60 motifs match “saying”  ·  back to the chapters

• Why women never have leisure. Because they refused to show God the way, saying they had no time. A1372.8
• Power of soothsaying from serpents' licking ears. (Cf. B165.1.1., B176.) Frazer Apollodorus II 48 n. 2. B161.1
• Soothsaying learned from a god. D1726.0.1
• Magic produced by saying mass. D1766.5
• Foster-mother summoned by saying her name. D2074.2.4.1
• Magic repetition. Person must keep on doing or saying thing until released. D2172.1
• Ghost laid by saying masses. E443.2.1
• Flower with "ave" on leaves. Crows from tomb as reward for faithful sayings of "Ave Maria". E631.0.2.1
• People who eat their parents when they die, saying: they carried us in their bodies when we were born; now we shall do the same for them. G23
• Clever daughter construes enigmatic sayings. H561.1.1.1
• Contest in enduring cold: frost and the hare. Hare tries to deceive frost by lying on frozen snow and saying, "Oh, how warm!" H1541.1
• 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
• Jackal covers up his inability to cross stream by saying he is looking for shallowest part. J873.1
• Clever jackal covers up his clumsiness in catching cows by saying he was running to and fro because he was looking for the fattest calf. J873.2
• Noble and ugly holy man embraces man who calls him ugly, saying he loves those who see him as he really is. J921
• Reductio ad absurdum: the decision about the colt. A man ties his mare to a second man's wagon. The mare bears a colt which the wagon-owner claims, saying that the wagon has borne a colt. Real owner of the colt shows the absurdity (1) by fishing in the street or (2) by telling that his wife is shooting fish in the garden. Neither of these things are so absurd as the decision. J1191.1
• Poet is importuned by admirers. Vaults away from them saying: "You may tell me anything you wish – in your own homes! J1224.1
• Why God has few friends. Priest consoles sick man by saying that God chastens those whom he loves. J1261.1.2
• Rushing through the mass. Two priests apply for the position of chaplain and argue as to which one can say the mass more quickly. One clinches the argument saying: "You could not say it more quickly than I because I don't read half of it!" J1263.1.3.1
• Too much for his income. Child born two months after marriage. Husband returns wife to her father (uncle) saying: "I can't afford a child every two months." J1276.2
• Suitor hesitates to marry girl as immature (or too delicate). Girl's father protests, saying that she has had three children. J1279.3
• Bishop and prince. Peasant tells bishop, who rides by with forty horses, that he wonders if St. Kilian at Würzburg is also riding with forty horses. Bishop excuses extravagance by saying that he is also a prince and that it is the prince, not the bishop, who is using the horses. "If the prince should become a fool, what would the bishop do then?" J1289.2
• Shoemaker speaks ill of lord's rule. Lord takes his tools away from him. Shoemaker begs for them saying that he cannot carry on his business without them. Ruler: "I thought ruling was your business so I took your tools to learn shoemaking." J1289.7
• Hungry son gets cherries. He slaps another son, and explains that the other boy was saying that he would not get any of the father's cherries. The father shares the cherries. J1341.9
• Hired man shows in saying grace how better food has resulted from arrival of unexpected guests. Nebraska text: O Lord of Love who art above|Thy blessings have descended:|Biscuits and tea for supper I see|When mush and milk was intended. J1341.12
• Listening to the debate. A lazy youth explains his late rising by saying that he lay abed to hear the argument between industry and laziness. J1486
• The pot has a child and dies. A borrower returns a pot along with a small one saying that the pot has had a young one. The pots are accepted. He borrows the pot a second time and keeps it. He sends word that the pot has died. J1531.3
• The hare at third remove. A man receives a present of a hare. Later a crowd comes to him for entertainment saying that they are friends of the man who presented the hare. This happens a second time. He serves them clear water. "It is the soup from the soup of the hare." J1551.6
• The bigger fool. When told by servants their master is not at home, man says it is a fool that goes out in such midday heat. Whereupon master sticks his head out of the window, saying "Thou who art moving about at this time art the big fool: I have been seated all day in my house." J1552.1.1.1
• The peasant's share is the chicken. He serves small birds and a roast chicken to his guests. Guests each take a small bird, leaving only the chicken when the plate reaches the host. He takes the whole chicken saying: "Since everyone has a bird, I must have one too." J1562.2
• Poem for poem: all for all. A poet gives the emperor a poem, hoping for a reward The emperor later gives the poet a poem in return. The poet thereupon sends the emperor two pennies, saying that this is all the money he has. The emperor, seeing that he is defeated in the exchange, laughs and becomes the poet's friend. J1581.1
• 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
• Priest asked to preach short sermon does so saying to congregation only that they are wicked. J1647
• One-eyed king has rocks counted on pain of death. Clever man avoids saying "one" (which king considers a curse on his one eye) by saying that first is the rock that must not be called by name. J1675.4
• Son of God to see king. When steadily unable to be admitted to presence of a king, a clever man demands an interview saying he is the son of God come down to earth and will condescend to see the king. When asked to show the king Heaven and the path to it, the pretender retorts that when he was sent down by the Father, he was told to look to matters relating to this earth. J1675.8
• 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
• The old maid answers the owl's hoot, saying "Anybody, Lord!" or giving the name of the young man she wants. (Cf. X750.3.) J1811.1.1
• Henpecked husband leaves home. Hears a rooster crow, saying: "Cocky kuko! It's the same everywhere!" He returns home. J1811.4.1
• How was the pigeon killed? Fool aims stone at inquirer saying, "I struck him like this." Inquirer is killed. J2133.14.1
• She knows best: woman denies accusation of adultery. Husband dismisses the truthful accusers saying that she knows her shortcomings better than anyone else, and she denies it. J2342.3
• Deceptive bargain: first to say "Good morning." The first to give the greeting shall have the disputed property. The trickster is early on the scene and witnesses the other's adultery. He may keep the property without saying good morning. K176
• Stealing the platter for the intended gift. Thief asks for silver platter saying that it is needed for an intended gift of confections. Servant carrying platter is told to wait until it is filled. Thief disappears with it. K362.3.1
• The doubly-feed lawyer. A lawyer takes a car as fee from a widow and an ox from her adversary. He pleads for the latter saying that the ox draws the car. K441.2
• Egg as reward of appropriate saying. First brother (knocking egg against wall): "Casca cascorum." Second (breaking shell and sprinkling dirt over it): "Sar, sale, sapiensa". Third (eating egg): "Consumatus es." K444.1
• Audience secured with the pope by rudeness. A woman bribes a man to get her an audience with the pope. By turning his back to the sacrament and saying that the woman had instructed him to do so, he brings it about that she is summoned into the presence. K477.1
• Leopard and crocodile both sent for the dog. Neither has seen a dog nor have they seen each other. Man sends them to the same place saying that the dog will be there. They kill each other. K978.1.1
• Girl puts off consummation of marriage to undesirable suitor by saying her "stomach is sick". K1227.5.1
• Educated chickens tell of woman's adultery. A trickster undertakes to teach a woman's chickens to talk. When he reports that they are saying that she has slept with the priest, she pays him off. K1271.1.3
• Adulteress falls in mud at lover's door. She deceives her husband by saying that she must enter and clean her dress. K1524
• The wolf in the company of saints. Promises to give up slaying animals. After wringing the gander's neck, excuses self saying: "He should not have hissed at the saint." K2055.1
• The stupid monk recovers the stolen flocks. A nobleman steals the abbot's flocks, saying that the monks have no use for them since they eat no meat. The most learned of the monks tries to recover them, but without success. The most stupid is then sent. Asked to dinner, he eats till he can hold no more. He tells the nobleman that he ate as much as possible since he could take back with him only what he had in his stomach. The nobleman pleased with the reply returns the flocks. L141.1
• Secret remedy revealed by departing animal. House spirit (or bird) leaves saying, "If you knew what valerian is good for, the people would not die so fast." N452.2
• Reward for saying of prayers. (Cf. V50.) Q33
• Queen banished for saying that man's condition depends on what kind of wife he has. S411.2.1
• Efficacy of saying "Aves". V254
• Saying of "Aves" obliterates sin. V254.1
• "Ave" on the tongue. Because of faithfulness in saying "Aves" the words are found imprinted on the dead man's tongue. (Cf. V86.2.) V254.3
• Children envious of money given by deceased father to bishop. In vision they take their father's body up and find a quittance saying that he has received more than a hundredfold reward. V415
• 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
• Toad asks magpie in tree to throw down a chestnut. Magpie refuses, saying it might break its beak. Toad promises, if that happens, to get a horsehair to tie it up again. Magpie throws chestnut and breaks beak. Toad asks ass for hair, but ass first demands grass; mower demands sheep; shepherd, pup; mother dog, bread; baker, stumps. Toad cuts the stumps and gets the hair. Z43.1