Deceptions

3,871 motifs · page 2 of 20

• Bear sold as watch-dog. K133.2
• Deceptive horse-sale. K134
• Horse which will not go over trees. Salesman tells buyer that he is selling the horse because it eats too much and will not climb trees. On the way home the horse bites everyone and refuses to cross a bridge. Seller is literally correct. K134.1
• The horse swifter than the rain. Caught in the rain, a trickster finds that his horse will not budge. He undresses, puts his clothes under the horse's belly and keeps them dry. When he reaches the king, he reports that his horse has run so fast that he has had no time to get wet. The king buys the horse. K134.2
• Trickster grooms master's old mule and then sells him back without detection at huge profit. K134.3
• Trickster in disguise regains possession of his own horse by trading with man whom he has duped once before. K134.4
• Owner trades a blind horse. He gives a description that is literally correct. K134.5
• Selling or trading a balky horse. (Cf. K134.2.) K134.6
• Person trades a dead horse. K134.7
• Trickster temporarily lames valuable horse and buys him for trifle. K134.8
• Pseudo-magic animals sold. K135
• Pseudo-magic dog (goat) sold. K135.1
• Dog (goat) alleged to swallow cold. Said to swallow up the cold so that if he is near, one may sleep comfortably in the cold. K135.1.1
• Dog alleged to chase hare and bring it to hunter's home. Dupe deceived. K135.1.2
• Sale of dog supposed to excrete sweet dung: dupe deceived. K135.1.3
• Sale of dead buffalo by making him seem alive. K136
• Alleged speaking animal sold. K137
• Two jars full of live black wasps sold as interpreters of foreign language. K137.1
• Parrot knowing only two words sold as speaking foreign language. K137.2
• Other worthless animals sold. K139
• Animals made by magic exchanged for real ones. The magic animals disappear. K139.1
• Sale of other worthless objects. K140
• Deceptive exchange: useless for magic object. K140.1
• Sale of a sausage filled with blood. K141
• Sale of worthless glass as diamond. K142
• Sale of dung. K143
• Pot of cow dung covered with cheese sold as cheese. K143.1
• Exchange of alleged ghee (liquid butter) for goat (cow). K144
• Pus from sore sold as ghee. K144.1
• Earthen pot with rice water on top of which clarified butter had been poured sold as a pot of clarified butter. K144.2
• Mud sold as fresh butter. K144.3
• Worthless fruits (plants) sold. K147
• Green plantains sold as matured plants. K147.1
• Cheaters sell each other valueless articles. K148
• Sale of worthless objects – miscellaneous. K149
• Trick exchange: basket of stones for one of bread; a few pieces of money shown through slit in basket-cover to dupe. K149.1
• Sale of worthless services. K150
• A beggar tells the bishop how to stay warm. For a gulden he tells him that he should wear all his clothes when he goes horseback in winter. K151
• Thief masked as devil bought off by frightened owner. K152
• The backwards and forwards dance. Dupe persuaded to pay for learning this dance (really moving toward and away from a fire). K153
• Trickster feigns ability to influence the sun; sells services. Sun to shine on fools' backs as they go to town in morning and return in afternoon. K154
• Fraudulent permission sold. K157
• Man collects toll fraudulently, stamps "Brass Gate" on receipts he gives. People think this is some Government phrase. K157.1
• Trickster persuades dupe to sacrifice animal and give it to him as payment for supposed services. K158
• Deception through pseudo-simple bargain. K170
• Deceptive partnership between man and ogre. K170.1
• Deceptive division of profits. K171
• Giant cheated in division of spoils of the chase. K171.0.1
• Jackal cheats other animals of elephant they have killed together. K171.0.2
• Deceptive crop division: above the ground, below the ground. Of root crops the ogre (stupid animal) chooses the tops; of other crops the roots. (Cf. J242.8.) K171.1
• Deceptive grain division: the corn and the chaff. The bear chooses the chaff because of its greater bulk. At the mill the fox's grain makes a different sound from the bear's. K171.2
• Deceptive nut and olive division: inside and outside. The clever man chooses the kernel of the nuts and the outside of the olive. K171.3
• Deceptive sacrifice of nuts and dates. Trickster sacrifices only the shells of the nuts and the inside of the dates. K171.3.1
• Deceptive division of pigs: curly and straight tails. All with curly tails belong to the trickster, others to the dupe. K171.4
• Deceptive division of animals for shearing. The trickster shears the sheep; the dupe the pig. K171.5
• In dividing the fish, the dupe gets the bones. K171.6
• Deceptive division of shared wife. Evil takes lower half of wife, Good takes upper half. Child begotten by Evil not permitted to nurse the top half which belongs to Good. K171.7
• The common cow and bull: one gets front of cow and back of bull. K171.7.1
• Deceptive division of sheep. Evil chooses lambs, leaving milk to Good. Lambs drink up all milk. K171.7.2
• Barber's and jackal's common garden: jackal pretends that garden has not yielded any fruit at all. K171.8
• Monkey cheats fox of his share of bananas. Climbs on a tree and tosses peelings down upon fox. K171.9
• Anger bargain. The trickster makes a bargain with his master that the first to become angry must submit to punishment. He thereupon heaps abuses on his master till the latter breaks out in anger and must take his punishment. K172
• Anger bargain: may God give you a penny. A servant and his mistress agree that when they are angry with each other they shall say, "May God give you a penny!" When the master says this, the servant says, "May he give you two!" They keep increasing the amount till those who hear wonder at the performance. The mistress tells them, "You don't know the coin." K172.1
• Deceptive bargain: as much bread as he wants to eat. The baker fixes his price at the rate for twenty loaves. The trickster eats thirty. K173
• Deceptive bargain: a sack of corn as reward. Trickster has an enormous sack made. K174
• Deceptive bargain: as much grain as will go in a rope. Trickster encloses whole crop. K174.1
• Deceptive bargain: three wishes. The ogre is to fulfill three wishes of the peasant. The latter wishes for all the tobacco and brandy in the world and then some more brandy in addition. The devil must admit failure. K175
• Deceptive bargain: first to say "Good morning." The first to give the greeting shall have the disputed property. The trickster is early on the scene and witnesses the other's adultery. He may keep the property without saying good morning. K176
• First to greet the other in morning will lose beauty contest. Dispute is to be settled thus. (Cf. H1529.) K176.1
• Deceptive bargain: fasting together. The servant girl eats secretly; the miser starves. K177
• Deceptive bargain: felling the tree. The ogre and the trickster agree to fell a large tree. The trickster purposely dulls his axe on a stone and then asks the ogre to exchange. Rather than work with a dull axe, the ogre does all the work. K178
• Deceptive bargain: a peck of grain for each stack. The man who is to receive this share of the crop makes very small stacks. K181
• Deceptive bargain: an ox for five pennies. A woman who has been left the ox on condition that she give the proceeds to the poor offers it for five pennies, but it must be bought along with a cock at twelve florins. She gives the five pennies to the poor and keeps the twelve florins. K182
• Small niche in house brings large price. House sold reserving niche. This becomes such a nuisance that buyer pays heavily for it. K182.1
• Deceptive bargain: the ogre and the copper coins. Every time the copper coin is paid out, the ogre must make a new one. The man buys an extensive property and pays with a large number of copper coins. He threatens to buy another and the ogre goes back on his contract. K183
• Deceptive land purchase. (Dido.) K185
• Deceptive land purchase: ox-hide measure. As much land bought as can be surrounded by an ox-hide. The hide is cut into very small strips. K185.1
• Deceptive land purchase: as much land as Vishnu can lie upon (or can step over in three steps). His worshippers claim for him the whole earth. K185.2
• Deceptive land purchase: boundary fixed by flight of a goose. Subject given as much land as a goose can fly over without lighting. The man carries the goose with its wings extended over an enormous territory. K185.3
• Deceptive land purchase: as much land as a shawl will cover. An immense shawl prepared. K185.4
• Deceptive land purchase: as much land as can be covered by saint's hood. Only by snatching up hood does seller prevent it from covering whole territory. K185.4.1
• Land grant: as much land as can be covered by saint's mantle. K185.4.2
• Deceptive land purchase: bounds fixed by a race. One man has supernatural speed. K185.5
• Deceptive land purchase: bounds fixed by throwing object (axe, spear). Thrower has extraordinary strength. K185.6
• Deceptive land purchase: as much land as can be surrounded in a certain time. K185.7
• Land bargain: land surrounded by a horse (cow) in one day. K185.7.1
• Land bargain: land ridden around during a sermon. K185.7.2
• Deceptive land purchase: king, as reward for help in winning battle, promises wounded chieftain as much land as his chariot can travel around; bribes charioteer to turn back whenever chieftain faints from loss of blood. K185.7.3
• Land purchase: as much as can be plowed (fenced) in a certain time. K185.8
• Deceptive land purchase: fields that crackle when burnt are to be his. He puts bamboo on the fields before they are burnt so that they crackle. K185.9
• Deceptive land purchase: as much land as can be shadowed by a tree. Bought just before sunset. K185.10
• Deceptive land purchase: enough to raise certain plant. This is a rapidly spreading weed which overruns the country. K185.11
• Deceptive land purchase: saint's enemy promised as much land as he can see from certain point. Saint causes cloud to obstruct vision. K185.12
• Land grant: as much land as can be seen on a clear day. K185.12.1
• Land grant: as much land as can be seen from certain eminence. K185.12.2
• Deceptive land bargain: saints agree that the one who casts his staff far enough to reach distant island shall be owner of land. Staff of one contestant transformed to spear (or dart) and so alone reaches island. When saint touches weapon, it becomes staff again. K185.13
• Land grant: as far as ox can be heard. K185.14
• Deceptive bargain with ogre: buying trees. Trees to be neither straight nor crooked. K186
• Strokes shared. The boy promises the soldier what the king has promised to give him. The soldier receives a beating in place of the boy. K187
• Stealing only a small amount. A man promises in confession to steal only a small amount. He steals a rope with a mare on the end of it. K188
• Peace between sheep and wolves. As hostages the dogs are handed over to the wolves; the young wolves to the sheep. The wolves then attack and kill the sheep. K191
• The man helps the horse against the stag. The horse must agree to be saddled and bridled. The man then refuses to release him. K192
• Deceptive bargain based on an unusual name. K193
• "Old Saddle" granted by the king. This is the name of an estate, which the king unwittingly gives away. K193.1
• Bargain: if the sun reverses its course. Because of an eclipse the sun is held to have done so, and Atreus becomes king. K194
• A ribbon long enough to reach from ear to ear. The rascal has had an ear cut off and this is in a distant city. K195
• Selling by trickery: literal bargain. (Cf. K134.1.) K196
• Buying foxes "as they run". Man sells three hundred foxes to buyer who agrees to "take them as they run": reds, silvers, crosses. He gets a large payment to bind the bargain, waves his hand at the woods: "I sold them as they run; and they're running." K196.1
• The tall hog. Man boasts of hog so big that a man could not reach its back if he holds his hand as high as possible. A stranger buys the hog, sight-unseen. The seller takes him to the hog, shows the buyer that the hog's back is much below his hand when he holds it as high as possible. K196.2
• Trickster lends bamboo on condition that it is returned exactly as it is. K196.3
• Until the log burns out: time given servant for Christmas holidays. Soaks the log so that it burns a week. K197
• Cheater is forced to eat excrements. Gentleman agrees to exchange his good horse for the peasant's jade, provided the peasant will eat its excrements. The peasant finds no difficulty in the task, whereas the gentleman, put to the same condition when he wants to get back his horse, finds it impossible. K198
• Other deceptive bargains. K199
• Deceptive bargain: as much gold in reward as sticks to poet's hair when poured over him: he smears it with tar. K199.1
• Deception in payment of debt. K200
• Devil cheated of his promised soul. The man saves it through deceit. K210
• Devil cheated by imposing an impossible task. K211
• Devil is cheated by giving him task: counting the letters in the church Bible. He is unable to read the holy words. K211.1
• Devil cheated by being frightened. K212
• Man whispers in devil's ear that his wife is approaching with her broom again. K212.1
• Devil pounded in knapsack until he releases man. K213
• Devil's magic power turned on himself. The hero who is riding the devil as a horse receives supernatural strength from plucking a hair from the devil's mane. He then spurs the devil until he agrees to forego his bargain for the man's soul. K214
• Devil cheated by pretended hanging. The man has promised himself to the devil in return for money. He stuffs his clothes with straw and hangs them up. The devil thinks the man has hanged himself and is satisfied. K215
• Devil to release man for performing seemingly impossible task. The task is performed by trickery. K216
• The evil woman in the glass case as the last commodity. The man is to belong to the devil as soon as he has sold his goods. If he has any goods that no one will buy, he is to be free. The man puts an evil old woman in a glass case. When the devil sees her, he recognizes her. "Whoever knows her will refuse to buy her." The man goes free. K216.1
• Bringing the devil an unknown animal. The man sends his naked wife on all fours in tar and feathers. The devil has never seen such an animal. K216.2
• Guessing name of devil's secret plant. The man's wife in tar and feathers overhears the devil tell the secret name of the crop he has discovered (tobacco). The devil says to the supposed animal, "Get out of my tobacco!" K216.2.1
• [First Edition (Additions and Corrections): K216.3. Devil's riddles answered: man is freed.] K216.3[1st ed.]
• Not to sleep for three successive nights. The sleepy man: "I am just thinking, that on earth there are more crooked trees than straight ones ... more hills than plains ... more water than land ..." The devil goes to ascertain these things, meanwhile the man sleeps. Unsuccessful imitation by another man. K216.3
• Devil gets another soul instead of one bargained for. The devil bargains with a man for his soul, but the man fulfills his contract and escapes. In envy two persons commit suicide. The devil rejoices that though he lost one he has gained two. K217
• Devil cheated by religious or magic means. Missouri French: Carrière. K218
• Devil cheated by having priest draw a sacred circle about the intended victim. K218.1
• Devil cheated of his victim by boy having a bible under his arm. K218.2
• Devil cheated when his victim becomes a priest. K218.3
• Devil cheated of promised soul by intervention of Virgin Mary. K218.4
• The picture of the Virgin Mary saves the priest. K218.5
• Penance of priest saves him from devil. The priest, who sold his soul to the devil, orders his servant to cut him (alive) up into pieces, to crucify him on a tree (and the like), thus saves his soul from the devils. K218.6
• Devil is unable to take man contracted to him when friends pray over the corpse. K218.7
• Other ways of cheating the devil of his promised soul. K219
• Devil cheated of his promised soul by making the intended victim drunk. The devil may punish the drunk man's body but has no power over his soul. K219.1
• Devil cheated of his promised soul when the victim sells his to a comrade. The latter says, "The devil can take only one soul from each person. I bought the soul so that when he comes I can give him one and still save my own." K219.2
• God cheats the devil of his promised soul. The devil is to fill a cask full of money. God knocks the bottom out of the cask. K219.3
• Devil is to get soul of man whether he is buried "inside or outside of church, above or below ground." The man has himself buried in the wall of the church, partly in and partly out of the ground. (Cf. H1052.) K219.4
• Man cheats devil by giving him sole instead of soul. (Cf. E459.1.) K219.5
• Devil gets an animal in place of a human being. K219.6
• Devil gets a flea instead of man's soul. K219.7
• Payment precluded by terms of the bargain. K220
• Payment to be made at harvest of first crop. The man plants acorns. K221
• Payment to be made when last leaf falls. The last leaf never falls from the oak tree. K222
• The level bushel. The student is to come into the devil's power if at the end of a year he does not at least return for the heaping bushel of gold a level one. The student forthwith hands back the level bushel and keeps the surplus. K223
• To owe sixteen florins. Horse bought on condition that the buyer pay ten florins and owe sixteen. In court the buyer insists on the bargain and shows that if he pays the sixteen florins which he owes he will break the bargain, for then he would no longer owe. K224
• The debt will be returned to the devil when the pigs walk instead of run home. K226
• Other deceptions in the payment of debt. K230
• Debtor refuses to pay his debt. K231
• Refusal to perform part in mutual agreement. K231.1
• Mutual agreement to sacrifice family members in famine. Trickster refuses to carry out his part of the bargain. K231.1.1
• Mutual agreement to divide food. Trickster eats other's food and then refuses to divide his own. K231.1.2
• The dog refuses to help the wolf. A farmer plans to kill a faithful old dog. The wolf makes a plan to save the dog. The latter is to rescue the farmer's child from the wolf. The plan succeeds and the dog is rewarded. The wolf in return wants to steal the farmer's sheep. The dog refuses his assistance. K231.1.3
• Reward for accomplishment of task deceptively withheld. K231.2
• Dancers given one coin instead of ten and have this taken away. Interpreter says they are complaining that the coin is bad. K231.2.1
• Refusal to make sacrifice after need is past. In distress a person promises a sacrifice to a god (saint) but disregards the promise when the danger passes. K231.3
• Sailor offers saint a candle as large as a mast. But he knows that after the storm he will not try to find such a candle. K231.3.1
• Golden lamb promised to goddess. Common lamb sacrificed. K231.3.2
• The sacrifice of the cock is at last carried out. Postponed until a hawk carries off the cock. Then the woman says, "O holy St. Martin, I have long owed you a living sacrifice. Take the cock as sacrifice, and may it be pleasing to you." K231.3.3
• Horse withheld as sacrifice to a saint refuses to move. The deceiver takes the horse to the church planning to remove him again, but the horse will not stir until a money equivalent has been paid. K231.3.4
• Sick man offers deity 100 bulls for recovery. When reminded that he does not own so many bulls he explains that he doesn't expect the deity to come to enforce payment. K231.3.5
• Payment of money to the devil impossible, since debtor learns that the devil is dead. K231.4
• Debt with worthless bond repudiated. K231.5
• A man bonds his loyalty. When the debt is due he offers the creditor his loyalty. K231.5.1
• Hogs used as a mortgage collateral. (Ground hogs.) K231.5.2
• False offer to return goods in place of payment. K231.6
• Milk bought on credit poured into one container. The trickster buys it from various women. After it is all poured together he says that each may have her own back. K231.6.1
• Order to put a small vessel of milk into huge container. Shrewd group each by himself pours water thinking this will not be detected if the others pour milk. K231.6.1.1
• Trickster gets strong drink by trickery in returning goods. K231.6.2
• Trickster returns a bottle of water instead of the bottle of rum he has just purchased. K231.6.2.1
• Trickster fills his gallon jug half full of water, then has it filled with rum at the store. When seller refuses credit, he pours back half gallon of the liquid – now half rum and half water. Sometimes trickster repeats operation, getting richer mixture with each transaction. K231.6.2.2
• Debtor tells creditor that he has had his reward in the hope of payment. K231.7
• Toad receives water from frog; refuses earth in return. K231.8
• Servant refused payment because of single mistake. K231.9
• Man refuses to pay murderer for killing and kills him. K231.10
• Fish promised in return for bacon. Later: "Drink up the river, you shall then have fish. All the fishes there are mine." K231.11
• Debt to be paid "tomorrow". Tomorrow never comes. K231.12
• "Come tomorrow". The devil keeps calling daily until the gate with the inscription rots. He then claims his debtor. K231.12.1
• Agreement to leave sum of money on coffin of friend. One puts on his share in cash; other makes out a check for the total amount and takes cash left by the other. K231.13
• To pay beggar for standing in tank all night. Beggar sees lights in temple. Payment refused since beggar has thus warmed himself. K231.14
• Trickster cheats by pretending deafness. Palm rat, when asked to throw down nuts according to bargain, replies that he is deaf when eating. K231.15
• Refusal to return borrowed goods. K232
• By using verse with double meaning man appropriates borrowed goods. K232.1
• One day and one night: object borrowed for a day and a night retained. K232.2
• Fairy (god?) loses stronghold by consenting to lend it for "a day and a night." K232.2.1
• Trickster escapes without paying. K233
• Bird has new clothes made: flies away without paying. K233.1
• Drinkers argue about who is to pay. They blindfold the bartender who is to catch one of them; the one who is caught will have to pay. While the bartender is blindfolded, the drinkers leave the tavern. K233.2
• Boots made by two cobblers. Trickster sends one of each pair back to be stretched, leaves town with pair of boots made up of the remaining boots. K233.3
• Man orders a bottle of beer, then returns it and takes a loaf of bread instead. He refuses to pay for the bread because he has returned the beer undrunk. He refuses to pay for the beer because he has not drunk it. K233.4
• Jackal refuses payment for being carried. K233.5
• Healer to take payment in satisfaction at patient's recovery. K233.6
• Goods received on partial payment. Buyer refuses to pay more. K233.7
• Woman promises marriage for pair of earrings: she escapes with them. K233.8
• Trickster summons all creditors at once, precipitates fight, and escapes payment. K234