The wise and the foolish

3,525 motifs · page 13 of 18

• Relieving the beast of burden. J1874
• Rider takes the meal-sack on his shoulder to relieve the ass of his burden. J1874.1
• Man puts bag of meal on one side of saddle, balances it on the other side with a rock. J1874.2
• Objects ascribed human feelings. J1875
• Kernel tries to escape death. A fool eats nuts. A kernel slips from him. The fool: "Everything tries to escape from death." J1875.1
• Complaint of the porridge pot. The woman thinks the boiling pot is complaining. J1875.2
• The homesick wave. Numskulls try to take home a wave of the sea in a bamboo rod. At home when it refuses to wave they say that it is homesick for its mother, the sea. J1875.3
• Coin weeps. Numskull thinks money piece covered with perspiration after he has held it for awhile is weeping. J1875.4
• Absurd sympathy for animals or objects – miscellaneous. J1879
• Men drag carts on to roof to shade it from the sun. J1879.1
• Animals or objects treated as if human – miscellaneous. J1880
• Animal or object expected to go alone. J1881
• Object sent to go by itself. J1881.1
• Cheeses thrown down to find their way home. J1881.1.1
• One cheese sent after another. Numskull lets one roll down hill; sends the other to bring it back. J1881.1.2
• Three-legged pot sent to walk home. J1881.1.3
• Table thrown out of the sledge; to go home by itself. J1881.1.4
• Spinning wheel is sent home by itself. The man asks his wife if it has arrived before him, finds that it has not. "I thought not. I came a shorter way." J1881.1.5
• Sickle laid in field and told to cut grain. J1881.1.6
• Fool sends letter home by a flooded river. J1881.1.7
• Animal sent to go by itself. J1881.2
• Ass loaded and commanded to go home. J1881.2.1
• Fools send money by rabbit. Since he is a swift runner they expect it to reach the landlord in time. J1881.2.2
• Fishes to stop at his house. Fool directs them as he places them in stream. J1881.2.3
• Foolish attempt to educate animals. J1882
• Teaching chickens to talk. Fool believes they can be taught. J1882.1
• The ass as mayor. Fool made to believe that his ass (ox) has been educated and has become mayor. J1882.2
• Elephant educated as drum beater. J1882.3
• Trickster joins bulrushes in a dance. He thinks they are dancing when he sees them waving. J1883
• Simpleton addresses a field of reeds. J1883.1
• The boat gets tired. The woman tries to tire out her rival's boat so as to win the race, but only tires herself. J1884
• Singing snails rebuked. A boy roasts snails and they make noise in cooking. "Wretches, your house burns and yet you sing!" J1885
• Hens in mourning. Fool puts black clothes on his hen's necks. He tells people that they mourn their mother. J1886
• The mad wheelbarrow. Fools chain a wheelbarrow, bitten by a mad dog, lest it bite others. J1887
• Wants the organ to come and play for her. An old woman enraptured with the sound of a cathedral organ prays for it to come to her house and gives it directions as to where she lives. J1888
• Object foolishly blamed. J1891
• Sickness ascribed to quarreling wines. A man has drunk so much of various wines that he is sick. He says to the wines, "Have peace among yourselves and don't quarrel or I'll throw you out the window." J1891.1
• Carpenter blames the nails. On his deathbed refuses to forgive nails which ruined his tools. J1891.2
• Sea foolishly accused of cruelty. Sea says that it is calm itself, but the wind blew it up and broke the ship. J1891.3
• Preserving the cock's freedom. A boy recently home from school sees his mother trying to catch the cock. "Don't mother, don't break his freedom or we will suffer for it." J1892
• Scholar speaks Latin on hunt so that the birds cannot understand him. J1894
• Woman thinks calf's bleating has accused her of stealing from harvest. Begs that people not believe what calf said. (Cf. N611.) J1895
• Objects supposed to be born, grow, and die like animals. (Cf. J1932.) J1896
• Stones thought to reproduce. J1896.1
• Absurd disregard or ignorance of animal's nature or habits. J1900
• Absurd ignorance concerning the laying of eggs. J1901
• The overfed hen. A woman wants her hen to lay many eggs. Overfeeds her and she stops laying altogether. J1901.1
• Numskull feeds hens hot water so they will lay boiled eggs. J1901.2
• Absurd ignorance concerning the hatching of eggs. J1902
• Numskull sits on eggs to finish the hatching. Cautions people to be quiet and not frighten the eggs. (Sometimes puts on honey and feathers before sitting on the eggs.) J1902.1
• Numskull tries to hatch out a calf from a cheese. J1902.2
• Absurd ignorance concerning animal's eating and drinking. J1903
• The water on the calf's back. When the calf will not drink, the peasant woman throws the water on its back. J1903.1
• Numskull puts the milk back. When the customer refuses to take the milk he puts it back into the goat's mouth so that it will flow back into the udder. J1903.2
• Fattening the pig. A farmer who wanted to fatten a pig fed it only twice a day. When told to feed it three times a day he says, "A working man must have more to eat than a pig." J1903.3
• How can an elephant eat, having tails at both ends? Decision: it lives on air. J1903.4
• Absurd ignorance concerning place for animal to be kept. J1904
• Cow (hog) taken to roof to graze. J1904.1
• The pent cuckoo. Fools build an enclosure to keep in the cuckoo. She flies over the hedge. They say that they have not built the hedge high enough. J1904.2
• Fools try to hedge the cuckoo so that they will have summer the year round (the coming of the first cuckoo being the sign of the coming summer). J1904.2.1
• Deer belled and enclosed like goats jump fence and escape. J1904.2.2
• Hogs made to sleep in trees to cure their filthy habits. All are killed. J1904.3
• Nest built in tree for fish. J1904.4
• Fish will climb trees like buffaloes. Numskull considers what will happen if river burns up. J1904.4.1
• Absurd ignorance about milking animals. (Cf. J1903.2.) J1905
• Fool does not milk cow for a month so that she will give plenty for a feast. J1905.1
• Fools try to milk male ass. J1905.2
• Divided ownership of cow. The brother who owns the front end tries to drive the cow and will not let the owner of the rear end milk her. J1905.3
• Fool asks owner of oxen why he does not milk them since he is not working them. J1905.4
• Trying to have cows make curds before being milked. J1905.5
• Cow killed in order to get all the milk at once. (Cf. J2129.3.) J1905.6
• Absurd ignorance about slaughtering animals. J1906
• Bullock struck on hindquarters instead of head in attempt to kill it. (Only frightens it.) J1906.1
• Absurd attempt to change animal nature. J1908
• The cat and the candle. A man has a cat trained to hold up lighted candles on its head. The king has a mouse let loose. The cat drops the candle and chases the mouse. J1908.1
• Cat transformed to maiden runs after mouse. J1908.2
• Frog-woman betrays self by croaking. J1908.3
• Absurd disregard of animal's nature or habits – miscellaneous. J1909
• Fisherman fails to make fish dance to his flute. Later in his net they jump about without the aid of the flute. J1909.1
• Fool tries to shoot dead antelope until it will come to him. J1909.2
• Numskull tries to shake birds from tree like fruit. J1909.3
• Breeding fine horses from an ass. Fool says, "Just as soon as the body of a colt bred from this mare is in proper proportion to its ears you will have a fine horse." J1909.4
• Sheep licking her lamb is envied by the wolf. He says, "Such is bad conduct. If I were to do that they would say that I was eating it." J1909.5
• Numskull tries to wash black hen white. J1909.6
• Fear that frog may drown or get dirty. J1909.7
• Fatal disregard of anatomy. J1910
• Nature of a baby misunderstood. J1911
• Numskull does not understand about baby's skull. Sticks needle through it. J1911.1
• Foolish mother does not understand how babies cry. Wrings the child's neck. J1911.2
• Horse taught to live without food. Dies. J1914
• The underfed warhorse. Fails in the war. J1914.1
• Three brothers take turns using mule. None of them feeds him, supposing that the others have. The mule dies. J1914.2
• Fool carries wife across stream head downwards and drowns her. J1916
• Fatal disregard of anatomy – miscellaneous. J1919
• The remodelled stork. A trickster cuts off the bill and legs of a stork to make him look more like a real bird. J1919.1
• Where the ducks ford. A fool is asked where the river is fordable. He says, "Everywhere." The man tries to ride across and is almost drowned. The fool, "Those little ducks were able to cross here; why couldn't a big fellow like you?" J1919.2
• The two extra pounds. A dog has eaten 14 pounds of butter; the fool squeezes 16 pounds from him. J1919.3
• Fool cuts off tails of oxen so that they will look like fine steeds. J1919.4
• Genitals cut off through ignorance. J1919.5
• Ignorant bride castrates groom when jokingly told to do so. J1919.5.1
• Nun tells friar to get rid of offending member. He does so. J1919.5.2
• Fool undergoes castration to put on weight. J1919.5.3
• Simpleton's ignorance of anatomy leads him to share his wife with a priest. J1919.6
• Fool believes that he has begot child with his sister by an earbox. J1919.7
• The man without a member: foolish wife gives her husband money to buy himself one. J1919.8
• Cowboy shoots his wife when she breaks her leg (or is injured in another way). J1919.9
• Absurd searches for the lost. J1920
• The needle (or the like) falls into the sea: sought the next summer. J1921
• Marking the place. J1922
• Marking the place on the boat. An object falls into the sea from a boat. Numskulls mark the place on the boat-rail to indicate where it fell. J1922.1
• Marking the place under the cloud. Numskulls leave a knife in the field, marking the place by putting it under a heavy cloud. Next day the cloud is gone and the knife lost. J1922.2
• Fool seeks the ears of grain in the direction of the cloud toward which he has sowed them. J1922.2.1
• Marking the place in the sand. Vessel left under mound in sand while owner is swimming. Others make similar mounds so that it is lost. J1922.3
• The rejected bread resought. Numskull looks for bread that he threw away a year before. J1923
• Numskull forgets name of certain food and thinks that it has fallen into sand. J1924
• Absurd disregard of natural laws. J1930
• Money tested by throwing it into a stream to see if it will swim. Good coins are supposed to swim, counterfeit to sink. J1931
• Absurd practices connected with crops. J1932
• Numskulls sow cooked grain. J1932.1
• Sowing cheese to bring forth a cow. J1932.2
• Sowing salt to produce salt. J1932.3
• Planting a hog in order to grow pigs. J1932.4
• Planting animal's tail in order to produce young animals. J1932.4.1
• Planting bones to produce animal. J1932.4.2
• Sowing needles (like seed). J1932.5
• Harvesting early for half a crop. J1932.6
• Stones watered to make them grow. (Cf. J1896.1.) J1932.7
• Numskull tries to dig up a well (spring). He wants to take it home. J1933
• A hole to throw the earth in. Numskull plans to dig a hole so as to have a place to throw the earth from his excavation. J1934
• Articles sent by telegraph. J1935
• Boots sent by telegraph. A peasant hangs boots and an accompanying letter on a telegraph wire, expecting them to reach the city. J1935.1
• How he looks in his sleep. A man stands before mirror with his eyes shut to see how he looks in his sleep. J1936
• Man takes mirror to bed to see whether he sleeps with his mouth open. J1936.1
• Absurd ideas about the dead. J1937
• Dead man identified by his cough. Numskull asked to identify corpse tries to do so by his cough. J1937.1
• A healthy place for a tomb. Numskull objects to unhealthy place for his tomb. J1937.2
• Porridge in the ice hole. They put meal in the boiling current of the ice hole and then, one after another, they jump in to taste the porridge. J1938
• How far his voice will reach. A numskull cries from a tower and then runs away to see how far his voice will reach. J1941
• Holding in the heat. A numskull ties yarn around the stove to keep the heat from escaping. J1942
• Examining the sundial by candle-light. Numskull tries to find the time of night. J1943
• Sundial covered in order to protect it. J1943.1
• Trying to get fruit from fruitless tree. J1944
• Numskulls try to get pears from an oaktree. They accuse each other of eating all the pears. J1944.1
• Warming hands across the river. Numskull stretches out his hands toward the fire across the river. J1945
• As tired as if he had walked. So says the numskull after riding to town on his stick horse. J1946
• Drying snow to make salt. J1947
• Fire and water mixed to make sacrifice. Fool told that he needed only the two. J1952
• Demand that murderer restore life to victim. J1955
• Woman runs after guest to tell him he must restore her husband whom he has unintentionally killed. J1955.1
• Absurd disregard of natural laws – miscellaneous. J1959
• Simpleton drives goats into a well, because he thinks it would be cooler for them. J1959.1
• Hot sickle put into water to cure its fever. J1959.1.1
• Substitute for the corpse. Fool loses his mother's corpse on way to funeral. Mistakes old woman for mother and substitutes her. J1959.2
• Other absurd disregard of facts. J1960
• White sheep-skin used as a source of light. J1961
• Trying to catch light in a mouse-trap. J1961.1
• The yeast as an afterthought. An old woman who has forgotten to knead it in the dough throws it into the stove. J1962
• The fool puts but one stick of wood in the stove. "Several others have burned up." J1963
• Tree-trunks laid crosswise of the sledge. J1964
• Trying to stretch the beam. J1964.1
• Protected by the needle. In a storm on the ice, numskulls stick needles into the ice to keep from blowing away. J1965
• The wall accuses the crowbar. But the man who uses the crowbar is to blame for the downfall of the wall. J1966
• Numskull bales out the stream. He comes to a stream but not wishing to get his feet wet he sits down to wait for the stream to run down. He helps to bale the stream out with a hazelnut shell and keeps it up for months. J1967
• Foolish fight with the sea. Absurd attempt to punish sea. J1968
• Foolish fight with the sun. J1968.1
• Fools try to use buffalo tongue as a knife. J1971
• Stupid woman swims on the roof. J1972
• Tree pulled down in order to give it water to drink. J1973
• Fool tries to purify cotton by burning it (as the goldsmith does with gold). J1974
• Numskulls are affected by heat from stove which has no fire in it. J1976
• Mouth and ears stopped up lest wisdom escape. J1977
• Uncertainty about own identity. J2010
• Person does not know himself. J2012
• Numskull's beard cut off: does not know himself. J2012.1
• Woman's garments cut off: does not know herself. J2012.2
• Woman in tar and feathers does not know herself. J2012.3
• Fool in new clothes does not know himself. J2012.4
• Man does not know himself from another identically clad. J2012.5
• Fool at baths believes he is someone else. Sees everybody naked. Puts straw on his shoulder to identify himself. Straw floats to another bather. "You are me and I am you!" J2012.6
• Man made to believe that he is someone else. J2013
• White man made to believe that he is a negro. Sleeps with a negro. His friends blacken him during the night. When he is waked up, he complains that they have waked the wrong man. J2013.1
• Man made to believe that he is a dog. He barks at people. J2013.2
• Pumpkin tied to another's leg. A numskull ties a pumpkin to his leg at night so that he shall know himself in the morning. Someone ties the pumpkin to another's leg and the numskull is not sure of his identity next morning. J2013.3
• Numskull made to believe he is an evil spirit. J2013.4
• Fool does not recognize his own house and family. J2014
• His pupils grab a dog's tail and think it is their master's. J2015
• Man does not recognize his name when it is called: he is accustomed to hear his nickname. (Cf. K1984.3.) J2016
• Inability to find own members, etc. J2020
• Numskulls cannot find their own legs. A stranger helps them with a switch. (Usually get them mixed up when they sit down to bathe their feet.) J2021
• Numskull asks doctor which leg (own) is hurting him. J2021.1
• Numskull cannot find ass he is sitting on. J2022
• Numskull doesn't recognize his own horse. Finds it only when the rest ride away and he takes the only one left. J2023
• Numskull rides backward. "I didn't get on backward but the horse seems to be left-handed." J2024
• Inability to find object one is carrying. J2025
• Man searches for axe which he carries on his shoulder. J2025.1
• Woman cannot find pastry which is sticking to her posterior. J2025.2
• Fools try to fight with man inside of drum who seems to make the noise. Are really pounding each other. J2026
• Opium-smoker on journey asks his way about; ends up at his own house. J2027
• Absurd inability to count. J2030
• Counting wrong by not counting oneself. Numskulls conclude that one of their number is drowned. J2031