The wise and the foolish

3,525 motifs · page 7 of 18

• Ninety-nine wise men and one fool ordered to pour milk into a tank all at one time: only the fool obeys. J1149.12
• Cleverness connected with the giving of evidence. J1150
• Testimony of witness cleverly discredited. J1151
• Testimony discredited by inducing witness to talk foolishly. J1151.1
• Talkative wife discredited. Husband tells his talkative wife about treasure he has discovered. To discredit her report he tells her also of impossible things (woodcock in the fish net, fish in the bird trap, etc.). She repeats it all and whole story is disbelieved. Husband may keep his treasure. J1151.1.1
• Husband discredited by absurd truth. Wife puts fish in furrow where husband plows them up (or like absurdity). At mealtime the husband says, "Where are the fish?" – "What fish?" – "Those I plowed up." He is laughed to scorn. J1151.1.2
• The sausage rain. (Or rain of figs, fishes, or milk.) A mother in order to discredit testimony of her foolish son who has killed a man makes him believe that it has rained sausages. When he says that he killed the man on the night it rained sausages his testimony is discredited. J1151.1.3
• Witness claims the borrowed coat: discredited. Trickster summoned to court on Jew's complaint refuses to go unless he has a new coat: Jew lends him his. In court the trickster says that the Jew is a liar: "He will even claim that I am wearing his coat." The Jew does so and no one believes him. J1151.2
• Testimony gradually weakened. Witness agrees to the following facts in succession: that the person relating the facts may have been in anger, that he may have misunderstood, that he may not have heard it at all. J1151.3
• Testimony of unsuccessful suitor discredited. Adulteress is surprised in intrigue by unsuccessful suitor. He threatens to tell her husband. She tells her husband that the scorned suitor has accused her falsely of indiscretion with many men. When the suitor tells the husband he does not believe him. J1151.4
• Witness cannot speak language of accusation: discredited. Two parrots taught accusation of mistress in a particular dialect. They know nothing more of the language. (Cf. G1154.1.) J1152
• Separate examination of witnesses discredits testimony. J1153
• Susanna and the elders: separate examination of witnesses. Testimony as to exact circumstances of her deed does not agree. Witnesses discredited. J1153.1
• To which of two men does woman belong? Only one can answer questions just as she has. Other discredited. J1153.2
• Witness discredited by inability to tell details. (Cf. J1153.1.) J1154
• Parrot unable to tell husband details as to wife's infidelity. Wife has parrot describe a storm very realistically. Husband observes contrast in the two tales. (Cf. J1152.) J1154.1
• Witnesses to make image of diamond they claim to have seen. J1154.2
• False witnesses cannot describe stolen jewel. J1154.3
• "Then I woke up": man discredits his confession by declaring it all a dream. J1155
• Confession discredited by claim to be notorious liar. (Cf. X905.) J1155.1
• Bribed witnesses nonplussed when judge asks wrong question. J1157
• Witness claims not to have seen crime. J1158
• Witness says that dust storm blew and shut his eyes so that he did not see. J1158.1
• Clever pleading. J1160
• Literal pleading: letter of law has been met. J1161
• The three joint depositors may have their money back when all demand it. Money is left by three joint depositors subject to their joint order. It is stolen by one. When the banker is sued he agrees to give up the money when he receives joint order from all three. J1161.1
• Pound of flesh. (Fleischpfand.) Literal pleading frees man from pound of flesh contract. Contract does not give the right to shed blood. Impossible, therefore, to carry out. J1161.2
• Trespasser's defense: standing on his own land. Man has earth from his own land in his shoes. J1161.3
• Money in the stick. Before swearing, the cheater hands a stick containing the stolen money to the man he has stolen it from. He then swears that he has repaid it. J1161.4
• Literal penance: boy outwits pope. For three years not to drink wine, not to lie in bed, nor sleep with a prostitute. He goes to a convent, sleeps on eider down, and sleeps with the nuns. (God's daughters). When the pope condemns him he says he will go to his brother-in-law (Christ: he has wedded God's daughters). (Cf. J1764.5.) J1161.5
• Barber paid to change color of woman's face burns her with acid. He has fulfilled contract. J1161.6
• Ruler forbids blacksmith to reveal solution of riddle unless he has seen him 100 times. Smith reveals the solution on receipt of 100 crowns bearing the ruler's likeness. J1161.7
• Ruler orders doctor to wear his hair and his robe "not too long and not too short". Has both his hair and his cloak cut half short and half long. J1161.8
• Bishop orders priest to wear his beard and his robe "not too long and not too short." J1161.8.1
• Drunk philosopher wagers that he can drink the ocean dry. Agrees to do so if the other will hold back streams emptying into the ocean. Agreed to drink only the ocean. J1161.9
• Man tells servant that he may have anything he can take with his teeth (eat). Servant takes master's cape with his teeth. J1161.10
• Thief makes it fall out that he has but taken what has been given him (he has followed literal instructions). J1161.11
• Plea by admitting accusation and discomfiting accuser. J1162
• Nurse's false plea admitted: child demanded. A nurse falsely demands pay for caring for a child which she says is the hero's. In court: "The child is indeed mine; give him to me." The child belongs to a peasant. Nurse confesses and is punished. J1162.1
• Robbers' false plea admitted: counteraccusation. Robbers claim a man's knife. In court: "The knife may indeed be theirs. I and my father were attacked yesterday by robbers. I fled. On returning I found my father killed and this knife in his body." Robbers condemned. J1162.2
• Own name inscribed on a stolen object as sign of property. [Inadvertant duplication of K448.] J1162.3
• Clever pleading: youth in court for calling king a fool, proves truth of statement because king allowed self to be duped by alchemist. J1162.4
• Pleading for accused by means of parable. J1163
• Clever pleading: fighting for King of Kings. Knight hailed before king for fighting blasphemer, tells king that he would fight to protect the honor of the king's name so why not for the name of the King of Kings? J1164
• Plea by showing great temptation to crime. J1165
• Thieves tell judge walls of houses were so weak they could not resist temptation of breaking in. J1165.1
• Plea by shifting blame to another. J1166
• Barber operating on child's skin kills it: blames mother for child's thin skin. J1166.1
• When royal mace-bearer is attacked he throws away mace: attackers accuse him of insult to king. J1166.2
• Clever pleading – miscellaneous. J1169
• The woman with bad eyes. Physician called to doctor woman's eyes bandages them and then steals things each day. She refuses to pay fee and is haled to court. She says that her sight is worse than ever for whereas she used to see many things in her house she now sees very little. Theft is thus revealed. J1169.1
• Bought behind the village. Lawyer declares unjustly that stolen horse has been bought and paid for. Angry farmer: "Yes, behind the village he bought and paid for it" (meaning that he stole it from the pasture). Lawyer pleads successfully that it is as well to buy a horse outside as inside the village. J1169.2
• Their assistance not asked. Knight attacks enemy contrary to orders. Part of army helps him and is killed. He disclaims responsibility since he had not asked their aid. J1169.3
• The ass beheaded. King vows to sacrifice first thing he meets. It is a miller driving an ass. Miller pleads that the ass preceded him. They behead the ass. J1169.4
• The laughing ass. King has trickster's horse's tail cut off. Trickster retaliates by cutting off part of upper lip of king's ass. At trial the animals are brought forth. Everyone laughs at the ass. Trickster: "If everyone laughs at the ass, how could the ass help laughing at her companion without a tail?" Freed. J1169.5
• Receiver of stolen goods. A tailor makes a Jew a coat of stolen goods. Accused of theft, he says that the Jew has the cloth. J1169.6
• Suit about the ass's shadow. Man hires ass and driver for trip across plain. In the heat the traveler sits down in the ass's shadow. The driver pushes him away. Plea: he didn't hire the ass's shadow. J1169.7
• The prophet's first disciple. Judge demands that a pseudo-prophet show a miracle. Latter offers to cut off judge's head and resuscitate him. Judge agrees to be the first disciple. J1169.8
• Three unlawful acts in killing one sheep: two lambs were inside. J1169.9
• Clever judicial decisions. J1170
• Series of wise judgments settles quarrels of village. J1170.1
• The Irish Solomon (Cormac mac Airt). Famed for his clever decisions. J1170.2
• Judgment by testing love. J1171
• Solomon's judgment: the divided child. Two women claim a child. Judge offers to cut it in two. Real mother refuses. J1171.1
• The ring to be cut in two and divided between quarreling persons: real owner laments the waste of the gold. J1171.1.1
• Solomon's judgment: the divided bride. Three suitors dispute over a woman. When it is proposed to divide her, true lover is discovered. J1171.2
• The woman with two husbands is to be killed. One of the husbands refuses to bury her. She is awarded to the other. J1171.3
• Clever judgment: man must belong to the third wife because the first had buried him and the second did not protect him. J1171.3.1
• Which mare is mother of colt: colt taken in boat to the middle of river; mother will swim to it. J1171.4
• Judgment as rebuke to unjust plaintiff. J1172
• Not the same purse as was lost. Finder of a purse containing 800 gulden returns it to owner for reward. Latter says that purse had 900 gulden in it. In court. Decision: The rich man speaks truth. The purse found is not the one he lost. The finder may keep it. J1172.1
• Payment with the clink of the money. Man sued for payment for enjoyment of the flavor of meat when roasting. J1172.2
• Ungrateful animal returned to captivity. A man rescues a serpent (bear) who in return seeks to kill his rescuer. Fox as judge advises the man to put the serpent back into captivity. J1172.3
• Unjust claimant of woman duped into entering jar. Jackal as judge declares that real husband shall enter jar woman carries on her head. J1172.3.1
• Animals render unjust decision against man since man has always been unjust to them. J1172.3.2
• Turtle released by man to carry him across stream. Threatens him midway. Fox to be judge. Feigns deafness and makes turtle come so near shore man jumps and saves self. J1172.4
• Series of clever unjust decisions: plaintiff voluntarily withdraws. (1) Man pulls off borrowed horse's tail: he shall keep horse till tail grows on. (2) Man falls out of bed and kills a baby (or causes a miscarriage): he shall beget a new baby for the mother. (3) Man falls from a bridge and kills boatsman's son: shall allow boatsman to fall from bridge and kill him. J1173
• Novel settlement of dispute. Judge orders woman's second husband to return her to the first in the same condition as he received her (with child). J1173.1
• Novel settlement: snake's wife must wait to kill prince till princess bears as many sons as snake has. J1173.1.1
• Clever decisions concerning kissing and rape. J1174
• Youth in court for kissing prince's daughter pleads his love for her. Prince allows plea: "If we kill those who love us, what shall we do to those who hate us?" J1174.1
• Complaint about the stolen kiss. Woman is allowed to take one in return. J1174.2
• Man breaks promise to sleep chastely with woman. Decision: deceived fiance is to sleep with seducer's wife, if he ever marries. J1174.2.1
• The girl screams when she is robbed. Accuses young man of raping her. When he tries to rob her of money she summons help. Decision: if she had shouted as loud before, the man could not have raped her. Youth acquitted. J1174.3
• Girls must pay for young man's virginity. Girls repulsed by man climb in his window at night. Become pregnant and demand marriage. Branded as prostitutes and must pay the man. J1174.4
• Man's torn garment as proof of his innocence of rape. If he were the assaulter, the torn garment would be woman's. J1174.5
• Judgments concerning arson. J1175
• The cat in the warehouse. One of four companions is left in a warehouse to care for a cat which has a broken leg. Cat scratches self near flame and sets warehouse afire. The three must pay the one left behind. Broken leg could not walk and it was the three legs belonging to the three traders which caused the fire. J1175.1
• Intentional and accidental fire. Rich man wishing to get rid of a neighbor's tree sets it afire. Neighbor's house catches and burns. Must pay four times value of tree since fire is intentional, but only actual value of house, since that fire was accidental. J1175.2
• Decisions based on experimental tests. J1176
• Pouring water into the inkwell. Soldier accused of stealing slavegirl from author. Girl told to pour water into an inkwell. She does it so skillfully that she must have learned it from the author. J1176.1
• Measuring the dregs. Some full and some half-full wine casks left with man by neighbor, who accuses him of theft. Fraud of accusation detected by measuring the dregs. J1176.2
• Gold pieces in the honey-pot. Woman leaves honey-pot with neighbor to guard. It has gold below the honey. Neighbor steals the gold and substitutes honey. Theft proved by gold pieces sticking to sides of pot. (Cf. J1192.2.) J1176.3
• A two-headed man is only one man. Two-headed man claims double inheritance. Hot water poured over one head. Other head cries out with pain. He is declared to be one man and to merit only one share. J1176.4
• True husband of woman determined by assigning superhuman task. Thus god masking as husband is discovered. J1176.5
• Story told to discover thief. Judge tells story of the lady, her husband, her lover, and the robbers (H1552.1). Which was the most generous? Witness says that robber was. This shows that he has robber's point of view. J1177
• None should interrupt or leave the room while story is told: treachery revealed. J1177.0.1
• Story told to discover thief: sundry tales. J1177.1
• Clever judicial decisions – miscellaneous. J1179
• Damages for the field devastated by a flock. David says pay money damages. Solomon says let laborers have flock till milk and wool have paid the damages. J1179.1
• The hog belongs to whichever place he goes of his own accord. J1179.2
• The short blanket must be patched. Weaver makes blanket shorter than ordered. Weaver ordered to add a piece to the blanket and then to receive full price. J1179.3
• Robber innocent because he is merely following traditions of his ancestors. J1179.4
• Servants would not have left the coats. Merchants complain to nobleman that his servants have robbed them of money. Nobleman asks whether merchants had on those good coats when the robbery took place. When told yes, he said that the robbers were not his servants, for they would never have left good coats. J1179.5
• Thread awarded to disputant who knows what it was wound on. J1179.6
• Stolen necklace does not have same scent as defendant uses. J1179.7
• Tenant advised by landlord to steal in order to pay his taxes acquitted. J1179.8
• The judge pays fine himself. Tires of the bickering of two men over a trifling sum. J1179.9
• Enoch Arden decision. Man believing wife dead becomes a priest. Later finds her alive. Pope's decision: he may remain both a priest and husband but must not consort with any other woman. J1179.10
• Those who furnish equal number of animals for plow share equally in crop (in spite of amount of work done by each). J1179.11
• Actual rescuer gets woman. Watchers could never have got her merely by watching. J1179.12
• Cardinal's clever decision: that the monks who arise earliest may sound matins. There had been a great argument over this privilege. J1179.13
• Eye of king's foster-son damaged by sting of bee. Boy's friends demand eye of king's son in forfeit; king decrees instead destruction of swarm of bees so that guilty one may perish. J1179.14
• Clever means of avoiding legal punishment. J1180
• Execution escaped by use of special permissions granted the condemned. J1181
• Execution: man induced to kill self. King may not execute Brahmin, but gets him drunk and brings about his death. J1181.0.1
• Execution evaded by using three wishes. King ordains that guest who turns his plate shall be executed, but orders that anyone so condemned shall have three wishes granted. One of the wishes: to have all blinded who saw him turn the plate. He is freed. J1181.1
• Execution evaded by having three wishes granted: to be emperor, judge and the emperor's son-in-law during the last week of his life. As judge he frees himself and is in reality freed. J1181.2
• Condemned man wins pardon by clever remark. Fool is allowed to jump off cliff (balcony) as punishment. Master expresses surprise that in three trials he has failed to hurl himself from the height. The jester offers the prince four trials. Amused prince pardons the jester. J1181.3
• Punishment escaped by discomfiting condemner. J1182
• To be beaten by deceiver of husband. Lady has her women ready to give a trickster a beating. He is allowed to make one request. The one who has most often deceived her husband shall strike first. J1182.1
• Execution escaped by invoking laws of hospitality. J1183
• Prisoner has drunk water furnished by the king and thus becomes king's guest. Spared. J1183.1
• No second punishment for same offense. J1184
• Adulteress hurled from high rock escapes injury: she may not be punished again. J1184.1
• Ears not to be cut off a second time. Executioner discovers that the prisoner's ears are of stucco, having been clipped for a previous offense. J1184.2
• Execution escaped by story-telling. Cf. Browning's "Balaustion's Adventure." J1185
• Scheherazade: story with indefinite sequels told to stave off execution. J1185.1
• Clever means of avoiding legal punishment – miscellaneous. J1189
• Youth will answer question only when king places him on throne: then youth calls executioners to punish cruel king. J1189.1
• Execution escaped by threatening with malediction. J1189.2
• King substitutes for condemned man when he is told that whoever is executed that day is destined to become king in his next birth. J1189.3
• Cleverness in the lawcourt – miscellaneous. J1190
• Reductio ad absurdum of judgment. J1191
• Reductio ad absurdum: the decision about the colt. A man ties his mare to a second man's wagon. The mare bears a colt which the wagon-owner claims, saying that the wagon has borne a colt. Real owner of the colt shows the absurdity (1) by fishing in the street or (2) by telling that his wife is shooting fish in the garden. Neither of these things are so absurd as the decision. J1191.1
• "The sea is on fire" – not more absurd than the decision about the colt. J1191.1.1
• Suit for chickens produced from boiled eggs. Countertask: harvesting crop produced from cooked seeds. J1191.2
• The funeral for the ineligible husband. A king awards a young woman to a gardener, who is already married. The young woman performs a funeral ceremony for him. The king is pleased with the jest and takes her into the harem. J1191.3
• To return the dead elephant alive. Hired elephant dies. Owner demands the live elephant. The god causes the elephant's owner to break pots of the other. Is unable to make specific restitution. J1191.4
• Reductio ad absurdum of accusation: object-birth slander. (Later children tell toy animals to drink. No harder than for woman to bear objects.) J1191.5
• Impossible to eat pearls: also impossible for woman to bear animals (objects). J1191.5.1
• Plaintiff in court beats thief since he had not warned him ahead of time to have witnesses to robbery. Judge has refused to inquire for lack of witnesses. J1191.6
• Rice pot on pole, fire far away. As easy to cook rice thus as to warm a man at a distance from a lamp on a balcony. J1191.7
• The bribed judge. J1192
• Judge awards decision to the greater bribe. J1192.1
• Buffalo has eaten up turban. Judge decides for greater bribe. J1192.1.1
• Judge favors poor defendant so he may obtain money from rich without begging. J1192.1.2
• Error was in the honey. Trickster takes jar filled with earth but with honey on top as bribe to the judge. He takes the decision in writing. Cheat is discovered and judge sends message that an error has been made. Reply: the decision was right; the error is in the honey. (Cf. J1176.3.) J1192.2
• The bribed judge's ancestors. Clever animal says in court that she drops dung on ancestors of judges who take bribes (unless they confess). Judges confess. J1192.3
• Clever interpretation of judge's statement. J1193
• Killing the fly on the judge's nose. The judge has told the boy that he should kill a fly wherever he sees one. J1193.1
• The value of a blow. A judge awards damages of a penny against a friend of his for giving a blow. The defendant goes to get the money and is gone long. Meanwhile the plaintiff gives the judge a blow and tells him to use the penny as damages. J1193.2
• The Court keeps the change. Man is fined half-ducat. Judge has no change. Defendant strikes judge for the change. J1193.2.1
• Judge frightened into awarding decision. J1195
• Judge finds offense is not great when it is his own son who is guilty. [Inadvertant duplication of U21.5.] J1197
• Pardon in return for confession. J1198
• King promises thieves pardon for confession: pleased with their cleverness. J1198.1
• Clever man puts another out of countenance. J1210
• Putting out of countenance by telling evil stories. J1211
• Peasant preaches about bishop's amour. Bishop has instructed him to tell the truth and spare no one when he preaches. J1211.1
• Priest preaches about bishop's amour. Bishop has fined priest for incontinence. Priest hides and witnesses amorous intrigue between bishop and abbess, hearing bishop refer to the abbess's charms in biblical similes. Priest incorporates overheard references in his introduction to the Mass and is asked for an explanation. Bishop returns his fine. J1211.1.1
• Clever thief may keep booty. He has seen his victim in a disgraceful position and is allowed the booty as a price for his silence. J1211.2
• The drunken officer's stolen mantle. Thief confronted by the officer tells all the circumstances of the drunkenness (with many shameful additions). The officer denies the ownership. J1211.2.1
• Courtier having observed king's amour shields him and gains pardon. Answers in clever proverbs when called on to say what he has seen. J1211.3
• Judge put out of countenance. J1212
• The doubly-bribed judge. One of the disputants keeps the hens he is to give the judge in his hand and when the decision begins to go against him makes the hens cry out. J1212.1
• Thief exposes owner's unjust claim. J1213
• Complaint about the stolen ox. A thief steals a calf and keeps the hide. The owner makes a hue and cry about a stolen ox. The thief produces the calfhide: "You thief, to demand an ox for a calf!" J1213.1
• Absurd pretence, when allowed, puts pretender out of countenance. J1214
• Claim that dog-head captured game. Two hunters, one with dog and other with dog-head, dispute. The claim that the dog-head captured the game is allowed and then the alarm is raised that the owner of the, game is coming to punish the theft. J1214.1
• Cheater put out of countenance by raising alarm. Wine seller carries water into his cellar. Man raises alarm pretending that he thought the house must be afire. J1216
• Worldly man puts religious man out of countenance. J1217
• One dueller fights with God's help; the other with his brother's. First claims that the odds are unfair; second agrees that he will fight without his brother if the first will fight without God. J1217.1
• Simple holy man puts philosopher out of countenance when he says to him that wisdom came before learning. J1217.2
• Thirty years old for twelve years. Man claims to be thirty; has been doing so for the last twelve years. J1218
• Old man in love with young woman puts his critics out of countenance. J1221
• Rebuke for telling a poor and long-winded story. J1223
• Poet puts others out of countenance. J1224
• Poet is importuned by admirers. Vaults away from them saying: "You may tell me anything you wish – in your own homes! J1224.1
• Poet (Dante) puts ruler out of countenance. Ruler had instructed jesters to tease him. The poet cleverly answers his questioners pretending to have the impression that the questions are addressed to the ruler. J1224.2
• Clever dividing. J1230
• Clever dividing which favors the divider. J1241
• Dividing two sheep and a ram: trickster to divide with two friends. You two take one sheep; the ram and I will take the other. J1241.1
• Dividing four coins among three persons. Two coins apiece given to two; other is to wait till two more coins are found. J1241.2
• Dividing three fish among two men. Fools submit problem to trickster who solves problem by taking third fish himself. J1241.3
• Division of the fat and lean fowls. Two fat fowls and one lean one at meal. Hero is lean, his two hosts fat. He is to divide. One lean fowl for the two fat people; two fat fowls for the one lean man. J1241.4
• Dividing the eggs: one man's hand in the pot at a time. Trickster alternates hands so fast that the other man never gets to put his hand in. He finally puts his foot in the pan. J1241.5
• Dividing by scripture quoting. J1242
• Hog's head divided according to scripture. To be divided among three students according to their skill in quoting. First: "And they cut one ear off" (takes ear). Second: "And they gave him a box on the ear" (takes other ear). Third: "And they took him away secretly" (takes whole hog away). J1242.1
• Three men divide a large fish by quoting scripture. J1242.2
• Inherited gold ring divided between three by selling it and dividing the money. J1243
• Clever dividing – miscellaneous. J1249
• Dividing five eggs equally between two men and one woman. Three to the woman and one each to the men. Men already have two (testicles). J1249.1
• Clever verbal retorts – general. J1250
• Baffling malice with ready answers. J1251
• Humiliated lover in repartee with disdainful mistress. (Cf. K1225.1, K1326.1.) J1251.1
• Quibbling answers. E.g., Where are you going? – Forward. Where are you going to cut the tree? – At the foot. J1252
• Evading a direct answer which may trap one. J1254
• Answering only "yes" and "no". J1255
• Repartee based on church or clergy. J1260