Bluffing is only one of many kinds of impositions practiced in folktales. Sometimes the assumption of a false role is a necessary part of the hero's adventures, and the listener to the story applauds the imposture. But more often the impostor is the villain of the piece and much of the interest of the story hinges upon his unmasking. These uses of impositions as a strong motivating force usually occur in the complex folktale, particularly the wonder tale. In shorter anecdotes deceptions of this kind are used almost entirely to produce amusing situations. One cycle of such tales is about sham church men. The peasant who passes himself off as a clergyman sometimes betrays himself by preaching on the troubles which only the congregation could know about. Or sometimes he runs out of anything to say and keeps repeating himself or saying over a few words of Latin. In the most spectacular of these anecdotes he has sawed the pulpit almost in two before ascending it; he has hardly finished predicting a great miracle when the pulpit falls down (K1961.1 and subdivisions; Type 1825ABC). These tales go back at least to the Renaissance, where they are found in many jestbooks. They are especially popular in northern and eastern Europe, and such stories are sometimes heard in France, Spain, and Italy. It would be interesting to see what, if any, effect the prevailing religion of a country has upon the popularity of these anecdotes.

The sham miracle just mentioned occurs frequently in other connections. A whole series of anecdotes tell of how a man who is standing behind a tree or a statue pretends to be God or the spirit to which a suppliant is praying. For instance, a wife prays, hoping to find out how she may fool her husband. From his hiding place he advises her to feed him well (K1971.1; Type 1380; cf. Types 1575** and 1388*). This simple incident has had a long literary [p. 207] history, leading back to India and coming down through Italian novelle and Turkish and Renaissance European jestbooks. Orally it is still told in India and is very popular in north Europe and in Roumania. It has not been reported from Africa or America. Many variations are rung upon the theme of the husband answering the prayer of the wife, but sometimes the role is exchanged. In one tale well known all over Europe since the Renaissance the wife behind the tree advises the husband against having his wife work (K1971.4.1; Type 1405). A third variety of this imposture tells of wives or maidens behind a tree who advise reluctant husbands or unwilling suitors (K1971.6; Type 1461*). Finally, there is the perennial old maid joke about the sexton behind the crucifix or statue who answers her prayer for a husband. Speaking as the Christ Child, he tells her that she will have no husband, but she tells the Christ Child that he knows nothing about it and that she is praying to his mother (K1971.8.1; Type 1476).

A sham miracle is used in a popular Scandinavian and Baltic story as a means of cheating an employer. Though hired to mow the grass, rascals return to their master without even having begun. When he angers them, they pronounce a curse, "May the grass grow up again." He finds it full height, and is persuaded of the miracle. In a variant of this tale, the tricksters have put a wasp nest inside of the bee-hive. The curse they utter is, "May it turn to wasps" (K1975; Type 1736).

A group of popular anecdotes tell about girls who keep up appearances so as to deceive suitors as to their desirability. Sometimes they lisp or have a speech impediment and, though they have been warned against speaking, they forget and are found out. Another boasts about how little she eats, but when the suitor sees her baking, he finds out that she eats enough. Or the mother has given the girl a new name, but the girl forgets it and does not answer when her mother calls, so that the mother must call her by the old and ugly name (K1984 and subdivisions; Types 1457, 1458, 1461). A good many variations are given this theme, which is popular over most of Europe, and which has a literary history going back at least to Hans Sachs in the sixteenth century.

In a few fairly well-known anecdotes the deception of the girl is placed in contrast to the good qualities of another who stands the severe tests she is put to by the suitor. Thus the thrifty girl makes herself a dress from the flax which the lazy one has thrown away. Or three sisters are tested by the way they trim cheese. The first eats the cheese rind and all, the second trims away much of the cheese, and the third trims it just right. Or the suitor hides a key in the flax on the spinning wheel. He finds it there the next day and realizes that the girl has done no spinning. This cycle (H381-H384; Types 1451, 1452, 1453) is popular in the Baltic states and is sometimes heard in other parts of eastern Europe. [p. 208]