56 motifs match “sleeps”  ·  back to the chapters

• Goddess sleeps on bed of snakes. A155.6
• Hare sleeps with open eyes as defense. A2461.1
• Why bat sleeps by day. (Cf. A2236.3.) A2491.1.1
• The Bird Gam. Throws sand in a stream and makes a lake. Appears at turn of century. Also carries men. Leaps into the sea and sleeps. B31.2
• Snake attaches itself to a woman's breast and draws away her milk while she sleeps. B765.4.1
• Sheep sleeps if anyone ties shoe to its ear. B782
• Magic grass produces love when girl sleeps on it. (Cf. D965.12) Icelandic: Boberg. D1355.21
• Lover's magic sleep at rendezvous. A lover (husband) is to meet his mistress but magically oversleeps. D1972
• Revenant sleeps in same bed with living but without contact. E472
• Revenant lies down and sleeps. E568
• Person never sleeps. F564
• Person of diabolical origin never sleeps. F564.1
• Semi-supernatural person sleeps little. F564.2
• Person sleeps for three days and nights. F564.3.2
• King sleeps for six days and acquires after that magic wisdom. F564.3.3
• Person sleeps for nine months. F564.3.4
• Spirit woman sleeps through whole year; eats through the next. F564.3.5
• Man sleeps with one eye and one ear open. F564.4
• Man so old he sleeps in cradle. F571.4
• Genie sleeps with eyes open. G634
• Riddle: deaths from sleepiness, anger, and greed. Elephant sleeps before snake's hole. Snake bites elephant and kills it. Jackal eats hole in elephant and is caught inside. Snake can't get out of its hole. H803
• "He who lies awake gains; he who sleeps loses": counsel proved wise by experience. J21.41.3
• Literal penance: boy outwits pope. For three years not to drink wine, not to lie in bed, nor sleep with a prostitute. He goes to a convent, sleeps on eider down, and sleeps with the nuns. (God's daughters). When the pope condemns him he says he will go to his brother-in-law (Christ: he has wedded God's daughters). (Cf. J1764.5.) J1161.5
• Dead mistaken for the living. Man with abhorrence for corpse sleeps with one thinking it alive. (Cf. H1410.) J1769.2.1
• Did the calf eat the man? A fool, liking the shoes on the feet of a man hanged on a gallows, cuts off the swollen feet in order to carry off the shoes. In the room in which he sleeps that night is a newborn calf. The next morning the man takes the shoes but leaves the feet. Peasants agree that the calf has eaten the man all but the feet. They burn the house to destroy the calf. J1815
• Man takes mirror to bed to see whether he sleeps with his mouth open. J1936.1
• White man made to believe that he is a negro. Sleeps with a negro. His friends blacken him during the night. When he is waked up, he complains that they have waked the wrong man. J2013.1
• Sleeping trickster's feast stolen. Before eating his booty the numskull sleeps. J2173.1
• Fool sleeps so as to avoid idleness. J2243
• Fools believe sun sleeps at certain woman's house. J2272.3
• Hare and tortoise race: sleeping hare. In a race between the fast and the slow animal, the fast animal sleeps on the road and allows the slow animal to pass him. K11.3
• Pig and dog as plowmen. Pig plows while dog sleeps. Then dog runs back and forth in furrow to claim victory. K41.2
• Contest in seeing sunrise first: sleeper wins. One keeps awake, the other sleeps. The first thinks that he sees the sun and cries out prematurely, thus waking the other, who wins. K52.2
• Not to sleep for three successive nights. The sleepy man: "I am just thinking, that on earth there are more crooked trees than straight ones ... more hills than plains ... more water than land ..." The devil goes to ascertain these things, meanwhile the man sleeps. Unsuccessful imitation by another man. K216.3
• Goods stolen while owner sleeps. K331
• Worthless object (animal) substituted for valuable while owner sleeps. K331.3
• Thief advises that new cloth be hung in the open overnight. Steals it while owner sleeps. K343.2.2
• Thief claims to have been transformed into an ass. While the owner sleeps the thief steals his horse, hitches himself to the wagon, and claims that he is the horse transformed into a man. K403
• Color of devil's cows changed while he sleeps so that he does not know them. Only those not changed (all black, all red, etc.) belong to the devil. K483
• Women bind warrior's hair to wall of hostel while he sleeps. K713.1.8
• Dupe sleeps on the "king's bed": falls into well beneath and dies. K1078
• Fox sleeps with tiger's wife by giving her deceptive message from her mate. K1354.2.3
• Transformed person sleeps before girl's door, at foot of bed, in the bed. Is disenchanted upon admission to the bed. K1361.1
• Adulteress together with lover while husband sleeps. K1514.17
• Hero sleeps during the first part of battle and emerges only later. K2378.5
• Officer comes accidentally to the same building where the fugitive sleeps. N618
• Princess kisses ugly poet while he sleeps. Kisses not the ugly face but the divine mouth. Q88.2
• During rainy spring, farmer wishes that Lord would sleep till harvest time. Farmer himself sleeps until all neighbors have finished harvesting. When he wakes, he finds his crops ruined. (Cf. Q235.) Q585.3
• Son takes mother to woods and tries to burn her up while she sleeps. S112.7
• Girl sleeps in garden to meet lover. Discovered next morning and married. T36
• Saint sleeps with maidens without sinning. Another saint, who doubts fact, undergoes same test and perceives its efficacy. T331.7
• Boy sleeps between couple to safeguard their virtue. T352
• Young man sleeps on girl's mat without touching her to signify his desire. T356
• Virgin Mary reproves a monk who sleeps at altar. V5.1
• Ascetic cleric sleeps (prays) with wet sheet (mantle) about him. V462.5.1.2
• Ascetic cleric sleeps on stone. V462.5.2