51 motifs match “impossible”  ·  back to the chapters

• Mosquitoes created by goddess to make sleeping outside impossible to men. A2034.1.1
• Magic cow gives impossible quantity of milk. B184.2.1.1.2
• Sacred image impossible to remove from the spot. D1654.8.1
• Resuscitation impossible after certain length of time. E162
• Revenant with hat of birch. Note: in the motifs immediately following, it is frequently impossible to tell whether the spectral ghost (E421) or the living corpse (E422) is thought of. E422.4.1
• Ghost is laid by giving it a never-ending or impossible task. (Cf. H900, H1010.) E454
• Fairy leaves when given impossible tasks to do. F381.11
• Impossible to rid oneself of cobold. (Cf. F482.3.1.) F481.3
• Witch's heart (lungs, stomach) impossible to burn. G275.3.2
• Devil as a barrel. Rolls and is impossible to catch. G303.3.4.5
• Ogre sets impossible tasks. G465
• Reductio ad absurdum of riddle: stallions of Babylon. "Why is my mare restless when stallions of Babylon neigh?" Hero beats cat for having strangled a cock last night in Babylon (impossible distance away). H572
• Tasks imposed. A person's prowess is tested by assigning him certain tasks (usually impossible or extremely difficult) to be performed either to escape punishment or to receive a valuable reward. H900
• 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
• Impossible task assigned by plaintiff as proof. H919.4
• Reductio ad absurdum of task. When an impossible task is given, the hero responds with a countertask so absurd as to show the manifest absurdity of the original task. (Cf. H1023.3.1, H1024.1.1.1.) H952
• Impossible tasks. H1010
• Task: construction from impossible kind of material. H1021
• Task: construction from impossible amount of material. H1022
• Task: brewing impossible amount of ale from one grain of corn. H1022.8
• Impossible task: filling a grain-bin through the hole in the bottom. H1023.2.3
• Task: bringing berries in winter. Reductio ad absurdum: father is sick from snake-bite (impossible in winter). (Cf. H952.) H1023.3.1
• Other impossible tasks. H1030
• Other impossible tasks – miscellaneous. H1049
• Task: spinning impossible amount in one night. (Cf. H1022.2.) H1092
• Task: preparing and sowing impossible amount of land overnight. H1103.2.1
• Impossible task: assembling huge quantity of many-colored fleas. H1129.10.1
• Impossible quests. H1371
• Comfort in the contemplation of impossible pleasure. J864
• Talkative wife discredited. Husband tells his talkative wife about treasure he has discovered. To discredit her report he tells her also of impossible things (woodcock in the fish net, fish in the bird trap, etc.). She repeats it all and whole story is disbelieved. Husband may keep his treasure. J1151.1.1
• Pound of flesh. (Fleischpfand.) Literal pleading frees man from pound of flesh contract. Contract does not give the right to shed blood. Impossible, therefore, to carry out. J1161.2
• Impossible to eat pearls: also impossible for woman to bear animals (objects). J1191.5.1
• Impossible demand rebuked. J1512
• Guests make impossible demands of host: host's representative forces guests to leave by sending them on difficult quest. J1563.2
• Three girls distressed by seemingly impossible task of going and returning together – one in half month, other in fifteen days, other in seven plus eight days. J2033
• The woman who asked for news from home. Gets many impossible answers, which she believes. E.g., "The cock has become sexton." – "Yes, that is why he sang so well in the morning." J2349.4
• What should I have done (said)? The mother teaches the boy (the man his wife) what he should say (do) in this or that circumstance. He uses the words in the most impossible cases and is always punished. J2461
• 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
• Devil cheated by imposing an impossible task. K211
• Devil to release man for performing seemingly impossible task. The task is performed by trickery. K216
• Payment of money to the devil impossible, since debtor learns that the devil is dead. K231.4
• Many persons admit theft so that it is impossible to find real thief. K415.1
• Treacherous relatives. Distinction between treacherous relatives and cruel relatives (S0–S99) is frequently impossible to make. Relatives whose treachery seems to be uppermost have been listed here; those usually possessing power over their charges and exercising their power in a cruel fashion have been listed under cruel relatives. K2210
• Woman casts ring into sea boasting that it is as impossible for her to become poor as for the ring to be found. Ring is found in fish: she becomes poor. L412.1
• Trickster undertakes impossible bargains and collects his part. Trusts that in the year he is given either he or the other will die. M291
• Impossible to refuse the request of a troubled nobleman. P95
• Stolen animal's meat impossible to cook. Q212.4
• Punishment: performing impossible task. (Cf. H1010.) Q512
• Performing impossible task as punishment for murder. (Cf. Q211.) Q512.0.1
• Courage conquers all and impossible is made possible. U243
• Schlaraffenland. (Land of Cockaygne.) Land in which impossible things happen. (Cf. X1712.) X1503