128 motifs match “foolish” — showing the first 100; narrow the words for the rest  ·  back to the chapters

• Twin culture heroes – one foolish, one clever. (Cf. A525.) A515.1.1.2
• Men and animals readjust span of life. At first, thirty years are given to all animals and to man. For the animals it is too long, for man too short. Man is given a portion of animals' lives. Years 1–30 vigorous (man's own); 30–48 burdens and blows (ass's); 48–60 no teeth (dog's); 60–70 foolish (monkey's). A1321
• Bad women from transformed hog and goose. Peter, having only one daughter, foolishly promises her to three men. He asks the Lord to create two others. This request is granted. The first creature he meets on two successive mornings he is to greet, and they will be transformed. He meets a hog and a goose. His two new daughters have these characteristics. A1371.3
• Grave (of man) upon which no women can look without foolish laugh or "sine crepitu ventris eius." C181.7
• Magic object acquired through foolish bargain. D837
• Magic object exchanged for worthless. Foolish brother (wife) exchanges old object for new. D871.1
• Laughing fish reveals unjust judgment. A severe judgment is rendered for a small offence. As the convicted man is being led away, a dead (dried) fish is heard to laugh. The fish reveals that he has laughed at the foolishness of the judge who, while he punishes minor offences severely, is unable to see the capital crimes in his own household. (Cf. D1281.) D1318.2.1
• Magic object makes person foolish. D1353
• Magic rain makes people foolish. All on whom it falls act like fools. (Cf. D902.) D1353.1
• Princess brought to laughter by foolish actions of hero. H341.3
• Tasks assigned because of mother's foolish boasting. The mother foolishly boasts to the king that the daughter can perform an impossible task (often spinning). H914
• Tasks assigned because of girl's (boy's) own foolish boast. H915
• Tasks imposed because of wife's foolish boast. H916.1
• Task imposed because of girl's foolish boast. H916.2
• Boy saves life by showing father foolishness of plowing up his crop. Father has been persuaded to kill child. J92
• Wisdom from continual reminder of foolishness in the past. Unjust judge skinned and his skin stretched over a footstool kept in the presence of judges, so as to remind them to be just. J167
• Choice: foolish son always with him or four wise daughters who will leave him. Latter chosen. J226.3
• A bird in the hand foolishly given away in hope of greater gain. J321.1
• Foolish association of young and old. J445
• Foolish youth in love with ugly old mistress. J445.1
• Foolish marriage of old man and young girl. J445.2
• Deer, opossum, and snake each render indispensable aid to man. Foolishly debate their usefulness. J461.4
• Noblemen who quarreled over a device. Wiser of the two shows foolishness of such a fight. J552.1
• Foolishness of noise-making when enemies overhear. J581
• Foolishness of premature coming out of hiding. J582
• Foolishness of surrendering weapons. J642
• Foolishness of king's taking a washerman for chief minister; washerman makes no preparation for war and kingdom is conquered. [Inadvertant duplication of U129.3.] J677
• Foolishness of alliances with the weak. J682
• Foolishness of attacking real allies. J683
• Foolishness of taking on too strong a partner: crow crowds sparrow out of its nest. J684.2
• Ass foolish to kick against the pricks. J833
• Foolish boast of ancestry by lowly. J954
• Foolish dog finds treasure and dies rather than leave it. J1061.3
• Foolish person becomes clever. J1116
• Testimony discredited by inducing witness to talk foolishly. J1151.1
• The sausage rain. (Or rain of figs, fishes, or milk.) A mother in order to discredit testimony of her foolish son who has killed a man makes him believe that it has rained sausages. When he says that he killed the man on the night it rained sausages his testimony is discredited. J1151.1.3
• Officiousness or foolish questions rebuked. J1300
• How he shall be mourned. Women insist on knowing how a man wants to be mourned when he dies. "Mourn me as a man who was tormented by women talking foolishness." J1301
• Officiousness or foolish questions rebuked – miscellaneous. J1309
• Wife by cleverness wins back fortune overbearing husband has foolishly lost and humbles him. J1545.6
• Foolish pundits. J1705.3
• Foolish king. J1705.4
• Foolish married couples. (Cf. J1701, J1702.) J1713
• A wise man follows a fool against his better judgment. Both are put to death for their foolishness. J1714.1
• When with fools, act foolish. A wise man refuses to join a foolish crowd who stayed out in an unexpected rain after a long drought. He is punished by them for being a fool. J1714.3
• Foolish lover ignorant of mistress's flaws. J1737
• Foolish lover does not know that his mistress lacks an eye. Only after his return from an absence does he notice it. J1737.1
• Foolish girl ignorant of what is happening at her first menses. J1745.2
• Foolish wife believes goats' heads are human heads. J1762.9
• Foolish tiger thinks dog's tail is a gun. J1772.12
• Foolish demon sees his reflection in trickster's mirror and is convinced he has been captured. J1795.1
• Nobody can move it. Foolish soldier at guard by cannon therefore quits. J1849.4
• Foolish attempt to educate animals. J1882
• Object foolishly blamed. J1891
• Sea foolishly accused of cruelty. Sea says that it is calm itself, but the wind blew it up and broke the ship. J1891.3
• Foolish mother does not understand how babies cry. Wrings the child's neck. J1911.2
• The man without a member: foolish wife gives her husband money to buy himself one. J1919.8
• Foolish fight with the sea. Absurd attempt to punish sea. J1968
• Foolish fight with the sun. J1968.1
• Foolish illustration of argument. J2062
• Which way the sheep shall return. One man plans to buy sheep; another says that he shall not drive them across the bridge. They quarrel over the sheep, which have not yet been acquired. A third numskull to convince them of their foolishness pours all his meal out in the water so as to show them the empty sack. "How much meal is in the sack?" he asks. "None." "There is just that much wit in your heads." J2062.1
• Foolish logician upsets ghee in argument. "Does the ghee protect the saucer, or the saucer the ghee?" J2062.2
• Foolish waiting. J2066
• Three foolish wishes. Three wishes will be granted: used up foolishly. J2071
• Same wishes used wisely and foolishly. Given to two persons with opposite results. J2073
• Wise and foolish wish: keep doing all day what you begin. One begins pulling linen out of a box; other in anger begins throwing water on the pig and must do so all day. J2073.1
• Wise and foolish wish: help in whatever one is doing. One gets help in work, other in striking his wife (etc.). J2073.1.1
• Foolish wish: to destroy all flies and spiders. J2079.2
• Foolish bargains. J2080
• Foolish bargain: progressive type. J2081
• Foolish bargain: horse for cow, cow for hog, etc. Finally nothing left. J2081.1
• Foolish bargain: good fish for worthless shell; shell with pearl in it for small fish. J2081.2
• The foolish attempt to cheat the buyer. J2083
• Foolish reward offered. J2085
• The foolish pawn. The woman sells cows and gets one of them back as a pledge for the unpaid purchase price. J2086
• Foolish bargain: miscellaneous. J2099
• Foolish disregard of personal danger. J2130
• Foolish thief cooks food and awakens household. J2136.5.5
• Foolish thief asks help of owner. Caught. (Cf. J2223.) J2136.5.6
• Foolish interference in quarrel of the strong fatal to the weak. J2143
• [First Edition: J2159. Foolish disregard of personal danger – miscellaneous.] J2159[1st ed.]
• Foolish demands before death. J2174
• Dearly bought disgrace. A foolish priest is pushed into the water. "I wish I had drowned; then you would all have been disgraced." J2185
• Alarm sounded foolishly. J2199.1
• Foolish interpretation of omens. J2285
• Foolish peasants carry couple to burial; when "corpses" speak they flee in terror. J2311.9
• Foolish woman gives swindler money for her parents in heaven. J2326.1
• Foolish boasts get man into trouble. Man boasts to boss that his brother can do twice the work he does. The boss hires him. The two brothers tell him their father can do as much work in a day as the boys can do in a week. The boss fires them, tells them to send their father to work for him. (Cf. H915, H916, N455.4.) J2353.1
• Foolish imitation. J2400
• Types of foolish imitation. J2410
• Foolish imitation of miracle (magic). J2411
• Foolish imitation of sham death and return (= resuscitation). J2411.1.1
• Foolish imitation of healing. J2412
• Foolish physician cauterizes "sick" cartwheel to stop it from creaking; burns it up instead. J2412.7
• Foolish imitation by an animal. Tries to go beyond his powers. J2413
• Foolish imitation of lucky man. Because one man has had good luck a numskull imitates and thinks he will have equal luck. He is disappointed. J2415
• Poor man foolishly imitates rich. J2416
• Foolish imitation of leader. J2417
• Foolish imitation – miscellaneous. J2420
• Foolish bridegroom follows instructions literally. J2462