The wise and the foolish

3,525 motifs · page 18 of 18

• The imitative choir. Minister tells congregation that he has forgotten his spectacles, that he cannot line out the hymn as he customarily did. The choir sings his words. He tries to explain, apologizes. The choir repeats the apology in song. J2498.1
• Priest's words repeated. Man sent to priest for religious service to repeat priest's words. Keeps repeating "Who are you?" "Where do you come from?" J2498.2
• Literal fool – additional motifs. J2499
• "Till the front sweats." A mother orders her daughter to knead the dough until the front of the oven (stirn) sweats. She does so till her forehead (stirn) sweats. J2499.1
• Not naked but with a hood on. She confesses that she has had relations with the priest. J2499.2
• Fool admits crime but pleads mistakes in the details of the accusation. J2499.3
• Brings back all stolen cattle possible. Simple monk eats all he can of abbey's stolen cattle so as to bring them back home. J2499.4
• "God is everywhere." Fool therefore trusts that he is in angry elephant. J2499.5
• Conventional greeting phrase taken literally: "Come and share it." J2499.6
• Three stupid sons sent out into the world to learn trades: hunter kills his father; musician plays and dances at his father's death, etc. J2499.7
• Foolish extreme. J2500
• The silence wager. A man and his wife make a wager as to who shall speak first (close the door). The man (woman) becomes jealous and scolds; loses the wager. J2511
• Wager as to who shall rise (speak) first in morning (last up to get reward). They are carried to funeral pyre before they will give in. J2511.1
• Husband to spite wife plays dead. When she tells neighbors that they may come and take dead man's property he gets up. J2511.1.1
• Silence wager: man and wife taken for dead. Stand up when king offers reward for information about their death. J2511.1.2
• Numskulls make silence wager. Arrested as thieves. J2511.2
• The fool and the visitor's large nose. The fool asks where he got the large nose. Is removed from the room. He comes back to mend matters. He says, "What a small nose you have!" He is again taken from the room. The third time: "What difference does it make whether you have a nose or not?" J2512
• Plenty of holy water. A fool hearing of the effectiveness of holy water for the forgiveness of sins pours the whole supply over himself. J2513
• Sickle bought at great cost given back. In a land where the sickle is not known the new sickle cuts off the head of a man and is thereupon given back to the original owner. J2514
• Directions followed literally to the sorrow of the giver. J2516
• Literal misconstruction of order. Hero gets revenge. J2516.0.1
• Think thrice before you speak. The youth obeys literally the precept even when he sees the master's coat on fire. J2516.1
• "Pick up everything!" The youth so instructed picks up too much. The master then tells him to pick things up only when the master gives the signal. The master falls into a hole and cannot give the signal. J2516.2
• "Pick up everything!" Fool loads his master with horse dung. J2516.2.1
• "Do nothing but attend to the horse." The youth obeys the command to such extent that he almost lets his master drown. J2516.3
• Wife follows written instructions. She is to follow instructions which the husband has written down on a card. He falls into a brook and is about to drown. She goes home to see what his instructions on this point are. J2516.3.1
• The polite rescuers. Pupils are taught to clap their hands and say "God bless you" when one sneezes. As they are rescuing a drowning man by a rope he sneezes. They all clap their hands and he falls back into the water. J2516.3.2
• Command to use only one phrase. King let drown in bath. J2516.3.3
• "Only light the fire." Fool allows the house to burn down. J2516.3.4
• To tell nothing else than "very good news." J2516.3.5
• "Do not leave my side." The youth obeys the command to such an absurd extent that he is a nuisance to his master. J2516.4
• "Hang out lanterns." Officer calls to householders to hang out lanterns. One hangs out lantern but does not light it. The next night the officer calls to them to hang out lanterns and candles. He hangs out a lantern with a candle in it but unlighted. The next night the officer calls out to hang out lanterns and candlelight. J2516.5
• "Let no one in." When lizard comes in fool burns house down to drive it out. J2516.6
• Remove turban as last duty. Sleepy servant removes master's turban while still in council meeting. J2516.7
• To draw out fence stakes and throw them down. Boy throws them into river. J2516.8
• "Foresee the possible event." Asked to call a doctor when his master falls ill, fool also calls the undertaker. J2516.9
• Couldn't wait to dress. The overzealous visitor rides naked to see his friends. J2517
• Absurd extreme of discouragement. J2518
• Fool kills himself in despair because a sparrow has taken one grain from his field. J2518.1
• Fool kills himself in despair because an ox has been killed. J2518.2
• Extreme prudery. J2521
• The man is accused of maintaining a brothel. He has a bull for breeding purposes. J2521.1
• Rebuke for going with a naked head in public. The woman rebuked has lost her hair in sickness. Forthwith she covers up her head with her dress and exposes her body. J2521.2
• Girl marries man so she will not be ashamed undressed in his presence. J2521.3
• Breaking the glassware to prevent others from doing so. A king thus removes temptation from his subjects. J2522
• The obedient husband: the leave of absence. His wife says, "You may go away for a little while." He stays away for days and then sends a messenger to his wife asking if he has been away long enough. J2523
• Obedient husband hangs his wife. Wife had wished only to test her husband's love for her. J2523.1
• Obedient husband walks slowly. Arrives home after dawn when wife's lover has gone. J2523.2
• Fool liking salt decides to eat nothing else. J2524
• Fool will not drink from a river because he cannot drink it all. J2525
• Equal share in the bed. Wishing to prove their equality twelve fools sleep on the ground and put their feet on the one bed provided for the chief. J2526
• Thief out of habit robs from his own purse. J2527
• Letter believed against clear evidence. Fool believes letter apparently reporting his uncle's death, though he has just seen uncle. J2528
• Bureaucrats debate as to who shall put out palace fire: meantime palace burns. J2532
• "Don't eat too greedily." Fool starves himself at table. Later hunts food in house and gets into trouble. J2541
• Fool thanks God that he was not sitting on the ass when it was stolen. *Wesselski Hodscha Nasreddin II 230 No. 495. J2561
• Thankful that the recipe is left. A hawk steals the fool's meat. He is grateful that the recipe remains. J2562
• "Thank God they weren't peaches!" A man plans to take peaches as a present to the king. He is persuaded rather to take figs. They are green and the king has them thrown in his face. He is thankful that they weren't peaches. J2563
• "Thank God that camels have no wings." They might fly about and kill people. J2564
• Fool thankful that God has built a palace without columns. Else the stones might fall down and kill us. J2565
• One fewer to pay for. A man carries blind men over a stream at a certain price per head. One falls down and drowns. He comforts the others that there is one fewer to pay for. J2566
• "Thank God it's over!" Man who has been promised a beating lives in constant dread. Is eventually beaten. He thanks God. J2568
• "Thank Fortune I'm out of business." Philosopher loses all his wealth at sea. Thanks Fortune for taking him out of business. Can now devote his life to philosophy. J2569
• "Thank Fortune it wasn't a melon." Man contends that melons should not grow on slender vines but on tall trees. He is hit on the nose by a falling nut. Is thankful it wasn't a melon. J2571
• Heart may not be able to stand winning mistress. Man told it is well he did not obtain girl he loved because his heart might not have been able to stand it. J2572
• Cowardly fool. J2600
• Person frightened into falling down a cliff. J2611
• The attack on the hare (crayfish). Seven men make strenuous plans for the attack on the fierce animal. One screams with fright and the animal runs away. (Cf. J1736.1.) J2612
• Surrender to the rake. Fool steps on a rake and falls down crying, "I surrender!" J2613
• Fools frightened by stirring of an animal. J2614
• Fools are frightened at the humming of bees. Think it is a drum. J2614.1
• Fools frightened at the flight of a quail. When they hear "whirr!" the army flees. J2614.2
• Lions flee because of the crowing of white cock, elephants because of swine's grunting. J2614.3
• Fright at the creaking of a wheelbarrow. J2615
• Fright at noise of mill. J2615.1
• The hawk frightened at the snipe's bill. The snipe: "It is a bill, but it is good for nothing (weak)." The hawk is no longer afraid. J2616
• Afraid of his knees. A man awakes with his knees in the air. He thinks the knees are a lion and splits them with his axe. J2617
• The sleeper answers for the dead man. A man falls asleep by a gallows. A company of wags come and invite the dead man on the gallows to accompany them. The sleeper awakes with a start and says, "I'll come at once." The wags flee in terror. J2618
• The dead girl frightens father and lover. The girl dies. The lover, thinking that she is asleep, talks to her. When he hears the father speak of her as dead he is frightened that he has talked to the dead. The father hears the lover talk and thinks that it is the girl's spirit. Both flee. J2621
• Fool frightened by stirring of the wind. Falls on a knife and kills himself. J2622
• Tailor puts on thimble as protection from slug. J2623
• Fright at animals' eyes in the dark. J2624
• Coward is frightened when clothing catches on thistle. (Cf. N384.2.) J2625
• Coward boasts of what he would have done after danger is over. J2626
• Cornered paramour threatens the husband. Admits guilt. Husband: "Had you denied it I would have killed you!" J2626.1
• Frightened by fireworks. J2627
• Boastful coward frightened when he sees strong adversaries. Hides in trousers of plowman who fights the men. J2631
• Fools try to frighten one another, but get scared themselves and both flee. J2632
• Tiger frightened of leak in house. J2633
• Fearing the earthquake. Fool worries lest earthquake make him fall against an open knife. J2634
• Bungling fool. J2650
• Bungling fool has succession of accidents. J2661
• The fool accidentally kills his child and loses the body. J2661.1
• The fool seeks a midwife. Accidentally strikes the dog dead, drowns the midwife, and kills the child. J2661.2
• One woman to catch squirrel; the other to get the cooking pot. One falls from the tree and kills herself; the other breaks the pot. J2661.3
• The boy's disasters. Foolishly kills his horse and throws his axe into the lake to kill a duck. Undresses to recover axe. Clothes stolen. Goes into barrel of tar to hide. In tar and feathers. J2661.4
• Sent back for the rest of the money. A fool finds a treasure and takes some of it to a judge so as to purchase influence. The judge sends him back for the rest. J2662
• The awkward servant. J2665
• The cup with two and three handles. When the servant girl presents the cup to the emperor she holds the handle herself. When there are two handles she holds one in each hand, and when there are three she holds the third one toward her. J2665.1
• Servant injures master while shampooing him. Gives him a slap and breaks his skin. J2665.2
• The bungling speaker. J2666
• "I am as good as you are." One woman says to another, "You are an adulteress and a thief, and I know that I am just as good as you are." J2666.1
• The fool testifies: "I had been drinking and was lying on the bench asleep. I saw him hit him over the head with an axe but don't know whether he hit him or not." J2667
• The fool betrays his brothers. They escape but he is captured and stupidly betrays their hiding places. J2668
• The forgetful fool. J2671
• A fox or a hare? A servant is sent by his master to find a girl for him. If he returns with one he is to say, "I have a fox"; if without, "I have a hare." When he returns he has forgotten the agreement. "I don't know whether it is a fox or a hare, but the girl is down stairs. J2671.1
• Fool keeps repeating his instructions so as to remember them. (He usually forgets them.) J2671.2
• Fool's talking to himself thought to be inappropriate greetings. He keeps repeating a word to remember it but changes it so that it seems to refer unfavorably to people whom he meets. J2671.2.1
• Bungling fool forgets what elephant is called. Says it is an "earth egg" (confused with name for potatoes). J2671.3
• Foolish messenger muddles message. J2671.4
• The stolen bedcover. A man hears a noise outside the house at night. He wraps a bed cover about him and goes to investigate. The robbers take the bed cover and flee. The wife asks what the debate was about. "About the bed cover. When they got it, the quarrel was over." J2672
• Bungling rescuer caught by crab. He tries to rescue woman caught by crab. Is caught himself and found in embarrassing position. J2675
• Buyer draws picture of grindstone on his order list. The grocer sends him a cheese. The buyer has forgotten to draw the hole. J2685
• The easy problem made hard. J2700
• How the tower was built. Fool gives three explanations: (1) It was formerly a deep well; dug up and set out; (2) it was built by a very tall man; (3) it was built flat on the ground and then set up. J2711
• "What do I hold in my hand?" (Ring). "In its first state it was in the mountains; it is round and flat." Fool: "A millstone." J2712
• Guess what I have in my hand and I will give it to you to make egg-cake with. What does it look like? What outside and yellow inside. It is a hollowed turnip filled with carrots. J2712.1
• Guess how many eggs I have and you shall get all seven. J2712.2
• The father of Noah's sons. The fool seeks advice as to how to answer this question: Who is the father of Stoffer's three sons? Stoffer, of course. Then who was the father of Noah's three sons? Stoffer. J2713
• How to find if it is raining. (Cf. W111.2.4.) J2716
• Men must go to look in the pool to see if rain is falling. J2716.1
• Man put out tubs to see if rain is still falling. J2716.2
• Why he couldn't see. One fool to another: "What would happen if you cut off your nose?" "I couldn't smell." "What would happen if you cut off your ears?" "I couldn't see." "Why couldn't you see?" "My hat would fall down over my eyes." J2721
• Telling their horses apart. One fool docks the tail of his horse; the horse of the second gets tail caught in gate, is docked too. One notches ear of his horse; the second horse notches its ear on the fence. Finally they measure heights of their horses. The black horse is two inches taller than the white. J2722
• Trickster's greed while hunting causes him to be deserted. J2751