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

• Creator tries to devour his son, the culture hero. A71
• All countries burned while the wife of sun god pours fire from a small bowl. A1031.4.1
• Why the Haidas surpass in certain industries. A1673.1
• Devil produces animals only in God's name. He tries unsuccessfully without using God's name. A1756
• Flies on the ark. Noah tries to keep them out. Devil says that either the flies go in or he does. Noah chooses the lesser of two evils. Later the devil slips in nevertheless. A2031.2
• Shrew blows nose into snout. Sent after fire, he finds but a little which he tries to revive by hard blowing. A2211.5
• Nit tries to bore through man's head: must remain at edge of hair. (Cf. A2433.5.1.) A2236.6
• Why certain animals are absent from countries. A2434.2
• Why animals live in certain countries. A2434.3
• Blood from wizard becomes red grain of cedar. Bleeding head of wizard who tries to kill the sun placed on top of a tree. (Cf. A2755.1.) A2731.3
• Faithful falcon killed through misunderstanding. Tries to warn the king against drinking water poisoned by snake. B331.1
• Faithful horse killed through misunderstanding. Tries to warn king against drinking water poisoned by snake. B331.1.1
• Horns call out when girl tries to escape. (Cf. D1011.1.) D1612.1.1
• Lotus disappears whenever anyone tries to pluck it. (Cf. D975.1.) D1641.15
• Water vanishes from water hole when man tries to drink. D1647.1
• Dead man tries in vain to come back to life. (Cf. E1.) E162.2
• Mother's ghost tries to tear daughter to pieces. E222.1
• Ghost tries to kill person for food. E253
• Wraith of debtor tries to find his creditor at time of death. E723.4.3
• Fairy mistress tries to destroy mortal's wife (mother) by sending her a magic belt. F302.5.5
• Dwarf stays away from house after maid tries to catch and kiss him. F451.5.19.1
• Knockers test entries and supports by tapping them with hammers. F456.1.2.2.3
• Countries with one conspicuous lack. F708
• Other extraordinary countries. F709
• Man has witch aid him in reaping contest, the devil to get the hindmost. The devil tries to take the man but gets shadow instead. (Cf. G303.19, K210.) F1038.2
• Captive sticks out bone instead of finger when cannibal tries to test his fatness. G82.1.1
• The devil is always to blame. Even when he tries to be helpful to man. G303.9.3.4
• Devil tries to get man to kill his bride (wife). G303.9.4.3
• Devil tries to move repentant sinner to despair. G303.9.4.9
• Devil tries to wall in too large a piece of ground in a night and fails. G303.13.3
• The devil tries to learn a trade; he fails miserably at all but versemaking. He now loiters in alehouses, sings songs. G303.13.4
• Jinn kills whoever tries to occupy house he has chosen to live in. G307.3
• Contest in lifelike painting: fly on saint's nose. Second artist in first artist's absence paints a fly on a saint's nose in a picture. On his return the first artist tries to drive away the fly. H504.1.1
• Riddle: what is the creature that is of all countries, that is loved by all the world, and that has no equal? (The sun.) H762
• Quest for vanished wife and son. Husband seeks wife and son in many countries. H1385.3.1
• Contest in enduring cold: frost and the hare. Hare tries to deceive frost by lying on frozen snow and saying, "Oh, how warm!" H1541.1
• Monk fails in test of patience. He tries to live alone to test it. One day he loses his temper at a cup which overturns and he breaks it. [Inadvertant duplication of W185.4.] H1553.5
• Test of friendship: substitute as murderer. A man in misery gives himself up as a murderer rather than endure further misery. His friend tries to take on himself the guilt and be substituted. The real murderer, touched by the generosity, confesses. H1558.2
• "Rue not a thing that is past": counsel proved wise by experience. Man lets bird go and then, having listened to bird's false declaration that she had a precious gem in her body, he tries to climb a tree after her and falls. J21.12
• Squirrel tries to dip out lake with his tail: difficulty of reforming the world. J133.5
• Fool is told to get a pottle of brains. He tries to buy them. He finally learns that advice was to marry a clever girl. J163.2.1
• Bull refuses to fight goat. Bull being pursued by lion tries to go into cave. Goat refuses to let him in. Bull must go on, for with lion pursuing he has no time to fight goat. J371.1
• Wolf tries to make friends with lion: killed. J411.5
• Negro tries in vain to be washed white. J511.1
• Kite tries to neigh like a horse. Loses his voice and gains nothing. J512.2
• Camel tries in vain to dance. J512.3
• Ass tries in vain to play lyre. J512.4
• Wolf tries in vain to be doctor. Only increases patient's suffering. J512.5
• Crow tries to imitate partridge's walk. Only spoils his own. J512.6
• Ass tries to get a cricket's voice. Asks crickets what they eat to get such a voice. They answer, "dew." He tries it and starves. J512.8
• Lizard tries to make himself as long as snake. Kills himself. J512.9
• Fox tries to mask as dove, but loses all thoughts of murder. J512.10
• Barber tries unsuccessfully to become a trader. J513.2
• Kite tries to carry off so many partridges that he drops them all. J514.1
• Wolf tries to eat bowstring. Finds hunter, gazelle, and wild boar dead. Tries first to eat the bowstring, and is mortally wounded. J514.2
• Serpent (weasel) tries to bite a file. J552.3
• Tailless fox tries in vain to induce foxes to cut off tails. J758.1
• Crow tries to prophesy like raven: detected by his voice. J951.3
• Lowly animal tries to move among his superiors. Detected. J952
• Jackal falls into dye vat, tries to pose as peacock: detected. J953.14
• Lowly tries in vain to be greater than he is. J955
• Frog tries in vain to be as big as ox. Bursts. J955.1
• Bird tries to puff itself up to look like peacock. Kills itself. J955.1.2
• Bald man tries to sell hair restorer. Scorned. J1062.2.1
• Guests strike man who tries to interfere in their quarrel. It is their host in old clothes. Guests are humiliated but forgiven. J1072.1
• The girl screams when she is robbed. Accuses young man of raping her. When he tries to rob her of money she summons help. Decision: if she had shouted as loud before, the man could not have raped her. Youth acquitted. J1174.3
• Unstable security. Stag tries to borrow grain from the sheep, using the wolf as security. Sheep says that they are both so swift that he does not know where they will be on the day of payment. J1383
• Peace among the animals. (Peace fable.) The fox tries to beguile the cock by reporting a new law establishing peace among the animals. Dogs appear; the fox flees. "The dogs have not heard of the new law." J1421
• 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
• The lazy ass repaid in kind. Loaded with salt, he falls down in the river and lightens his burden. His master then loads him with sponges so that the next time the ass tries the trick he increases his load. J1612
• Glowworm thought to be a fire. The bird who tries to keep the monkeys from this error is killed for her pains. J1761.3
• Snake thought to be flute. Bites tiger who tries to play flute. J1761.6
• Excrement thought to be berries. Numskull tries to sell it. J1772.9.1
• Wolf tries to drink well dry to get cheese. J1791.3.1
• Demon tries to recover object from river by drinking it dry. J1791.3.2.1
• The obedient log. A fool sees a boat (with rowers) obedient to commands, "Right! Left!" etc. He asks what kind of wood the boat is made of. Later he gets a log of that wood and tries to make it obey commands. J1828
• Jackdaw tries to swallow sparks from glowworm. J1849.2
• Kernel tries to escape death. A fool eats nuts. A kernel slips from him. The fool: "Everything tries to escape from death." J1875.1
• The boat gets tired. The woman tries to tire out her rival's boat so as to win the race, but only tires herself. J1884
• Numskull tries to hatch out a calf from a cheese. J1902.2
• Divided ownership of cow. The brother who owns the front end tries to drive the cow and will not let the owner of the rear end milk her. J1905.3
• Fool tries to shoot dead antelope until it will come to him. J1909.2
• Numskull tries to shake birds from tree like fruit. J1909.3
• Numskull tries to wash black hen white. J1909.6
• Where the ducks ford. A fool is asked where the river is fordable. He says, "Everywhere." The man tries to ride across and is almost drowned. The fool, "Those little ducks were able to cross here; why couldn't a big fellow like you?" J1919.2
• Numskull tries to dig up a well (spring). He wants to take it home. J1933
• Dead man identified by his cough. Numskull asked to identify corpse tries to do so by his cough. J1937.1
• Examining the sundial by candle-light. Numskull tries to find the time of night. J1943
• Fool tries to purify cotton by burning it (as the goldsmith does with gold). J1974
• To eat a hundred onions. Choice of eating 100 onions, receiving 100 blows, or paying 100 coins. Fool tries onions in vain, then the blows, and finally must give the coins. J2095
• Numskull tries to preach while the priest is preaching: beaten. J2131.1.1
• Cat crawls to steeple and tries to fly. Falls. J2133.3
• Woman tries to climb rope of excrement and urine. (Cf. H1021.1.) J2133.12
• Fool dangling from tree by hands tries to clap them together: falls. J2133.13
• Getting a sword to lift the cheese. A numskull sees a cheese by the side of the road and tries to lift it up with his sword, but the sword is too short. He leaves the cheese and goes away to borrow a longer sword. Meantime someone else takes the cheese. J2173.2
• Fool tries to dry up spilt wine with meal. J2176.1
• Testing the evidence by experiment: biting the ear off. The accused pleads that the plaintiff bit his own ear off. The judge takes time for consideration, tries to bite his own ear, but falls down and breaks his head. J2376
• Sister of goddess tries to imitate her feat of being cooked without harm and dies in the attempt. J2411.6.1
• Foolish imitation by an animal. Tries to go beyond his powers. J2413
• Ass tries to caress his master like the dog. He is driven off. J2413.1