Motif
Feigning death to escape captivity
feigning_death_to_escape_captivity
A motif of the Trickster and Boundary Crosser family, within the sub-family Escapes from Captors and Countertraps. Every row below is a tagged passage; each rests on a quote in its source text.
1 occurrences
1 traditions
buddhist
-
Buddhist birth stories; or, Jataka tales, Volume 1 END OF THE STORY OF THE BANYAN DEER. / END OF THE STORY OF THE DART OF LOVE. / END OF THE STORY OF THE SWIFT ANTELOPE. / END OF THE STORY OF THE DEER WHO WOULD NOT LEARN.; lines 10046-10202 confidence: high
The young stag lies still, arranges his limbs, throws up earth and grass, hangs out his tongue, wets his body, swells his belly, breathes through one nostril, stiffens his frame, and appears like a corpse while flies and crows gather.
The trapped stag imitates a corpse so convincingly that the hunter releases him as already putrid.
read in the book →