The wise and the foolish

3,525 motifs · page 9 of 18

• Before, during, and after. A priest, asked when he would have certain choice wine served, before or after the meal, replies, "The holy Mary was Virgin before, during, and after the birth." J1343.2
• Unwelcome guest tells about the hidden food. Having seen his hostess hide it, he tells about it in the form of a tale. J1344
• Why he did not eat the bread. When host inquires, he replies, "If thou be the son of God, command that these stones be made bread." J1345
• Maid rebukes pilgrim for eating too much. "If both of us had been present at the miracle of the loaves and fishes you would have eaten me too!" Pilgrim: "I wouldn't have eaten you but I would have chewed on you a bit!" J1346
• Rude retorts. J1350
• Women call each other prostitutes. J1351
• Prostitutes wander. A woman having given her cook leave of absence for the next day asks her what day it is. "Saturday." "No, it is the day on which the prostitutes wander." The cook: "Yes, from one prostitute to another. Today I am with you, tomorrow with your sister." J1351.1
• The envious accuser. A woman accuses another of being a harlot. The second: "You would like to be in my place but no one wants you." J1351.2
• Person calls another an ass. J1352
• The burden of two asses. A king and his son hunting on a hot day put their fur coats on the fool's back. King: "You have an ass's load on you." Fool: "Rather the burdens of two asses." J1352.1
• Age is relative. Young rival derides old one for his age. Oldster: "An ass of twenty is older than a man of seventy." J1352.2
• Whom it concerns. There is someone carrying a goose. How does that concern me? He is carrying it to your house. How does that concern you? J1353
• Not in his line of business. At market a man enquires of another: "How is the moon, three-quarters or full?" "I don't know. I have neither bought nor sold one." J1354
• The one exception. "You are a good man; there is not your equal on the earth. You have everything for yourself alone; only your wife is public property." J1355
• The flatterer's retort. Two men meet a homely girl. One of them: "Who wouldn't call that girl pretty?" The girl overhears and says, "No one would say it of you." The man: "Anyone might say it who would lie as I have lied about you." J1356
• Ancient and modern ancestors. To a prince who boasted that he was descended from the Trojans a doctor replies: "My people are of Nurenberg. Everyone knows who they are; but of the Trojans no one knows anything except that Aeneas was a traitor and Romulus a robber." J1357
• No thanks to the messenger. A messenger tells a man that he has a newborn son. "Thanks are to God, but I am not beholden to you for it." J1358
• Monk says that he is a stallion. In reply to women's taunts he boasts of his powers. A woman calls on the devil to come and ride him. J1361
• Too late for the same advice. Impoverished spendthrift sarcastically to thrifty person: "Stop spending so freely!" "It's too late to give you the same advice." J1363
• To be rewarded by his kind. Unworthy person is rewarded. Asks worthy one: "Why is it that I am rewarded and you are not?" Answer: "Because you have found more of your kind than I have of mine." (Also told of Dante and a minstrel.) J1364
• Rude retorts – miscellaneous. J1369
• Man decides to spend 100 florins to become known. Friend: "You had better spend 200 so as to not be found out." J1369.1
• The prodigy's retort. An old man says of a youthful prodigy: "He will be an idiot in old age because perfection before maturity brings on deterioration of the mind." Youth: "You must have been very wise in your youth!" J1369.2
• Two men meet in narrow passage. One says: "I do not give every coxcomb the wall!" The other says: "I do, sir!" J1369.3
• Person asks: "Whose fool are you?" Answer: "I am the Bishop of Durham's fool; whose fool are you?" J1369.4
• Why soldier is silent before king: is always so when questioned by stupid person. [Inadvertant duplication of J1714.5.] J1369.5
• Cynical retorts concerning honesty. J1370
• The account-book of mistakes. A king, hearing that a man keeps an account-book of people's mistakes asks to see about his own record. He reads that the king has made a mistake in trusting a certain sum of money to a servant. King: "How if he comes back with it?" "I shall cross off your name and put him down for making a mistake." J1371
• Safe since no white man is near. White man asks Indian if he can safely leave some of his belongings inside the Indian's lodge. The Indian assures him that he can: "There is no white man within a hundred miles of here." (Cf. X600.) J1373
• Retorts concerning debts. J1380
• Where you got it last year. Parson tells borrower to get the corn at the same place as he got it last year. There is none there. "Then you didn't return it as you said you would, and there is none to lend you this year." J1381
• Payers of cash favored. J1382
• The one to blow the whistle. Many persons request a man on the way to market to buy them a whistle. Finally one hands him a coin with the request. "You are the one who shall blow the whistle." J1382.1
• The weighted order-cards. To a man going on a voyage, various people give commissions for purchases, which he writes down on cards. Some give him money; some promise it on his return. On ship he looks the cards over, placing the proper gold on the proper card. A wind blows into the sea those not weighted with gold. J1382.2
• Unstable security. Stag tries to borrow grain from the sheep, using the wolf as security. Sheep says that they are both so swift that he does not know where they will be on the day of payment. J1383
• A three thousand year old debt. Guests in inn discuss reincarnation. "Since we shall come back in three thousand years, the host might trust us till then." Host: "You still owe me what you didn't pay three thousand years ago." J1384
• Retorts concerning thefts. J1390
• Thief makes a lame excuse. J1391
• Thief's excuse: the big wind. Vegetable thief is caught in a garden. Owner: How did you get into the garden? A wind blew me in. How were the vegetables uprooted? If the wind is strong enough to blow me in, it can uproot them. How did they get into your bag? That is what I was just wondering. J1391.1
• The ladder market. A thief climbs over a wall by means of his ladder. When caught in the garden he says that he is a seller of ladders. Owner: "Is this a ladder market?" "Can't one sell ladders everywhere?" J1391.2
• The sheep's teeth. Two thieves caught with stolen sheep. One says that he told the other than sheep have lower teeth but no upper, and that they caught the sheep to see. J1391.3
• Bitten by the sheep. Man caught just as he knocks sheep in the head: The sheep bit me (or: I'm not going to let sheep butt me to death). J1391.3.1
• How he would act if he were a hawk. A hawk steals a piece of liver from a trickster and flies away with it. The trickster likewise steals some liver from another man and escapes to a high place with it. He says that he is seeing how he would act if he were a hawk. J1391.4
• Fox pretends that he has been to the farmyard only to see if any of his kindred were there. J1391.5
• Lame excuse: one cannot drink because he has no teeth. J1391.6
• Were merely measuring cup. King demands that each subject bring small amount of milk to put in his new cup. They plan to cheat him by bringing him water. Accused, they say that they were merely measuring the cup to see how much it would take to fill it. J1391.7
• Needles and anchors. Fox leaving merchant's warehouse: "I had wanted a needle as big as an anchor and an anchor as small as a needle." J1391.8
• Owner assists thief. J1392
• Thief followed home. A thief ransacks a man's house and departs. The man gathers together the rest of his belongings and tracks the thief. Comes to the thief's door. Thief: "What do you want with me?" "What, isn't this the house we set out for?" J1392.1
• Robbers commiserated. A buffoon says to robbers in his house, "You can't find anything here in the dark, for I can find nothing in broad daylight." J1392.2
• Owner advises thieves to return later. He is not yet in bed. J1392.2.1
• Cynic helps robber steal his money so he and robber can get sleep. J1392.3
• Owner laughs at thief who finds nothing in house. J1392.4
• Bridegroom promises thief spoils later if he will not interfere with wedding. J1392.5
• The double fool. A numskull caught changing meal from others' sacks into his own. Miller asks him what he is doing. "I am a fool." "Why then don't you put your meal into their sacks?" "I am only a simple fool. If I did that I should be a double fool." J1393
• Thieves' nocturnal habits. J1394
• Night study. A thief having scorned Demosthenes for his constant study, the latter says, "I know that you have not failed to notice that I study much at night." J1394.1
• Man who rises too early. The king in order to correct the habit has him robbed. He says that robbers get up even earlier than he. J1394.2
• Was going to give it to him any way. Thus a hunter answers a thief who steals his hare. J1395
• Removing chance for worry. A king noticing that a student has stolen a capon, asks, "Does not the Bible say that you should not worry about tomorrow?" "Exactly. I was trying to remove all chance of worry tomorrow." J1396
• The cost price recovered. A man takes a shirt to market for a friend who has stolen it. At market it is stolen from the seller. He tells his friend that the market was bad and that he was able to get back only the cost price (nothing). J1397
• Compliments from the hangman. A man complimented a hangman on the good job he had done in hanging a thief. The hangman takes off his hat: "One thief I hang, to the other I take off my hat." J1398
• Retorts concerning thefts – miscellaneous. J1399
• The Lord has Risen. A parson hides his money in a holy place and leaves a sign, "The Lord is in this Place." A thief takes the money and leaves a sign, "He is risen and is no longer here" J1399.1
• Repartee concerning false reform. J1400
• The tailor's dream. A tailor dreams that at Judgment Day he sees a flag made up of all the pieces of cloth he has stolen Upon waking he asks his servants to warn him if they ever see him tempted to steal again. This happens. He replies, "The piece I am about to steal does not fit into the flag." J1401
• Repartee concerning fatness. J1410
• The hay wagon and the gate. A parson arriving late at a city gate asks if he can get in. Guard sees that he is fat and in fun says that he doesn't know. The parson: "Why not; doesn't the hay wagon get in?" J1411
• Animals retort concerning their dangers. J1420
• Peace among the animals. (Peace fable.) The fox tries to beguile the cock by reporting a new law establishing peace among the animals. Dogs appear; the fox flees. "The dogs have not heard of the new law." J1421
• Good bath. A cat seeing a mouse leave a bath says, "Good bath!" Mouse: "If I had not seen you!" J1422
• Roast falcon. A falcon reproaches a cock for fleeing from the master who has fed him. The cock: "I have never seen a falcon roasted." J1423
• Where the foxes will meet. Two foxes in a trap converse: "Where shall we meet again?" "In three days at the furrier's." J1424
• Repartee concerning doctors and patients. J1430
• I know not how. Sick man: "I came to a place I know not where; something happened I know not how; I am sick I know not where." Doctor: "Go to the pharmacy and buy I know not what, and eat it I know not how, and you will become well I know not when." J1431
• No physician at all. A bad physician having predicted the immediate death of a patient meets him recovered. "How go things down below?" "They put you at the head of the list of bad physicians, but I maintained that you were no physician at all." J1432
• "Do as I say and not as I do." Doctor forbids patient to drink wine. When patient reproves doctor for drinking wine the latter says: "Just now it is bad for you and good for me." J1433
• Strenuous cure for madness. Doctor throws patients into a pit of water. Servant warns queer-looking hunter to flee before master throws him into the pit. (Cf. K2137.) J1434
• Veterinarian becomes doctor. When he killed animals he had to pay for them; but he did not have to pay for killing people. J1438
• Repartee – miscellaneous. J1440
• God of the earth. Question from the king: "Who are you?" "I am God." "Make my eyes larger." "I am only God of the earth and have power only below the girdle." J1441
• A cynic's retorts. J1442
• The cynic wants sunlight. King (to cynic): "What can I do for you?" "Get out of my sunlight. Don't take away from me what you can't give me." J1442.1
• Cynic praises power of reason. Tells Alexander that the power of reason makes even a poor man as great as a king. J1442.1.1
• The cynic at the bath. Leaving an unclean bath house: "Where can I go now to wash?" J1442.2
• The cynic and the pale gold. "Why is gold so pale?" "It is in great danger." J1442.3
• The cynic's burial. Asked who will carry him to his grave if he has no friends: "He who needs my house." J1442.4
• Cynic asks that his body be exposed to the elements. When told that the beasts and the birds will prey on him he says: "Put a stick at my side so that I may chase them away." J1442.4.1
• The cynic as judge of wine. Asked which wine tastes best, he says, "That belonging to other people." J1442.5
• The cynic and the big gates. Coming to a little town with big gates, he says, "Close the gate so that the town won't run away." J1442.6
• The cynic and the bastard stone-thrower. Cynic: "Be careful; you might hit your father." J1442.7
• The cynic discusses heaven. Hearing a man discoursing at great length about heaven, he asks, "When did you come down from there?" J1442.8
• The cynic and the bald-headed man. His only reply to the baldheaded man's slanders is to compliment the hair that has left such a horrible head. J1442.9
• The cynic and the deceiver. When the deceiver calls him wicked, he says, "I am glad that you are my enemy; for you do good to your enemies and evil to your friends." J1442.10
• The cynic and the fig tree. Man tells friend that his wife has hanged herself on a fig tree. Friend: "Give me a shoot of that tree!" J1442.11
• The cynic's wish. When he learns that a woman has hanged herself from a tree he explains: "Would that all trees bore such fruit!" J1442.11.1
• Cynic is asked if widower should remarry. "One who has just escaped from drowning should not return to sea." J1442.12
• The smallest woman makes the best bride. "Of an evil choose the smallest part." J1442.13
• The fools in the city. Man ordered to number the fools in the city replies, "It is easier to number the wise men." J1443
• They gave it away themselves. A wandering actor rewarded by a city with a coat of their color gambles it away. When upbraided about giving away their present he replies that they hadn't wanted to keep it themselves. J1444
• The forgotten traditions. A man has been told by a seer that there are two ways in which a believer may be distinguished. But he has forgotten one of them and the seer had forgotten the other. J1445
• Aaron's censer. A man strikes a priest with a cane: "This is Moses' staff." The priest shoots with a pistol: "This is Aaron's holy censer." J1446
• The favored swine. Dog reproaches sow that Venus will not allow those who have eaten swine to enter her temple. Sow says that it is because the goddess abhors those who kill swine. J1447
• The contagious yawns. A husband planning to punish his wife, who has yawned in church at the same time as a man, sees his error when his wife in the woods calls out, "The squirrels hop from bough to bough as the yawns from mouth to mouth." J1448
• Who gets the beehive. Badger: "I was a hundred years old when grama grass first grew." Crane: "My daughter was a hundred years old when grama grass first grew." Wolf: "I am only eight years old, but we shall see who gets the beehive." J1451
• Why he was thin. Philosopher explains that with his own blood he was nourishing as large a population as that of the Roman Emperor (lice). J1452
• It's better to fight in the shade. Soldier tells captain that the enemy are so numerous that their arrows darken the sun. Captain: "Good, it will be more comfortable fighting in the shade." J1453
• The lion and the statue. A man points out the statue to show the supremacy of man. The lion: "If it had been a lion sculptor, the lion would have been standing over the man." J1454
• Has never died yet. Slave (workman) recommended to master whose recent slaves have died: "He has never died while I owned him." J1455
• The liar. A man attempts to lie out of having called another a liar: "You lie if you say that I said you lied." The other: "It's a good thing for you that you didn't call me a liar." (Cf. J817.) J1456
• The gray fox. An old husband tells his young wife, who is concerned about his gray hair, "A gray fox is as good as a red one." "But an old gray fox is not so good as a young red one." J1457
• An oath to break oaths. Village called on to join in war deliberates in meeting. A man says, "We have taken oaths not to go to war. We must now take an oath to break all the oaths we have taken." J1458
• The cause of grayness. Fool asked what made him gray-headed replies, "My hair." J1461
• Customary suits. Man who wears a red cap after his father's death says, "I can grieve just as much in red as in black." J1462
• A long beard and sanctity. Told that a forest dwarf with a long beard is a saint, a man replies: "If a long beard indicates sanctity, the goat is a saint." J1463
• Trumpeter's false defense. A trumpeter captured pleads that he did not fight. Answered: "You may not fight, but you encourage your men to do so." J1465
• Must drink from the common cup. A man always drinks out of his own cup. In storm at sea a sailor says, "Today we all drink out of the same cup (the sea). J1467
• Sailor prays for gods to sink ship during storm, since gods never do what they are asked to do. J1467.1
• Not in good form. A duke invites a notorious eater. The latter consumes eight fowls, forty eggs, and other things in proportion. In leaving he apologizes for eating so little as he had not felt well the night before. He will do better next time. J1468
• The eunuch's defense. Reproached with his mutilation, the eunuch says that his ill fortune is no shame. The only shame is to merit what you suffer. J1471
• The fairest thing in the garden. Three brothers asked by princess what is the most beautiful thing in the garden. The youngest replies, "Yourself." He wins the princess. J1472
• The greedy dreamer. He dreams that he receives nine coins. He demands ten. He wakes and finds that he has dreamed. He is willing to accept the nine. J1473
• The 999 gold pieces. A man prays for a thousand gold pieces and says that he will not accept one less. A joker sends him 999. He says that he will trust God for the other coin. J1473.1
• The fatal bed. A sailor says that all his ancestors have drowned. Citizen: "Aren't you afraid of drowning?" Sailor: "How did your ancestors die?" Citizen: "All of them in bed." Sailor: "Aren't you afraid to go to bed?" J1474
• Is ready to go. A peddler scolds the dog who is waiting and tells him to get ready to go with him. The dog replies that he has nothing to carry, that it is the peddler who is late. J1475
• The proud hide humbled. A hide is in the river. River: "What is your name?" Hide: "Hard hide." River: "Hunt another name; I'll soon soften you." J1476
• Demonstrate here. A man boasts of his jump on Rhodes and says that if he were in Rhodes he could prove his boast. Reply: "No need to go to Rhodes. Show us your jump here." J1477
• Husband and wife burn their mouths. A wife served overhot soup, forgets and burns herself so that tears come to her eyes She says that her departed father liked soup so much that she weeps when she eats it. The husband is also burned and weeps: "I am weeping because your accursed mother didn't take you with her when she died." J1478
• The abbot burns his mouth. Says that he is crying because so many have left the monastery. J1478.1
• As you surely will. After her husband's death a woman cannot find a hammer and anvil. She goes to a dying neighbor and says, "If you die, as you surely will, and go to Heaven, as you surely will not, ask my husband where he left the hammer and anvil." The dying man's wife replies, "If you go to Heaven, as you surely will, if you die as you surely will not, do not run around and get into trouble, but sit down by the Eternal Father and observe and keep still." J1481
• Keeping the secret. Man tells parson secret and asks him to keep it. The parson refuses; "If you can't keep the secret, you must not expect me to." J1482
• Repartee concerning runaway horses. J1483
• King and jester flee: the king's swift horse. Jester: "You did have a swift horse. When I had to stop because my horse was tired out, you went two miles further." J1483.1
• Where his mule will. A man on a runaway mule is asked, "Where are you going?" "Wherever my mule wants to." J1483.2
• Storms on land. An inexperienced rider borrows a horse, which runs away with him. He says, "There are no such storms on sea as on the land." J1483.3
• "Why didn't you stay on the horse?" The rider: "I couldn't; you see, it ended there" (pointing to horse's head). J1483.4
• The sound of shaving. An unskillful barber keeps cutting a man's face. A noise is heard. The man: "What is that?" Barber: "A smith shoeing horses." Man: "I thought it was someone being shaved." J1484
• Mistaken identity. A bride slips up behind her husband and kisses him. He is annoyed. She: "Pardon me, I did not know it was you" J1485
• Husband mistaken for lover in bed. Farmer has whiskers shaved off, hair cut short. He gets home late, slips into bed with his wife. She runs her hand over his face, says: "Young man, if you're goin' to do anything, you'd better be agittin' at it, 'cause Old Whiskers'll be here pretty soon." J1485.1
• Listening to the debate. A lazy youth explains his late rising by saying that he lay abed to hear the argument between industry and laziness. J1486
• Progress in school. A man sends his two sons to schools and later enquires of their progress. One: "I am past Grace." The other: "I am at the devil and all his works." J1487
• What the bear whispered in his ear. Paid guide climbs tree and leaves traveler to mercy of a bear. Traveler feigns death and the bear sniffs at him and leaves. The guide: "What did the bear say to you?" "He said, never trust a coward like you." J1488
• Artist paints too few birds. Is engaged to decorate room. Owner: "You did not paint as many birds as I told you to." Artist: "The windows were left open and most of them flew out." J1491
• Trickster artist hoodwinks king: cuckold's eyes cannot see picture. King pretends to see the picture. Courtiers reveal that there is no picture. J1492
• Daydreamer has lost his chance for profit. He has broken his master's pots while dreaming of future profits. He has therefore lost more than the master and excuses himself of blame. J1493
• Why captain takes lame and one-eyed soldiers into army. The lame cannot flee from the enemy; the one-eyed soldiers will not see enough to make them afraid. J1494
• Person runs from actual or supposed ghost. (Cf. E293, J1483.) J1495
• Man runs from actual or from supposed ghost. The ghost runs beside him. The man stops to rest; the ghost stops, says, "That was a good run we had!" The man says, "Yes, and as soon as I get my breath, I'm going to run some more." J1495.1
• When Caleb comes. Man attempts to stay in haunted house all night. One cat after another enters, says, "Everything will be all right when Caleb comes, won't it?" (or something similar). Man finally says, "When Caleb comes, tell him I was here and left." He leaves. J1495.2
• Clever practical retort. J1500
• The cheater cheated. J1510
• A rule must work both ways. J1511
• Make-believe eating, make-believe work. At table the peasant says, "We will only act as if we were eating." At work the servant replies, "We will only act as if we were working." J1511.1
• Turnips called bacon: cat called rabbit. A peasant compels his servant to call turnips bacon. Under favorable circumstances the servant compels the master to call a cat a rabbit. J1511.2
• Man bathing rich man uses sand instead of sandalwood: "Consider the sand of the Ganges to be sandalwood." When man asks for his fee, other takes a frog and gives it to him: "Know that the frog of the Ganges is a cow." J1511.2.1
• Eating cure becomes epidemic. A woman feigns periodic attacks of a sickness that can be cured only by eating a great number of delicacies. The husband feigns the same disease. J1511.3
• Fits become epidemic. After dinner a servant feigns a fit and goes to sleep. The master thereupon feigns a fit and beats the boy, who is thus cured of his laziness. J1511.4
• The wine-spilling host rebuked. A host spills his customer's wine so that he must buy more. He consoles the guest with "It is a sign of the great abundance you shall have this year." With the same remark the guest draws the spigot from the host's wine cask. J1511.5
• The porter's revenge for the three wise counsels. A man offers a porter three wise counsels for carrying his goods. "When anyone tells you that hunger and satisfaction are the same, don't believe him." The second and third are similar and equally valueless. The porter throws down the load: "When anyone tells you that any part of this load is not broken, don't believe him." J1511.6
• No clothes needed for Day of Judgment. Friends tell a man that the next day is the Day of Judgment and urge him to kill a lamb and give a feast. He apparently consents. He then burns up their clothes. They will not need clothes on the Day of Judgment. J1511.7
• Forbidden to think. A husband forbids a wife to think. During his absence she roasts a chicken, eats it, and leaves two drumsticks on the table. The husband asks for the chicken. "Since you have forbidden me to think, I did not think of you." The ban is lifted. J1511.8
• Master says that he has eyes in back of head: servant cheats him. Holds up food to master's back and then not having objection raised, eats it. J1511.9
• Counterfeit money burned up. A priest who has lent money to a Jew, but will not lend to a farmer, on being reproached by the latter, says that the money he lent the Jew was "false". When the Jew gets to know of this, he claims that as soon as he heard the money was false he burnt it up. J1511.10
• Boy pretends to speak only Latin. Father, chastising his lazy son, also speaks in "Latin". J1511.11
• The man in place of a watch-dog. The master orders his serf to watch the manor at night in place of the dog. When the thieves come, the serf barks: "Dress, dress .... They take, take .... They lead, lead .... " The master does not understand the barking and pays no heed to it – is robbed of his property. J1511.12
• Oisin's poor diet in Patrick's house – pancake size of ivy leaf, measure of butter only size of rowan berry. Later Oisin gives Patrick quarter of a wild boar, servant ivy leaf and rowan berry. J1511.13
• Things on highway belong to the public. Man reproves another for picking his cherries that overhang the highway. He is told that things on the public highway belong to no one in particular. He invites the man to climb the tree for better cherries, drives off with his horse and buggy, giving the same answer about things in the public highway. J1511.14
• Can drink only one kind of wine at a time. Priests come to an inn where host gives them good wine and bad. They insist on having all good since they must drink only one kind of wine. On their return he serves them with all bad. They claim to have had the rule changed. J1511.15
• "Eat spiritual food, not material," say monks to lazy brother who criticizes them for working in the garden. J1511.16
• Ox bought; buyer also claims load of wood attached. Later deceived man disguises and sells sharper another ox for "handful of coppers." He is allowed by court to claim the hand as well. J1511.17
• Priests say dying woman's unfulfilled request for mangoes must be paid in golden mangoes to them. Priests burned with iron since she had asked to be cauterized. J1511.18
• Wife surrendered to king. Vizier advises doctor to give up his wife to love-sick prince since everything belongs to a sovereign. Doctor then tells him prince is in love not with his (the doctor's) wife but with the vizier's. J1511.19
• Goldsmith sells thinly plated gold; peasant retaliates: a pot of dirt with a little gyav on top. (Cf. J1556.1.) J1511.20
• Impossible demand rebuked. J1512
• Milk from the hornless cow. A king demands a hundred men's drink from the milk of a hornless dun cow from every house in the land. Wooden cows are made and bog-stuff substituted for milk; the king must drink it. J1512.1
• To return the eye to the one-eyed man. "Let me have your other so that I can see whether the one I bring you matches." J1512.2
• Healed with his own medicine. J1513
• "If he does not live, let him die." The student as healer hangs this sign around the neck of a sick calf. Later as parson he is sick. It is proposed to heal him with the same remedy. J1513.1
• You lead and I will follow: hard command thus evaded. J1515
• The father of an illegitimate child must walk in front of the cross. Condemned man insists that the priest, who is guilty also, shall lead the way. J1515.1
• Rogues exchange objects and cheat each other. J1516
• Thieves deceived by prearranged conversation which they overhear. (Cf. K420.) J1517
• Overheard conversation: "Mustard has advanced in price." Thieves steal mustard and leave all else. J1517.1
• Overheard conversation: "Money hidden in wall (field)." Thieves take box filled with stone (or dig up field). J1517.2
• Overheard conversation: "My money is hanging in the tree." Thieves stung by hornets. J1517.3
• Swindler's plans foiled. J1521
• The shoes carried into the tree. Tricksters induce a numskull to climb a tree, planning to steal his shoes. He takes them in his belt with him. "Perhaps I shall find a nearer road home up there and shall need my shoes." J1521.1
• The old man nods "Yes". A monk at an old man's deathbed asks if he hasn't promised this and that to the church. The old man from weakness rather than understanding nods "Yes". The son standing by asks, "Shall I throw this fellow down stairs?" The old man nods "Yes". J1521.2
• Clever wife of king's adopted son keeps king distracted on deathbed so that he cannot disinherit husband. J1521.2.1
• Command would become permanent. A ruler receives gifts from his subjects and later demands them as he due. The fool sets the nobleman's bed on fire. When the nobleman commands him to put the fire out he refuses, since he would ever afterward have to be putting out fires. J1521.3
• Unjust oath countered by another. A woman entrusts three coins to a headsman. He denies her claim which she fails to substantiate in ordeal. She now claims more and happens to succeed with ordeal. J1521.4
• Catching by words. J1521.5
• Bargain: to render service for "something". Claimant has called dead cricket "something" and must be content. J1521.5.1
• Rebuke to the stingy. J1522
• Half price for half a shave. A man asks to be shaved at half price. The barber shaves one side. He must pay the other half for the rest of the shave. J1522.1
• Stingy man rebuked when his children are feasted in his absence. They think he has been responsible and honor him. He reforms. J1522.2
• Poor girl outwits prince in fright-contest. He frightens her and later mocks her with her words of fright. She plays the same trick on him. J1525
• Soldier's practical retort to officer. J1526
• Officer disarmed by sentry. Army major approaches sentry, takes away his rifle, and reproaches him for allowing himself to be disarmed. Sentry draws pistol from inside shirt, demands return of unloaded rifle. J1526.1
• Dream answered by dream. Priests misinterpret raja's dream and get his horses. Trickster advises raja to announce dream demanding cauterization of the priests. They return horses. J1527