ATU 9 The Unjust Partner

ATU 9

The Unjust Partner

Aarne–Thompson–Uther tale-type index · Animal Tales · The full type description is not served here; the number and name are the classification facts.

Motifs the recorded variants carry

Deceptive crop division: above the ground, below the ground. Of root crops the ogre (stupid animal) chooses the tops; of other crops the roots. (Cf. J242.8.) 1 variant
Deceptive grain division: the corn and the chaff. The bear chooses the chaff because of its greater bulk. At the mill the fox's grain makes a different sound from the bear's. 1 variant
The substituted porridge. In cooking dinner fox's porridge is light, bear's black. At dinner fox steals spoonful of bear's porridge and lets bear taste it. Bear believes that fox's porridge is as bad as his own. 1 variant
Holding up the roof. Fox pretends to be holding up the roof; hence cannot help the bear, who must do the threshing alone. 1 variant

Type numbers and names after Aarne–Thompson–Uther, via Hagedorn, trilogy (2022), CC-BY-NC-SA; motif links weighted by the dataset’s recorded tale variants. Served as classification facts with attribution.