Search
Motifs — first 20 of 38
- Attendants and servants of the gods. A165
- Rat servants cut jungle down, till soil for master. B292.9.3
- Animals as domestic servants. B574
- Man has magic servants who plow for him; he swallows them each day and keeps them secret. D1719.8
- Angels as familiar spirits. Act as servants about the house of saints and serve them otherwise. F403.2.2.2
- Water-spirits work as servants for mortal for small compensation. F420.5.1.4
- Water-spirits work as servants for mortal but disappear when compensation is offered or origin suspected. F420.5.1.5
- Witch (female demon) has persons she has enchanted as servants. G263.0.1
- Devil and his servants live where perjurers dwell. G303.8.6
- Tasks assigned at suggestion of treacherous servants. H919.1
- Test of valor: rousing servant's anger. Nobleman, when examining servants for hire, bids each stand before him and comb his long beard. Occasionally he snaps at them as if to bite them. Those who dodge he lets go; those who offer fight he employs. H1561.4
- "Rise earlier": counsel proved wise by experience. Man seeking explanation for being in debt arises earlier and catches his servants stealing. (Cf. H588.1.) J21.23
- Man rebukes servants for telling him of his wife's unfaithfulness. J221.1.2
- Fool given the truth on his back. He tells his master what the servants have done during his absence. The servants whip him on his bare back, saying at each blow, "That is the truth." When the master returns and tells the fool to tell the truth, the latter replies, "There is nothing worse on earth than the truth." J551.2
- Stag found by master when overlooked by servants. Hides under hay and escapes until master himself comes. J1032
- Thief detected by his answer to question. "How would you treat a woman who came into your possession?" Answer: "I would use her and then give her to the servants." This reveals his true character. J1149.6
- Servants would not have left the coats. Merchants complain to nobleman that his servants have robbed them of money. Nobleman asks whether merchants had on those good coats when the robbery took place. When told yes, he said that the robbers were not his servants, for they would never have left good coats. J1179.5
- Softening bread-crusts. An avaricious master feeds bread-crusts to his servants. "The crusts are already getting soft." J1341.1
- Stingy innkeeper cured of serving weak beer. She always gives the servants a pitcher of weak beer before meals so as to fill them up. One of them: "I wash out my insides so as to have more room for food." She changes her practice. J1341.7
- The tailor's dream. A tailor dreams that at Judgment Day he sees a flag made up of all the pieces of cloth he has stolen Upon waking he asks his servants to warn him if they ever see him tempted to steal again. This happens. He replies, "The piece I am about to steal does not fit into the flag." J1401
Episodes
Tale types