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

• Beggar wants bread. A numskull tells his mother that a beggar is below asking for bread. Mother: "Tell him I am not at home." Numskull: "He doesn't want you, he wants bread." J1332
• The double fool. A numskull caught changing meal from others' sacks into his own. Miller asks him what he is doing. "I am a fool." "Why then don't you put your meal into their sacks?" "I am only a simple fool. If I did that I should be a double fool." J1393
• The shoes carried into the tree. Tricksters induce a numskull to climb a tree, planning to steal his shoes. He takes them in his belt with him. "Perhaps I shall find a nearer road home up there and shall need my shoes." J1521.1
• Numskulls go a-travelling. (Cf. J1742.) J1711
• Numskulls quarrel over a greeting. Three men greeted by a stranger. Quarrel as to whom he greeted. "I greeted the biggest fool among you." A contest is held in which tales are told to decide which is the biggest fool. J1712
• How to tell the right hand in the dark. Numskull keeps the candle at his right side as he goes to bed so that he can do so. J1735.1
• Numskulls surprised at news that God has a son. J1738.3
• Numskulls surprised to hear that God's son has died. J1738.4
• Bridegroom gets into bed. The numskull groom on his wedding night does not know how to get to the bed, the curtains being drawn. He scales one of the posts, clambers to the canopy, falls upon his bride below, who screams for help. J1744.1.1
• Numskull thinks fireflies are mosquitoes carrying lanterns to find victims. J1759.3
• Fish thought to be chewed sugar-cane. Numskulls therefore throw away their fish. J1761.4
• Living toad or beetles thought to be lost food and therefore eaten by numskulls. J1761.7
• Pumpkin thought to be an ass's egg. Numskull thinks he has hatched out an ass's egg. He thinks that the rabbit which runs out is the colt. J1772.1
• Excrement thought to be berries. Numskull tries to sell it. J1772.9.1
• Numskull thinks his shadow is a man pursuing him. J1790.1
• Drinking the moon. The numskull sees a cow drink from a pool where the moon is reflected. The moon goes under a cloud. He thinks the cow has eaten the moon and slaughters her to recover it. J1791.1
• Rescuing the moon. A numskull sees the moon in the water and throws a rope in to rescue it, but falls in himself. He sees the moon in the sky. At least the moon was saved! J1791.2
• Numskull referring to a forgotten name keeps saying "I have lost it." People dive into tank to recover treasure they think he has lost. J1805.3
• Seeds rattling in pods thought to be insults. Numskull burns field. J1812.1
• Numskull thief thinks snoring sleeper is asking for food. J1812.5.1
• Numskull thinks his prayers have stopped milk boiling over. Actually his wife has added cold water. J1813.2.1
• Numskull thinks boiling pot is threatening him: breaks pot. J1813.10
• Numskull stays till he has finished. As he is making water he hears a brook flowing and mistakes what it is. He waits for a day and a half. J1814
• Numskull knocks the figure of Jesus from the ass. Sees the waving of palms on Palm Sunday and thinks the people are trying to knock the figure from the ass. J1823.1.4
• Numskull thinks the extinguishing of lights at the church presages a fight. Draws his sword. J1823.3
• Fatal bread. Numskull refuses communion because his sister died shortly after eating the bread. J1824
• Numskull throws the dishes out. A landlord in anger throws a dish out the window. The numskull throws the rest out, thinking that the landlord wanted to eat outdoors. J1831
• Numskull thinks the bishop's snoring is his death rattle. He strikes at a fly on the bishop's nose because it seems to be killing the bishop. J1833
• Numskull shoots grasshopper which lighted on the shoulder of his friend and kills friend. J1833.1
• Numskulls lose corpse and bury live person instead. J1834
• Numskull (female devil) thinks her pubic hair has been telling her lies and pulls it out together with the skin. J1842.1
• Numskull prepares brother's wedding (father's funeral). On the way home from town he destroys his purchases. (Cf. J1851, J1856, J1871.) J1846
• Numskull strikes all matches in order to try them. J1849.3
• Numskull throws money to frogs so that they can count it. J1851.1.1
• Numskull feeds his wheat to frogs. He has been sent to mill to have it ground. J1851.1.2
• Numskull throws money to frogs to repay them. They have frightened his fleeing ass from the water. J1851.1.3
• Gifts to birds. Numskulls hear birds calling and give them gifts. J1851.2
• Thankful numskull puts money in the anus of sheep which he supposes has helped him. J1851.4
• Numskull sells cow to bird. When he comes for his money the bird flies to a trash pile, where the fool finds a treasure. (Cf. J1853.1.1.) J1852.1
• Filling cracks with butter. Numskull sees cracks in the ground and feels so sorry for them that he greases them with the butter he is taking home. J1871
• Creaking limbs. Numskull hears limbs creaking in the wind. He is sorry for them and holds them apart. While he is caught between them his enemies take advantage of him. J1872
• 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 homesick wave. Numskulls try to take home a wave of the sea in a bamboo rod. At home when it refuses to wave they say that it is homesick for its mother, the sea. J1875.3
• Coin weeps. Numskull thinks money piece covered with perspiration after he has held it for awhile is weeping. J1875.4
• One cheese sent after another. Numskull lets one roll down hill; sends the other to bring it back. J1881.1.2
• Numskull feeds hens hot water so they will lay boiled eggs. J1901.2
• Numskull sits on eggs to finish the hatching. Cautions people to be quiet and not frighten the eggs. (Sometimes puts on honey and feathers before sitting on the eggs.) J1902.1
• Numskull tries to hatch out a calf from a cheese. J1902.2
• Numskull puts the milk back. When the customer refuses to take the milk he puts it back into the goat's mouth so that it will flow back into the udder. J1903.2
• Fish will climb trees like buffaloes. Numskull considers what will happen if river burns up. J1904.4.1
• Numskull tries to shake birds from tree like fruit. J1909.3
• Numskull tries to wash black hen white. J1909.6
• Numskull does not understand about baby's skull. Sticks needle through it. J1911.1
• Marking the place on the boat. An object falls into the sea from a boat. Numskulls mark the place on the boat-rail to indicate where it fell. J1922.1
• Marking the place under the cloud. Numskulls leave a knife in the field, marking the place by putting it under a heavy cloud. Next day the cloud is gone and the knife lost. J1922.2
• The rejected bread resought. Numskull looks for bread that he threw away a year before. J1923
• Numskull forgets name of certain food and thinks that it has fallen into sand. J1924
• Numskulls sow cooked grain. J1932.1
• Numskull tries to dig up a well (spring). He wants to take it home. J1933
• A hole to throw the earth in. Numskull plans to dig a hole so as to have a place to throw the earth from his excavation. J1934
• Dead man identified by his cough. Numskull asked to identify corpse tries to do so by his cough. J1937.1
• A healthy place for a tomb. Numskull objects to unhealthy place for his tomb. J1937.2
• How far his voice will reach. A numskull cries from a tower and then runs away to see how far his voice will reach. J1941
• Holding in the heat. A numskull ties yarn around the stove to keep the heat from escaping. J1942
• Examining the sundial by candle-light. Numskull tries to find the time of night. J1943
• Numskulls try to get pears from an oaktree. They accuse each other of eating all the pears. J1944.1
• Warming hands across the river. Numskull stretches out his hands toward the fire across the river. J1945
• As tired as if he had walked. So says the numskull after riding to town on his stick horse. J1946
• Protected by the needle. In a storm on the ice, numskulls stick needles into the ice to keep from blowing away. J1965
• Numskull bales out the stream. He comes to a stream but not wishing to get his feet wet he sits down to wait for the stream to run down. He helps to bale the stream out with a hazelnut shell and keeps it up for months. J1967
• Numskulls are affected by heat from stove which has no fire in it. J1976
• Numskull's beard cut off: does not know himself. J2012.1
• Pumpkin tied to another's leg. A numskull ties a pumpkin to his leg at night so that he shall know himself in the morning. Someone ties the pumpkin to another's leg and the numskull is not sure of his identity next morning. J2013.3
• Numskull made to believe he is an evil spirit. J2013.4
• Numskulls cannot find their own legs. A stranger helps them with a switch. (Usually get them mixed up when they sit down to bathe their feet.) J2021
• Numskull asks doctor which leg (own) is hurting him. J2021.1
• Numskull cannot find ass he is sitting on. J2022
• Numskull doesn't recognize his own horse. Finds it only when the rest ride away and he takes the only one left. J2023
• Numskull rides backward. "I didn't get on backward but the horse seems to be left-handed." J2024
• Counting wrong by not counting oneself. Numskulls conclude that one of their number is drowned. J2031
• Numskulls count selves by sticking their noses in the sand. They then count the holes. J2031.1
• Are there nine or ten geese? Ten men are called in; each is to take a goose. If all have a goose, there are ten. One man is left without one. Numskull: "You should have taken one before they were all gone." J2032
• Keeping the measure by stretching out the arms. Numskull goes to buy goods for his wife. J2036
• Numskulls buy things in common: each pays full price. J2037
• Numskulls buy church in common: each pays full price. J2037.1
• 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
• Squaring accounts by shaving the wife. A numskull has paid twice the regular amount for a shave. The barber shaves the wife. J2082
• The considerate seller. A numskull having an over-short turban for sale at auction warns the prospective buyer that it is too short. J2088
• Thief warned what not to steal. The numskull tells the thief where his door-key, his cakes, and his roasts are and warns him not to steal them. J2091
• Numskull gives away the old water bag in which the money is hid. J2093.1
• Woman gives a jewel for a salad. The recipient is also a numskull and doesn't know its value. J2093.2
• Frogs to eat insects, snakes to eat frogs. Snakes eat numskull's family. J2102.8
• Moving the fireplace. When it gives too much heat numskulls decide to move it instead of putting out the fire. J2104
• Cleaning the church by moving it. A cow fouls a church. Numskulls try to move the church with ropes. J2104.1
• Numskulls bore hole in boat in order to make water run out. J2119.4
• Numskull sends meat home through kite (bird); kite devours it. J2124.1
• Guarding chickens from the fox. Numskull ties their beaks and weights them down in the river with stones. J2125
• Numskull to water roots of tree. Digs up the tree to find the roots. J2126
• Looking for the hole. Numskull is to carry a can of oil with especial care since it has a little hole in it. In order to find the hole he turns the can about and lets all the oil run out. J2127
• Keeping rain from the trunks. Numskulls take out the clothing and cover the trunks to keep rain off. J2129.6