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

• God as dupe or trickster. A177.1
• Culture hero as dupe or trickster. A521
• Trickster sticks spear in ground and leads water to sea, ending deluge. A1028.1
• Why wild duck has red eyes. Dances for trickster. A2332.5.7
• Trickster's burnt flesh becomes gum on trees. A2731.1
• Blinded trickster directed by trees. He asks them their names and by their answers he can tell where he is. (Cf. D950.) D1313.4
• Animals killed by trickster's breaking wind. F981.3
• Brother-Dead. Trapper of game; silent; pursues trickster. G323
• Task: eating room-full of salt. (Trickster eats only a pinch. "He who has eaten with a friend as much salt as I have eaten and does not recognize the friendship will not do so though he eat ten rooms full of salt.") H1141.3
• Trickster overhears man praying for death to take him; the trickster appears at man's house, usually in disguise, says he is God (or the devil). The man tells him to take his wife (or he runs away). (Compare C11 for a similar situation in which Death appears.) J217.0.1.1
• Illegitimate daughter of trickster inherits father's ability to dupe others. J1111.2
• Animal as trickster. J1117
• Jackal as trickster. J1117.1
• Coyote as trickster. J1117.2
• Witness claims the borrowed coat: discredited. Trickster summoned to court on Jew's complaint refuses to go unless he has a new coat: Jew lends him his. In court the trickster says that the Jew is a liar: "He will even claim that I am wearing his coat." The Jew does so and no one believes him. J1151.2
• The laughing ass. King has trickster's horse's tail cut off. Trickster retaliates by cutting off part of upper lip of king's ass. At trial the animals are brought forth. Everyone laughs at the ass. Trickster: "If everyone laughs at the ass, how could the ass help laughing at her companion without a tail?" Freed. J1169.5
• To be beaten by deceiver of husband. Lady has her women ready to give a trickster a beating. He is allowed to make one request. The one who has most often deceived her husband shall strike first. J1182.1
• Error was in the honey. Trickster takes jar filled with earth but with honey on top as bribe to the judge. He takes the decision in writing. Cheat is discovered and judge sends message that an error has been made. Reply: the decision was right; the error is in the honey. (Cf. J1176.3.) J1192.2
• Dividing two sheep and a ram: trickster to divide with two friends. You two take one sheep; the ram and I will take the other. J1241.1
• Dividing three fish among two men. Fools submit problem to trickster who solves problem by taking third fish himself. J1241.3
• Dividing the eggs: one man's hand in the pot at a time. Trickster alternates hands so fast that the other man never gets to put his hand in. He finally puts his foot in the pan. J1241.5
• Trickster chooses his gift. To be rewarded by ruler with a coin, an ass, a sheep, or a vineyard. Answers that he will take the coin, mount the ass, drive the sheep into the vineyard, and there pray for the ruler. J1282
• Gem offered by monarch to one who can first go around the kingdom. Trickster goes around king and says king is kingdom. J1289.14
• How he would act if he were a hawk. A hawk steals a piece of liver from a trickster and flies away with it. The trickster likewise steals some liver from another man and escapes to a high place with it. He says that he is seeing how he would act if he were a hawk. J1391.4
• Trickster artist hoodwinks king: cuckold's eyes cannot see picture. King pretends to see the picture. Courtiers reveal that there is no picture. J1492
• The shoes carried into the tree. Tricksters induce a numskull to climb a tree, planning to steal his shoes. He takes them in his belt with him. "Perhaps I shall find a nearer road home up there and shall need my shoes." J1521.1
• Dream answered by dream. Priests misinterpret raja's dream and get his horses. Trickster advises raja to announce dream demanding cauterization of the priests. They return horses. J1527
• Clothes thrown into the cooking food. A trickster when told that food cooking is clothes being boiled retaliates by throwing his dirty hose into the pot. J1561.1
• Trickster's interrupted feast revenged. He is asked a question by his master each time he tries to eat a date, so that he always has to spit out the date. He revenges himself that night when the master tries to carry on an intrigue with his wife's maid. He comes with his answers at embarrassing moments. J1564.1
• Any boon desired. Stingy king insists on trickster asking any boon desired. By asking king to perform disgusting act, trickster compels king to give expensive gift. J1593
• Foolish demon sees his reflection in trickster's mirror and is convinced he has been captured. J1795.1
• Trickster joins bulrushes in a dance. He thinks they are dancing when he sees them waving. J1883
• The remodelled stork. A trickster cuts off the bill and legs of a stork to make him look more like a real bird. J1919.1
• Trickster puts on buffalo skull: gets head caught. J2131.5.1
• Trickster eats scratch-berries. Cause great itching. J2134.1
• Trickster eats medicines that physic him. J2134.2
• Trickster gets caught on a fishhook. J2136.2
• Trickster pinched by shellfish (crab). J2136.4
• Sleeping trickster's feast stolen. Before eating his booty the numskull sleeps. J2173.1
• Trickster travels while fish cook: they burn up. J2173.7
• Trickster's false creations fail him. A trickster creates men from his excrements (or the like). They melt in the sun. J2186
• Dream explained as a dead father's demand for horses. Dupe gives them to trickster. J2326.2
• The eye-juggler. A trickster sees a man throwing his eyes into the air and replacing them. He also receives this power but he must not use the power beyond a specified number of times. When he does so, he loses his eyes. He usually gets animal eyes as substitutes. J2423
• The sharpened leg. A trickster sees a man with a sharpened leg. He also receives the power of sharpening his leg without harm if he will use it but four times. He breaks the tabu and is left with his leg sticking in a tree. J2424
• The bungling host. A trickster (animal) visits various animals who display their peculiar powers in obtaining food (often magic). He returns the invitation and tries to provide food in similar ways. He fails and usually has a narrow escape from death. (Cf. J2411.3.) J2425
• Foolish bride gives away dowry. While her parents are away from home, a matchmaker and a suitor come to the foolish girl. By following her mother's advice literally, she gives away her dower to the tricksters. J2463.1
• Trickster's greed while hunting causes him to be deserted. J2751
• Race won by deception: relative helpers. One of the contestants places his relatives (or others that resemble him) in the line of the race. The opponent always thinks the trickster is just ahead of him. (Told of animals or of men; often of the hare and the turtle.) K11.1
• Race won by deception: sham-sick trickster. The trickster feigns lameness and receives a handicap in the race. He then returns and eats up the food which is the prize. K11.5
• Diving match won by deception: breathing under brush. Trickster comes up and breathes under some floating brush, where he is not detected. K16.1
• Diving match: trickster eats food while dupe is under water. K16.2
• Throwing contest: trickster shouts. He is trying to warn the people beyond the sea with his cry. The ogre is intimidated. (Cf. K12.1.) K18.1
• Throwing contest: trickster addresses Angel Gabriel. Offers him the ogre's cane. The ogre is intimidated. K18.1.1
• Throwing contest: trickster addresses Angel Gabriel or St. Peter, warns him to get out of way of missile trickster is about to throw. K18.1.2
• Throwing contest: golden club on the cloud. Trickster shows the ogre the club he has thrown. (Really only a bright spot on the cloud.) (Cf. K1746.) K18.2
• Contest in squeezing water from a stone. The ogre squeezes a stone; the trickster a cheese or egg. K62
• Contest with magician in bringing grain out of closed bamboo: trickster brings culm-borers to make holes. K69.1
• Deceptive contest in carrying a tree: riding. The trickster has the dupe carry the branches of a tree while he carries the trunk. He rides on the trunk. K71
• Deceptive eating contest: relative helpers. Trickster wins with the aid of substitutes. (Cf. K82.2.) K81.2
• Deceptive drinking contest: hole for water. The trickster lets the water run out through a hole; the dupe drinks himself to death. (Cf. K81.1.) K82.1
• 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
• Trickster, as watchman, exchanges worthless bag for bag of gold at night. K126
• The horse swifter than the rain. Caught in the rain, a trickster finds that his horse will not budge. He undresses, puts his clothes under the horse's belly and keeps them dry. When he reaches the king, he reports that his horse has run so fast that he has had no time to get wet. The king buys the horse. K134.2
• Trickster grooms master's old mule and then sells him back without detection at huge profit. K134.3
• Trickster in disguise regains possession of his own horse by trading with man whom he has duped once before. K134.4
• Trickster temporarily lames valuable horse and buys him for trifle. K134.8
• Trickster feigns ability to influence the sun; sells services. Sun to shine on fools' backs as they go to town in morning and return in afternoon. K154
• Trickster persuades dupe to sacrifice animal and give it to him as payment for supposed services. K158
• Deceptive sacrifice of nuts and dates. Trickster sacrifices only the shells of the nuts and the inside of the dates. K171.3.1
• Deceptive division of pigs: curly and straight tails. All with curly tails belong to the trickster, others to the dupe. K171.4
• Deceptive division of animals for shearing. The trickster shears the sheep; the dupe the pig. K171.5
• Anger bargain. The trickster makes a bargain with his master that the first to become angry must submit to punishment. He thereupon heaps abuses on his master till the latter breaks out in anger and must take his punishment. K172
• Deceptive bargain: as much bread as he wants to eat. The baker fixes his price at the rate for twenty loaves. The trickster eats thirty. K173
• Deceptive bargain: a sack of corn as reward. Trickster has an enormous sack made. K174
• Deceptive bargain: as much grain as will go in a rope. Trickster encloses whole crop. K174.1
• Deceptive bargain: first to say "Good morning." The first to give the greeting shall have the disputed property. The trickster is early on the scene and witnesses the other's adultery. He may keep the property without saying good morning. K176
• Deceptive bargain: felling the tree. The ogre and the trickster agree to fell a large tree. The trickster purposely dulls his axe on a stone and then asks the ogre to exchange. Rather than work with a dull axe, the ogre does all the work. K178
• Trickster lends bamboo on condition that it is returned exactly as it is. K196.3
• Mutual agreement to sacrifice family members in famine. Trickster refuses to carry out his part of the bargain. K231.1.1
• Mutual agreement to divide food. Trickster eats other's food and then refuses to divide his own. K231.1.2
• Milk bought on credit poured into one container. The trickster buys it from various women. After it is all poured together he says that each may have her own back. K231.6.1
• Trickster gets strong drink by trickery in returning goods. K231.6.2
• Trickster returns a bottle of water instead of the bottle of rum he has just purchased. K231.6.2.1
• Trickster fills his gallon jug half full of water, then has it filled with rum at the store. When seller refuses credit, he pours back half gallon of the liquid – now half rum and half water. Sometimes trickster repeats operation, getting richer mixture with each transaction. K231.6.2.2
• Trickster cheats by pretending deafness. Palm rat, when asked to throw down nuts according to bargain, replies that he is deaf when eating. K231.15
• Trickster escapes without paying. K233
• Boots made by two cobblers. Trickster sends one of each pair back to be stretched, leaves town with pair of boots made up of the remaining boots. K233.3
• Trickster summons all creditors at once, precipitates fight, and escapes payment. K234
• Trickster disguises himself and escapes notice of creditors. K237
• The castration bargain: wife sent. The trickster castrates the dupe and is to come the next day and be castrated himself. He sends his wife as substitute. K241
• The eaten grain and the cock as damages. A trickster has only a grain of corn; this is eaten by a cock, which he demands and receives as damages. Likewise when a hog eats the cock and the ox eats the hog. K251.1
• Trickster demands return of food guest has just eaten: gets damages. K251.2
• Damages claimed for loss of a charm. Princess lets trickster's fly (alleged to be a charm) escape. K251.3
• Trickster eats sacrifice offerings. K254.2
• Trickster steals farmer's cow and then sells her to the farmer. K258.1
• The price of a lump of gold. A trickster asks a goldsmith what he would pay for a lump of gold of a certain size. Believing that the man has such a lump, the goldsmith pays him a large sum. K261
• Agreement not to scratch. In talking the trickster makes gestures and scratches without detection. K263
• Deceptive wager: whose horse will jump highest. The trickster has his worthless horse jump out the window. The duke will not let his run the risk. K264.1
• Trickster sells what is not his to sell. K282
• Man contracts for load of hay on the road (without making any payment), orders the seller to deliver it at a certain inn. He then goes to the inn, sells the hay to the innkeeper, and pockets the money. The owner of the hay delivers it at the inn, tries to collect at the inn; the trickster absconds. K282.1