31 motifs match “neighbor”  ·  back to the chapters

• Magic object stolen by neighbor. D861.2
• Magic thieving pot. Boy sells pot to neighbors and when they have put things into it the pot returns to the boy. (Cf. D1171.1.) D1605.1
• Precept of the lion to his sons: keep peace with the neighbors. J22.3
• Big fish eat little: robber will plunder weak neighbors. J133.6
• Wisdom from neighbors. J179.3
• Choice between bad master, bad official, or bad neighbor. Bad master can do evil if he desires to do so; bad official can harm a poor person and complain against him to his master; bad neighbor can betray secret things about his neighbors. Bad neighbor worst. J229.5
• Monk's enemies quarrel and thus save him. Robber who wants to steal monk's cow and devil who wants to steal his soul quarrel as to which shall begin first; they thus awaken him and the neighbors. J581.3
• Grain will be cut when farmer attends to it himself. Lark leaves her young in the cornfield. They hear farmer tell sons to go to neighbors for help in harvesting. Lark tells young not to worry. Same when he sends for relatives. Farmer decides to harvest it himself. Larks move, for they now know that it will be done. J1031
• Intentional and accidental fire. Rich man wishing to get rid of a neighbor's tree sets it afire. Neighbor's house catches and burns. Must pay four times value of tree since fire is intentional, but only actual value of house, since that fire was accidental. J1175.2
• Measuring the dregs. Some full and some half-full wine casks left with man by neighbor, who accuses him of theft. Fraud of accusation detected by measuring the dregs. J1176.2
• Gold pieces in the honey-pot. Woman leaves honey-pot with neighbor to guard. It has gold below the honey. Neighbor steals the gold and substitutes honey. Theft proved by gold pieces sticking to sides of pot. (Cf. J1192.2.) J1176.3
• Aesop with the lantern. Aesop goes for fire to a neighbor's in the daytime and lights a lantern so as to bring the fire back. Fool asks him what he is hunting for with the lantern in the daytime. "I seek a man" (not a busybody). J1303
• As you surely will. After her husband's death a woman cannot find a hammer and anvil. She goes to a dying neighbor and says, "If you die, as you surely will, and go to Heaven, as you surely will not, ask my husband where he left the hammer and anvil." The dying man's wife replies, "If you go to Heaven, as you surely will, if you die as you surely will not, do not run around and get into trouble, but sit down by the Eternal Father and observe and keep still." J1481
• Man refuses to lend horse: sued for consequent damages. The would-be borrower gets one from another neighbor. He overworks the horse and renders him useless. The owner of the horse sues the man who had refused to lend his animal. Reasoning: "If he had lent his horse this would not have happened to mine." Settled by compromise. J1552.3
• Helping the cuckoo. A numskull climbs a tree to help a cuckoo so that he may call louder than the one in the neighboring forest. Meanwhile his horse is eaten by a wolf. J1872.1
• The messenger without the message. A fool is told that he is to go to a neighboring castle the next morning. He is to take letters, but the next morning without reporting for instructions the fool goes on the journey. He is given a bag of stones to carry back. J2192
• Climb down as you climb up. A peasant falls out of a tree. A neighbor advises him not to climb trees. Another suggests that he always climb down a tree with the same skill and rapidity that he climbed up. J2244
• The dead man in spite of himself. Neighbors who have heard of the numskull's death insist on the funeral although he is alive and well. He is persuaded and is carried on a bier. They meet a busy man whom they try to persuade to join them. He pleads business. The "dead" man speaks: "It's no use, friend, to try to dissuade them." J2311.5
• Wife persuades husband that she has returned immediately. She goes to a neighbor's to cook a fish. She is gone a week. She gets a new fish and cooks it and returns home with the hot fish. She convinces her husband of her short absence. J2315
• The wife multiplies the secret. To prove that a woman cannot keep a secret the man tells his wife that a crow has flown out of his belly (or that he has laid an egg). She tells her neighbor that two crows have flown. Soon he hears from his neighbors that there were fifty crows. J2353
• The tailless and earless ass. Just lain down to sleep, a man is awakened by a neighbor announcing that his she-ass has borne a young one without ears or tail. The man lies awake all night wondering how the ass will keep the harness on. J2373
• Husband to spite wife plays dead. When she tells neighbors that they may come and take dead man's property he gets up. J2511.1.1
• Blind man steals from neighbor who in turn steals from him. K306.4
• Man burns down own neighboring house to gain access to bedroom of beloved. K1349.7
• Husband catches paramour in pitfall. The wife sends her maid to investigate. The maid falls in and finally the wife herself. The husband calls the neighborhood to see them. K1562
• Disguise as devil. Priest disguises as devil and "haunts" neighbor's house. Buys it cheaply. K1838
• The returned box on the ears. At table each gives his neighbor a box on the ears. The soldier is to give it to the king, but he returns it to the courtier from whom he has received it. K2376
• Wager on truthfulness of servant. The servant is sent to a neighbor's where he is made drunk and is seduced by the neighbor's wife. He tells the master all. N25
• Dream brings treasure: trade vineyards with neighbor. A treasure is found in the new vineyard. N531.2
• Brothers accidentally reunited when wedding of one to a king's daughter is celebrated and neighboring rulers are invited. N733.5
• During rainy spring, farmer wishes that Lord would sleep till harvest time. Farmer himself sleeps until all neighbors have finished harvesting. When he wakes, he finds his crops ruined. (Cf. Q235.) Q585.3