Dimidius amicus
The Half-Friend
A young man spends his money freely, feasting and treating his many friends to fine foods and luxurious gifts. His father cautions him, telling him that no true friend is won is such a way. The son objects, claiming that his many friends care for him as brothers; the father replies that he has only one friend, and in fact only half a friend at that, but he values that relationship over all the acquaintances his son claims are such intimate friendships. So the father and son agree to a test. The son kills a large pig, and puts the body in a sack. He then carries that sack to the house of one of his friends, and tells him that he has killed a man, and asks for his help. The so-called friend turns him away immediately, however, telling him that if he doesn't take the body away, he will strike him or call the authorities. The same thing occurs at the next friend's house, then the next. The son then goes to the house of his father's (half-)friend, and upon hearing who he is, and that he has killed a man, the friend immediately springs to action. He helps the son bury the 'body' in the garden, and plants a bed of leeks over the grave. Then, the son returns to his father's house. The father suggests further tests, telling the boy to provoke the friend further, first by demanding repayment for a non-existent debt, then at last striking the friend across the face. Despite all this, however, the friend tells the son that even in the face of such disrespect, he will not dig up the bed of leeks and expose the boy's crimes, due to his love for the boy's father. The boy tells his father that such friendship is truly valuable, while his 'friends' were not worth a fig, and the two explain the whole affair to the friend.
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Nishimura notes the following motifs, analogues, and references: Motifs and Types: TMI H1558.1: Test of friendship: the half-friend. ATU 893: The unreliable friend. TU2216: Friendship tested. TU2407: Half-friend. Analogues: Zo Agon-kyo, 10 (Taishozo, 2, no. 101). Shukyo Sen Zohiyu, 33 (Taishozo, 4, no. 208). Shutsuyo-kyo, 23.27 (Taishozo, 4, 732b). Hemacandra, Parisishthaparvan, 3.17, 149-154 ‘Story of the three friends’. Tales of Marzuban, 2.8 ‘The Merchant and his wise Friend’. Der Stricker, ‚Die Affenmutter und ihre Kinder‘. Scala Coeli, 60 ‚Un jeune homme condamné à mort…‘. Golden Legend, 174 ‘St. Barlaam and St. Josaphat’. De Amicis in Mortis Hora. Rudolf von Ems, Barlaam und Josaphat, Fifth Apologue (4775ff.) ‚Der Mann und seine drei Freunden‘. Gesta Romanorum, 182 ‚Die anvertraute Kaiserstochter‘ and 238 ‚Die Freunde in der Not‘. Rosenöl, I, pp. 175-176. Der Born Judas, 164 ‘Von den drei Freunden’. The Three Tales of the Three Priests of Peblis. Everyman. Sachs, nr.4992 and nr.4959, Die drei freund im tod des menschen [Three Friends when a Man dies] and nr.3121, the comedy, Der reich sterbet man (Hecastus) [The Death of a rich man named Hecastus]. Herder, Drei Freunde. Hofmansthal, Jedermann. Santosu no Gosagyo no uchi Nukigaki, pp. 139-140. Isoho Monogatari, vol. 3, 33. Hirata Atsutane, Honkyo Gaihen, pp. 24-25. Grierson, Linguistic Survey of India, 6, pp. 167-171, № 37. There are others in this first type, represented by the fifth apologue of Barlaam and Joasaph, ‘The Man and his Three Friends’ (in the Georgian version Balavariani, the fourth apologue), which have the three friends and religious riddles to solve, see Vincentius Bellovacensis, Speculum Morale, 1.4.19 (pp. 658-659. Four Friends) and Speculum Historiale, 15.16 (pp. 584-585. Three Friends); The Book of Tales by A.B.C., 16 ‘They who love this world’s possessions…’; Hagen, Gesamtabenteuer, 35 ‘Ehefrau und Buhlerin’; Gesta Romanorum, 27 ‘Der treulose Seneschall’ and 212 ‘Der ungetreue Hofmarschall’ = Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, 17 ‘A king, who was obliged to go to remote regions,…’ = Pauli, Schimpf und Ernst, 880 ‘Ungehorsam ward der Schaffner,…’. Gesta Romanorum, 49 ‘Der Ungarnkönig Conan und die Herzogin’, may also be seen as a variant of this story. Santosu no Gosagyo (Codex Barreto, pp. 206-207). Born Judas, 201 ‘Die drei Söhne des Königs’ (teaches that there are three kinds of people according to what they consider important). The second type, which tests many friends, represented by Example 1 ‘The Half Friend’ of Disciplina Clericalis, see The Book of Tales by A.B.C., 18 ‘A friend is truly friend indeed…’; Scala Coeli, 69; Sercambi, Il Novelliere, 73; Caxton, Fables of Aesop, ‘Alphonse extract’, 1; Cardonne, Mélanges de littérature orientale, pp. 285-289, ‘Das Gleichnis von der Freundschaft’. Yim Dong Gon, Korean Folktales, 148, ‘True Friend’. Legrand d’Aussy, Anciens Fabliaux, 3, 225-229 ‘Du Prud’homme qui donna de instructions à son fils, …’; Sancho IV, Punishment, 36; Libro del Caballero Zifar, 1.5; Steinhöwel, Aesop’s Fables, ‘Alfonsi Extract’, 1; Sachs, nr.970, ‘Der halbe Freund [A True Half Friend]’ and nr.3663, r.31, ‘Der halb freundt [Half Friend]’; Palmblätter, pp. 34-38, ‘Die Freunde’; Choi In Hak, A Study on Korean Folktales…, 753 ‘True Friendship – Type of Parent and Child’. For the third type, which is a mixture of the first type’s riddle-solving and the second type’s friend-testing motif, see Gesta Romanorum, 129 ‘Prüfung einer wahren Freundschaft’; Jacques de Vitry, Exempla, 120 ‘The servant of a rich and powerful lord…’; El Conde Lucanor, 48 ‘Was einem Manne begegnet, welcher seine Freunde auf die Probe stellte’. For the fourth type, which is the true friend, the friendly friend or the unfriendly friend, see Kathasaritsagara, Chapter 61, ‘105. Story of Dhavalamukha, his trading friend and his fighting friend’; Pakistani Folk Tale, ‘Magai o Tomo to Shin no Tomo [The False Friend and the True Friend]’. The fifth type of stories is represented by Sakku Kanpu, which is a secular type of story in which the immediate family is the true friend rather than the friend, see Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, 28 ‘Type Index’ 421, ‘Wife’s anonymous information’; Rakugo ‘Different Bone (Hone Chigai)’, and Kodan ‘Egawa Seidan Hone Chigai’ (according to Nakagomi Shigeaki, ‘Folktales and Rakugo’). Sakku Ki; Vietnamese Folktales, ‘Wife’s Wise Wisdom’; Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, 28 ‘Type Index’, 167, ‘Brothers’ Reconciliation’. Reference stories of this type are Straparola, Le piacevoli notti, 13.4 (He accidentally kills his master and buries the body, killing a goat instead and throwing it into a well. Accused by his wife, he goes into the well, pulls up the dead goat, weeps, and is acquitted. See also ‘113. senex’). Reference story: Afanasjew, Russische Volksmärchen, 402 ‘Der Dumme und die Birke’. Bibliography: Chauvin IX1. Schwarzbaum, XXI, pp. 283-289. Ueda Bin, Origin of Bosatsu Monogatari. Kobori Keiichiro, ‘The Tale of the Three Friends’, ‘A Supplement to San’nin no Tommo no Hanashi’ and ‘The Origin of Rudolf von Ems’s Barlaam and Josaphat’. Mihara Yukihisa, ‘On the Analogous Story of AT893’. My translation of Disciplina Clericalis, pp. 246-261. Matsumura Hisashi, ‘Analecta Anglica’ I (Oriental sources for the morality play Everyman) and ‘Analecta Indica’ XXV (bibliographical supplement to the morality play Everyman). Nihon Mukashibanashi Tsukan, ‘Kenkyu-hen 2’, 167. Nishimura Masami, ‘Parallels of the embedded stories in The King’s Son and the Ascetic, pp. 7-9. |
| Critical Literature |
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| Nishimura (2001), Clouston (1884), Rajna (1880) |
| Dimidius amicus appears in the following versions and secondary versions |
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| Dimidius amicus is narrated in the following occurrences | ||||
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| Dimidius amicus appears in the following manuscripts |
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| This inset story appears in no manuscripts of the database |