26 motifs match “borrows”  ·  back to the chapters

• Animal characteristics: borrowing and not returning. Animal borrows a member (or quality) from another and refuses to return it. (Cf. A2242, A2313.3, A2345.1, A2351.3, A2375.2.1, A2421.4, A2435.4.1.) A2241
• Cuckoo borrows food from other birds. (Cf. A2435.4.1.) A2241.4
• Nightingale borrows blindworm's eye. Each has one eye. Nightingale borrow's blindworm's and will not return it.(Cf. A2332.6.1.) A2241.5
• Jay borrows cuckoo's skin. (Cf. A2313.1.) A2241.6
• Squirrel borrows coney's tail. When coney's tail is not returned, he goes in shame to live among rocks. (Cf. A2378.1.5, A2433.3.5.) A2241.7
• Boy borrows python's hands and feet: hence python lacks them. (Cf. A2371.3.1.) A2241.8
• Hornbill borrows tomtit's bill. (Cf. A2343.1.4.) A2241.9
• Beaver borrows muskrat's tail and never gives it back. A2241.10
• Monkey borrows tail from deer and refuses to return it. A2241.11
• Substituted limbs. Man borrows various limbs and successfully uses them. E782.0.1
• Fairy borrows comb from Christian maid to comb hair of changeling bride. (Cf. F324.1.) F322.1.1
• Girl borrows comb and mirror from bonga (fairy): carried to fairyland when she returns them. (Cf. F322.1.1.) F324.1
• Man borrows money from fairy (dwarf, devil). When the man brings the money back, he learns that the fairy was killed by thunder. He keeps the money. F342.2
• Dwarf borrows sledge. F451.5.10.3.1
• "May God spare you from an evil man or evil woman." To teach a friend the wisdom of this greeting a man borrows money and then his creditor's coat from him. In court the lender is discredited. J21.38
• Thief's money scales borrowed. A man buries gold and a thief steals it. The owner detects the criminal. He takes some money to the thief and borrows money scales "to weigh so as to bury with the other". The thief decides that he is detected and hastens to return the stolen money. J1141.6
• 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
• The dog-eating bugs. Man keeps dog for boy, tells him when he comes for it that the chinch bugs have eaten it. The boy borrows a mule from the man, later tells him that a buzzard has carried it away. He gets his dog back. J1531.2.1
• The pot has a child and dies. A borrower returns a pot along with a small one saying that the pot has had a young one. The pots are accepted. He borrows the pot a second time and keeps it. He sends word that the pot has died. J1531.3
• Thief borrows cloak so to carry food. Disappears with it. K351.2
• 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
• Monster disguises and wins girl. Borrows wedding garments one by one; later returns them one by one and reveals monster form. K1918
• Ugly fish borrows skin of handsome fish for courtship and marriage. K1918.1
• Helpful cat borrows measure for his master's money. The master thus gains a reputation for wealth. K1954.1
• Impostor: one sister borrows another's clothes and gets religious blessing in her place. K1988.1
• Virgin Mary returns borrowed money and reveals cheat. A man borrows money from a Jew with the Virgin as security. Unable to return the money in time, he commits the money to the sea with a prayer to the Virgin. The Jew receives it but claims that the money is not paid. The Virgin reveals the cheat. V252.1