Humor

754 motifs · page 1 of 4

• Humor of discomfiture. X0
• Red pepper for the slow ass: man tries it on himself. When, on the advice of a friend, he gives the ass red pepper, the ass runs away. Then he tries it on himself. He runs so fast that he passes the ass. Arriving at home, he says to his wife, "Unload the ass when he comes. I must run through the village a couple of times more." X11
• Man interrupted each time he tries to eat something. X12
• Man continually interrupted from eating answers in rhymed monosyllables. X12.1
• Accidental cannibalism. A man eats up the dried meat of a Jew on shipboard. It happens that the Jew is carrying his dead father back home for burial in this form. (Cf. G60.) X21
• The dream of marking the treasure. A man dreams that he finds treasure and that he marks the spot with his excrements. Only the latter part of the dream is true. X31
• Man dreams that he is rich. Finds cat's excrements. X31.1
• Pig licks sleeping man's lips: man thinks he is being kissed. X31.2
• Wager with overdressed youths that servant can carry a large bucket of water upstairs. They follow and are soaked when the servant purposely spills the dirty water. X32
• Use of itch-producing ointment. X34
• Ridiculous nakedness or exposure. X52
• Woman exposed to ridicule when her wig is snatched off by a monkey. X52.1
• Man given ride on a hemp-dresser. X53
• Humor of disability. Besides the motifs which follow, the entire series of motifs concerning fools (J1700–J2799) properly belongs here as well as where it is given. X100
• Humor of deafness. X110
• Deaf men and their answers. X111
• Deaf persons: search for the lost animal. A inquires for his lost animal. B talks about his work and makes a gesture. – A follows the direction of the gesture and happens to find the animals. He returns and offers an injured animal to B in thanks. – B thinks that he is blamed for injuring the animals. Dispute. Taken to deaf judge. (Cf. X111.14.) X111.1
• Deaf peasant: travelers ask the way. Travelers ask their direction. Peasant thinks they want to buy oxen. Peasant's wife arrives; thinks they say her food is too salty. – Daughter-in-law and father-in-law misunderstand each other. X111.2
• Two persons believe each other deaf. A trickster tells each of two persons before they meet that the other is hard of hearing and must be shouted at. A great shouting takes place, and each thinks the other out of his wits. X111.3
• Deaf peasant: the wedding invitation. Lord: Good morning, Peter. Peasant: I come from Bingen. – L. What is the hog worth? – P. Two weeks from next Sunday (the wedding). – L. Shall I come to the wedding? – P. Three and a half gulden. X111.4
• Deaf man on the bridge. Lord: Good day, Caspar. – Caspar: I am making a reel. – L. Good day, Caspar. – C. It is worth four pence. – L. Good day, Caspar. – C. Yes, my lord, whenever you wish. X111.5
• The deaf man and the proud nobleman. A nobleman amuses himself at the expense of the deaf man. Finally Nobleman: I wish you a thousand gallows and ropes around your neck. – Peasant: My lord, I wish you twice as many. X111.6
• Misunderstood words lead to comic results. In some the people are not really deaf but fail to catch a word; in some they are deaf. X111.7
• The deaf man with the bird in the tree. A traveller asks the way and the man keeps telling him about the bird he has caught. (The questions and answers often rhyme.) X111.8
• Deaf man visits the sick. He plans the conversation with the expected answers. The answers turn out otherwise. A. How are you? – B. I am dead. – A. Thank God! What have you eaten? – B. Poison, I think. – A. I hope it agrees with you. X111.9
• "Good day." – "A woodchopper." The workman answers the traveler's courtesies with remarks about his work. (Cf. X111.8.) X111.10
• Buyer and deaf seller. X111.11
• The deaf parson. The youth answers unintelligibly but is praised nevertheless. X111.12
• The deaf bishop. The drunken priest says, "In the morning I take a drink of rum and afterwards four or five little drinks." X111.13
• Deaf litigants and deaf judge misunderstand one another. (Cf. X111.1.) X111.14
• Travelers pass through Wesley. One asks name of town; another replies, "This is Wesley." Another says, "I thought it was Thursday." Third says, "So am I; let's have a drink." X111.15
• Deaf husband orders deaf wife to prepare a certain dish: misunderstanding. X112
• Misunderstanding and quarrels in family of deaf. X113
• Humor of bad eyesight. X120
• The wife who saw double. Sees two plates where there are one, etc. Thinks two men are with her. Husband: "See everything double except your husband." X121
• The squint-eyed son and the bottle. Sent by his father to get the only bottle of rare wine, he sees two. Not wishing to show his father to be a liar, he breaks one – really the only one. X121.1
• One-eyed man as appraiser of horse. Has appraised it at half a mark. "He saw only half a horse; otherwise he would have valued it at a mark." X122
• Blind man and the bull. Man asks bull if he is on the right road. Bull butts him and knocks him down. The man says that all that was not necessary, simply to say yes or no. X123
• Blind man reaches his home hanging on ox's tail (or in other ridiculous situation). X123.1
• Nearsighted knight mistakes own servant for one of the enemy. Runs lance into his posterior. X124
• Blind man strikes woman thinking she is buffalo. X124.1
• Blind son-in-law visits his wife's family: gets into difficulties. X124.2
• Blind men trying to kill pigs with clubs strike one another. (Cf. K1081.) X125
• Blind man in awkward position pretends to see. X128
• Other physical disabilities. X130
• The wry-mouthed family. Each member has mouth turned in a different way. Unavailing attempts to blow out the light. X131
• Man calls convention of all long noses. X133
• The humor of stuttering. X135
• Each of four stutterers thinks the others are ridiculing him. X135.1
• Stutterer tries to give alarm. Amusing results. X135.2
• Humor of ugliness. X137
• Blind, lame, and deaf as witnesses in court. X141
• The humor of small stature. (Cf. F535.1.) X142
• Dwarf king falls into porridge-pot at court of human king. X142.1
• Dwarf poet forced to swim in drinking-horn of human being. X142.2
• Tiny ambassador put on horse with long stirrups. Cannot say anything as he is too busy trying to keep his seat. X142.3
• Short magistrate wears a high helmet. X142.4
• Humor of lameness. X143
• Lame man taken on hunt in wheel chair beats the dogs home when they tree a spook or when a bear gets after them. (Cf. K1861.) X143.1
• Humor of bad singing. X145
• Audience of one hired to listen to egoistic dismal-voiced singer. X145.1
• Humor of fatness. X151
• Six short, fat husbands married to six tall, fat wives try absurdly to kiss them at the threshold on their wedding day. X151.1
• Fat man so unwieldly he fishes from his window in the street. X151.2
• Humor dealing with tradesmen. X200
• Jokes about millers. (Cf. P443.) X210
• Millers as thieves. X211
• The honest miller. Baker cannot understand how a man who has been a miller can be a beggar. It is a wonder that the farmers are not beggars instead. X212
• Priest commends the poor miller. If he had been like the rest of the congregation he would have become rich. X212.1
• Why no millers in hell. A mad dog in place of a miller in a sack. X213
• Monks get revenge on millers. Drunken millers force monks to dance. Millers are enticed to monastery and beaten. X214
• Jokes about tailors. (Cf. P441.) X220
• Oversight of the thievish tailor. Sews the stolen piece of cloth on the outside of his coat, thinking that it is on the inside. X221
• Thievish tailor cuts a piece of his own coat. X221.1
• Thieving tailor can hide stolen cloth even in needle-and-thread tube. X221.2
• Tailor always associated with goat. X222
• Tailors cowards as warriors: go home to their needles. (Cf. W121.) X223
• Jokes about butchers. X230
• Butcher wonders that man who has been buying his meat for seven years can still be alive. X231
• Jokes about cobblers (shoemakers). X240
• Ugly cobbler continually threatens to throw his last at people. The object of jokes. X241
• Shoemaker drinks more than his portion of "drink of lies", which has been prepared for all to partake of equally. X242
• Jokes about other artisans and tradesmen. X250
• Jokes on weavers. (Cf. P445.) X251
• Why no weavers in hell. Devils annoyed at their noisy trade. X251.1
• Jokes about barbers. X252
• Client flees when cobwebs are brought in to medicate cuts. X252.1
• Barber uses cut hair to staunch cuts. X252.2
• Jokes on fishermen. X253
• Talkativeness of the fishwives of Paris. Anecdotes of their invective. X253.1
• Humor dealing with professions. X300
• Jokes on lawyers. (Cf. P422.) X310
• What will happen when there are so many lawyers. Woman sees the crowds of students in the law school. She knows that the one lawyer in her village has ruined nearly everyone. X311
• Beggar frightens lawyer into giving by telling him of all the lawyers in hell. X312
• Dying like Christ – between two thieves. The dying man has the lawyer and the notary stand on either side of him. X313
• Lawyer who tries to practice without lying fails. He enters religious order and tries to conduct the legal business without lying. X314
• Dying lawyer says, "I appeal". X315
• Dying lawyer asks delay. X315.1
• Nero has reserved place in hell for lawyers. X316
• Lawyer thrown back into mud when rescuers learn that he is a lawyer. X317
• Lawyer loses tongue in death because he sold it in life. X318
• Miscellaneous jokes about lawyers. X319
• Eloquent lawyer makes obviously guilty client doubt his own guilt. X319.1
• Jokes on magistrates. (Cf. P421.) X330
• Guilty of everything connected with the seven senses. When the priest to whom he is confessing says there are but five senses, the magistrate says that he needs two more senses than other people. X331
• Foreigner wonders why city with so many judges has not been destroyed. X332
• Jokes on teachers. X350
• Music teacher charges double for those who have taken music before. One fee for teaching and one for making them forget the old teaching. X351
• Jokes on scholars. X370
• Master of seven liberal arts begs from wagoner. With his one art latter supports his family. X371
• Jokes on doctors. X372
• Doctor cures palpitation of heart: patient stops breathing. X372.1
• Head cut off to cure snakebite. X372.2
• Eyedrops prescribed for stomach ache so that patient can see what he eats. [Inadvertant duplication of J1603.] X372.3
• Foolish doctor performs useless operation. X372.4
• Man with cheeks stuffed with food operated on to remove swellings. X372.4.1
• Doctor called to attend sick man immediately gives orders for the funeral. X372.5
• Jokes on parsons. X410
• Parson put to flight during his sermon. X411
• Sexton's dog steals sausage from parson's pocket: parson flees. X411.1
• Sexton puts needle in sacramental bread: parson sticks his hand. X411.2
• Sexton arranges wasp-nest so that parson sits on it. Wasps chase him. X411.3
• Tame bear tied to church bells. Rings alarm. X412
• One-eyed parson in dimly lighted church joins the wrong couples. Marries the old man to the girl and the old woman to the boy. X413
• Parson rides ox into church. He wants to show how Christ rode into Jerusalem. Sexton sticks ox with needle. X414
• The hog in church. Locked in church all week by mistake. When the congregation comes, the hog runs between the parson's legs and carries him out. X415
• Parson preaches so that half the congregation weeps and half laughs. Has clothes torn in the back. Those that see this laugh. He wins the wager. X416
• Parson smears his hand with butter. Rascals have spread butter on the altarbread. The parson preaches, "What is the life of man?" and therewith brings his hand down on the altar-bread: "Pure butter!" X417
• Parson is to let a dove fly in the church. It dies in his pocket. X418
• At the blessing of the grave the parson's ox breaks loose: "Now the devil has him." X421
• The corpse with his feet cut off. The coffin-maker has fitted him to the coffin. The parson: "On the last day he will arise." One of the coffin-makers: "Did I say that?" X422
• The devil in the cemetery. A sexton hears thieves in the cemetery cracking nuts and thinks it is the devil cracking bones. With the gouty parson on his back he comes upon the thieves who, thinking it is their companion with the sheep, call out, "Is he fat?" The sexton: "Fat or lean, here he is!" X424
• Robbers mistake man for devil (the "sheep" speaks, "Gently, gently!"). X424.1
• The parson who said there is no devil. The bear-showman lets the bear climb up the pulpit. The parson thinks the bear is the devil. X425
• If his son were only a fool he would let him study to be a priest. So says the innkeeper. X426
• A bad year for priests: few funerals. All but the priest rejoice over the good health of the community. He bemoans his loss of income from burials. X427
• Enmity between priests and monks: chickens and eggs. Monks eat eggs and make chickens expensive; priests eat hens and make eggs high. X428
• The hungry parson and the porridge-pot. Overnight at the peasant's house. The hungry parson hunts the porridge in the dark, guided by a rope the sexton has given him. Series of accidents. X431
• Stupid man tries to take honey from jug at night while visiting. Series of accidents. X431.1
• The parson put out of countenance. X434
• The large loaves need a large oven. Parson says that the loaves with which Jesus fed the people in the wilderness were as large as the mountains. The mason asks what kind of oven they were baked in. X434.1
• Grace before meat. The parson asks the boy: "What does your father say when you begin to eat?" Boy: "You young devil, etc." X434.2
• The boy applies the sermon. Makes a present application of the words of the parson. X435
• "What says David?" – Boy: "Pay your old debts." Variants: (a) What evil did Adam do? – He (shoemaker) made my shoes too small. (b) What kind of man was Moses? He was a day laborer. X435.1
• Parson "Where did the father stay?" – "He stayed to hold the oxen." X435.2
• Parson: Where was Christ when he was neither in heaven nor on earth? – He was in the willow-grove looking for a stick to beat those who ask foolish questions. X435.3
• Names of persons in the Trinity. The priest's example: the three cows. The boy: "The Holy Ghost has just had a calf." X435.4
• Sermon about the rich man. A boy rides with a rich man. Goes into church and leaves his coat lying on the sled. When the parson preaches about the rich man who went to hell, the boy calls out, "Then he took my coat along!" X435.5
• The parson sings like a goat. The parson sees an old woman weeping and believes that she is touched by his singing. When spoken to she says that she has been reminded of her old goat which she has lost. X436
• The dream: all parsons in hell. The smith tells the parson whom he has summoned that he has dreamed of going to heaven where St. Peter would not admit him before he saw a parson. There were no parsons in heaven, but all in hell. X438
• All devout women in hell. Devout woman and a priest retell their dreams. The priest has dreamed that all the devout women are to be found in hell. X438.1
• Parson and sexton at mass. Parson intones instructions to the sexton (cook) as a part of the mass. X441
• "I can't hear you." Rector confesses his sacristan: "Have you drunk the wine designated for the mass?" – "I can't hear you." Exchange of places. Sacristan asks rector: "Have you kissed my wife?" – "Really, I can't hear you." X441.1
• Whistling at mass. Bell breaks and priest's patron whistles in place of ringing the bell at mass. X442
• Parson's poor horsemanship. X443
• Chaplain on bucking mule. X443.1
• Parson refreshes himself during the sermon. X445
• Parson takes a drink of liquor during the sermon. (Cf. X111.13.) X445.1
• Parson takes a chew of tobacco during the sermon. X445.2
• Cock crows at church and the sexton awakes and begins to sing. X451
• The parson has no need to preach. Those who know may teach those who don't know. X452
• No need to give sermon about saint again. "Last year I told you all about his life and works. He has performed no new miracles." X452.1
• The woman whose name was "Worthy." Refuses to say, "I'm not worthy" at communion. X453
• Chapel endowed with fifty blows for the friar. X454
• Jokes on monks. X457
• Bishop willing to admit castrated man as monk: wishes all were in the same condition. X457.1
• Jokes on parsons – miscellaneous. X459
• Man heeds what he thinks to be call to the ministry. X459.1
• Young man plowing corn sees letters "P. C." formed by clouds. He explains situation to minister, asks to be ordained. The minister explains that the letters mean "plow corn" instead of "preach Christ". X459.1.1
• Humor concerning other professions. X460
• Jokes on fortune-tellers. X461
• Fortune-teller shows others how to get rich but remains poor himself. (Cf. J1062.) X461.1
• Humor concerning other social classes. X500
• Jokes concerning usurers. X510
• Barber alone praises usurer. Custom not to bury dead until someone has something good to say about him. No one will praise a dead usurer until a barber is willing to say that he had a good beard. X511
• Usurers do not reply. The parson asks the various trades and professions to rise one by one for a special blessing. When he calls for the usurers none reply. X512
• Devil will not carry usurers to hell but will drag them by the legs. So declares a youth paid by a usurer to protest against the priest's remarks that the devil would carry all usurers off. X513
• Only usurers can carry the corpse of the usurer. It refuses to be moved by anyone else. (Cf. X521.) X514
• Usurer encourages sermons against usury, so that his competitors will cease activity. X516
• Jokes concerning prostitutes. X520
• Only prostitutes can carry the corpse of a prostitute. (Cf. X514.) X521
• Jokes concerning beggars. X530
• Begging cripples hurry away from shrine lest they be healed and lose their livelihood. X531
• Jokes on madmen. X540
• Cohabitation between lunatics brought about for sport. X541
• Jokes on secret societies. X550
• Jokes on freemasons. X551
• Jokes about travelers. X583
• Jokes about hunters. X584
• Man chased by bear to camp claims that he brought it in thus since he did not want to carry it. (Cf. K1741.) X584.1
• Humor concerning races or nations. X600
• Jokes concerning Jews. X610
• How the Jews were drawn from heaven. Someone cries, "Clothes are being auctioned off in hell." X611
• Trickster breaks up Jewish marriage ceremony and seduces the bride. (Cf. K1371.) X613
• Jokes concerning other races or nations. X650
• Battle between lice of Strassburg and of Hungary. Hungarians win. X651
• Learning the Bavarian language. A caretaker of an estate recently sold to a Bavarian sits among the swine so as to learn Bavarian. X652
• Why Arabians are liars. Hermes and his wagon of lies break down in Arabia. X661
• Jokes concerning various cities. X680
• Blason populaire. Despiteful names used by one city for another. X681