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

• God makes things and tosses them into the air; what he catches is good for mankind, what opponent catches is bad. A67
• Origin of stones: punishment for discourtesy. Jesus asks a man what he is sowing. He answers, "Stones." Jesus turns the crop to stones. This is how stones originate. A973
• World-fire. A conflagration destroys the earth. Sometimes (as with the flood legends) the tradition is somewhat local and does not refer to an actual destruction of the whole earth; sometimes the fire marks the end of the world. A1030
• Origin of physical defects. Wicked people entering heaven on rope fall to earth and are injured. St. Peter misunderstands what God says and lets them fall. A1338
• What animals are to be eaten by man. A1422.0.2
• Caste determined by what kind of tree one catches while crossing a river. A1651.2
• What creature has sweetest blood: gnat's tongue torn out. Assembly to decide who has the sweetest blood so that it may be the food for the serpent. Gnat discovers that man has the sweetest blood. Rather than let him tell this secret, swallow tears out his tongue. Gnat can only buzz. (Cf. A2344.2, A2426.3.2.) A2236.1
• Animal characteristics because creator had not enough time to finish what he began. A2286.1.0.1
• What parrot says. A2426.2.11
• What hawks are looking for. A2471.7
• Birds as reporters of sights and sounds. Sit on Odin's shoulder and report what they see and hear. B122.2
• Christ asks woman what she is cooking; she replies that she is boiling stones to make her children think they are peas and that they will have food. Christ changes the stones to peas. D452.1.6.1
• Magic antimony, rubbed on hero's eyes, will make whatever he looks at become far or near, as he desires it. (Cf. D1246.) D1331.3.3
• Magic rod pierces whatever directed against. (Cf. D1254.2.) D1404.1
• Magic arrow sets fire to whatever it hits. (Cf. D1092.) D1566.1.1
• Self-grinding mill. Grinds whatever owner wishes. (Cf. D1263, D1470.) D1601.21
• Magic powder makes objects speak what owner wants them to. (Cf. D1246.) D1610.0.1
• Magic knowledge of what is to happen to himself after death. (Cf. G283.1.) D1812.0.5
• What religious ascetic sees as gold, ordinary people see as scorpions. D1825.8
• Power to hit whatever one aims at. D1923
• Magic gift: power to continue all day what one starts. One woman measures linen; another throws water on pig. D2172.2
• Whatever goldsmith proposes to make comes into existence by itself in the forge. D2178.7
• The cooked and revived child. Saint to a woman: "Cook me what you like most." Gullible woman cooks son. Saint revives child. E121.4.1
• Light remark about what person would do if ghost appeared causes ghost to appear. (Cf. C10, C13.) E386.5
• Wraith does what person wishes to do but is unable to do in the flesh. E723.4
• Destructive fairy drink. Upon returning to earth mortal pours out drink which had been offered by fairies. It burns up whatever it touches. F367
• Dwarf prevented from getting into his stone before sunrise till he promises to do what hero demands (especially forge weapons). (Cf. D451.3.4.2, D451.4.1.12, F451.5.2.13.) F451.3.2.1.1
• Dwarf otherwise caught and thus forced to procure what hero demands. F451.3.2.1.2
• Dwarf can take what shape he wants. F451.3.3.0.1
• Dwarfs suspend large millstone on thin thread over head of mortal, to show what anguish dwarfs felt when mortal endangered their lives. F451.5.4.2
• Dwarfs return what they borrow. F451.5.10.4
• Man so strong that he breaks most of what he gets in touch with. (Cf. F614.3-F614.6.) F610.6
• Skillful hunter can tell from baying the succession of hounds and what quarry they pursue. F679.5.2
• Skillful gambler always wins. Whatever he earns in day he spends immediately. F679.7
• Sea yields people whatever they desire. F931.9.2
• Color of flame indicates what is burning. Blue for furniture, white for money, red for person. F1061.2
• Ogre schoolmaster. Girl sees schoolmaster eat human flesh. Refuses to tell him what she saw. He persecutes her. G11.9
• Devil takes form of girl's lover and takes advantage of her. She meets lover on way home, learns what has happened, dies. G303.12.5.7
• The devil destroys by night what is built by day. G303.14.1
• Devil is blamed by monk for taking what does not belong to him. Devil denies accusation. G303.25.10
• Identity tested by demanding that person say again what he said on former occasion. (Impostor fails.) H15.1
• Recognition by reminders of what has been said. H17
• Act of truth: boy falls dead though what has been said is the truth; when lie is told he is resuscitated. H252.4.1
• Princess to marry man who can give her correct account of what happened in her bedchamber. H344.1
• Sons tested for wisdom; given same amount of money. What will they do with it? H501.3
• Test of resourcefulness: to find relationships among three sticks: they are put in vessel of water; degree of sinking shows what part of tree each comes from. H506.10
• Princess defeated in repartee by means of objects accidentally picked up. E. g., Hero: What red lips you have! Princess: There is fire inside. – Hero: Then boil this egg (producing egg). H507.1.0.1
• Test: making senseless remarks. King brought to say, "What is the sense in that?" H507.2
• Test: identifying what type of rice is in sack. H522.3
• "What am I thinking?" "That I am the priest." So answers youth masking as priest. H524.1
• Question: "What is under my cloak?" Questioner has branch of blackthorn laden with berries under her cloak. H526
• Counterquestion: "What is difference between you and an ass? What is difference between you and a cushion." H571.1
• King: What do you see? Youth: One and a half men and a horse's head. (Himself, the legs of the king on horseback in the door, and the horse's head.) H583.1
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: He is in the vineyard and is doing good and bad. (He prunes vines and sometimes cuts good and sometimes lets bad ones stay.) H583.2
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes an evil greater. (Closes up a path; this causes another to be opened.) H583.2.1
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes many out of few. (Sows grain.) H583.2.2
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes better from good. (Hedges his field.) H583.2.3
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: Cuts wood which was burnt last year. (To pay old debts.) H583.2.4
• King: What is your father doing? Youth: He fences thorns with thorns. (Eggplant garden fenced with thorns.) H583.2.5
• King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He hunts; he throws away what he catches and what he does not catch he carries with him. (Hunts for lice on his body.) H583.3
• King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He runs back and forth. (Plows.) H583.3.1
• King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He sits between heaven and earth. (In a tree.) H583.3.2
• King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She does for another what the latter cannot do for her. (Lays out a corpse.) H583.4
• King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She shows the light of the world to one who has not yet seen it. (Assists at a birth.) H583.4.1
• King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She is baking the bread we ate last week. (To pay back borrowed bread.) (Cf. H583.2.4.) H583.4.2
• King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She cuts off the heads of the well to cure the sick. (Kills chickens to feed her sick mother.) H583.4.3
• King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She drives away the hungry and compels the filled to eat. (Drives away the hungry hens and stuffs the geese.) H583.4.4
• King: What are your mother and father doing? Girl: Mother is separating earth (being a midwife), and father is mixing earth (at a funeral). H583.4.5
• King: What is your mother doing? Girl: She has gone to turn one into two (to split peas). H583.4.6
• King: What is your sister doing? Youth: She is mourning last year's laughter. (Nurses child, the fruit of last year's love affair.) H583.5
• King: What are you doing? Youth: I boil those which come and go. (Beans which keep rising and falling in water.) H583.6
• The four coins. (Focus.) King: What do you do with the four coins you earn? Peasant: First I eat (feed self); second I put out at interest (give my children); third I give back (pay debts); fourth I throw away (give my wife.) H585.1
• Traveler says he is going to the city to see what has become of the seed he sowed in the street. (What has become of the girl he left in the city to await his return.) H586.2
• Man puts on shoes only when he wades river. (He cannot see what he is walking on.) H591.1
• Riddle: what is the strongest? H631
• What is the strongest? A horse. H631.1
• What is the strongest? God. H631.2
• What is strongest? Earth. H631.3
• What is strongest? Woman. H631.4
• What is strongest? Truth. H631.5
• What is mightiest? Rain. H631.6
• What is strongest? Necessity. H631.7
• What is strongest? Wine. H631.8
• What is strongest? The king. H631.9
• Riddle: what is the swiftest? H632
• What is swiftest? Thought. H632.1
• What is swiftest? The eye. H632.2
• What is swiftest? The sun. H632.3
• Riddle: what is sweetest? H633
• What is sweetest? Sleep. H633.1
• What is sweetest? Peace in heaven. H633.2
• What is sweetest? Mother's breast. H633.3
• What is sweetest? One's own interest. H633.4
• What is sweeter than sugar? The princess's speech. H633.5
• Riddle: what is the sweetest song? H634
• What is the sweetest song? Angel song. H634.1
• Riddle: what is the sweetest sound? H635
• What is the sweetest sound? Bell-ringing. H635.1
• What is the sweetest sound? God's Word. H635.2
• Riddle: what is the richest? H636