24 motifs match “louse”  ·  back to the chapters

• Creation of louse. A2051
• Louse created to give women work. (Cf. A2032.2.) A2051.1
• Why louse has mark on his back. A2412.3.1
• Friendship between louse and crow. A2493.23
• Giant louse. B873.1
• Magic louse answers for fugitive. D1611.13
• Louse fattened. F983.2
• Husband has friend woo his wife: wife is generous to certain point only. Husband makes her wear dress symbolic of her generosity – blouse of coarse cloth; dress of gold brocade. H492.2.1
• Test: guessing nature of certain skin – louse-skin. Louse (flea) is fattened and its skin made into coat (drum, etc.) H522.1.1
• Riddle: what is that which is neither man nor jinn nor beast nor bird? (Louse and ant.) H862
• Theological questions answered by propounding simple questions in science. Where was God before he made heaven and earth? and the like answered by "Why a louse bite raises a blister, a flee bite raises a swelling, and a gnat bite is unnoticeable?" If you cannot answer such simple questions how can you pry into God's secrets. J1291.2
• Hunter mistakes louse on his eyelash for game. He shoots several times before he notices the trouble. J1759.2
• The louse invites the flea. The flea bites the man and jumps away. The bed is searched and the louse killed. J2137.1
• Picking the louse and the flea. One man rewarded with forty crowns for picking louse from king's robe. Imitator given forty lashes for picking flea. J2415.2
• Escape by pretended lousing. Captive pretends to louse the captor but deceives him by cracking berries in the teeth (or the like). K611.1
• Cormorant's tongue pulled out by putting louse on it. K825.1
• Ape pretends to louse heron, but plucks out his feathers. K874.1
• Covenant of friendship between louse and crow. M246.1.2
• Release from curse by pricking louse and hanging it on wall. M429.5
• The obstinate wife: sign of the louse. She calls her husband a lousy head. He throws her into the stream. As she sinks she makes a sign of cracking a louse. T255.3
• Conception from eating louse. T511.5.3
• Altar casts away host with louse baked in it. V31.4
• Louse and flea wish to marry. Mosquito, toad, ant, etc. volunteer to supply the wedding feast. Z31.2
• Louse and crow make covenant of friendship: louse eats crow despite crow saying, "If I strike you once with my beak you will disappear; how then can you talk of eating me?" Likewise louse eats loaf of bread, she-goat, cow, buffalo, five sepoys, wedding procession with one lakh of people, elephant, tank of water. A sepoy cuts louse in two with his sword and rescues all. Z33.4.1