40 motifs match “seeks”  ·  back to the chapters

• Hog loses pancake in mud: still seeks it. (Cf. A2471.2, A2477.1, Z24.1.) A2275.5.1
• Hawk (vulture) loses grandmother: still hovers and seeks her. (Cf. A2471.3.) A2275.5.2
• Dog loses his patent right; seeks it: why dogs look at one another under the tail. (Cf. A2471.1.) A2275.5.5
• Why hawk (vulture) hovers over camp-fire: seeks grandmother. (Cf. A2275.5.2.) A2471.3
• Wild beast seeks protection of saint against hunters. B251.4.1.1
• Raja told in a dream the stranger he seeks to destroy is his own son. D1810.8.2.5
• Ghost seeks repayment of stolen money. E236.8
• Man seeks his mother (star-maiden) in upper world. F15.1
• Impoverished fairy seeks fortune among mortals. F393.3
• Dwarf seeks to enter church. F451.5.9.5
• Warrior seeks combat when his spear consents. F834.7
• Devil held off from person by answering his riddles. St. Andrew the Bishop, and the Devil. The Devil, in form of beautiful maiden visits a holy bishop. St. Andrew appears as a pilgrim, answers the questions through which the devil seeks to keep him at a distance and discomfits the devil. (Cf. B302.22.3.) H543.1
• King seeks one richer (more magnificent) than himself. (Cf. H1395.) H1311.1
• Quest for the anger of God. Man is so fortunate that people say that he has everything but the anger of God. He seeks it and finds it with much misfortune. H1376.3.1
• Woman seeks unknown father of her child. H1381.2.1
• Child seeks unknown parent. H1381.2.2
• Son seeks unknown father. H1381.2.2.1
• Boy twitted with illegitimacy seeks unknown father. H1381.2.2.1.1
• Child seeks unknown mother. H1381.2.2.2
• Boy twitted with illegitimacy seeks unknown mother. H1381.2.2.2.1
• Hero seeks his equal. (Cf. H1311.1.) H1381.5
• Quest for unknown magic words. Hero seeks them on the heads of swallows, the necks of swans, the backs of geese, and the tongues of reindeer. H1382.1
• Quest for vanished wife and son. Husband seeks wife and son in many countries. H1385.3.1
• Palamides, having injured Ulysses, seeks advice from him. Following the advice proves fatal. J646.1
• Ungrateful animal returned to captivity. A man rescues a serpent (bear) who in return seeks to kill his rescuer. Fox as judge advises the man to put the serpent back into captivity. J1172.3
• Other animals thought to be a giant cat. Hero in search of monster brings home a dog, zebra, etc. thinking it is the animal he seeks. J1756
• Fool seeks the ears of grain in the direction of the cloud toward which he has sowed them. J1922.2.1
• The fool seeks a midwife. Accidentally strikes the dog dead, drowns the midwife, and kills the child. J2661.2
• The father of Noah's sons. The fool seeks advice as to how to answer this question: Who is the father of Stoffer's three sons? Stoffer, of course. Then who was the father of Noah's three sons? Stoffer. J2713
• The fee used up before the main question is reached. A man with an unsolved question seeks the help of a wit. The latter refuses to answer unless paid. He takes small fees for each easy question leading up to the principal question. Before reaching that point the fee is exhausted, and the question remains unanswered. K265
• 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
• Hero fails to meet the man he seeks, though they are close to one another. N187
• Cruel father seeks to kill infant son. S11.4.4
• Youth makes statue of girl and seeks a girl like the statue. T11.2.1.1
• King seeks bride only because counsellors insist. T64
• Monk yells "thief" to repel temptress. When she seeks him in his bed he screams. He says she steals his most valuable possession, virtue. T331.9
• Druid by spells seeks to drive saint from island. V229.6.4
• The death of the cock. (Der Tod des Hühnchens.) The cock chokes and the hen seeks aid of objects and persons (stream, tree, pig, miller, baker, etc.). Z32.1.1
• Man sharpening his dao is bitten by a prawn. He cuts down a big bamboo; a fruit falls from bamboo and strikes a bird on the nape of the neck; the bird scratches up an ant's nest with his feet; the ant bites a wild boar in the eye; and the boar bears down upon a plantain tree where a bat dwells under a leaf; the bat seeks refuge in the ear of an elephant, and the elephant kicks down the house on an old woman. She rushes out and falls into a well. Z49.6.3
• Cumulative tale: bird who seeks carpenter to release young caught in closed tree. Beetle bites calf, calf bites cow, cow hoofs carpenter, carpenter beats wife, hunters save carpenter's cow, carpenter releases birds. Z49.7