
• Man blames master for not correcting him in youth. J142.2
• Untrained colt result of master's neglect. J143
• Well-trained kid does not open to wolf. J144
• Hostile dogs made friendly by having them fight common enemy, the wolf. J145
• Educated men as choice company. J146
• King prefers educated men as company. J146.1
• Child confined to keep him in ignorance of life. Useless. J147
• Other means of acquiring wisdom (knowledge). J150
• Wisdom from old person. J151
• Wisdom of hidden old man saves kingdom. In famine all old men are ordered killed. One man hides his father. When all goes wrong in the hands of the young rulers, the old man comes forth, performs assigned tasks, and aids with his wisdom. J151.1
• Old men preferred as councillors. J151.2
• Wisdom from god as old (one-eyed) man. J151.3
• Wisdom from old man: always say, "if it pleases God." J151.4
• Wisdom (knowledge) from sage (teacher). J152
• Cynical philosopher lives in tub. J152.1
• Advice from dervish. J152.2
• Philosopher instructs youth regarding conduct. J152.3
• Philosopher consoles woman for loss of son. J152.4