Types and Motifs

Type AT 1535 Ind., Mothers-in-law and Daughtersin-law. Many of the incidents of Type 1535, The Rich and The Poor Peasant, are transposed to mother-in-law and daughter-in-law stories in south India. The clever daughter-in-law is persecuted; often the mother-in-law even tries to murder her (S 51.1), but the young woman survives all and finally triumphs. In some tales, the daughter-in-law tricks the mother-in-law into taking her place in the sack that will be thrown into the river (Motif K 842) or, as in this tale, comes back from the forest with the robbers' loot (AT 1653) and terrifies the mother-in-law into submission.