63 motifs match “telling”  ·  back to the chapters

• Plant punished for tale-telling. A2726
• Curse of tale-telling banana affects all others. A2726.1
• Truth-telling animals. B130
• Truth-telling owl. B131.0.1
• Truth-telling ass (mule). B133.0.1
• Truth-telling dog. B134
• Truth-telling dog tells of incest. B134.1.1
• Truth-telling cat. B135
• Truth-telling deer. B136
• Truth-telling dog killed so as to hide murder. B339.1
• Tabu: telling children about lake monster. C423.6
• Tabu: chief being in ale-house when there is no story-telling. C564.1
• Telling tales except at certain time of year (or day). De Vries Het Sprookje 49. C755.2
• Tabu: telling adventure in otherworld too soon. C757.2
• Truth-telling voice in wall warns against poisoned food. D1317.4.1
• Magic cloth betrays thief. Calls out, telling who is wearing it. D1318.8.1
• Fortune-telling dream induced by sleeping in extraordinary place (position). D1812.3.3.2
• Tabu: telling of fairy gifts; the gifts cease. F348.7
• Recognition through story-telling. Telling of a story known to both persons concerned brings about recognition. H11
• Recognition by telling life history. H11.1
• Test: telling true stories. H252.0.1
• Test: telling skillful lie. H509.5
• Test: telling five lies which should so closely resemble the truth the tester will believe them himself. H509.5.1
• Test of magic powers: telling sex of unborn goat. H1576.1
• Monk shames accuser by telling parable. Wind, Water, and Modesty (Sense of Shame). The first two give their addresses but the third says she has no address as no one wants her. J91
• Man rebukes servants for telling him of his wife's unfaithfulness. J221.1.2
• Intemperate zeal in truth-telling. J551
• Man asked to tell truth says that his host, his hostess, and the cat have but three eyes between them. He is driven off for his truth telling. J551.4
• Dissuasion from suicide. Man dissuades simpleton from hanging himself by telling him that hell is a place of pain and torments. J628
• Queen flogs suspects telling them to produce stolen gem: thief promises to do so. J1141.1.10
• Execution escaped by story-telling. Cf. Browning's "Balaustion's Adventure." J1185
• 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
• Putting out of countenance by telling evil stories. J1211
• Rebuke for telling a poor and long-winded story. J1223
• Skeleton has all his ribs. Indian examines skeleton of man at museum, finds there is no rib missing, concludes that ministers have deceived him in telling him the story of Adam. J1262.8
• Hungry apprentice attracts master's attention by telling lies on him. J1341.5
• Hungry student gets meat. By telling a mewing cat that it could not yet have the bones because no meat has been served him, a collegian calls attention to an oversight on the part of a servant. J1341.10
• Woman repulses ugly husband's advances. He placates her by telling her that he wants a handsome child. J1541.3
• Inhospitable host punished for hospitality. An abbot has his innkeeper treat his guests with the most shameful neglect. A guest retaliates by telling the abbot that he has been very sumptuously entertained. The innkeeper is discharged. J1561.2
• Numskull (female devil) thinks her pubic hair has been telling her lies and pulls it out together with the skin. J1842.1
• Names of dogs literally interpreted. The names are "The Shepherd" and "Get the stick". When the man calls his dogs to dinner, the thief thinks that he is telling the shepherd to get a stick. J2493
• Telling their horses apart. One fool docks the tail of his horse; the horse of the second gets tail caught in gate, is docked too. One notches ear of his horse; the second horse notches its ear on the fence. Finally they measure heights of their horses. The black horse is two inches taller than the white. J2722
• Virtue of oracular pill proved. The dupe takes it. "It is dog's dung," he says and spits it out. The trickster says that he is telling the truth and demands pay. K114.3.1
• Blind beggar overheard telling that his money is kept in a stick. Thief exchanges sticks. K333.4
• Trickster buys chickens telling owner that priest will pay. When owner comes to collect, the trickster tells the priest that a heretic has come for confession. Then he flees. (Cf. K242.1.) K455.4.1
• Jackal escapes by telling farmer he is jackal king and will call upon his subjects. K547.4
• Frog escapes after telling crow to sharpen his bill before eating him. K561.1.2
• Man gets bear off guard by telling her to listen for hunters: kills her. K832.4
• Lover's gift regained: borrowing from the husband and returning to the wife. The lover borrows money from the husband with which to corrupt the wife, later telling the husband that the money was returned to the wife during the husband's absence. K1581.3
• Woman frightens robber away by telling him parrot's cry is husband's voice. K1796
• 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
• Telling a story to allay a woman's amorous desires. K2111.0.1
• Heaven entered by trick: angel tricked by drink into telling woman how to enter. K2371.1.6
• The choice of roads. At parting of three roads are equivocal inscriptions telling what will happen if each is chosen. Brothers each choose a different road. N122.0.1
• Frog removed from queen's nose by telling such interesting story that she gives quick breath and dislodges him. N641.2
• Hosts refrain from telling guest of death in household. P323
• Belfagor. The devil frightened by the shrewish wife. A man persuades his shrewish wife to let herself be lowered into a well. When he comes to pull her out he raises a genie (devil) who is glad to escape from the woman. Later he frightens the devil by telling him that his wife has escaped. T251.1.1
• Devil flees shrewish wife and enters body of a duke. Exorcised by telling him that they are sending for his wife. T251.1.1.1
• Tattoo on newly born baby's back telling who was his former incarnation. T563.4
• Man hears voice telling him to leave danger spot in mine. V542
• The deaf man with the bird in the tree. A traveller asks the way and the man keeps telling him about the bird he has caught. (The questions and answers often rhyme.) X111.8
• Beggar frightens lawyer into giving by telling him of all the lawyers in hell. X312
• Catch tales. The manner of the telling forces the hearer to ask a particular question, to which the teller returns a ridiculous answer. Z13