Writing, Films & Other Creative Story-based Projects
We might write a story with a motif as it's seed, develop more interesting aspects to a character in a story, or help develop hidden symbols within a film. We also frequently get asked for consulting help if you'd like help, please let us know.
| X | Code | Original | Cultures |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1.2 | Grandfather as creator.--S. Am. Indian (Paressi): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 359, (Guarayú): Métraux RMLP XXXIII 147. | Guarani, Paressi | |
| A103 | Father-god. Greek: Grote I 3; Hindu: Keith 50ff., 73ff., 82ff.; India: Thompson-Balys. | Greek, Hindu, India | |
| A106.1.1 | Goddess rebels against her father for forbidding her marriage. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| A111.2 | Father of the gods. Icel.: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| A111.3.1 | God dwells with his grandfathers. Marquesas: Handy 106. | Marquesas | |
| A112.1.1 | God from father-daughter incest. Adonis. Greek: Spence 132.--Icel.: Boberg. | Greek, Iceland | |
| A221 | Sun-father. *Fb “sol” III 457b.--Pawnee: Alexander N. Am. 81, 87; Zuñi: ibid. 187; S. Am. Indian (Guarani): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 93. | Chiriguano, Guarani, Pawnee, Zuñi | |
| A226 | Sun father-in-law. American Indian: *Thompson Tales 312 n. 123. | North American | |
| A511.1.5 | Culture hero son of mortal (half-mortal) father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| A512.4 | Sun as father of culture hero. S. Am. Indian (Warrau, Carib): Métraux RMLP XXXIII 123, 145. | Carib | |
| A515.1.1.1 | Twin culture heroes sired by two fathers. S. Am. Indian (Guarani): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 92f., RMLP XXXIII 136. | Chiriguano, Guarani | |
| A515.2 | Father and son as culture heroes. Irish: Cross.--Amazon tribes: Alexander Lat. Am. 311. | Ireland | |
| A525.2 | Culture hero (god) slays his grandfather. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| A625 | World parents: sky-father and earth-mother as parents of the universe. The sky-father descends upon the earth-mother and begets the world.--Greek: *Frazer Apollodorus I 2 n. 1, Fox 5, 272; Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 194, 328; Hindu: Keith 16; India: Thompson-Balys.--Eastern Indonesia: Dixon 166; Chatham Is.: ibid. 10 n. 12; Cook and Hervey Is.: ibid. 14 n. 21; Maori: ibid. 7 n. 3, 8 n. 7, 9 n. 10, 31; Tahiti: Henry 337f.; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 280 n. 37; S. Am. Indian (Cora): Alexander Lat. Am. 121, (Antilles): ibid. 24; African: Werner African 124. | African, Antilles, Chatham Is., Greek, Hervey Is., Hindu, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Maori, Tahiti, N. A. Indian, Cora | |
| A625.1 | Heaven-mother--earth-father. Kachin (North Burma): Scott Indo-Chinese 263. | North Burma | |
| A625.2.4 | Deity clothes his father the sky after he has separated him from earth. Maori: Clark 16. | Maori | |
| A764.1.1 | Stars as children of sun eaten by their father. Hence no stars in the day.--Frazer Ovid III 205; Hatt Asiatic Influences 74f.--India: Thompson-Balys; Africa (Fang): Trilles 172. | Fang, India | |
| A1285.1.1 | In response to Adam’s prayer, God sends him to earth to be father of mankind. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| A1335.7 | First son who died before his father after the Flood. Irish myth Cross; Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| A2275.6 | Son accidentally kills father, who returns to life as cuckoo and tells people when to sow grain. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| B81.2.1 | Mermaid has son by human father. *Fb “havfrue” I 569b, IV 204a; Icel.: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| B631.0.2 | Boy kills his animal father for reward. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera II 1169. | Buddhist | |
| B635.1.3 | Bear says he is boy‘s father; asks food. Eskimo (Mackenzie Area): Jenness 47. | Mackenzie Area | |
| C231.1 | Tabu: girl eating before being called by father. India: Thompson-Balys; Zulu: Callaway 192. | India, Zulu | |
| C901.1.1 | Tabu imposed on son by father before death. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| C940.2 | Daughters’ sickness because of father‘s breaking tabu. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D735.4.2 | Son disenchants animal father by enduring his caresses without fear. Africa (Suto): Hoffman Zs. f. Eingeborenen-Spr. XXII 172 No. 11. | Suto | |
| D815.2 | Magic object received from father. Hartland Perseus III 199.--Irish: Cross; Icelandic: MacCulloch Eddic 308 (Tyrfing), *Boberg. | Iceland, Ireland | |
| D815.5 | Magic object received from father-in-law. Hartland Perseus III 199. | ||
| D817.1.2 | Magic object received from grateful father of redeemed snake. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D842.2 | Magic object found on father‘s grave. Type 314. | ||
| D871.1.1 | Exchange of common cow for gold-dropping cow made by daughter when her father stops at her home for the night. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D1317.6.1 | Sword bursts in son‘s hand when he is about to kill his father. *Fb “sværd” III 690b. | ||
| D1727 | Magic power learned from giant (as foster-father). Icelandic: Bárdar saga Snæfellsáss ch. 2 (ed. Vigfússon 1860) 2, Boberg. | Iceland | |
| D1735.4 | Possession of magic knowledge and witchcraft from having eaten of father-of-man‘s corpse. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D1813.0.3 | Father feels that son is in danger. (Cf. †D1812.0.4, †D1812.5.1.1.4.) Icelandic: Hrólfs saga Kraka ch. 14, Boberg. | Iceland | |
| D1813.0.3.1 | Father knows of son’s death from far away. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D2006.2.1 | Longing of human child of sky-mother to visit father on earth. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| D2161.4.10.4 | Sorrowing father magically restored as lost son approaches. He had lost strength, sight and hearing when son left home. Scotland: Campbell-McKay No. 25. | Scotland | |
| E265.1.2 | Ghost of father slaps son‘s face; a cancer grows there. Canada: Baughman. | Canada | |
| E324.2 | Ghost family visits grave of father. England: Baughman. | England | |
| E327 | Dead father’s friendly return. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges; U.S.: Baughman; Greek: Aeschylus Prometheus Bound 195; Latin: Virgil Aeneid V 724; Chinese: Graham. | Cheremis, Chinese, Greek, Latin, U.S. | |
| E327.1 | Dead father returns to daughter to stop her weeping. (Cf. †E324.) Scotland: Baughman. | Scotland | |
| E327.2 | Dead father returns to encourage daughter in childbirth. U.S.: Baughman. | U.S. | |
| E327.3 | Dead father returns to clear son‘s name of crime. England: *Baughman. | England | |
| E327.4 | Ghost of father returns to rebuke child. U.S.: Baughman. | U.S. | |
| E327.5 | Dead father returns in form of bird. (Cf. †E322.4.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| E373.2 | Sword received from summoned dead father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| E387.2.1 | Father summoned to get his sword. Icelandic: Hervararsaga 17--33, 102--13. | Iceland | |
| E412.4 | Child cursed by father cannot rest in grave. Finnish-Swedish: Wessman 2 No. 19; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 3591. | Finnish-Swedish, Lithuanian, Swedish | |
| E765.4.1 | Father will die when daughter marries. (Cf. †E765.4.3.) Irish: Cross; Welsh: MacCulloch Celtic 187. | Ireland, Welsh | |
| E765.4.3 | Father will die when daughter bears son. (Cf. †E765.4.1.) Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| E765.4.3.1 | Father (and mother) will die on same day as daughter. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| F305.2.1 | Right half of son resembles mortal father; left half, fairy father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| F311.2 | Fairy foster-father. Guardian to mortal. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| F326 | Fairy father carries off child of mortal mother. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| F372.2.1 | Old man as godfather to underground folk. Finnish: Aarne FFC XXXIII 43 No. 56; Estonian: Aarne FFC XXV 126 No. 56. | Estonian, Finnish | |
| F451.5.1.1 | Dwarf as godfather. Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 308 No. 4. | Swiss | |
| F451.5.1.16 | Dwarf king prevents a father from shooting his son. Pröhle Harz. No. 137 III. | ||
| F451.5.2.3.1 | Father given carved wooden image in lieu of son stolen by dwarfs. Eskimo (Greenland): Rasmussen I 110. | Greenland | |
| F451.5.18.1 | Dwarf promises money and property to mortal father for hand of daughter. German: Haas Greifswald. 38 No. 41. | German | |
| F460.4.7 | Mountain-man as godfather. Type 1165; Kristensen Danske Sagn I (1892) 441ff., (1928) 264ff. | ||
| F611.3.2.6 | Twelve year old hero captures town of father’s enemy. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| F1041.21.5 | Man senseless from grief at hearing of father‘s death; one doesn’t feel that he cuts himself with his knife, the other presses dice so that he bleeds. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| G11.0.1.2 | Father of goddess as cannibal. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 141. | Hawaii | |
| G25 | Abandoned infant lives by eating corpse of murdered father. (Cf. †S350.) Easter Island: Métraux Ethnology 385. | Easter Island | |
| G31 | Children flee from father who turns cannibal. Cosquin RTP XXX 79. | ||
| G75 | Father takes his daughter to cannibal to be eaten. Africa (Basuto): Jacottet 116 No. 27. | Basuto | |
| G91.1 | Man forced to eat dead father’s heart goes mad. Irish: Cross; Welsh: MacCulloch Celtic 108. | Ireland, Welsh | |
| G91.1.1 | Man forced to eat dead father‘s heart struck dumb. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| G303.11.1.1 | The devil‘s son is with his mother at night in his father’s place. Type 1720*. | ||
| G512.0.2 | Ogre’s daughter killed together with her father. Icelandic: Hálfdanar saga XVII 1, XVIII 7, Boberg. | Iceland | |
| H16.1 | Recognition by brother king of lost brother brought about by model of their father‘s palace which lost brother builds of clay. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H16.3 | Recognition of brothers brought about by bouquet of flowers tied as father’s gardener used to do. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H36.1.1 | Recognition by shoes with which the father had once beaten his son. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H165 | Father recognizes son after having thrown him in oven. Marquesas: Beckwith Myth 482. | Marquesas | |
| H331.4.1 | Suitors contest with bride‘s father in shooting. Greek: Frazer Apollodorus I 238 n. 1. | Greek | |
| H331.5.2 | Suitor contest: race with bride‘s father. Irish: MacCulloch Celtic 181; Greek: Frazer Apollodorus II 157 n. 4. | Greek, Ireland | |
| H332.3 | Suitor test: duel with father-in-law. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| H335.1 | Suitor task: avenging bride’s father‘s death before marriage. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| H336.1 | Prospective father-in-law requires that suitor for his daughter’s hand visit foreign country (otherworld?) to learn feats of arms. Irish: *Cross. | Cross, Fable, Ireland, Pebans | |
| H383.2.3 | Bride test: sewing a shirt for bridegroom‘s father. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges. | Cheremis | |
| H384.1 | Bride test: kindness--father-in-law disguised as beggar. Type 1455. | ||
| H480 | Father tests. Test as to who is unknown father of child. Irish: Cross; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “père”, “enfant”; Arabian: Burton Nights S V 236 n. | Arabian, Breton, Ireland | |
| H481 | Infant picks out his unknown father. *Type 675; BP I 485; *Fb “barn” IV 27b; Missouri French: Carrière; Italian: Basile Pentamerone I No. 3; India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesian: De Vries’s list No. 208; Japanese: Ikeda; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 336 n. 212; S. A. Indian (Yunca): Alexander Lat. Am. 228. | French, India, Indonesia, Italian, Japanese, Yunca, N. A. Indian | |
| H481.1 | Infant indicates his unknown father by handing him an apple. *Fb “æble” III 1135b, “guldæble” I 516a; Hdwb. d. Märchens I 93b. | ||
| H481.1.1 | Baby picks out his disguised father from a crowd by handing him a bow. S. A. Indian (Chaco): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (1) 369. | Chaco | |
| H483 | Animals compete as messenger to call father of new-born child. Their voices are tried. Jamaica: *Beckwith MAFLS XVII 265 No. 71. | Jamaica | |
| H485 | Test of unknown father: gold on street. Princess has gold put on street leading to her. The man who rides over the gold-covered street without noticing is the father of her child. Köhler-Bolte I 56. | ||
| H486.2 | Test of paternity: shooting at father’s corpse. Youngest of supposed sons refuses to shoot and is judged the only genuine son of dead emperor. *Herbert III 206; Oesterley No. 45; Scala Celi 98a No. 526; Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 835; Nouvelles de Sens. No 29; Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 28; L. Schmidt Oesterr. Zs. f. Vksk. 1955, 70 ff.--Spanish Exempla: Keller; Italian Novella: *Rotunda; *Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas II 123, 345, IV 102, 280, *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| H491 | Test of mother‘s and father’s love for children. | ||
| H491.1 | In large family father unwilling but mother willing to sell children. Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas III 87, 303, Neuman. | Jewish | |
| H581.1 | Arrested man tells who he is: before his father the great incline the head and give blood and money (barber). Chauvin VI 35 No. 205. | ||
| H581.2 | Arrested man tells who he is: the hospitable fire of his father is sought (bean merchant). Chauvin VI 35 No. 205. | ||
| H581.3 | Arrested man tells who he is: father throws himself into the ranks and holds them (weaver). Chauvin VI 35 No. 205. | ||
| H583.2 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: He is in the vineyard and is doing good and bad. (He prunes vines and sometimes cuts good and sometimes lets bad ones stay.) *Köhler-Bolte I 84, 87. | ||
| H583.2.1 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes an evil greater. (Closes up a path; this causes another to be opened.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. | ||
| H583.2.2 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes many out of few. (Sows grain.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. | ||
| H583.2.3 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes better from good. (Hedges his field.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. | ||
| H583.2.4 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Cuts wood which was burnt last year. (To pay old debts.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. | ||
| H583.2.5 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: He fences thorns with thorns. (Eggplant garden fenced with thorns.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H583.4.5 | King: What are your mother and father doing? Girl: Mother is separating earth (being a midwife), and father is mixing earth (at a funeral). India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588 | Enigmatic counsels of a father. Taken literally bring trouble, but when properly interpreted are valuable. Icelandic: Hervarar saga 36--39, 116--18, *Boberg; India: Thompson-Balys, (Kashmir): Knowles 243; Indonesia: De Vries’s list No. 232; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX 256 No. 200. | Chinese, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Kashmir | |
| H588.0.1 | Father-in-law gives daughter-in-law enigmatic permission to go home. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| H588.1 | Father’s counsel: walk not in sunshine from your house to your shop. (Attend to business, rising early and retiring late.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.2 | Father‘s counsel: let pilav be your daily food. (Eat frugally.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.3 | Father’s counsel: marry a new wife every week. (Do not see your wife too much.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.4 | Father‘s counsel: on wishing to drink wine go to the vat and drink it. (Stench in vat so great that desire for wine is turned to loathing.) India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.5 | Father’s counsel: if you want to gamble, then gamble with experienced gamblers. (If you see how wretched professional gamblers are you will not want to gamble.) *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 376; India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.6 | Father‘s counsel: dress up the trunks of trees, cover the road. (Plant the road with fruit trees and betel between the trees.) India: *Thompson-Balys; Batak: Voorhoeve 164f. No. 169. | Batak, India | |
| H588.7 | Father’s counsel: find treasure within a foot of the ground. (Sons dig everywhere and thus loosen soil of vineyard, which becomes fruitful.) Wienert FFC LVI 82 (ET 490), 126 (ST 346); Halm Aesop No. 98; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 914*; India: Thompson-Balys. | India, Lithuanian | |
| H588.8 | Father‘s counsel: the four wells. Three empty and one full (3 sons and father). Full one can fill the three empty but the three when full cannot fill the one when empty (sons when scattered will not support the father). India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.9 | Father’s counsel: dam up the outlets. (Keep expenditures down--not outlets of rice-field as son-in-law thinks). India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H588.10 | Father‘s counsel: don’t stay too late with a concubine, nor tell her any secret. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| H588.19 | “A father should always check and never forgive; a mother should always forgive and never check.” India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H591.3 | Man cuts hooks for the revenge of his father (Hamlet). Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| H596 | Enigmatic counsels of relatives (other than father). Spanish: Childers. | Spanish | |
| H599.1 | Girl will not drink of water which had no father or mother (i.e., stagnant). India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H681.2.1 | How deep is the earth? It is deep: my grandfather went into it (died) years ago and has not yet returned. Anderson FFC LXII 141. | ||
| H681.2.2 | How deep is the earth? My father went five years ago to measure it (died); when he returns I shall tell you the result. Anderson FFC XLII 142. | ||
| H763 | Riddle: the father not yet born, the son already at the top of the house. (Flame and smoke.) Köhler-Bolte I 268. | ||
| H791 | Riddle: a fish was my father; a man was my mother. (Man eats magic fish and becomes pregnant; a girl is taken from his knee.) *Type 705; *Fb “fisk” I 297; Norse: Christiansen Norske Eventyr 96. | Norse | |
| H813 | Riddle: who, having neither father nor mother, are dead? (Adam and Eve.) Chauvin V 195 No. 114. | ||
| H814 | Riddle: who, having had father and mother, is not dead? (Elias.) Chauvin V 195 No. 114; Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| H815 | Riddle: who, having had father and mother, is not dead like other mortals? (Lot’s wife.) Chauvin V 195 No. 114; Scala Celi No. 821. | ||
| H913.2 | Tasks assigned at suggestion of jealous father. | ||
| H913.2.1 | Task assigned at suggestion of jealous father (of prospective bride). Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| H921 | King (father) assigns tasks to his unknown son. *Type 920; De Vries FFC LXXIII 40ff., 323ff.; India: *Thompson-Balys; S. A. Indian (Tupinamba): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 132. | India, Tupinamba | |
| H1162.2 | Task: slaying king‘s son so that father will not die. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1187 | Task left by departing husband for virgin wife to accomplish: have a son whose real mother she is and whose real father he is. She accomplishes this by disguising as a girl. Köhler-Bolte II 647ff. *Liungman Två Folkminnesundersökningar 25 n. 1; FSS 7ff. (†H922); India: *Thompson-Balys; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland, India | |
| H1210.1 | Quest assigned by father. *Types 402, 550; Irish: *Cross; Missouri French: Carrière; Spanish: Espinosa Jr. No. 105; India: *Thompson-Balys; Chile: Pino Saavedra 399, 403, 404; Africa (Ekoi): Talbot 350. | Chile, Ekoi, French, India, Ireland, Spanish | |
| H1216 | Mother sends son to find unknown father. (Cf. †H1385.7.) English: Wells 134 (Sir Degare); India: Thompson-Balys; Japanese: Ikeda. | England, India, Japanese | |
| H1219.3 | Quest assigned as punishment by father of abducted girl. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| H1228.2 | Son goes out to avenge father’s death. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1252.1.2 | Quest to the other world to learn whether father is in heaven or hell. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1252.4 | King sends hero to otherworld to carry message to king‘s dead father. *Cosquin Contes indiens 405ff. | ||
| H1265 | Quest to Paradise to get oil to anoint dying father’s body. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| H1381.2 | Quest for unknown father. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1381.2.1 | Woman seeks unknown father of her child. *Type 551; BP II 394ff.; Icelandic: Boberg; Missouri French: Carrière; India: Thompson-Balys; S. A. Indian (Chiriguano): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 484; (Tupinamba): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 132. | Chiriguano, French, Iceland, India, Tupinamba | |
| H1381.2.2.1 | Son seeks unknown father. *Type 707; BP II 380ff.; Irish: *Cross; English: Wells 134 (Sir Degare); India: Thompson-Balys; Marquesas: Handy 61, 131; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 86, 514, 479; Tonga: Gifford 112. | England, Hawaii, India, Ireland, Marquesas, Tonga | |
| H1381.2.2.1.1 | Boy twitted with illegitimacy seeks unknown father. *Type 873; *Chauvin V 72 No. 21 n. 1; **Potter Sohrab and Rustem 9ff.; Irish: Cross; Spanish: Espinosa Jr. No. 139; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 263. | Hawaii, Ireland, Spanish | |
| H1381.3.7 | Quest for princess hidden by father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1381.7 | Quest for unknown bridegroom who has certain name and is only son among seven children of father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1385.7 | Quest for lost father. (Cf. †H1216.) Irish: Cross; Icelandic: Boberg; India: *Thompson-Balys. | Iceland, India, Ireland | |
| H1385.7.1 | Quest for lost grandfather. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| H1462 | Vigil for dead father. *Type 530; *BP III 111 n. 3; Rumanian: Schullerus FFC LXXVIII No. 365B*. | Rumanian | |
| H1462.1 | Vigil for dead father: youngest son alone endures frightful experiences. Ceiling, floors, and walls knock together. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 42 No. 302A*. | Spanish | |
| H1561.2.2 | Fight with father‘s old friend, though only to mention who he is would assure the youth a friendly reception. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga I 222--32, Boberg. | Iceland | |
| J154 | Wise words of dying father. Counsel proved wise by experience. | ||
| J92 | Boy saves life by showing father foolishness of plowing up his crop. Father has been persuaded to kill child. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J99.2 | Father bequeathes four pots to sons: eldest finds earth in his; second, bones; third, rice husks; youngest, rupees (eldest to get land; second, cattle; third, grain; youngest to keep money). India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J121.2 | Undutiful son rebuked by father. Father tells son not to drag him past the threshold, because he had dragged his own father only up to that point when he had thought of putting him out of his house. Spanish: Childers. | Spanish | |
| J122.1 | Seducer about to seduce mother of child refrains when child wisely remarks that he is sad because his father has left his mother exposed to such dangers. Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| J154 | Wise words of dying father. Counsel proved wise by experience. *Cosquin Études 85ff.; Cent Nouvelles Nouvelles No. 52; Irish: Cross; Icelandic: Völsunga saga ch. 11, Boberg; Lithuanian: Balys Index No. *911; Jewish: Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesian: DeVries‘s list No. 230. | Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Jewish, Lithuanian | |
| J154.0.1 | Wise words of father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| J225.8 | Evil mother has fine funeral, good father poor. Irish: O‘Suilleabhain 50. | Ireland | |
| J244.1 | Father with handsome son and hideous daughter. Advises both to look in mirror daily lest son exchange handsome face for bad character; daughter to triumph over face by good manners. Wienert FFC LVI 83 (ET 494), 149 (ST 536). | ||
| J325 | Children choose father they know rather than real father they do not yet know. Woman confesses that child is not by her husband. Child, however, chooses to keep the father he knows. (Cf. †J391, †J1279.1.) Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 809. | ||
| J347.3 | Prince chooses exile and honor to foul life at his father’s court. Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| J462.3.1 | Father leaves sons three jewels--Christianity, Judaism, Mohammedanism. All to be used. (Cf. †J1262.9.) *Zachariae Zs. f. Vksk. XXXIII--XXXIV 70; Boccaccio Decameron I No. 3 (*Lee 6); Italian Novella: *Rotunda; Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas IV 150, 281. | Italian, Jewish | |
| J462.3.1.1 | Father gives son three rings. Only one is good although they all look the same. Same with religions. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| J675.1 | Son slays father in order not to be slain himself. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| J761.1 | Child finds gray hair in wicked father‘s head. Father sees that it is time for him to reform. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 292. | ||
| J977 | After one day of schooling children are ordered by their father to cease associating with the unlearned. Wesselski Bebel I 170 No. 5. | ||
| J1111.2 | Illegitimate daughter of trickster inherits father‘s ability to dupe others. Pierre Faifeu No. 43; Nouvelles de Sens No. 8. | ||
| J1112.1.1 | Disguised real wife orders motley wear for her husband when he goes to fetch new bride-to-be: prospective father-in-law takes him for a fool and real wife reveals herself to husband. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J1142.4.1.1 | Clever son falls from tree, so mother’s tears over dead body of father being carried through street will seem natural. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J1261.1.1 | God as a father-in-law. Nuns tell a man that they are daughters of God. ”Come and marry me; I should like such a rich father-in-law.“ Wesselski Bebel II 120 No. 60. | ||
| J1264.3 | Father wears a crown but is no king. Priest‘s son is thus taunted. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 161. | ||
| J1271 | Eunuch visits augurer to see whether he is to be a father. “When I look at the livers, you are to be a father. When I look at you, I see that you are not even a man.” Wienert FFC LVI 40; Babrius No. 54. | ||
| J1274 | His father has been in Rome. A young man comes to Rome who looks like the emperor. Latter asks him if he mother has ever been in Rome. No, but my father has been here often. (Not son but brother.) *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 502; Mensa Philosophica No. 3; Nouvelles Récréations No. 15; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. | Italian | |
| J1279.1 | Plea for a good father. Mother of twelve on deathbed explains to family that not all her children are legitimate. Gives the paternity of each child. Youngest leaves his food to say: “Please, mother, give me a good father!” (Cf. †J325.) Italian Novella: *Rotunda. | Italian | |
| J1309.3 | ”Where did dirt go when canal was dug?“ Disgusted father-in-law: ”I have eaten half and your father half, to have such a fool son-in-law.“ India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J1321.1 | Where did he get the wine? Father shows drunkard son a drunk man being mocked on the street. Instead of taking it as a warning the son says ”Where does one get such good wine?“ *Pauli (ed. Bolte) Nos. 21, 814; Italian Novella: Rotunda; Jewish: bin Gorion Born Judas II 115, 344, *Neuman. | Italian, Jewish | |
| J1515.1 | The father of an illegitimate child must walk in front of the cross. Condemned man insists that the priest, who is guilty also, shall lead the way. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 71. | ||
| J1561.5 | Father causes inhospitable daughter to spoil her feast by deceptive advice about cooking. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J1805.2.1 | Daughter says “Sobur” (wait) to her father when he asks what to bring from the journey. Father finds Prince Sobur. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J1846 | Numskull prepares brother’s wedding (father‘s funeral). On the way home from town he destroys his purchases. (Cf. †J1851, †J1856, †J1871.) Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 1677*; Russian: Andrejev No. 1681 I*; Prussian: Plenzat 75. | Lithuanian, Prussian, Russian | |
| J1863.2 | Wolf punished for his father’s misdeeds. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| J2088.1 | The fool advises the buyer that the horse is worth little or his father would not sell it. *Wesselski Bebel I 208 No. 95. | ||
| J2222 | The inconvenience of having a father: The numskull to his father: ”If you had never been born I would get my grandfather‘s estate.“ Clouston Noodles 4. | ||
| J2326.2 | Dream explained as a dead father’s demand for horses. Dupe gives them to trickster. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J2355.2 | Boy talks about his secret instructions and brings his father‘s theft to light. He is to avoid his companions lest they smell what he has been eating. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J2358 | Young heir too frank in celebrating his father’s death. He says to the mourners, ”When your fathers die, I too will come and lament their departure.“ They brand him as a fool. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 33. | ||
| J2469.5.1 | Literal fool feeds dogflesh to visitor to follow father’s advice: ”Feed him on food you have never eaten in your life.“ India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| J2484 | Father tells son that he has been scratched by ”hairy rascals“ (monkeys). Son attacks hairy ascetics. Penzer V 140. | ||
| J2499.7 | Three stupid sons sent out into the world to learn trades: hunter kills his father; musician plays and dances at his father’s death, etc. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| J2621 | The dead girl frightens father and lover. The girl dies. The lover, thinking that she is asleep, talks to her. When he hears the father speak of her as dead he is frightened that he has talked to the dead. The father hears the lover talk and thinks that it is the girl’s spirit. Both flee. Africa (Vai): Ellis 204 No. 21. | Vai | |
| J2713 | The father of Noah‘s sons. The fool seeks advice as to how to answer this question: Who is the father of Stoffer’s three sons? Stoffer, of course. Then who was the father of Noah‘s three sons? Stoffer. Danish: MS (SK 41 in Dansk Folkemindesamling). | Danish | |
| K12.2 | Wrestling match won by deception: bear as “grandfather.” A man challenged by an ogre persuades the latter to wrestle with his old grandfather instead. By this he means a bear. (Cf. †K11.6, †K15.1.) *Type 1071; Köhler-Bolte I 477ff.; *Hackman cf. †K12. | ||
| K251.6 | Payment to lame man who claims that man‘s father lamed him. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K335.0.7 | Thief frightens away guards of his father‘s corpse by impersonating demons. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K344.3 | Son-in-law steals father-in-law‘s pants by making latter believe he has dirtied them. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| K356 | Tricksters feign death of their father. Collect rent and flee. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K372 | Playing godfather. By pretending that he has been invited to be godfather, the trickster makes an opportunity to steal the provisions stored by him and the dupe for the winter. When he returns on successive occasions he reports the name of the child as “Just Begun,” “Half Done,” etc. *Type 15; BP I 9; Dh IV 241; *Krohn Bar (Wolf) und Fuchs (JSFO VI) 74ff.; *Fb “ræv” III 113b, “bjørn” IV 43b; *Beckwith MAFLS XVII 238.--Lappish: Qvigstad Lappiske Eventyr III No. 3; French: Sébillot France III 63f.; Missouri French: Carrière; Louisiana Creole: Fortier MAFLS II 19; New Mexican Spanish: Rael Hispania XX 231--4; Japanese: Ikeda; N. A. Indian: Thompson CColl II 437; Africa: Frobenius Atlantis III 13, (Fjort): Dennett 90 No. 23; American Negro (Georgia): Harris Remus 80 No. 17, Jones Negro Myths from the Georgia Coast (Cambridge, Mass., 1888) No. 24, (Virginia): Parsons JAFL XXXV 253--55, (North Carolina): Parsons JAFL XXX 192f., (South Carolina): Parsons MAFLS XVI 7--12, JAFL XXXII 394, XXXIV 3; Bahama: Parsons MAFLS XIII 1; Bermuda: Parsons JAFL XXXVIII 240. | African, Bahama, Bermuda, Carolina, Fjort, French, Georgia, Japanese, Lappish, North Carolina, South Carolina, Spanish, Virginia, N. A. Indian, Missouri French, Louisiana Creole | |
| K492 | Girl serves her father with piece of her own flesh in place of chicken. Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 125 No. 1374B; India: Thompson-Balys. | India, Spanish | |
| K514.1 | Girl substituted for boy to avoid slaughter by father. Hindu: Keith 171. | Hindu | |
| K547.12 | Escape by frightening tiger into thinking goat in cave is the ghost of his father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K565 | Thumbling in animal’s belly persuades latter to go to his father‘s house for plunder: rescued. *Type 700; *BP I 389. | ||
| K601.1 | Escape by posing as preceptor of tiger’s deceased father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K943 | Hermit (deceived by the devil) kills his own father, supposing him to be the devil. Herbert III 5; Crane Vitry 168 No. 76; Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| K959.2.1 | Woman’s father and brothers kill her husband in sleep for having married against their wishes. Italian Novella: Rotunda | Italian | |
| K976 | Daughter pulls out father‘s magic life-containing hair. As soon as it is taken out he dies. Greek: Frazer Apollodorus II 117 n. 3 (Nisus). | Greek | |
| K1092 | Brothers duped into killing each other by slander that one of them is father to the other’s child. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1094 | Treacherous counselor persuades king’s son to woo his father‘s young bride whom he is sent to get, and as he tells the king that he is her lover both are killed. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1094.1 | God persuades hero to substitute a false bride for his father; this results in a fight where the son kills the father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1218.5 | Girl asks importunate lover for weapon to use against her father. Instead, she uses it to defend herself against the suitor. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K1342.1.1 | Man in magic hiding box bought by girl’s father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K1354 | Seduction by bearing false order from husband or father. | ||
| K1354.1.1 | Trickster masking as girl‘s father advises intercourse with trickster. She obeys. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K1367 | Monk persuades a father to set daughter afloat in box: monk seduces her. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| K1371.2 | Father tricked into giving away disguised daughter in marriage. Scottish: Campbell-McKay No. 14. | Scotland | |
| K1372.1 | Princess tricked into engaging herself to suitor rejected by her father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1613.4 | Son who intends to poison father drinks the poison by mistake. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K1614 | Father delivering daughter to be eaten by cannibal is himself eaten. Africa (Basuto): Jacottet 114 No. 27. | Basuto | |
| K1628 | Sons have servant impersonate dead father and falsify his will. Servant deceives them by favoring himself. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K1815.1.1 | Pious pilgrim dies unknown in his father‘s house. (Miraculous manifestations.) BP III 461 (Grimm No. 204). | ||
| K1837.4 | Girl in man’s clothes avenges her father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1855 | Younger and preferred brother substituted by mother for elder to deceive father. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| K1911.1.9 | Prince substitutes peasant girl for the king‘s daughter he has got for his father but with whom he himself has fallen in love. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K1936 | Impostor claims to be father of princess’s child. *Type 304. | ||
| K2011.1.1 | Ogre father poses as mother and kills child. Africa (Rundi): Zuure L’Ame du Murundi (Paris, 1932) 340ff. No. †E5, 345f. No. †E7, (Luba): DeClerq ZsKS IV 213ff. No. 13. | Bakuba, Rund | |
| K2011.1.3 | Hyena poses as father and kills child. Africa (Larusa): Fokken ZsKS VII 95f. No. 5. | Larusa | |
| K2213.7 | Faithless wife betrays husband to her father. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| K2213.9 | Faithless wife incites sons to make war upon father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| K2213.13 | Queen kills her husband as revenge of his killing of her father and brother. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| K2214.1.1 | Daughter has aged father cremated with dead husband to honor the latter. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| K2214.3 | Treacherous son: leads revolt against his father to whom he owes all. Spanish Exempla: Keller; Jewish: *Neuman; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera II 286. | Buddhist, Jewish | |
| K2218.2 | Treacherous father-in-law. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| L111.1.2 | Fugitive bull-calf returns when grown and defeats his father. West Indies: Flowers 557--9. | West Indies | |
| L112.1.1 | Loathly man father of supernaturally born boy. S. A. Indian (Chiriguano): Métraux MAFLS XL 159. | Chiriguano | |
| L142.3 | Son surpasses father in skill. Jewish: *Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys. | India, Jewish | |
| L432.2 | Impoverished father begs from daughter he has banished: recognized. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| L432.2.1 | Impoverished father begs from his prosperous daughter whom he has made to marry a poor man. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| M119.8.1 | Swearing by one’s father and mother. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| M119.8.2 | Swearing by life of father. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| M138.1 | Vow to marry off two daughters to first two men father looks at on the following morning. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| M151.3 | Vow not to take food or drink until manner of father’s death is learned. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| M152.1 | Vow not to kiss anybody until father is revenged. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| M152.2 | Vow not to sit on father‘s high-seat until he is revenged. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| M161.2 | Vow to revenge (king, friends, father) or die. English: Malory XX 10; Icelandic: *Boberg. | England, Iceland | |
| M256.1 | Sons break promise to have masses for father’s soul. ”If he is in Hell it will do him no good; if he is in Heaven he won‘t need it; and if he is in Purgatory he can purge himself.“ Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| M258.1 | Promise to dying father leads to adventures. Type 884; *BP II 56ff. | ||
| M258.2 | Promise to dying father not to wed woman of certain tribe. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| M258.3 | Promise to dying father to bury him in his homeland. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| M271 | Sons agree to meet at father’s grave after they have been out in world for one year to learn trade. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| M312.0.5 | Prophecy: son will tie father to a horse‘s leg and strike him fifty blows. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| M312.2.1 | Prophecy: son to be more powerful than father. Greek: Grote I 173. | Greek | |
| M312.6 | Prophecy: boys to be fathers of saints. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| M344.1 | Father-daughter incest prophecy. Greek: Fox 120 (Thyestes); India: Thompson-Balys. | Greek, India | |
| M371.0.2 | Father throws boy of boy-girl twin birth into river to avoid evil effects of twin birth. Africa (Fang): Tessman 91. | Fang | |
| M376.3 | Children swallowed one after the other as they are born for fear one of them will overcome father. Greek: Grote I 6. | Greek | |
| M411.11 | Curse by girl in revenge of the murdering of her foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| M438.5 | Dying father condemns weak son to be servant of his brothers. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| M446.1 | Curse: undertaking dangerous revenge of father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N16.2 | Fathers whose unborn children are affianced wager as to mastery in the house. (Cf. †N12.) India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N94 | Father hides wealth to keep son from gambling it away. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N126.2 | Lots cast to determine father of illegitimate child. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| N251.6 | The luckless son and his envious father. Seeing a luck-bringing animal at his son’s house, the wizard father orders it to be destroyed, but the grandchildren eat of its meat and become fortunate. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 738*. | Lithuanian | |
| N332.1 | Man accidentally fed bread which his father has poisoned. The wicked man puts poison in the bread he gives a beggar. The beggar gives his loaf to the son. Type 837; *De Vries Tijdschrift voor Nederlandsche Taal- en Letterkunde XLVII 63ff.; India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N332.4.1 | Youth accidentally takes the poison he intended for his father. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| N338.3.1 | Father orders unrecognized son thrown into sea. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 480. | Hawaii | |
| N339.8.1 | Accidental death of father from fall into the fire when taking down weapons for his son. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N342.1.1 | Faithful son guarding his father from monster falsely accused by stepmother. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N344 | Father kills self believing that son is dead. The son forgets to spread white sails, the prearranged signal of his safety. (Told also of lovers.) *Schoepperle II 437f.; Greek: Frazer Apollodorus II 137 n. 4. | Greek | |
| N344.2 | Father causes death of innocent son, believing him guilty of adultery with father’s wife. Irish: *Cross; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland, Ireland | |
| N349.2 | Father kills his son in battle rage. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N365.2 | Unwitting father-daughter incest. Irish: *Cross; Icelandic: *Boberg; Greek: Fox 198 (Myrrha); Tuamotu: Stimson MS (z-G. 13/116). | Greek, Iceland, Ireland, Tuamotu | |
| N365.2.1 | Father unwittingly falls in love with daughter. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N455.7 | Secret about prince’s father learned by eavesdropper from his mother‘s talking to him. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N455.12 | Men hear father threaten to marry daughters to first comers. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N658 | Husband arrives home just in time to save wife and her father from being burned to death in their home. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N699.1 | Father and brother accidentally return home just as they are most needed in fight. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N699.2 | King‘s son comes home just at his father’s funeral, when the heritage has to be divided. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N731 | Unexpected meeting of father and son. Irish: *Cross; Missouri French: Carrière Italian Novella: *Rotunda; Jewish: Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys. | French, India, Ireland, Italian, Jewish | |
| N731.1 | Unknown son returns to father‘s court. Irish: Cross; Greek: Fox 119 (Paris). | Greek, Ireland | |
| N731.2 | Father-son combat. Neither knows who the other is. (Sohrab and Rustem.) **Potter Sohrab and Rustem; Deutschbein I 232ff.; Potter FL XV 216ff.; Rank Inzest-Motif 164ff.; Hibbard 227 n. 5; *Köhler-Bolte II 256ff.; L. Wolff Hessische Blätter f. Volksk. XXXIX 54--63. -- Irish: *Cross, MacCulloch Celtic 145, 169 (Cuchulainn, Fionn), Thurneysen 403ff.; English: Wells 135 (Sir Degare); Icelandic: *Boberg; Greek: Fox 140 (Telegonos and Odysseus); Arabian: Burton Nights VII 89 n.; Persian Carnoy 332; Chinese: Werner Myths 315--319, Coyajee JPASB XXIV 179; Philippine: Dixon 235; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 508. | Arabian, Chinese, England, Greek, Hawaii, Iceland, Ireland, Philippine | |
| N731.2.1 | Hero fights with friend of father and then reveals himself. English: Wells 17 (Reinbrun, Gy son of Warwike). | England | |
| N731.3 | Father unexpectedly meets abandoned son and reinstates him. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| N732 | Accidental meeting of father and daughter. Missouri French: Carrière. | French | |
| N732.1 | Father unwittingly buys daughter who has been sold into slavery. Greek: Frazer Apollodorus I 389 n. 1 (Tisiphone). | Greek | |
| N732.2.1 | Daughter‘s good fortune accidentally discovered by father who has become a beggar. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| N810.3 | Hero’s divine father as helper. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| N811 | Supernatural godfather. A king chooses as the godfather of his son the first man he meets. The godfather proves to be supernatural. *Type 652; *BP I 377ff., II 121ff., III 18. | ||
| N812.1 | Wise giant as foster father of hero. Icelandic: Olrik Sakses Oldhistorie I (1892) 40ff., *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N836.3 | King helps princes in exile to avenge their father and take their homeland back. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N842.1 | Cook as foster father. Arabian: Burton I 226. | Arabian | |
| N854.1 | Peasant as foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N855.1 | Smith as foster father. *Von Sydow Sigurds strid med Fåvne 19ff.; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N856.1 | Forester as foster father. *Type 652; BP II 121ff., *122; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| N856.2 | Cowherd as foster father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P11.2.1 | King chosen by contest: princes finding greatest fault with their father. Youngest can find no fault and is chosen. Type 924**. | ||
| P16.1.4 | Father abdicates in favor of son. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| P16.7 | King slain by “his own household” in revenge for deposing his father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P17.0.1 | No sons left to rule after father. Lawmaker’s sons slain in rebellion against him. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P17.0.2 | Son succeeds father as king. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P22.1 | Queen leaves country with her son, having killed her husband in revenge for his killing of her father and brother. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P23.2 | Queen persuades husband to claim her father’s kingdom after his death. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P23.3 | Queen persuades husband to avenge her father. Icelandic: Boberg | Iceland | |
| P26.1 | Queen commits suicide, as her husband vanquishes and kills her father and her brother. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P38 | Prince forfeits father’s and God‘s blessing if he fails to claim throne. English romance: Malory I 4. | English romance | |
| P211 | Wife chooses father’s side in feud. Must choose between husband and father. S. A. Indian (Carib): Alexander Lat. Am. 266. | Carib | |
| P211.1 | Wife chooses father rather than husband or son. (Cf. †P253.3.) Only one can be saved; he alone is irreplaceable. Spanish: Childers. | Spanish | |
| P230.1 | Mother prefers son, father daughter. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P231.4 | Mother kills sons who lack courage to help her revenge her father and brothers, and are likely to betray the plot. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P231.5 | Mother reveals fact that son is offspring of supernatural father. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P232.2 | Mother lets daughter unwittingly marry own father in order to avenge his raping. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233 | Father and son. Irish: Cross; Spanish Exempla: Keller. | Ireland | |
| P233.1 | Son as pledge for father who has committed murder. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P233.2 | Young hero rebuked by his father. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233.2.1 | Father drives away bad son whom the mother prefers. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233.3 | Berserks scold their father who apparently without reason called their adversary invincible. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233.3.1 | Hero’s son by giantess scorns his father‘s feebleness: still it is the son who is slain. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233.5 | Oldest son responsible to father for welfare of others. Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| P233.6 | Son avenges father. English romance: Malory X 21, 34, 36; Icelandic: *Boberg; Jewish: Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys; Africa: Bouveignes 163. | African, Iceland, India, Jewish, English romance | |
| P233.7 | Son must threaten father before he will recognize him as son, even though he brings ring from his mother. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P233.9 | Son chastizes father for scorning mother. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| P233.10 | Father in vision reproves son about to succumb to temptation. Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| P233.11 | Birthright transferred by father from the oldest son to another. (Cf. †P251.7.) Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| P234 | Father and daughter. Irish: Cross; Spanish Exempla: Keller. | Ireland | |
| P234.1 | Daughter marries her husband’s slayer in order to save her old father from war. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P234.2 | Father and daughter die at same time. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P236.1 | Folly of father’s giving all property to children before his death. They abandon him. *Oesterley No. 273; Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 116 No. 980A. Cf. Shakespeare‘s King Lear. | Spanish | |
| P236.2 | Supposed chest of gold induces children to care for aged father. They think that the chest of stones contains the inheritance. *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 435; Scala Celi 98b No. 528; Dunlop-Wilson II 185f.; von der Hagen II lviii No. 49; Hdwb. d. Abergl. IV 1290. --Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 2452*; Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 116 No. 980A; Italian Novella: *Rotunda; Palestine: Schmidt-Kahle Volkserzählungen aus Palästina II No. 123; India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: Jeynball Catalogus Maleische en Sundaneesche Hss. 173, ibid. Supplement Catalogus Javaansche en Madoereesche Hss. 22. | India, Indonesia, Italian, Lithuanian, Palestine, Spanish | |
| P236.3 | Not daring to curse father directly, son does so indirectly. Nouvelles Récréations No. 50. | ||
| P236.4 | Son deposes father and usurps throne. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P236.5 | Undutiful children ridicule father while he is drunk and naked. Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| P236.6 | Undutiful son overawes his father by threats. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| P242 | Children punished for fathers‘ sins. Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| P261 | Father-in-law. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| P271 | Foster father. **C. Schubert Der Pflegesohn (Nourri) im Heldenepos (Marburg, 1906); Irish: Cross; Missouri French: Carrière. | French, Ireland | |
| P271.1 | Magician as foster father. (Cf. †N845.) English romance: Malory, Book 1; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland, English romance | |
| P271.2 | Fisherman as foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.3 | Dwarf as foster father. (Cf. †F451.5.1.) Icelandic: MacCulloch Eddic 267, *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.4 | Living king’s or nobleman‘s son as foster son of father’s friend: considered an honor for the foster father. Weinhold Altnordisches Leben (1856) 285ff.; Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.5 | Foster father as constant helper. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.6 | Foster children return foster father’s love: avenge him, etc. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.7 | King‘s son named after his father’s foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P271.8 | Thor slays his foster father and takes himself the realm of Thrace. Icelandic: Snorra Edda Prol. III, MacCulloch Eddic. 314. | Iceland | |
| P275.1 | Foster son commits adultery with foster father’s wife. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| P281 | Stepfather. | ||
| P281.1 | Stepfather as foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P281.2 | Stepfather murdered. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P291 | Grandfather. Irish: Cross; Missouri French: Carrière. | French, Ireland | |
| P291.1 | Grandfather as foster father. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P293.1 | Mother’s brother as foster father. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P293.3 | Hero killed in fighting with father‘s brother. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P293.4 | Young prince sent to his father’s mother‘s brother. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P293.5 | Father’s brother avenged. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P296.1 | Godfather. Hdwb. d. Abergl. III 803; Missouri French: Carrière. See also †N811 and all references and cross-references. | French | |
| P310.4.1 | Dying man asks friends to let his son inherit his friendship together with his father’s weapons. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga II 358, Boberg. | Iceland | |
| P401 | Son insists on following father‘s trade. This has been kept secret at request of dying father who was unsuccessful. Son learns from mother. *Cosquin Contes indiens 395ff. | ||
| P447.1 | Smith as grandfather of king. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| Q242.1 | Cohabitation of godfather and godmother punished. (Cf. †P296.) Andrejev FFC LXIX 240. | ||
| Q242.2 | Father-daughter incest punished. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| Q242.4 | Father of incestuous children punished. Eskimo (Bering Strait): Nelson RBAE XVIII 481, (Cumberland Sound): Boas BAM XV 209. | Bering Strait, Cumberland Sound | |
| Q411.3 | Death of father (son, etc.) as punishment. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| Q451.3.3.1 | Son stricken dumb as punishment for father’s opposition to holy person. (Cf. †Q411.3.) Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| Q451.7.2.1 | Blinding (of father) as punishment for ravisher. (Cf. †Q411.3.) Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| Q553.3.2 | Children of incestuous father die without issue. (Cf. †Q242.) Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| Q555.4 | Punishment for incest: father and son maddened; cut off their sexual organs. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| Q586 | Son on gallows bites his mother‘s (father’s) nose off: punishment for neglect in youth. *Types 756B, 838; *Andrejev FFC LXIX 88; Wienert FFC LVI 83 (ET 493), 128 (ST 365, 499); Halm Aesop No. 351; *Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 19; Crane Vitry 259 No. 287; *Chauvin VIII 113 No. 95 n. 1; Alphabet No. 217. -- Spanish Exempla: Keller; India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| R10.1.2 | Lover abducts maiden from cruel father and brother. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| R54 | Hero locked up while his father is murdered. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| R72 | Defiant prisoners refuse to accept grace even from their father unless it is granted them all. (Cf. †M165.) Hdwb. d. Märchens II “Gnade ausbitten”; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| R153.2 | Father rescues children. | ||
| R153.2.1 | Father hides children from murderous mother. After many years they come forth and she dies of fright. *Type 765. | ||
| R153.3 | Father rescues son(s). Icelandic: Lagerholm 170ff., *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| R153.3.1 | Father rescues son captured by enemy. Type 899*; Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| R153.3.2 | Father rescues son stolen by animals. Africa (Bushmen, South of Zambesi): Theal 56. | Zambesi | |
| R153.3.4 | Father rescues son from prison. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| R153.3.5 | Fathers thrust sons above water even as they themselves drown. Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| R153.3.6 | Father hides son from Satan. Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| R153.5 | Father rescues daughter. Irish: *Cross; Icelandic: Lagerholm 134ff., *Boberg; Eskimo (Greenland): Rasmussen III 85, (Central Eskimo): Boas RBAE VI 584, (Cumberland Sound): Boas BAM XV 164. | Cumberland Sound, Eskimo, Greenland, Iceland, Ireland | |
| R154.2 | Son rescues father. Type 301C*; Irish: *Cross; Icelandic: Boberg; India: *Thompson-Balys. | Iceland, India, Ireland | |
| R154.2.1 | Son frees father by bringing riddle the king cannot solve. (Cf. †H542.) Spanish: Boggs FFC XC 112 No. 927*B. | Spanish | |
| R154.2.2 | Son recovers father‘s bones. Hawaii: Beckwith myth 259, 263, 346f.; Tahiti: ibid. 266; Maori: ibid. *249. | Hawaii, Maori, Tahiti | |
| R154.2.3 | Sons rescue father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| R154.3 | Daughter rescues father. Rumania: Schullerus FFC LXXVIII No. 879*; Italian Novella: Rotunda; India: Thompson-Balys. | India, Rumania, Rumanian | |
| R169.6 | Youth saved from death sentence by father’s friend. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| S11 | Cruel father. *Types 451, 516, 671, 706, 725, 870; *Rösch FFC LXXVII 120; *Schlauch Constance and other accused Queens 40; Irish: *Cross; Jewish: *Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 326 n. 177. | India, Ireland, Jewish, N. A. Indian | |
| S11.1 | Father mutilates children. (Cf. †S160.) *Type 706; Greek: Fox 74 (Phineus). | Greek | |
| S11.2 | Jealous father sends son to upper world on stretching tree. N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 332 n. 199; Africa (Benga): Nassau 176 No. 23. | Benga, N. A. Indian | |
| S11.3 | Father kills child. | ||
| S11.3.2 | Father kills deformed children. (Cf. †S325.0.1.) Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.3.3 | Father kills son. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S11.3.3.1 | Father kills son (for stealing). Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.3.3.2 | Father murders his two sons for whining. Tonga: Gifford 24. | Tonga | |
| S11.3.4 | Cruel father, learning that he is to be killed by his son, puts to death all children born to him. (Cf. †M375.) Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.3.6 | Father throws boy into river (sea). Africa (Congo): Weeks Jungle 407, (Cameroon): Rosenhuber 20 No. 3, (Fang): Tessman 91. | Cameroon, Congo, Fang | |
| S11.3.7 | Father orders son assassinated. (Cf. †K512.) Buddhist myth: Malalasekera II 529; Africa (Fang): Tessman 92. | Buddhist, Fang | |
| S11.3.8 | Father eats own children. (Cf. †G10.) Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 920; Africa (Pangwe): Tessman 108, 365. | Buddhist, Pangwe | |
| S11.4 | Father plans child’s death. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S11.4.1 | Jealous father vows to kill daughter‘s suitors. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.4.2 | Father kisses son while planning to kill him. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| S11.4.3 | Cruel fathers threaten to kill their children if they are of undesirable sex. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S11.4.4 | Cruel father seeks to kill infant son. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.5 | Father banishes son at request of fairy wife. (Cf. †F302, †S322.4.3.) Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| S11.6 | Father flogs child. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S21.2 | Son blinds father. (Cf. †Q451.7, †S165.) Irish: Cross; Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Ireland, Italian | |
| S21.5 | Cruel son tries to sterilize father. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| S222 | Prince plans to kill wicked father for cruelty. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S22.3 | Father learns that his son is planning to kill him. Gives his son a weapon to do so. Son repents. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| S25.1 | Boy kills his grandfather. Jewish: Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys. | India, Jewish | |
| S31.5 | Girl persuades her father to marry a widow who has treated her kindly. *Roberts 136. | ||
| S32 | Cruel stepfather. Type 970**; Icelandic: Boberg; India: *Thompson-Balys. | Iceland, India | |
| S36 | Cruel foster father. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 480. | Hawaii | |
| S42 | Cruel grandfather. Kills his grandchildren. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| S52 | Cruel father-in-law. *Type 516; *Rösch FFC LXXVII 120; *BP I 46ff.; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “gendre”; Spanish: Espinosa II Nos. 99--103, 105; India: Thompson-Balys; Eskimo (Greenland): Rasmussen III 85, (Smith Sound): Kroeber JAFL XII 168. | Breton, Greenland, India, Smith Sound, Spanish | |
| S56.1 | Lover asks girl to kill her father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S141.2 | Father saves himself in storm and forgets his two children. They are abandoned in a boat. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| S211.1 | Child of woman and devil taken to his father. Type 756B; *Andrejev FFC LXIX 49. | ||
| S221.1 | Bankrupt father sells his daughters in marriage to animals. (Sometimes to pay gambling debt.) (Cf. †S215.) *Types 425C, 552A; *BP II 234ff., III 424ff.; Spanish: Espinosa Jr. No. 65; India: *Thompson-Balys; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 149, II 1013. | Buddhist, India, Spanish | |
| S224 | Child promised to devil for acting as godfather. (Cf. †N411.) *Types 314, 502, 756B; *BP II 319ff., 329; Andrejev FFC LXIX 50; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “filleul”. | Breton | |
| S226 | Child promised to devil for directions out of woods when father is lost. *Andrejev FFC LXIX 51, 58, 229 n.; BP II 483f. | ||
| S322.1 | Father casts daughter forth. Spanish: Espinosa II Nos. 107f., 154, Espinosa Jr. Nos. 120--123. | Spanish | |
| S322.1.1 | Father who wanted son exposes (murders) daughter. Irish: *Cross; Greek: Fox 56 (Atalanta); India: *Thompson-Balys; Indonesia: DeVries’s list No. 203. | Greek, India, Indonesia, Ireland | |
| S322.1.2 | Father casts daughter forth when she will not marry him. (Cf. †T411.1.) *Type 510B; BP II 45; Cox passim; Krappe Zeitschrift für englische Philologie XLIX 361--69; Spanish: Espinosa II Nos. 99--103. | Spanish | |
| S322.1.2.1 | Exposure in jungle for refusing to marry according to father‘s wishes. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S322.1.3 | Father condemns daughter to death because he believes her unchaste. Type 883A; India: Thompson-Balys; Africa (Somali): Kirk FL XV 319ff. No. 3, Reinisch Die Saho-Sprache (Wien, 1889) I 76ff. No. 3. | India, Somali | |
| S322.1.4 | Princess humiliated by father after she has married loathly bridegroom. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S322.1.5 | Boy turned out of doors by father. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S327.1 | Father wants to kill son because of foolish boasting. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S327.2 | Baby ordered killed because it pulls beard of father (raja). India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| S338 | Father abandons his daughter in forest and leaves axes tied so that they move in wind. Daughter thinks he is cutting wood. *Roberts 137. | ||
| T31.1 | Lovers‘ meeting: hero in service of lady’s father. *Type 314; Malone PMLA XLIII 421; Boccaccio Decameron II No. 6; Missouri French: Carrière; Italian Novella: Rotunda. | French, Italian | |
| T32.1 | Lovers‘ meeting: hero in heroine’s father‘s prison from which she helps him to escape. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| T35.5 | Lover goes to see his beloved in her husband‘s (or her father’s) house, defiant of the danger. Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland | |
| T50.1.2 | Girl carefully guarded by father. Irish: *Cross; Africa (Togo): Einstein 12f. | Ireland, Togo | |
| T69.5 | Father punishes daughter by giving her to poor man in marriage. Chinese: Graham. | Chinese | |
| T92.9 | Father and son as rivals in love. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| T92.9.1 | Parricide because of father-son rivalry for girl‘s love. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| T95.0.1 | Princess falls in love with father’s enemy. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| T97 | Father opposed to daughter’s marriage. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| T131.0.1.1 | Father promises that girl may wed only man of her choice. Irish: Cross; Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland, Ireland | |
| T131.1.2 | Father‘s consent to son’s (daughter‘s) marriage necessary. Irish: Cross; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland, Ireland | |
| T131.1.2.1 | Girl must marry father’s choice. Irish: Cross (†T131.8.1); Icelandic: *Boberg. | Iceland, Ireland | |
| T131.1.2.3 | Father demands that son break all relations with his beloved. India: *Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| T131.1.2.4 | Son refuses to marry father’s choice. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| T135.7 | The bride must have someone to give her away, usually her father or brother. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| T151.0.2 | Father giving away daughter makes condition: son-in-law not to see daughter as his wife during one year. Africa (Dahome): Einstein 25. | Dahomey | |
| T172.3 | Bride‘s monster-father tries to kill husband, but is defeated. Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| T215.2 | Wife offers starving husband (father) milk from her breasts. Irish: MacCulloch Celtic 179, *Cross. | Ireland | |
| T314 | Father kills daughter lest she become prostitute. Alphabet No. 774. | ||
| T314.1 | Father kills daughter lest she become the property of a tyrant. Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| T411 | Father-daughter incest. *Köhler-Bolte II 190ff.; *Krappe Review of Religion (1941) 3--17; Heptameron No. 30. -- Irish: *Cross, MacCulloch Celtic 74f.; English: Wells 176 (The Tale of an Incestuous Daughter); Danish: De la Saussaye 166 (Helgi); Italian Novella: Rotunda; Greek: Grote I 149; India: *Thompson-Balys; Hindu: Keith 75 (Prajapati); Maori: Dixon 164 n. 46; Eskimo (Greenland): Rasmussen III 198. | Danish, England, Greek, Greenland, Hindu, India, Ireland, Italian, Maori | |
| T411.1 | Lecherous father. Unnatural father wants to marry his daughter. (Manekine.) *Types 510B, 706; BP I 295ff., *301 n. 5, II 45ff.; *Hibbard 25ff.; *Cox Nos. 131--208; Saintyves Perrault 187ff.; Köhler-Bolte I 420, II 184ff.; Wienert FFC LVI *83 (ET 497), 115 (ST 256); Cosquin Études 3ff.; Rohde Der griechische Roman 37ff., 448; Dickson 199.--Irish: Cross; English: Wells 129 (Emare); Swiss: Jegerlehner Oberwallis 325 No. 6; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. “père”; Italian: Basile Pentamerone II No. 6, III No. 2, *Rotunda; Greek: *Frazer Apollodorus I 46 n. 1; India: Thompson-Balys; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 304 n. 109p; Africa (Ibo, Nigeria): Thomas 139. | Breton, England, Greek, India, Ireland, Italian, Nigeria, Swiss, N. A. Indian | |
| T411.1.1 | Father by trickery secures priest’s advice to marry his own daughter. If a man raise a lamb, shall he eat it himself or let another eat it? *Cosquin Études 9. | ||
| T411.1.2 | Father feigning death returns in disguise and seduces daughter. N. A. Indian: **Schmerler JAFL XLIV 196ff. | N. A. Indian | |
| T411.2 | Girl got with child by intoxicated father. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| T411.2.1 | Daughters seduce drunken father. Jewish: *Neuman. | Jewish | |
| T412.4 | Boy courts his mother, is driven off by father. Africa (Konnoh): Willans 136. | Konnoh | |
| T418.1 | Lustful stepfather. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. | Italian | |
| T541.2.1 | Birth from wound or abscess on body of father. Cosquin Études 257, Contes indiens 196ff.; Moe Samlede Skrifter I 43ff.; Greek: Grote I 10; India: *Thompson-Balys; Philippine (Tinguian): Cole 18 n. 2, 30 n. 3, 38, 81, 87, 144, 151; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 341 nn. 228, 229; Africa (Mkulwe): Einstein 18f. | Greek, India, Mkulwe, Tinguian, N. A. Indian | |
| T563.1 | Child of three fathers born with three stripes. Irish: *Cross. | Ireland | |
| T597 | Ambitions of father transferred to child at moment of conception. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| T611.2 | Child miraculously suckled by his father. *BP II 296; Icelandic: Boberg. | Iceland | |
| T645.1 | Sword left for posthumous son to kill father’s murderer. Krappe Balor 35; Marie de France “Yonec”. | ||
| T645.3 | Father orders the mother to send the expected illegitimate boy to him when he can perform certain feats. Irish: Cross; Greek: Fox 97 (Theseus). | Greek, Ireland | |
| T646.1 | Child cries because his father is unknown. S. A. Indian (Uru-Chipaya): Métraux RMLP XXXIII 169. | Uru-Chipaya | |
| U18 | The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children‘s teeth are set on edge. Jewish: Neuman. | Jewish | |
| U119.1.1 | At a funeral of a child a satyr reveals that the real father (officiating priest) sings while the cuckold weeps. (Cf. †U15.) Italian Novella: Rotunda. | Italian | |
| U121.4 | Alleged son of king proved to be bastard when he displays habits of his true father. Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| U121.5 | Father, like son, acts foolishly at king‘s court. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| U128.1 | Tiger father of human child licks its blood. India: Thompson-Balys. | India | |
| V363 | Jewish child thrown into oven by father for taking eucharist. Preserved by Virgin Mary. *Ward II 601; Irish: Cross (†V35.1.0.1); Spanish Exempla: Keller. | Ireland | |
| V413 | Son’s acts of charity save his father‘s soul. English: Wells 175 (The Child of Bristowe). | England | |
| V415 | Children envious of money given by deceased father to bishop. In vision they take their father’s body up and find a quittance saying that he has received more than a hundredfold reward. Alphabet No. 302; Spanish Exempla: Keller. | ||
| V437 | Saint repeatedly bestows father‘s goods upon the poor. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| W151.5 | Father-in-law sued for breach of contract because he does not die in two years as he has predicted. Nouvelles Récréations No. 49. | ||
| W155.4 | Hardhearted person refuses reprieve for father’s murderers. Irish: Cross. | Ireland | |
| X435.2 | Parson “Where did the father stay?”--“He stayed to hold the oxen.” *Type 1833B. |
About StorySearch
The Project
This website is a search engine of almost 50,000 patterns within stories world over called "Motifs" and several projects fueled by this search engine.
The Motif Collection
The work comes from a folklorist named Stith Thompson who spent his life reading and cataloging these stories which he published as the Motif Index of Folklore and Literature. You can read more about his work here: Wikipedia page for Stith Thompson
The Goal
While we have Mr. Thompson's motifs, we have yet to track down all of the stories he read, which is our ultimate goal. We then will provide the stories for all to read, explore and see the connections and commonalities between these stories which we hope to further understandings between cultures and deeper into ourselves.
The Stories
Of course, since there are a current total of 46,248 motifs, we've estimated there to be as many as 51,822 stories which might take some time to collect.
The Strategy
For now, we are working to build a crowdsourcing application to help us collect, organize these stories along with tagging the motifs within them.
Until then, please use the following FAQ.
Frequently Asked Questions about Story Search
What do you use this site for?
We use it to find stories, or to know there are stories worldwide with patterns in them. From there, we've found three common uses:
Lectures, Professional & other Metaphor Development
Another common request is from people wanting to tell better stories in their work. This might be someone trying to communicate a tricky idea which is in need of a good metaphor. Since we know these "story seeds" have proven themselves to be quite memorable, we try to adapt motifs to fit as a solid and simple metaphor. We've helped Scientists, Lawyers, Medical Organizations, and even those in the Financials Industry to help better convey what they are doing by telling a better story.
Storytelling, Mentoring & Narrative Therapy
And last (usually the most important in the story world) but not least, we do a lot of work with how people can grow and develop parts of who they are and the connection therein through story. So, we might tell research specific stories to tell a child or youth who is working through an issue, such as dealing with anger, attention issues, or life changes by carefully choosing a motif which can help them understand what they're dealing with. (This works well for adults too.)
If you find a new usage for these, please tell us.
What exactly is a Motif?
A Motif is a trait common between two stories. They can be from nearby places, but the interesting ones (we find) are from very different parts of the world. That is to say, two ideas that simultaneously erupted most likely independently. This is because we can then develop a theory about well, pretty much anything.
Let's give you an example of two excerpts from stories so you can spot their motifs.
Sedna - Eskimo
In this mortal peril the father determined to offer Sedna to the birds and flung her overboard. She clung to the edge of the boat with a death grip. The cruel father then took a knife and cut off the first joints of her fingers. Falling into the sea they were transformed into whales, the nails turning into whalebone. Sedna holding on to the boat more tightly, the second finger joints fell under the sharp knife and swam away as seals; when the father cut off the stumps of the fingers they became ground seals.
Handless Maiden - Germany
The devil still could not approach her, he was very angry, and ordered the miller, "Chop off her hands, so I can get to her."
The miller was horrified and answered, "How could I chop off my dear child's hands? No, I will not do it."
"Then do you know what? I will take you, if you don't do it!"
That frightened the miller terribly, and driven by fear he promised to do what the devil had ordered. He went to his daughter and said, "My child, the devil will take me if I don't chop off both your hands, and I have promised him that I will do it. I beg for your forgiveness."
"Father," she said, "do with me what you will," stretched forth her hands, and let him chop them off.
Interpretations
What could we infer about this story? Well, we might use it to interpret a major plot point in another storyline such as Star Wars, Winter's Bone or Game of Thrones.
We might see it as a symbol for the the loss of ability, that is to say, the loss of the ability to do things.
And so, it might be a useful story to tell someone who has issues with motivation, or the lack of the ability to do things.
We'd also be very curious what the relationship between the symbolic "father" is in each of these stories is, including the three newer stories we mentioned.
Where did you get all of the info about Motifs and Stories?
This search engine is a digitized version of the life work comes of a folklorist named Stith Thompson who spent his life reading and cataloging stories which he published as the Motif Index of Folklore and Literature. This book is very hard to come by, as are many of the books Mr. Thompson referenced. We will be collecting the stories (with the help of folks on the internet) to allow everyone to enjoy and educate themselves about this work.
I have a story I'd really like to find. Can you send it to me?
If we can find it, yes, we will definitely try to so you're always welcome to ask. We don't have digital copies of all of the books referenced in the search engine yet, but we currently have more than two thirds of the 800 or so. Feel free to use the contact form, and we will let you know what we can do.
When I be able to read all of the stories online?
That is hard to tell because it is dependent on two things: our helpers and funds.
Feedback - If you have feedback to offer as far as features you'd like, or requests for stories, this helps us polish the new systems we are putting in place in order to collect all of Stith's stories. Don't hesitate to use our contact form.
Donate Time - If you would like to donate some of your time to help comb stories, please fill out the form below.
Donate Funds - Or, you can use the fully tax deductible donation to our 501(c)3 non-profit hosting organization the Center for Symbolic Studies via a form at http://symbolicstudies.org
How can I help?
We've created a twitter feed for StorySearch, and since it is using his work, we've put the feeds under the name @StithThompson.
Every 15 minutes, a new random motif is tweeted. Below are the 20 most recent tweets:
Twitter Feed for @StithThompson
Updated every 15 minutes with a new random motif.
Video
Writing
TEDx - Lower East Side
Here is a talk by the creator of the Story Search, Richard Schwab, did on myth featuring stories about ways we use this site. October 25th 2013.