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Motifs
- Discourteous answer: why cow (horse) is always eating. When God (Peter) wants to use the cow (horse) the excuse is made that she (he) is eating. Curse: "May you always be eating!" (Cf. A2472.1, A2478.) A2231.1.1
- Devil called on for help. When the devil appears man excuses himself. C12.1
- Suitor's sincerity tested by reporting girl's death. All but one make excuses for not helping with funeral. H314.1
- Bishop and prince. Peasant tells bishop, who rides by with forty horses, that he wonders if St. Kilian at Würzburg is also riding with forty horses. Bishop excuses extravagance by saying that he is also a prince and that it is the prince, not the bishop, who is using the horses. "If the prince should become a fool, what would the bishop do then?" J1289.2
- The prince's excuse. King to son who has been accused of rape: "I never did anything like that." Prince: "Your father was not king!" King: "Your son will never be one if you keep that up!" J1289.6
- Thief makes a lame excuse. J1391
- Thief's excuse: the big wind. Vegetable thief is caught in a garden. Owner: How did you get into the garden? A wind blew me in. How were the vegetables uprooted? If the wind is strong enough to blow me in, it can uproot them. How did they get into your bag? That is what I was just wondering. J1391.1
- Lame excuse: one cannot drink because he has no teeth. J1391.6
- Daydreamer has lost his chance for profit. He has broken his master's pots while dreaming of future profits. He has therefore lost more than the master and excuses himself of blame. J1493
- Clever woman being robbed makes excuse for screaming and summoning help. K432.1
- Victim persuaded to hold out his tongue: cut off. Robbers induced by various excuses (to learn to sing, to learn foreign language, to have a hair taken off the tongue). K825
- Lovers observed in intrigue make absurd excuses. (Afraid of ghosts, have chill, etc.) K1271.2
- Adulteress makes excuse to go and attend to bodily needs: meets lover. K1514.18
- Oversensitive bride pleads a headache (or other excuse). Groom retaliates with similar plea when she changes her mind. K2052.3
- The wolf in the company of saints. Promises to give up slaying animals. After wringing the gander's neck, excuses self saying: "He should not have hissed at the saint." K2055.1
- King accidentally cured by doctor's ruse and excuses pretended inability to cure him. N648
- Smallness of offense no excuse when hunter prepares to kill lark. She has stolen but a single grain of wheat. U32
- Man convicted of cheating at his bookkeeping is excused when it is learned that he has given the money to the poor. V416.1
- Coward gives his purse to thief with lame excuse. W121.6
Tale types