60 motifs match “nothing”  ·  back to the chapters

• First man created from nothing wanders until he finds mate. A1275.7
• Life in land of dead contrary to ours. People grow younger and smaller till they become nothing and are reborn. E489.2
• Extraordinary strength from fasting for 12 years and eating nothing except earth. F611.3.0.1
• River whose specific gravity is so slight nothing can float on it. (Cf. F716.2.) F715.10
• Task: going to get nothing and bringing it back. H1045.1
• "Nothing happens that does not work for one's good": counsel proved wise is experience. J21.52.8
• Hobson's choice: choose what is put before you or nothing. J201
• Kite tries to neigh like a horse. Loses his voice and gains nothing. J512.2
• Greedy man dissatisfied with gold looks for jewels; finds only iron and eventually nothing. J514.5
• Fool given the truth on his back. He tells his master what the servants have done during his absence. The servants whip him on his bare back, saying at each blow, "That is the truth." When the master returns and tells the fool to tell the truth, the latter replies, "There is nothing worse on earth than the truth." J551.2
• Doctor loses a horse for the sake of the truth. Overlord asks two doctors whether he is entitled to all the possessions of his retainers. One doctor unrighteously answers yes and receives a horse. The other who tells the truth receives nothing. J551.3
• Improvident mouse eats grain stored for famine. Loss is discovered and grain placed elsewhere. Mouse, who has saved nothing, starves. J711.2
• Witness cannot speak language of accusation: discredited. Two parrots taught accusation of mistress in a particular dialect. They know nothing more of the language. (Cf. G1154.1.) J1152
• King cannot destroy the city. A philosopher of the city came to him asking mercy for it King said he would do nothing he asked. Philosopher then asked him to destroy the city. This saves the city. J1289.10
• King to smoker: "Even donkeys will have nothing to do with tobacco." Smoker: "Donkeys don't know how to enjoy themselves." J1289.20
• Persistent beggar invited upstairs. A beggar will not come in but insists on the man coming down to the door. When he asks alms the man bids him come upstairs. Then he says he has nothing for him. "You made me come down for nothing; I make you come up for nothing." J1331
• Asking costs nothing. So says beggar who asks goldsmith to plate his club with gold. J1338
• Robbers commiserated. A buffoon says to robbers in his house, "You can't find anything here in the dark, for I can find nothing in broad daylight." J1392.2
• Owner laughs at thief who finds nothing in house. J1392.4
• The cost price recovered. A man takes a shirt to market for a friend who has stolen it. At market it is stolen from the seller. He tells his friend that the market was bad and that he was able to get back only the cost price (nothing). J1397
• Is ready to go. A peddler scolds the dog who is waiting and tells him to get ready to go with him. The dog replies that he has nothing to carry, that it is the peddler who is late. J1475
• Reinforcement of the request for alms. A clown asks for alms and receives nothing. He then throws pellets made of herbs at the steward, saying that there is great power in words, herbs, and stones: he has tried two of them and plans to try the third. He is given alms. J1581.2
• Sulphur in the censer. Parishioners put base money into the collection. The priest burns sulphur instead of incense He tells them that their money will buy nothing better. J1582.2
• Foolish bargain: horse for cow, cow for hog, etc. Finally nothing left. J2081.1
• Ship built with a wooden saw. The ship has no bottom and is so narrow that nothing can get into it. J2171.1.1
• The dog between the two castles. In castles on opposite hills guards play different tunes during meals. The dog goes toward the music in one castle but when he is about half way up the hill the music begins on the other. He keeps alternating and running up and down until the meals are over and he gets nothing. J2183.1
• Human milk as best diet (for baby). Fool therefore will take nothing but milk from his wife and starves the baby. J2214.4
• Scientific query: why does not the sea get larger when it rains in it and nothing flows out? J2371.1
• The house without food or drink. A fool and his son meet women mourning a dead man. "He goes to the place where there is darkness and nothing to eat or drink." The son: "They must be coming to our house." J2483
• Boy who worked for "nothing at all" goes to town and demands "nothing at all." (Cf. J2489.10.) J2496.1
• "Do nothing but attend to the horse." The youth obeys the command to such extent that he almost lets his master drown. J2516.3
• To tell nothing else than "very good news." J2516.3.5
• Fool liking salt decides to eat nothing else. J2524
• The hawk frightened at the snipe's bill. The snipe: "It is a bill, but it is good for nothing (weak)." The hawk is no longer afraid. J2616
• Saint ransoms prince for much gold and silver. Later all the money vanishes. Saint replies that since the money had been created from nothing, it had simply to return to that state. K236.3.1
• Thief sent into well by trickster. A weeping boy tells a passing thief that he has lost a silver cup in a well. The thief takes off his clothes and goes after the cup, intending to keep it. He finds nothing. When he comes up, his clothes have been stolen. K345.2
• The lying goat. A father sends his sons one after the other to pasture the goat. The goat always declares that he has had nothing to eat. The father angrily sends his sons from home and learns, when he himself tries to pasture the goat, that he has been deceived. K1151
• To get "nothing" and to show it. Wife pushes lecherous king first into glue and then in the closet with feathers. That is "nothing" – neither bird nor man. K1218.1.8
• The Lord above will provide. A youth and maid come under tree. "Who shall provide for our child?" "He above (God) will take care of it." The man in the tree: "I will do nothing of the kind!" K1271.5
• Seduction by feigned stupidity. Cautious farmer seeks laborer who knows nothing about sex. Trickster makes silly explanation of copulation of animals. When admitted into service, seduces both farmer's wife and daughter. K1327
• Wife surprised in adultery feigns death. Comes "back to life" on hearing husband say he has seen nothing. (Cf. K1538.) K1549.2
• Bluff: wealth gained by seeming to be in the king's confidence. Courtier asks the king for a reward that will cost nothing. He gets permission to listen to the king's devotions. He now receives bribes because of his apparent influence. K1782
• Disguised husband shows his wife that he is not a good-for-nothing as she thinks him. K1813.1.2
• Sexton behind crucifix tells old maid she will have no husband; she tells Christ Child that he knows nothing about it, she is praying to his mother. K1971.8.1
• Only love to offer. Bride asks suitors what they have to offer her. Poor youth who has nothing but love to offer gets her. L393
• Two men in love agree to have nothing to do with the girl without the other's consent. M296
• Possession of money brings luck. Nothing escapes a mouse as long as she has in her hole a purse of money. N135.2
• Wife scolds husband's hospitality, as he really has nothing to give. P336.2
• Child unwittingly promised: Nix-Naught-Nothing. The child born while the father is away is named Nix-Naught-Nothing. S243
• Christ, not having married, knew nothing about suffering. So thinks the man after hearing all about Christ's torments. T251.0.2
• Witty funeral sermon. Priest having nothing good to say about man damns him with faint praise or gives anecdotes with unfavorable implications. (Cf. K1961.1.2.1.) V66.1
• Man converted to belief in future life on deathbed. Feels sure nevertheless that nothing will come of it. V311.1
• Prince donates all including a tooth. When he has nothing left he is asked for a gift. He allows man to extract a tooth from his mouth. (Father had offered reward to anyone persuading his son to have it extracted.) W11.9
• Why he beats her. Lazy wife beaten by husband maintains that she has done nothing. That is why he is beating her. W111.3.4
• Learning a trade in bed. Working independently, the lazy fellow spoils the materials received – starts making something big, which at the end turns to nothing. For example, begins with forging a plough: this becomes an axe, the axe a knife, and knife a needle, the needle – nothing. (Cf. J2080.) W111.5.9
• Sheep jealous of dog because he does nothing. Do not consider that he guards the flock. W181.1
• Cow gives so much cream that several men do nothing but skim cream. X1235.2.1
• Bird advises man to treat his lazy children as she does her young: "In March I make my nest .... in August I have nothing more to do with my young." Z24.1.2
• Man takes case against wind for damages. Wanting to have nothing to do with a court, the wind generously makes good the damages, and punishes the judge guilty of bribery. Z115.1
• Vessel from which nothing can be drunk save through certain tube. Z323