41 motifs match “unsuccessful”  ·  back to the chapters

• Devil's unsuccessful attempt to vivify his creations as God has done. Succeeds only in making animal. A1217
• Man created after series of unsuccessful experiments. A1226
• Origin of death from bad creator's unsuccessful imitation. The bad creator attempts in vain to endow his creations with life like the good creator. Fails and thus introduces death. A1335.2
• Devil's unsuccessful creation produces certain animals. (Cf. A1811, A1833.1, A1862, A1893.) A1755
• Devil produces animals only in God's name. He tries unsuccessfully without using God's name. A1756
• Creation of monkeys: old woman thrown into fire. In unsuccessful imitation of Christ, the smith throws an old woman into the fire. She becomes a monkey. (Cf. A1710.) A1861.2
• Two animals learn songs together – one successfully, the other unsuccessfully. (Cf. A2425.) A2283
• Unsuccessful attempt by enemy to kill helpful animal. B335.3
• Clerics' voyage unsuccessful because they sailed in boats of skin. C841.0.1
• Unsuccessful attempt to steal fairy necklace. F357
• Heads placed on stakes for failure in performance of task. Unsuccessful youths are beheaded and heads exposed. Hero sees them when he sets out to accomplish his task. H901.1
• Unsuccessful marriage of jackals and turtles (different abits). J414.3
• Barber tries unsuccessfully to become a trader. J513.2
• Unsuccessful fishermen console themselves that their earlier high hopes balance up their disappointment. J866.1
• Testimony of unsuccessful suitor discredited. Adulteress is surprised in intrigue by unsuccessful suitor. He threatens to tell her husband. She tells her husband that the scorned suitor has accused her falsely of indiscretion with many men. When the suitor tells the husband he does not believe him. J1151.4
• Imitation of magic rejuvenation unsuccessful. (Cf. J2401.) J2411.1
• Unsuccessful imitation of a god: lions fall out of the furnace instead of men covered with gold and silver. J2411.1.2
• Imitation of miraculous horse-shoeing unsuccessful. Christ takes off a horse's foot to shoe it and then successfully replaces it. (Cf. J2401.) J2411.2
• Unsuccessful imitation of magic production of food. (Cf. J2425.) J2411.3
• Imitation of magician unsuccessful. Person does self injury. J2411.4
• Imitation of magic production of garden and lake unsuccessful. J2411.7
• Unsuccessful imitation of magic sewing. J2411.8
• Not to sleep for three successive nights. The sleepy man: "I am just thinking, that on earth there are more crooked trees than straight ones ... more hills than plains ... more water than land ..." The devil goes to ascertain these things, meanwhile the man sleeps. Unsuccessful imitation by another man. K216.3
• Formula-tale (Ehod) saves girl from devil. Unsuccessful imitation. (Cf. Z20.) K555.2.1
• Paramour poses as unsuccessful suitor. When surprised with the wife he tells the husband that he has been trying to force the woman, with no success. The wife supports the statement. K1517.5
• Unsuccessful suitor pretends friendship with woman's husband. Kills him while on a hunt. K2022
• Woman slandered as adulteress (prostitute). (Usually by unsuccessful suitor.) (Crescentia, Genoveva, Susanna.) K2112
• Contest between wind (rain) and sun. Rain also tries unsuccessfully like wind. L351.1
• Chastity wager. A man makes a wager on his wife's chastity. In spite of unsuccessful attempts to seduce her and of false proofs presented, he wins the wager. N15
• Successful rival gives his lady to unsuccessful friend. P319.6
• Son insists on following father's trade. This has been kept secret at request of dying father who was unsuccessful. Son learns from mother. P401
• Princess builds tower of skulls of unsuccessful suitors. S110.3
• Princess makes necklace of heads of unsuccessful suitors. S110.3.1
• Unsuccessful attempts to kill person in successive reincarnations (transformations). S401
• Woman stricken by plague and forsaken by her husband is sought out by unsuccessful lover and dies in his arms. T88
• Unsuccessful search for man who can rule his wife. T252.1
• Man unsuccessfully tempted by woman. (St. Anthony.) T331
• Monk unsuccessfully tempted in nunnery. T331.1
• Knight unsuccessfully tempted by host's wife. T331.2
• Monk unsuccessfully tempted by woman he formerly loved. T331.8
• Animals try unsuccessfully to exchange food. U147