43 motifs match “tails”  ·  back to the chapters

• Men are monkeys who have lost their tails. A1224.5.1
• Why men lack tails. A1319.2
• Stick (leaf) thrown at animal's rump: hence tails. (Cf. A2378.3.3.) A2215.1
• Hare runs away at creation; almost loses tail. When, as the most timid of all beasts, he runs away, God throws a tail at him from a pile of tails. (Cf. A2378.4.1.) A2215.2
• Devil pulls off goats' tails: hence lack tails. (Cf. A2378.2.2.) A2216.2
• Beaver and muskrat exchange tails. A2247.6
• Pegs driven into backs of baboons become tails. (Cf. A2378.9.2, A2378.1.1.) A2262.2
• God changes color (tails) of devil's cows. Devil makes all animals of same color (or all tailless). When God makes them of different colors (or with tails) devil no longer recognizes them. (Cf. A2378.1.) A2286.2.4
• How goats lost tails. (Cf. A2216.2.) A2378.2.2
• How frogs lost tails. (Cf. A2231.4, A2236.3.) A2378.2.3
• Why baboons have crooked tails. (Cf. A2262.2.) A2378.9.2
• Leopard with nine tails. B15.7.7
• Wolf-tail blankets. Wolves shelter man with their tails. B538.2
• Magic plantain causes four tails to grow. (Cf. D965.11.) D1375.4.1.1
• Forgotten fiancée. Young husband visiting his home breaks tabu and forgets his wife. Later she succeeds in reawakening his memory. (For details of the ways in which the memory is lost and regained see D2004 and D2006. D2003
• Fairies plait manes and tails of horses. F366.2.1
• Huldra-women have cow's tails. (Cf. F232.8, F518, F531.1.6.14.) F460.1.5
• Men with tails on their hands. F515.3
• Persons with tails. F518
• Giantess with a tail (many tails). F531.1.6.14
• Witch with fifteen tails. G219.8.1
• Test of sensitiveness. (For details see F647.) H1571
• Jackal and leopard tie tails together for mutual protection. Frightened, they run apart and injure each other. J681.1.1
• Tailless fox tries in vain to induce foxes to cut off tails. J758.1
• Tailless jackal persuades other jackals to cut off tails. J758.1.2
• Witness discredited by inability to tell details. (Cf. J1153.1.) J1154
• Parrot unable to tell husband details as to wife's infidelity. Wife has parrot describe a storm very realistically. Husband observes contrast in the two tales. (Cf. J1152.) J1154.1
• 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
• How can an elephant eat, having tails at both ends? Decision: it lives on air. J1903.4
• Fool cuts off tails of oxen so that they will look like fine steeds. J1919.4
• Quarrel and fight over details of air-castles. J2060.1
• Fool admits crime but pleads mistakes in the details of the accusation. J2499.3
• Deceptive division of pigs: curly and straight tails. All with curly tails belong to the trickster, others to the dupe. K171.4
• Tails in ground. Thief steals animals and sticks severed tails into the ground, claiming that animals have escaped underground. K404.1
• Stolen sheep's tails severed and put in tree. Owner made to believe that they have escaped through the air. K404.3
• Overlooking the insult. Man consoles daughter whose husband is dying by telling her he has picked another husband for her. She feels insulted. No sooner does her husband die than she asks her father for details. K2052.4.3
• Fire tied to foxes' tails: destroys enemy's cities and fields. K2351.1.1
• Wild horses with bags containing stones tied to their tails, driven into enemy's camp to cause stampede. K2351.6
• Punishment: drawing at the tails of horses. (Cf. S117.) Q416.2.1
• Horses mutilated: tails cut off and manes torn off with the skin in order to humiliate their owner. (Cf. J1169.5.) S175
• Tails fall off mountain spirits when they are baptized. V81.2
• Two wolves eat each other up so that only tails are left. X1204.1
• Lie: roast hens fly, heads to sky, tails to ground. X1208.2