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

• Early period when gods and men lived together, gods ruling men, ordaining how they should live and originating various customs. A189.9
• God of whirlwind. Typhon. He is represented as having serpents' heads on his shoulders, as having a voice like the sound of many beasts and eyes which flash fire. A282.1
• Seven worlds above and below. An angel upholds the seven worlds on his shoulders. Under him in turn are: rock, bull, fish, vast sea, air, fire, and serpent. A651.3.1
• Mark of her mother's hand to be seen on moon's shoulder. A751.5.3
• Earth from nut in devil's mouth. God throws a nut over his left shoulder. The devil catches it in his mouth. The nut grows rapidly and the devil spits it out. A835
• Atlas. A man supports the earth on his shoulders. A842
• Hills represent loads from culture-hero's shoulders. A962.10
• Why in addressing anyone the second plural should be used. A1599.5
• Ass has cross on shoulders from being struck by Balaam. (Cf. A2356.2.7.) A2239.6
• Why ass has cross on back (shoulders). (Cf. A2221.1, A2239.6.) A2356.2.7
• Snakes issue from dragon's shoulders. B11.2.7
• Birds as reporters of sights and sounds. Sit on Odin's shoulder and report what they see and hear. B122.2
• Bird rests on person's shoulders. B575.2
• Tabu: looking back over left shoulder. C331.1
• Tabu: touching old clothes. (Abandoned clothes should be thrown away.) C545.1
• Divination by shoulder-bone of sheep. (Cf. D1013.) D1311.10.1
• Four balls given to each of four impoverished men point out places where they should dig. (Cf. 1256.) D1314.14
• Dried root sprouts when planted to indicate spot where holy man should set up his abode. (Cf. D967.) D1314.15
• Magic drink causes arms to fall from shoulders. (Cf. D1040.) D1403.3
• Magic sight by looking over right shoulder. D1821.3.2
• Magic sight by looking at shoulder-bone of sheep. D1821.3.8
• Man with power to make everything freeze. Wears cap over ear. Should he wear it straight everything would freeze. D2144.1.2
• Fairies have breasts long enough to throw over their shoulders. F232.2
• Wood-nymph with breasts so long that she throws them over her shoulder. (Cf. F232.2, F460.1.2, G123.) F441.2.1.2
• Dwarf carries his knocked-off leg on his shoulder. F451.6.13
• Mountain-wife has breasts so long that she throws them over her shoulder. (Cf. F232.2, F441.2.1.2, F531.1.5.1, G123.) F460.1.2
• Armless people have legs growing from their shoulders. Use toes in place of fingers. F516.1.1
• Giantess throws her breasts over her shoulders. Her two sons can run after her and suck. F531.1.5.1
• Giant with three spans between brows and three yards between shoulders. F531.2.2
• Gospel-book hung from saint's shoulders without strap. F1011.1.1
• Giant ogress with breasts thrown over her shoulder. G123
• Witch with twisted tusks (reaching to her shoulders). G214.4
• Witch power acquired by standing on manure pile, swinging red lantern, looking over shoulder. G224.6
• At communion witches spit out wine over shoulder. G285.1
• Jinn unseen by anyone except person(s) he wishes should see him. G307.2.2
• Cross between shoulders as sign of royalty (nobility). H71.5
• Ring sent from husband to wife as token that he has been baptized, and that she should also be. H82.4
• Test: telling five lies which should so closely resemble the truth the tester will believe them himself. H509.5.1
• The full moon and the thirtieth of the month. Prince sends servant to clever girl with a round tart, thirty cakes, and a capon, and asks her if it is full moon and the thirtieth of the month and if the cock has crowed in the evening. She replies that it is not full moon, that it is the fifteenth of the month, and that the capon has gone to the mill; but that the prince should spare the pheasant for the partridge's sake. She thus shows him that the servant has stolen half the tart, half of the cakes, and the capon. H582.1.1
• Girl to king: Should it (the flood) come I shall not come; should it not come, I shall come. H583.10
• Boy says that travelers should catch the mares (walking sticks that are in the jungle). H586.8
• "A father should always check and never forgive; a mother should always forgive and never check." H588.19
• Task: lifting mountain. Countertask: placing it on my shoulders. H1149.9
• "Ruler should follow advice of majority" (not his own fancy): counsel proved wise by experience. Thus finds money on body of dead traveler. J21.35
• Lotus flower flourishes as long as it is in water: king should not leave castle. J97
• Wisdom from robbers (thugs) who disguise selves and show cruel princess how she should treat her husband. J178
• Earthen and brazen pots in river. Brazen pot thinks that they should stay together for company. Earthen pot, however, fears approach of brazen pot. J425.1
• One should not attempt to change his color. J511
• Animal should not try to change his nature. J512
• One should let well enough alone. J513
• One should not be too greedy. J514
• Thornbush blamed by fox for wounding him. He should have known better than to lay hold of something whose nature is to lay hold of others. J656.1
• Belling the cat. Mice decide that a bell should be put on the cat but can find no one to tie it on her. J671.1
• Man, lion, and bear in pit. Bear tells lion not to eat the man, since he would grow hungry again. Rather they should have the man use his intelligence to get them out. J685.1
• Judge should possess humility and modesty. J904
• Men not chosen for their ignorance; else he should have reached heaven. Upbraided for not knowing answer to question, man answers that he was chosen for his position because of what he knew, not of what he did not know. J911.1
• Gods help those who help themselves. Ox driver must put his shoulder to the wheel before Hercules will help him. J1034
• None should interrupt or leave the room while story is told: treachery revealed. J1177.0.1
• Killing the fly on the judge's nose. The judge has told the boy that he should kill a fly wherever he sees one. J1193.1
• God as a father-in-law. Nuns tell a man that they are daughters of God. "Come and marry me; I should like such a rich father-in-law." J1261.1.1
• Judgment Day a long way off. Thief told by monk that he must return stolen cloth on Judgment Day "If I have so long a period of grace, I should like to take the whole monastery." J1261.7
• Price of consecration. Bishop is paid 100 ova (eggs) instead of 100 oves (sheep) for consecrating man as priest. To bishop's protests the man answers, "You should have refused to consecrate me. If I had been worthy I should not have had to promise oves or ova." J1263.2.1
• The same company of fools. An abbot calls the monks together and asks, "Whom from all you fools can I appoint as steward?" A monk answers, "That should not be difficult since an abbot was found from the same company of fools." J1265.3
• The parson's share and the sexton's. During the sermon the parson bids the sexton see if anyone is coming. The sexton: "A man is coming with a wheel on his shoulder" J1269.1
• Do not leave it to your successor. A widow stops a ruler on his way to war. He may be killed and he should not leave the act of justice as a credit to his successor. J1284
• 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
• How many priests should one have in one place? How many fox tails will reach to heaven? All depends on the length of the tails. J1291.3
• Should have brought him drink. Drunkard's wife takes him when he is drunk to a tomb and, masking as a ghost brings him food. "If you had known me better you would have brought me drink." J1323
• A dog to scent the rice. Given very thin rice soup, wit inquires about the master's dogs. "He should have one to scent the rice in this soup." J1341.3
• 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
• Removing chance for worry. A king noticing that a student has stolen a capon, asks, "Does not the Bible say that you should not worry about tomorrow?" "Exactly. I was trying to remove all chance of worry tomorrow." J1396
• Cynic is asked if widower should remarry. "One who has just escaped from drowning should not return to sea." J1442.12
• Corpse to be cut in two for easy carrying. Husband who feigns death hears wife propose this. He upbraids her; she replies: "If you had really died I should have given myself up to be burnt." J1545.8
• Numskull shoots grasshopper which lighted on the shoulder of his friend and kills friend. J1833.1
• Rider takes the meal-sack on his shoulder to relieve the ass of his burden. J1874.1
• Fool at baths believes he is someone else. Sees everybody naked. Puts straw on his shoulder to identify himself. Straw floats to another bather. "You are me and I am you!" J2012.6
• Man searches for axe which he carries on his shoulder. J2025.1
• 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
• Swift when only a calf. A numskull who rides an ox to a tournament is ridiculed. He says, "He is swifter than a horse. You should have seen him run when he was only a calf." J2212.5
• The servant of God beaten. A man who says that he is the servant of so and so is treated with great consideration. His companion, who says that he is a servant of God is put to work. He cannot understand why God's servant should not be more important than the other. J2215.2
• Man honored above God: the dead hen. A fool finds a dead hen and cooks it and serves it for dinner. When reproached he says "How should it be unclean when God has killed it instead of men?" J2215.3
• God blamed for heavy rain. Since he is an old man he should have known that more rain was unwelcome. J2215.5
• What should I have done (said)? The mother teaches the boy (the man his wife) what he should say (do) in this or that circumstance. He uses the words in the most impossible cases and is always punished. J2461
• Literal numskull drags jar (bacon) on string. He has sent a pig home alone. Told that he should have led it by a string. J2461.1.1
• Literal numskull throws water on roasting pig. Told that he should have thrown water in the fire when the house burnt. J2461.1.3
• Literal numskull cuts peas into four parts. Told that he should have cut up the pancakes which he has eaten whole. J2461.1.4
• Literal fool strangles the hawk. On last trip he has lost the gloves and has been told that he should have put them in his bosom. He puts the hawk inside his shirt. J2461.1.5
• Literal fool carries the harrow in his hand. He has killed a sparrow by his stupidity and has been told that he should have carried it in his hand. J2461.1.6
• Literal numskull kisses a pig. Told that he should have kissed the old woman. J2461.2.1
• A lentil in the soup. You said you wished a lentil soup; so I put one in. If you had wished more lentils you should have said so. J2469.1
• "Cover with straw." Fool covers his mistress with straw and suffocates her. Should have thatched roof. J2489.8
• "Thank Fortune it wasn't a melon." Man contends that melons should not grow on slender vines but on tall trees. He is hit on the nose by a falling nut. Is thankful it wasn't a melon. J2571
• A beggar tells the bishop how to stay warm. For a gulden he tells him that he should wear all his clothes when he goes horseback in winter. K151
• Escape by falsely reporting one's ability to escape. "I should be caught if there were not an escape at the back." When the captors run to the rear, the captive escapes. K542
• Sham-dead man deceived into making gesture. Obeys suggestion as to how dead man should act and betrays himself. K607.3
• Husband hides in curtain to catch paramour. On entering, paramour threatens to kill husband if he should appear. K1514.4.2
• Gullible husband behind the tree. (Tristan and Isolt.) Husband goes to wife's love tryst and hides behind a tree. The wife, having learned of his presence, tells lover that he should not allow their innocent relations to lead to gossip. Husband is appeased. K1533
• Lover carried away on mistress's shoulders so that his footprints will not be visible in the snow. K1549.3
• Sham threat: if I were not a philosopher I should break your head for you. K1771.5
• Man hidden behind idol in temple tells robbers they will have good booty but should leave half of it in the temple. K1971.14