Motif
Animal wailers tested for a dead spouse
animal_wailers_tested_for_a_dead_spouse
A motif of the Lament, Mourning, and Tragic Recognition family. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
slavic
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Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore LI. THE HASTY WORD 370 / RUSSIAN FOLK-TALES. / CHAPTER I. / INTRODUCTORY.; lines 1167-1289 confidence: high
In the “Fox-wailer,” described as a variant of “Jack and the Beanstalk,” an old man carries his wife in a bag up a beanstalk to heaven, drops her, then asks a bear, wolf, and fox to wail; the fox’s wail wins the promised fowls.
In “Fox-wailer,” the widower asks a bear, wolf, and fox to wail for his dead wife; only the fox’s wail satisfies him.
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