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Motifs — first 20 of 45
- Bird carries deity (his daughter) home from land of skulls: given brilliant plumage. (Cf. A2313.4, A2321.6, A2421.5.) A2223.2
- Land of skulls. E485
- Water-spirits have hearth made of three human skulls. F420.2.5
- House of skulls. Murderer's abode. F771.1.9
- Cup made of skulls. F866.4
- Fear test: eating and drinking from skulls. H1434
- Fear test: fetching skulls from a charnel house. H1435
- Numskulls go a-travelling. (Cf. J1742.) J1711
- Numskulls quarrel over a greeting. Three men greeted by a stranger. Quarrel as to whom he greeted. "I greeted the biggest fool among you." A contest is held in which tales are told to decide which is the biggest fool. J1712
- Numskulls surprised at news that God has a son. J1738.3
- Numskulls surprised to hear that God's son has died. J1738.4
- Fish thought to be chewed sugar-cane. Numskulls therefore throw away their fish. J1761.4
- Living toad or beetles thought to be lost food and therefore eaten by numskulls. J1761.7
- Numskulls lose corpse and bury live person instead. J1834
- Gifts to birds. Numskulls hear birds calling and give them gifts. J1851.2
- The homesick wave. Numskulls try to take home a wave of the sea in a bamboo rod. At home when it refuses to wave they say that it is homesick for its mother, the sea. J1875.3
- Marking the place on the boat. An object falls into the sea from a boat. Numskulls mark the place on the boat-rail to indicate where it fell. J1922.1
- Marking the place under the cloud. Numskulls leave a knife in the field, marking the place by putting it under a heavy cloud. Next day the cloud is gone and the knife lost. J1922.2
- Numskulls sow cooked grain. J1932.1
- Numskulls try to get pears from an oaktree. They accuse each other of eating all the pears. J1944.1