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Motifs
- Countertasks. When a task is assigned, the hero agrees to perform it as soon as the assigner performs a certain other task. (Cf. H691.2.1, H1021.1.1, H1021.3, H1021.6.1, H1021.6.2, H1022.2.1, H1022.3, H1022.9, H1023.1.1, H1023.1.2, H1023.2.2.1, H1023.9.1, H1023.10.1, H1142.3, H1146.) H951
- Reductio ad absurdum of task. When an impossible task is given, the hero responds with a countertask so absurd as to show the manifest absurdity of the original task. (Cf. H1023.3.1, H1024.1.1.1.) H952
- Task: making a rope of sand; countertask: first showing the pattern. (Cf. H951.) H1021.1.1
- Task: weaving a silk shirt from hair; countertask: making a loom from shavings. (Cf. H951.) H1021.6.1
- Task: clothing an army from one hank of flax; countertask: making horseshoes for cavalry from one needle. (Cf. H951.) H1022.2.1
- Task: weaving a shirt from a piece of thread; countertask: making a loom from a rod. H1022.2.2
- Task: making sails for ship from one bundle of linen; countertask: making spindle and loom from one stick of wood. (Cf. H951.) H1022.3
- Task: bringing quantity of mosquito bones within month; countertask: furnishing scales with wind as beams and heat as pans. (Cf. H951.) H1022.9
- Task: hatching boiled eggs; countertask: sowing cooked seeds and harvesting the crop. (Cf. H951, H952.) H1023.1.1
- Task: hatching eggs immediately; countertask: sowing seeds and bringing in crop next morning. (Cf. H951, H952.) H1023.1.2
- Task: mending a broken jug; countertask: turning it wrong side out as one does a shoe. (Cf. H951.) H1023.9.1
- Task: skinning a stone; countertask: first let the stone bleed. H1023.10.1
- Task: bringing well to king; countertask: sending his own well to accompany it. (Cf. H951.) H1023.25.1
- Task: furnish beef which is neither male nor female. Countertask: send for it when it is neither night nor day. H1074
- Task: drinking the sea dry: countertask: stop all the rivers. (Cf. H951.) H1142.3
- Task: dipping out the sea with a spoon: countertask: stop all the rivers. (Cf. H1113., H1142.3.) H1143
- Girl to bring cloth as long as river and raise pig as big as mountain. (Countertask: measure river and weigh mountain.) H1149.8
- Task: lifting mountain. Countertask: placing it on my shoulders. H1149.9
- Suit for chickens produced from boiled eggs. Countertask: harvesting crop produced from cooked seeds. J1191.2
- Payment evaded by setting countertasks. K248