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Motifs
- Reductio ad absurdum of riddle: stallions of Babylon. "Why is my mare restless when stallions of Babylon neigh?" Hero beats cat for having strangled a cock last night in Babylon (impossible distance away). H572
- 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: bringing berries in winter. Reductio ad absurdum: father is sick from snake-bite (impossible in winter). (Cf. H952.) H1023.3.1
- Task: making a bull bear a calf. Reductio ad absurdum: have a man prepare for childbirth. (Cf. H952.) H1024.1.1.1
- Reductio ad absurdum of judgment. J1191
- Reductio ad absurdum: the decision about the colt. A man ties his mare to a second man's wagon. The mare bears a colt which the wagon-owner claims, saying that the wagon has borne a colt. Real owner of the colt shows the absurdity (1) by fishing in the street or (2) by telling that his wife is shooting fish in the garden. Neither of these things are so absurd as the decision. J1191.1
- Reductio ad absurdum of accusation: object-birth slander. (Later children tell toy animals to drink. No harder than for woman to bear objects.) J1191.5
- Reductio ad absurdum of question or proposal. J1290
- Reductio ad absurdum of proposal. J1293