74 motifs match “promised”  ·  back to the chapters

• Daughter promised to animal suitor. B620.1
• Magic flight with the help of a he-goat. Speaking he-goat saves the girl promised to the devil. D674
• Disenchantment promised if girl may marry transformed man. D791.2.2.1
• Dead rich man returns to rebuke his children who have kept the money he promised to the church. E415.2
• Youth promised to ogre visits ogre's home. G461
• Substitution of low-caste boy for promised child detected when he prefers long road to short one through jungle (swimming instead of ferry, etc.) H38.2.5
• Youth asks for branch of tree; promised root. (Branch = youngest daughter; root = eldest.) H611
• Which was the most generous – husband, robber, or lover? Woman has promised her lover to go to him on her wedding night. Husband lets her go. On way she meets robbers and tells her story. Robbers take her to her lover. She tells what has happened. Lover returns her immediately to her husband. H1552.1
• Test of curiosity: the clock. A man is promised a beautiful clock if he can mind his own business for a whole year. He does. The giver tells him he is the second man who almost made sure of getting the clock. The man asks how the other missed getting it; he loses the clock himself. H1554.2
• Test of curiosity: the paternoster. Plowman is promised a horse if he can say a paternoster without thinking of anything else. In the midst of the recitation, he asks if he will get the saddle and bridle too. He loses bargain. H1554.3
• Test of gratitude: magician makes pupil believe himself superior. Though he has promised magician great rewards he forgets his promise. Wealth removed. H1565.1
• The old man nods "Yes". A monk at an old man's deathbed asks if he hasn't promised this and that to the church. The old man from weakness rather than understanding nods "Yes". The son standing by asks, "Shall I throw this fellow down stairs?" The old man nods "Yes". J1521.2
• That which was promised him. A tenant promises his daughter to his master against her will. The master sends for "that which was promised him." The daughter sends the horse, and it is taken into the master's chamber. J1615
• "Thank God it's over!" Man who has been promised a beating lives in constant dread. Is eventually beaten. He thanks God. J2568
• Deceptive land purchase: saint's enemy promised as much land as he can see from certain point. Saint causes cloud to obstruct vision. K185.12
• Strokes shared. The boy promises the soldier what the king has promised to give him. The soldier receives a beating in place of the boy. K187
• Devil cheated of his promised soul. The man saves it through deceit. K210
• Devil cheated by pretended hanging. The man has promised himself to the devil in return for money. He stuffs his clothes with straw and hangs them up. The devil thinks the man has hanged himself and is satisfied. K215
• Devil cheated of promised soul by intervention of Virgin Mary. K218.4
• Other ways of cheating the devil of his promised soul. K219
• Devil cheated of his promised soul by making the intended victim drunk. The devil may punish the drunk man's body but has no power over his soul. K219.1
• Devil cheated of his promised soul when the victim sells his to a comrade. The latter says, "The devil can take only one soul from each person. I bought the soul so that when he comes I can give him one and still save my own." K219.2
• God cheats the devil of his promised soul. The devil is to fill a cask full of money. God knocks the bottom out of the cask. K219.3
• Golden lamb promised to goddess. Common lamb sacrificed. K231.3.2
• Fish promised in return for bacon. Later: "Drink up the river, you shall then have fish. All the fishes there are mine." K231.11
• Fox is promised chickens: is driven off by dogs. K235.1
• Fifty ships promised. Forty-nine are moulded out of earth. K236.1
• Robber induced to give respite and come to man's office to get promised larger sum. Cheated. K439.7
• Fish enticed into trap (promised new skins). K714.8
• The "loyal" adulteress. Complacent in all except kissing. Explains that her mouth is the only part of her body which has promised fidelity to her husband. K1595
• Bluff: only one tiger; you promised ten. Child (or shepherd) calls out to the small hero (ape, hare) and makes the tiger (ogre) think that he is lucky to escape alive. K1715.2
• Groom deceives bride with substituted bedmate and hides self in order to learn the secret she has promised to tell. K1844.3
• Same reward promised to many helpers. K2034
• Peasant betrays fox by pointing. The peasant has hidden the fox in a basket and promised not to tell. When the hunters come, he says, "The fox just went over the hill," but points to the basket. K2315
• City is falsely promised to enemy. When they enter they are attacked and defeated. K2366
• Demanding of promised boon postponed. M204
• Demanding of promised boon postponed until an auspicious moment. Granted anything he may ask, the recipient waits to announce his choice. M204.1
• Marriage promised to save life. M268
• "It is a debt if it is promised." P525.0.1
• Punishment: cloud cuts off view of man promised all he can see for expelling saint. (Cf. Q227.) Q552.15
• Rains withheld until king remembers to have monks' huts roofed as promised. (Cf. Q266.) Q553.7
• Children sold or promised. S210
• Child sold (promised) to devil (ogre). See also references to S220–S259, practically all of which apply here. S211
• Child promised to wood-spirit. (Cf. F441.) S213
• Child promised to mermaid. (Cf. B81.) S214
• Child promised to animal. (Cf. B620.1.) S215
• Child sold (promised) for money. S221
• Child promised to devil for acting as godfather. (Cf. N411.) S224
• Child promised to devil for help on road with broken wagon. S225
• Child promised to devil for directions out of woods when father is lost. S226
• Child promised to devil in exchange for a good catch of fish. S227
• Daughter promised to monster as bride to secure flower (bird) she has asked for. S228
• Daughter promised to tiger in marriage for help in carrying load. (Cf. B620.1.) S232
• Children unwittingly promised (sold). (Cf. S211.) S240
• Girl promised unwittingly by her parents to ogre. S240.1
• Child unwittingly promised: "first thing you meet." (Jephthah's vow.) S241
• Unwitting bargain with devil evaded by driving dog over bridge first. The child has been unwittingly promised (the first thing that goes over the bridge). S241.1
• Princess promised unwittingly to madman: "what you ask for." S241.3
• Child unwittingly promised: "what you have at home." The man thinks it is a cat (dog). S242
• Child unwittingly promised: "What you wife has under her belt." S242.1
• Child unwittingly promised: Nix-Naught-Nothing. The child born while the father is away is named Nix-Naught-Nothing. S243
• Child unwittingly promised: what is born on your farm. Two women agree that what is born on the farm of each belongs exclusively to the owner. The child of one is born on the farm of the other. S245
• Daughter unwittingly promised to dog rescuer. (Cf. B620.1.) Without knowing that a dog has rescued her, the father offers her in marriage to her rescuer. S247
• Saving the promised child. S250
• Virgin Mary rescues child promised to the devil. S251
• Vain attempt to save promised child. S252
• Vain attempt to save promised child by use of substitute. S252.1
• Vain attempt to save promised child by evasions. S252.2
• Deity promises deliverance of promised child to mother in dream. S255.1
• Sacrifice of brothers promised if girl is born. S272
• Unborn children promised in marriage to each other. T61.5.3
• Girl and boy promised to each other by parents both die when they see each other after girl's marriage to another. T86.4
• Girl promised to three different suitors; because she is unable to settle the dispute she eats poison and dies. T92.0.1
• Miser tries to reduce sacrifice promised to god. W153.14