• King and peasant: the plucked fowl. The king gives riddling questions to a peasant, who always interprets them right. The king says that he will send the peasant a fowl which he shall pluck. The king gives the same questions to his courtiers, who cannot interpret them. They pay the peasant good money for the answers. Peasant tells king that he has plucked the fowl. H561.6.1
• Riddle of king and courtiers. H731
• Riddle: king in red; courtiers in white. (Sun and its rays.) H731.1
• Riddle: king in white; courtiers in white. (Moon and stars.) H731.2
• Riddle: king in red; courtiers in different colors. (Spring and flowers.) H731.3
• Liar rewarded by the apes. King of apes asks visitors how they like his children (courtiers). Truthful visitor tells that they are very ugly, and is punished. Liar praises their beauty and receives reward. J815.1
• Courtier having observed king's amour shields him and gains pardon. Answers in clever proverbs when called on to say what he has seen. J1211.3
• Will not try to correct them. Pope calls persistent courtier a fool. Latter says that there are people who call the pope the same thing and that he for one will not try to correct them. J1289.3
• Trickster artist hoodwinks king: cuckold's eyes cannot see picture. King pretends to see the picture. Courtiers reveal that there is no picture. J1492
• Absurdity of entrusting military mission to bishop. Courtier rebukes king by asking that he be given an ecclesiastical post. J1536.1
• The emperor's new clothes. An impostor feigns to make clothes for the emperor and says that they are visible only to those of legitimate birth. The emperor and courtiers are all afraid to admit that they cannot see the clothes. Finally a child seeing the naked emperor reveals the imposture. K445
• The order for six loads of snow. The order is given by the king in winter. The courtier waits until summer to present the order. Gets money as substitute. K1661
• Bluff: wealth gained by seeming to be in the king's confidence. Courtier asks the king for a reward that will cost nothing. He gets permission to listen to the king's devotions. He now receives bribes because of his apparent influence. K1782
• The complaint about bad breath: trouble for the king's favorite. A steward advises the courtier to hold his head away when serving the king, since the king objects to his bad breath. He then tells the king that the courtier holds his head back to avoid the king's bad breath. K2135
• Jealous courtiers shake king lion's confidence in his councillor, the virtuous jackal, by accusing the jackal of stealing the lion's food. K2141
• The returned box on the ears. At table each gives his neighbor a box on the ears. The soldier is to give it to the king, but he returns it to the courtier from whom he has received it. K2376
• King pardons person who has made mistake of addressing one of his courtiers as king. P15.1.2
• Queen intervenes for condemned courtiers. P21
• Courtier rewarded for resisting princess's advances. When her father learns of the affair he rewards the courtier and has him marry his daughter. Q87.2
• Love transforms crude individual into a polished courtier. T10.1.2

all 25 in the index →