Deceptions

3,871 motifs · page 13 of 20

• Building a bridge of cattle. Ordered to build a bridge not of wood, stone, iron, or earth, the trickster uses the carcasses of cattle. K1441
• Casting eyes: animal's eyes. Ordered to cast eyes on this or that, the trickster kills animals and casts their eyes at the object. K1442
• Cleaning the horse. Washing him in boiling water or currying him with a razor. K1443
• Horse's intestine fastened to stone. Horse twists intestines out of himself. K1444
• Making sheep laugh and dance. Told to bring in sheep laughing and dancing, trickster cuts off their upper lips and breaks their legs. K1445
• To drive cattle to jungle: trickster kills a bull every day. K1446
• Tying the cattle: trickster ties them so tightly they are strangled. K1447
• Watching the goats: "Hit them if they wander." Trickster kills them. K1451
• Trickster exchanges master's tame horse for vicious bullock. K1456
• Members of dupe's family killed. K1460
• Caring for the child: child killed. K1461
• Cleaning the child. Intestines taken out and cleaned. K1461.1
• Child taken to defecate over ant hole. K1461.2
• Cleaning the children. Impales them. K1461.3
• Washing the grandmother – in boiling water. K1462
• To heat water for master's bath. Servant pours boiling water on him. K1462.1
• To cover house with straw: suffocates mother under straw. K1462.2
• Trickster deceives dupe into killing his own children. K1464
• Blinded slave's revenge. Threatens to jump from tower with lord's children unless lord blinds himself. Lord does so but slave jumps with children nevertheless. K1465
• Master's mother killed: wood heaved on her head. K1466
• [First Edition: K1490. Dupe's property destroyed – miscellaneous.] K1490[1st ed.]
• Deception connected with adultery. K1500
• Cuckold. Husband deceived by adulterous wife. K1501
• Solomon as cuckold. K1501.1
• Cuckold feigns to be asleep when paramour calls. K1501.2
• Adulteress outwits husband. K1510
• Adulteress kills home-coming husband. K1510.1
• Wife of philanderer gets revenge by having an affair herself. K1510.2
• The husband locked out. An adulteress returns home late at night and her husband refuses to admit her. She threatens to throw herself into the well. The husband goes after her. She enters the house and bars him out. K1511
• Adulteress refuses to admit husband under pretence that he is a stranger. K1511.1
• The cut-off nose. (Lai of the Tresses.) A woman leaves her husband's bed and has another woman take her place. The husband addresses her, gets no answer and cuts off her nose (hair). In the morning the wife still has her nose (hair). The husband is made to believe that it has grown back by a miracle (or that he was dreaming). K1512
• Cut-off finger proves wife's chastity. A chaste wife substitutes a maidservant for seducer. A finger and ring are cut off as proof of wife's unfaithfulness (chastity wager with husband). Refuted by husband, who knows they are not his wife's. K1512.1
• The wife's equivocal oath. A husband insists that his wife take oath that she has been intimate with no one but himself. The paramour masks as ass-driver. She hires an ass from him, falls down, and lets him pick her up. She then swears that no one has touched her except her husband and the ass-driver. K1513
• Adulteress gets rid of husband while she entertains lover. K1514
• The husband in the chicken house. The husband returns unexpectedly and surprises his wife with her lover. She makes the husband believe he is pursued and hides him in the chicken house. (Cf. K1514.9.) K1514.1
• Husband duped into doing penance while rascal enjoys the wife. K1514.2
• Husband duped into believing he is in purgatory. K1514.3
• Returning husband beaten by servants. Mistaken for lover whom he has told them to beat. K1514.4
• Husband beaten by paramour. Husband, dressed in wife's clothing, is beaten by forewarned paramour. The latter says that he is testing the wife's fidelity to her husband. K1514.4.1
• Husband hides in curtain to catch paramour. On entering, paramour threatens to kill husband if he should appear. K1514.4.2
• Cuckold husband hides under bed. K1514.4.2.1
• Husband hides in chest to catch paramour. (Cf. K1566.) K1514.5
• Adulteress locks up hidden husband and meets lovers. K1514.6
• Wife has hiding husband carried off in basket by thieves. K1514.7
• Wife throws husband down precipice so she can be with lover. K1514.8
• Adulteress has lover unload wood on doorstep. This keeps husband out. K1514.9
• Adulteress sets husband to watch for intruder while she entertains the paramour. K1514.10
• Illness feigned to call physician paramour. K1514.11
• Adulteress pretends to go to say her prayers. Keeps tryst with paramour. K1514.12
• Adulteress gives paramour tryst in house of ill-fame. Meets husband who leaves in shame. K1514.13
• Paramour unties mare. Husband chases mare while the wife entertains the paramour. K1514.14
• Adulteress throws small coffer out of window. While the husband retrieves it the paramour changes hiding places. K1514.15
• Lover masks as pregnant woman: adulteress sent by husband to act as midwife, meets lover. K1514.16
• Adulteress together with lover while husband sleeps. K1514.17
• Wife drugs husband and visits paramour. K1514.17.1
• Husband frightened into sleeping alone. Adulteress has servants impersonate demons. K1514.17.2
• Adulteress makes excuse to go and attend to bodily needs: meets lover. K1514.18
• The animal in the chest. The husband has locked the surprised paramour in a chest while he fetches his family as witness of his wife's unfaithfulness. She frees the lover, substitutes an animal, and discountenances the husband. (Cf. K1542, K1555, K1566, K1574.) K1515
• The husband's good eye covered. The wife holds a cloth in front of his one good eye, so that he cannot see the paramour. K1516
• The husband's good eye treated. The wife pretends to treat his one good eye, so that he cannot see the paramour. K1516.1
• Physician treating man's eye covers his one good eye. Entertains his patient's mistress. K1516.1.1
• Girl covers nurse's one good eye so that she cannot see her lover. K1516.2
• Adulteress extinguishes light to hide her paramour. K1516.3
• Adulteress covers husband's eyes during incantation. Meanwhile paramour escapes. K1516.4
• Adulteress persuades husband to milk cow with his eyes blindfolded: meets lover. (Cf. Chaucer's Merchant's Tale.) K1516.5
• The faithless wife asks her gullible husband how he would act if he were blind. The husband closes his eyes; meanwhile the lover escapes. K1516.6
• Wife washes husband's hair hiding his eyes while lover escapes unseen. K1516.7
• Wife has husband look for hole in pot she has bought, allowing lover to escape unseen. K1516.8
• Wife shows husband her milk-filled breasts and squirts milk in his eyes allowing lover to escape unseen. K1516.9
• Paramour escapes by disguise. K1517
• The lovers as pursuer and fugitive. The wife is visited by two gallants. When the husband approaches, one goes out with drawn sword; the other hides in the house. She convinces her husband that she has given refuge to a fugitive. K1517.1
• One lover disguised and carried out of house by other. The wife has the lover put on a robe and stand in the corner; she tells the husband that a tradesman has left the robe and will return for it. The other lover comes and she gives him the "robe". K1517.1.1
• Paramour poses as doctor. K1517.2
• Paramour in vat: disguise as vat-buyer. Husband thinks he is testing the vat. K1517.3
• Lover hidden in chest with feathers. Husband believes he is a devil. (Cf. K1218.1.) K1517.4
• Paramour falls in cesspool. Husband thinks he is a demon. K1517.4.1
• Paramour poses as unsuccessful suitor. When surprised with the wife he tells the husband that he has been trying to force the woman, with no success. The wife supports the statement. K1517.5
• Paramour escapes disguised as monk. K1517.6
• Paramour disguised as pregnant woman. K1517.7
• Paramour poses as robber. K1517.8
• Paramour disguised as cloth merchant is surprised by the husband. He asks the woman to be paid for a pretended sale. K1517.9
• Paramour leaving love-tryst is met by husband. Pretends he had come to see him on business. K1517.10
• Paramour escapes by pretending to be returning borrowed basket. K1517.11
• Escaping paramour said to be a deity. K1517.12
• The enchanted pear tree. The wife makes the husband, who has seen the adultery from the tree, believe that the tree is magic or that he has seen double. K1518
• Husband who has surprised wife and paramour is made to believe that he has had an illusion. K1518.1
• Paramour successfully hidden from husband. K1521
• Paramour successfully hidden in chimney (fireplace). K1521.1
• Paramour successfully hidden in chest. K1521.2
• Paramour placed in chest and covered with clothing. K1521.2.1
• Paramour hidden under the wash. K1521.3
• Paramour hidden in the bed. K1521.4
• Wife hides lover under bed. When husband comes in she drops candle and sends him out for another, allowing lover to escape unseen. K1521.4.1
• Paramour hidden behind a screen. K1521.5
• Lover escapes behind the sheet which wife holds up to show her husband. K1521.5.1
• Husband busied with performing task while paramour escapes. K1521.6
• Paramour rolled into a carpet. K1521.7
• Husband in hanging tub to escape coming flood. The priest who has thus duped the husband enjoys the wife. K1522
• Underground passage to paramour's house. (Inclusa.) Woman goes from one to the other. Her husband is made to believe that the woman next door is her sister. K1523
• Adulteress falls in mud at lover's door. She deceives her husband by saying that she must enter and clean her dress. K1524
• The Lord above; the lord below. A husband returning home surprises a woman and her paramour and a numskull who has blundered in. The woman hides the numskull in the bed and the paramour under it. The husband, who is leaving on a journey, lifts his hands to heaven and says, "I commend you to the Lord above." – The numskull: "Commend her rather to the lord below!" K1525
• Friar's trousers on adulteress's bed: relic to cure sickness. The husband is duped into believing that the friar has come to visit the sick. K1526
• The feigned wedding-feast. The husband returns unexpectedly to find his wife entertaining the paramour with a sumptuous feast. He is made to believe the feast is in honor of some newly-weds. K1527
• Wife confesses to disguised husband. She suspects the fraud and persuades him that she knew the ruse and was testing him. He begs forgiveness. K1528
• Husband transformed to goat must witness wife's adultery. The devil has let him see his wife's unfaithfulness in this way. K1531
• Gullible husband under the bed. K1532
• Adulteress tells her lover how she loves her husband. She thus deceives the spying husband under the bed. K1532.1
• Adulteress tells how she may save her husband's life. Discovering him under the bed, she tells lover that at temple she has learned that her husband is to die soon unless she prevents death by sleeping with a strange man. The husband is satisfied. K1532.2
• Gullible husband behind the tree. (Tristan and Isolt.) Husband goes to wife's love tryst and hides behind a tree. The wife, having learned of his presence, tells lover that he should not allow their innocent relations to lead to gossip. Husband is appeased. K1533
• Adulteress transforms her husband into an animal to get rid of him. (The Tsar's Dog.) K1535
• Adulteress transforms man to stone up to the waist. K1535.1
• Woman has husband made monk while he is drunk, so as to get rid of him. K1536
• Death feigned to meet paramour. Meetings in the grave (grave box). K1538
• Wife feigns death and slips out to lover. K1538.1
• Death feigned so man can live with mistress. K1538.2
• Sexton's own wife brings her offering. The priest grants to the sexton the offerings brought by all women whom the priest has loved. The priest always calls out "Take" when these women offer. The sexton's own wife comes. The priest calls out "Take!" (Cf. Q384.) K1541
• Husband frightened by wife's paramour in hog pen. The husband sees the paramour who has hidden in the pen and says, "Who are you?" "I am a miserable hog." The husband thinks that his hogs are possessed. (Cf. K1515, K1555, K1566, K1574.) K1542
• The marked coat in the wife's room. A procuress obtains a woman for her client by leaving a marked coat in her room. The husband drives the wife away and she joins her lover. The procuress then goes to the husband and alleges that she lost a coat with certain marks. The husband is deceived and takes the wife back. K1543
• Husband unwittingly instrumental in wife's adultery. (Usually shares his bedmate with others, not knowing that she is his wife.) K1544
• Husband rescues wife's paramour. Not knowing lover's identity, husband takes him to his wife and entrusts him to her care. He then leaves on a trip. K1544.1
• Wives wager as to who can best fool her husband. K1545
• Woman warns lover of husband by parody incantation. (Cf. K1961.1.2.1, V66.1, X441.) K1546
• Woman warns lover of husband by singing song. K1546.1
• Woman encourages paramour by song. K1546.2
• Adulteress makes believe that her suspicious husband is insane. He is taken away. K1548
• Adulteress outwits husband – miscellaneous motifs. K1549
• Woman has paramour steal her husband's clothes. Paramour gains entrance disguised as the husband. The husband without his clothes is driven away from his home. K1549.1
• Wife surprised in adultery feigns death. Comes "back to life" on hearing husband say he has seen nothing. (Cf. K1538.) K1549.2
• Lover carried away on mistress's shoulders so that his footprints will not be visible in the snow. K1549.3
• Lover leaves horse outside house as husband comes up: wife tells husband their cow has foaled a horse. K1549.4
• Unfaithful wife communicates with lover by pouring milk into stream. K1549.5
• Wife's attendants on trip chase wrong man as suspected lover and miss real lover. K1549.6
• Husband deceived as to noise made by hidden paramour. K1549.7
• Woman cooks food for paramour. K1549.8
• Husband outwits adulteress and paramour. K1550
• Husband discovers wife's adultery. K1550.1
• Adulteress detected: husband secretly drops dye on her dress. K1550.1.1
• Adulteress detected by food she prepares for paramour. K1550.1.2
• Adulteress detected by food she prepares for paramour. K1550.3
• Husband returns home secretly and spies on adulteress and lovers. K1551
• Husband returns secretly and kills unwelcome suitor. K1551.1
• Husband feigns blindness and avenges himself on his wife and her paramour. K1553
• Husband feigns illness to surprise wife with paramour. (Cf. K1514.11.) K1553.1
• The husband sets house afire and ousts hidden paramour. K1554
• Trickster sets fire to barrel of tow in which paramour is hidden. The paramour, naked, runs out carrying wisps of burning tow. The trickster tells the husband that he has raised the devil. K1554.1
• Husband carries off box containing hidden paramour. Latter exposed (otherwise discomfited). K1555
• Dying woman lures paramour into chest. Asks husband to bury chest with her. K1555.0.1
• Chest containing paramour unwittingly taken away by husband. K1555.0.2
• Lover hidden in hen-coop discovered by husband. K1555.1
• The devil in the barrel. The naked lover hides himself in a sooty barrel. The husband receives from a curious gentleman a good sum of money for showing him the "devil". K1555.2
• Old Hildebrand. Hidden cuckold reveals his presence by rhymes. He responds to the rhymes made by the wife and paramour concerning their entertainment. K1556
• Adulteress binds husband's eyes and causes him to sing incantations concerning the adultery. K1556.1
• Husband discovers wife's adultery by riddling conversation. In this indirect manner the wife confesses and promises reform. K1557
• Husband discovers paramour's love letter in his wife's purse after having made her drunk. K1557.1
• The husband prepares to castrate the crucifix. The artist's wife's paramour poses as a crucifix when caught. When he sees the husband's preparations, he flees naked. K1558
• Husband castrates paramour. K1558.1
• The husband meets the paramour in the wife's place. Beats him (or cuts off privates). K1561
• Husband hides in wife's room and kills paramour. K1561.1
• Husband catches paramour in pitfall. The wife sends her maid to investigate. The maid falls in and finally the wife herself. The husband calls the neighborhood to see them. K1562
• Husband (god) traps wife and paramour with magic armor. (Vulcan, Mars, Venus.) K1563
• Husband proves intrigue by secretly blacking paramour's mouth. When he returns, his wife's face is black. K1564
• Blades (broken glass) to wound and detect wife's lover. (Often on window.) K1565
• Cuckolded man shuts wife's paramour in chest and lies on the chest with latter's wife. K1566
• Cuckold unwittingly lies with wife on chest containing her hidden paramour. K1566.1
• Husband tricks wife into riding a mule which has been denied water. On fording a stream the mule plunges into the water. Wife drowns. (Sometimes also paramour.) K1567
• Husband in disguise begs food of his wife's suitors. K1568
• Husband outwits wife and paramour – miscellaneous motifs. K1569
• Husband collects fee from paramour. Surprised paramour pays. K1569.1
• Husband surprises wife and paramour. Rebukes them for not shutting the door. K1569.2
• Illness feigned to go to mistress. Husband leaves bed to go to serving maid. K1569.3
• Husband takes place of paramour. Beats or otherwise discomfits wife. K1569.4
• Husband catches paramour by using wife's pre-arranged signal. K1569.5
• Husband persuades wife to light wicks and carry knife in hand before committing adultery: lovers frightened away. K1569.6
• Alleged speaking privates. Husband pretends that his wife's privates tell him of her adultery. K1569.7
• Husband discomfits paramour and wife by clever remark showing that he knows all. K1569.8
• Husband kills surprised paramour. Wife persuades him he has killed thief. K1569.9
• Trickster outwits adulteress and paramour. K1570
• Trickster discovers adultery: food goes to husband instead of paramour. K1571
• Trickster discovers adultery: gets food prepared for paramour. K1571.0.1
• Trickster as sham magician makes adulteress produce hidden food for her husband. K1571.1
• Trickster makes woman believe that her husband is coming to punish her adultery. She confesses. K1572
• Trickster sends his master running after the paramour. Though the master does not know of the adultery, the lover is thoroughly frightened. K1573
• Trickster as sham magician buys chest containing hidden paramour. (Cf. K1515, K1542, K1555, K1556.) K1574
• Sham magician has paramour fall in a trap. Has trained bird to cling to him. K1574.1
• Trickster discovers woman's paramour and hides him in outhouse: rewarded by husband. K1574.2
• Second lover burns paramour at window with hot iron. K1577
• God Vishnu in shape of nephew scares and torments his aunt's lover. K1578
• Other deceits connected with adultery. K1580
• The lover's gift regained. K1581
• Lover's gift regained: the broken (removed) article. The lover breaks (or removes) an article of household equipment and convinces the husband that for that reason the wife has confiscated that which he gave her as a present. K1581.1
• Lover's gift regained: horse and wagon as gift. The lover regains gift of horse and wagon by pretending to the husband that the wife has confiscated them because he brought wood of uneven quality. K1581.2
• Lover's gift regained: borrowing from the husband and returning to the wife. The lover borrows money from the husband with which to corrupt the wife, later telling the husband that the money was returned to the wife during the husband's absence. K1581.3
• Lover's gift regained: accidental discovery of identity. The lover, ignorant of the identity of the husband, tells him of his experience with the wife. The husband persuades the lover to lead him to the scene, where the wife is compelled to restore all but a small part of the money. K1581.4
• Lover's gift regained: piece of cloth as gift. The lover regains by a ruse and thievery the borrowed piece of cloth which he has presented to his mistress. K1581.5
• Lover claims payment for cloth in the presence of the husband. The woman returns the cloth but puts a live coal in it. Destroys his whole supply. K1581.5.1
• Lover demands return of cloth on threat to await the husband's return. K1581.5.2
• Lover's gift regained: jewelry as gift. The lover presents the wife with a valuable piece of jewelry, which he regains by pretending to the husband that he has left it as a pledge. K1581.6
• Lover's gift regained: anser venalis (goose as gift). The lover regains his gift by a ruse (obscene). K1581.7
• Lover delays the gift of the goose hoping to obtain greater favors. Finally has to flee. K1581.7.1
• Lover's gift regained: refusal to leave bed. Woman fearing exposure returns money. K1581.8