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

• God as thief. A177
• Lake bursts forth to drown thief. A920.1.3
• Why dog barks after thief. A2426.1.5
• Why wolf is thief. A2455.1
• Why swallow is thief. A2455.2
• Why raven is thief. Because he has none of ten commandments and carries a black stamp on his breast. A2455.3
• Why wolverine is a thief. A2455.5
• Thief lives alone with 20 cats that help him keep intruders away. B292.6.1
• Animals recover lost wishing ring. Grateful cat, dog, and snake compel mouse to steal it from thief. B548.1
• Tabus of a thief. C572
• Stolen magic object stolen back by helpful cat and dog. They steal the ring from the thief's mouth. D882.1.1
• Thief forced to vomit up stolen magic object. D884
• Divining rod points to house of thief. D1314.2.3
• Magic dice give warning. Tell their master, a thief, when to seek safety (Cf. D1284.) D1317.8
• Food sticks in thief's throat and betrays him. (Cf. D1030.) D1318.7.1.2
• Magic cloth betrays thief. Calls out, telling who is wearing it. D1318.8.1
• Witch (wizard) reveals name of thief. D1817.0.1.1
• Wizard compels thief to return stolen property. D1817.0.1.3
• Wizard compels thief to deliver stolen property in person to the owner. D1817.0.1.3.1
• Wizard shows form or shadow or picture of thief. (Cf. D1323.1, D1821.3.7.1.) D1817.0.1.4
• Wizard detects thief by trance. D1817.0.1.6
• Saint magically compels thief to return goods. D1817.2.2
• When certain thief coughs, watchmen become blind. D2062.2.6
• Return from the dead to capture thief. E235.7
• Return from the dead to warn thief that he will be punished. E236.3
• Ghost scares thief, prevents theft. E293.1
• Return from dead to prevent flight of thief. E375
• Brownie restores stolen property, gives thief a twitch in eyelid. F482.5.4.2
• Skillful thief. (Cf. K301.) F676
• Thief can eat from man's plate during dinner without detection. F676.1
• Thief can cut soles off man's boots without detection as he walks along road. F676.2
• Devil helps person to steal. When thief blesses himself he is forsaken by the devil. (Cf. K365.) G303.22.6
• Thief detected by psalter and key. Closed Bible with key inside at magic text loosely held by diviner and client. Name of suspected thief on end of key. As verse is spoken, if name is that of thief, book and key will turn around. H251.3.2
• Thief detected by sieve and shears. Sieve put on open shears and then grasped by two fingers so as to balance. Charm recited. If sieve trembles when name is called, that person is guilty. H251.3.3
• Stick with money in it breaks and betrays thief who swears his innocence. H251.3.4
• Arrested farmer tells who he is: one son is thief (priest), second beggar (teacher), and third murderer (doctor). H581.4
• Task: discovering ring-thief. H1199.9.1
• King tests gardener's obedience by playing thief. H1557.6
• "Do not trust the over-holy": counsel proved wise by experience. Wife so modest she will not travel with husband (adulteress); priest so pious he will not tread on worm (thief). J21.18
• Cow-herd looking for cattle thief recognizes him in the lion. Desists. J561.2
• When the sweet fails try the bitter. Man pleads with thief who is stealing his figs. When pleading fails he brings him down from tree with stones. (Cf. J1581.2, T251.5.) J1088
• "Thief has grease from stolen fowl on him": thief begins to feel his beard and is detected. J1141.1.2
• "Thief has the feathers sticking on his head": guilty woman immediately passes her hand over her head. J1141.1.5
• Thief persuaded detective can read thoughts: confesses. (Cf. N275.) J1141.1.9
• Queen flogs suspects telling them to produce stolen gem: thief promises to do so. J1141.1.10
• Confession induced by bringing an unjust action against accused. False message to thief's wife to send the stolen jewel case as bribe to the judge. She does. J1141.4
• Thief's money scales borrowed. A man buries gold and a thief steals it. The owner detects the criminal. He takes some money to the thief and borrows money scales "to weigh so as to bury with the other". The thief decides that he is detected and hastens to return the stolen money. J1141.6
• Thief suspected of crawling through hole must take off clothes. He is full of scratches and confesses. J1141.7
• Confession obtained by making thief fear for his life. (Told that crossbow would shoot guilty person as he passed before it.) J1141.10
• Minister threatens divine punishment to thief in congregation. The thief confesses. J1141.14
• The thief is tricked into revealing himself in church. J1141.15
• The thief is tricked into betraying himself in supposed ordeal. J1141.16
• Thief's corpse carried through street to see who will weep for him. J1142.4
• Mother's weeping for thief made to seem natural. J1142.4.1
• Woman breaks milk jars so that weeping for thief will seem natural. J1142.4.1.2
• Thief detected by building straw fire so that smoke escapes through thief's entrance. The secret hole into the building is thus discovered and the thief caught. J1143
• Animal thief of eggs detected when he comes to a spring to drink. All animals must tell why they are thirsty. J1144.2
• Detection of guilt by smile. Buried money is stolen from blind man. Latter has boy watch and notify him when passerby smiles at him. The smiler is the thief. J1149.5
• Thief detected by his answer to question. "How would you treat a woman who came into your possession?" Answer: "I would use her and then give her to the servants." This reveals his true character. J1149.6
• Thief posing as corpse detected by pricking soles of his feet. J1149.7
• Magistrate detects thief's complicity by associating cut hand with companion's severed head. J1149.8
• Thief makes it fall out that he has but taken what has been given him (he has followed literal instructions). J1161.11
• Story told to discover thief. Judge tells story of the lady, her husband, her lover, and the robbers (H1552.1). Which was the most generous? Witness says that robber was. This shows that he has robber's point of view. J1177
• Story told to discover thief: sundry tales. J1177.1
• Plaintiff in court beats thief since he had not warned him ahead of time to have witnesses to robbery. Judge has refused to inquire for lack of witnesses. J1191.6
• Clever thief may keep booty. He has seen his victim in a disgraceful position and is allowed the booty as a price for his silence. J1211.2
• The drunken officer's stolen mantle. Thief confronted by the officer tells all the circumstances of the drunkenness (with many shameful additions). The officer denies the ownership. J1211.2.1
• Thief exposes owner's unjust claim. J1213
• Complaint about the stolen ox. A thief steals a calf and keeps the hide. The owner makes a hue and cry about a stolen ox. The thief produces the calfhide: "You thief, to demand an ox for a calf!" J1213.1
• Priest may eat communion supper. Thief about to be hanged is told that if he truly repents he will eat Lord's Supper in heaven. "If that is true, won't you eat the supper for me; I'll reward you well." J1261.2.3
• Priest bringing Host to dying man sees thief on his fig tree. Shouts vituperations at him. J1261.2.6
• 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
• Earthen cups replaced by golden. Emperor: "God is a thief; he threw Adam into a sleep and then stole a rib from him." Emperor's daughter: "Would you call a man a thief who stole two earthen cups from you and replaced them by golden ones?" J1262.1
• Against his will. A thief condemned to the gallows tells the king, "I do what you do and it is against my will." King: "You shall also be hanged against your will." J1285
• Thief serves king buffaloes he has killed in hunt and lost; thus reproaches king's wastefulness. J1289.15
• Thief makes a lame excuse. J1391
• Thief's excuse: the big wind. Vegetable thief is caught in a garden. Owner: How did you get into the garden? A wind blew me in. How were the vegetables uprooted? If the wind is strong enough to blow me in, it can uproot them. How did they get into your bag? That is what I was just wondering. J1391.1
• The ladder market. A thief climbs over a wall by means of his ladder. When caught in the garden he says that he is a seller of ladders. Owner: "Is this a ladder market?" "Can't one sell ladders everywhere?" J1391.2
• Owner assists thief. J1392
• Thief followed home. A thief ransacks a man's house and departs. The man gathers together the rest of his belongings and tracks the thief. Comes to the thief's door. Thief: "What do you want with me?" "What, isn't this the house we set out for?" J1392.1
• Owner laughs at thief who finds nothing in house. J1392.4
• Bridegroom promises thief spoils later if he will not interfere with wedding. J1392.5
• Night study. A thief having scorned Demosthenes for his constant study, the latter says, "I know that you have not failed to notice that I study much at night." J1394.1
• Was going to give it to him any way. Thus a hunter answers a thief who steals his hare. J1395
• Compliments from the hangman. A man complimented a hangman on the good job he had done in hanging a thief. The hangman takes off his hat: "One thief I hang, to the other I take off my hat." J1398
• The Lord has Risen. A parson hides his money in a holy place and leaves a sign, "The Lord is in this Place." A thief takes the money and leaves a sign, "He is risen and is no longer here" J1399.1
• Deduction: one-eyed, long-bearded thief is named Kale Khan. J1661.1.8
• Clever deduction of wise man: the theft of a cauldron detected. Cauldron has been buried in river. Thief has no taste of salt on his body: he must have been immersed in fresh water recently. J1661.1.10
• Thief mistakes leopard for calf (ass). J1758.4
• Thief thinks lion is horse. Rides him. J1758.5.1
• Shadow mistaken for thief: is beaten. J1790.2
• Simpleton thinks his reflection in jar of melted butter is thief; strikes at the jar and breaks it. J1791.7.1
• Numskull thief thinks snoring sleeper is asking for food. J1812.5.1
• Thief punishes the escaped ox. An ox strays on the rascal's land but escapes from him. The next week he sees the ox yoked up and gives him a beating. The master is astonished. The rascal: "Let me alone; he knows well enough what he has done." J1861
• In Passion Play the Christ says, "I am thirsty"; the thief on the left speaks up, "I too." J2041.1
• Seller advises buyer that cow is a thief. J2088.2
• Thief warned what not to steal. The numskull tells the thief where his door-key, his cakes, and his roasts are and warns him not to steal them. J2091
• Fool hides treasure and leaves sign "Here it is." Thief leaves sign "Here it is not." J2091.1
• Careless thief caught. J2136.5
• Thief stops to admire beautiful things before stealing them. Caught. J2136.5.1