55 motifs match “devour”  ·  back to the chapters

• Creator tries to devour his son, the culture hero. A71
• Dogs incited to devour souls in hell. A689.3.1
• Eclipse caused by monster devouring sun or moon. A737.1
• Sun devoured by monster at end of world. A1052.1
• World devoured by ogre. A1099.2
• First parents devour offspring. A1277.1
• Origin of Polish noblemen: from wheat dough that a bitch devours. A1656.1
• Devil's animals devour God's. God makes white fish, devil a pike to eat it up; God a worm, devil a frog to eat it, etc. (Cf. A1751.) A2286.2.1
• Dragon devours children. B11.10.3
• Cat devours flesh of man's legs. B16.1.1.3
• Man-devouring turtle. B16.5.4
• Animal spares man he is about to devour. B525
• Animals refuse to devour Cain to avenge murder of Abel. B591.0.1
• Animals which devour each other are restored to their original forms by command of a saint. E32.2
• Ghosts roast girl daily in oven and devour her flesh. E251.3.1.1
• Demon of gluttony devours man's food in his throat. F402.1.7
• Water-spirits are cannibals: devour mortal victim, suck blood. F420.4.3
• Deserted city. Inhabitants have been devoured. F766
• Deity lights a great fire, and all the children ogress has devoured come out of it. F913.2
• Frogs cast themselves into oven-flames and devour bread. F989.24
• Giant devours any person who fails to do his bidding. G11.2.1
• Woman devours her husband. G11.6.4
• Human being devoured daily. G15
• Ogre seduces sleeping girl in order to devour her. G17
• Animal-wife devours her husband. G79.1
• Ogress takes travelers out of cave and devours them one by one. G94.1
• Lamia devours her lover. G262.0.1.1
• Witch disguised becomes queen, devours king's horses nightly. G264.3.1
• Spirit-woman in rock devours men and cattle. G312.2
• Ogress devours horses. G312.7
• Swinging ogre. Girls who swing their lovers over pit, cut rope, and later devour them. G327
• Rectum snakes. Snakes which creep into living man and devour him. G328
• Cannibal nature of woman recognized when she devours dead buffalo raw. H46.1
• Ordeal by crocodiles (snakes). Judgment depends on whether person is devoured or rejected by crocodiles. H224
• Riddle: what is the mother who devours her children when they grow up? (Ocean and rivers.) H734
• Task: uprooting man-devouring tree. (Cf. H335.) H1163
• Man resuscitates a lion which devours him. J563
• Numskull sends meat home through kite (bird); kite devours it. J2124.1
• Dog as wolf's shoemaker eats up the materials. Devours the cow, hog, etc. furnished him. K254.1
• Fox persuades bird to show him how she acts in a storm: he devours her. (Bird has advised other bird how to avoid the fox; he is revenged.) K827.1
• Trickster purports to be deity's messenger to procure demon-skins for his drum. Demons bribe him instead of devouring him. K1715.9
• Wolves sign false truce with sheep. After the dogs have been dismissed the wolves devour the sheep. K2010.3
• Familiar devours whoever does not keep pact with devil. M219.4
• Women, driven mad, devour their infants' flesh. N325.2
• Punishment: transformation to deer which is devoured by dogs. Q415.1.1
• Mice devour hard-hearted man. (Hatto and the Mouse Tower.) (Cf. Q291.) Q415.2
• Punishment: being devoured by tiger. Q415.5
• Bears devour the wicked. Q415.6
• Toads and snakes devour corpse of rich man in his grave. Q491.4
• Uncharitable knight drives bargain even in giving alms: devoured by serpents. His alms of corn turn to serpents. V422
• Wolves devour an ox without leaving a share for the rightful owner. W151.3
• Beautiful girl seated on large lotus flower holding big elephant in each hand which she devours and throws off alternately. X943.1
• Girl left in tree by sisters: asks monkey, ape, bear, and tiger to put her down or else bite her. All refuse. Panther comes and devours her. Z39.7
• Pulling the needle out of the seamstress's hand. Final formula: That was just what the cat was waiting for – it sprang to devour the mouse, the mouse to tear the spider's web, the spider to entangle the dog, the dog to eat the goat, the goat to gnaw the rushes, the rushes to grow in the stream, the stream to quench the fire, the fire to burn the stone, the stone to beat the axe, the axe soon pulled out the needle that was stuck in the seamstress's hand. Z41.8
• Brahmin worships idol and sets sacrifices before it daily. Rat devours offerings and he sets it up as his idol as a being more powerful than his idol. When cat devours rat, he worships it instead. His wife accidentally kills the cat, so he sets her up to worship. He happens to slap her and she loses consciousness. Thereafter he worships himself as most powerful after all. Z42.3