Mel
A Drop of Honey
A hunter finds a hive full of fine honey, and plans to sell the honey little by little. He fills a bag with the honey, and takes it to a nearby village to sell it to a merchant. As the bag is weighed, a drop of honey drips out. The merchant's pet (sometimes a weasel, othertimes a cat), which he kept to catch rats, darts out to taste the honey - but the hunter's dog pounces on the smaller creature and kills it. Seeing this, the merchant throws a stone at the dog's head and kills it in turn. Furious, the hunter then cuts off the merchant's arm, and hearing the outcry, the townsfolk rush to the scene and beat the hunter to death. Word of this spreads, and the local lord sends soldiers to quell the violence; this leads to further conflict, the death of thousands, and the destruction of the village.
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The details of the escalating events that result from the drop of honey vary from version to version, but all track a similar increase of violence. Compare this story with Viduae Filius, which contains a similar escalation of violence beginning with violence toward animals - though curtailed in the end. Nishimura observes that this story fits the motif index entries TMI N381 and ATU 2036 ('A drop of honey causes chain of accidents'), and notes relevant analogues and references, including: Jinadāsa, Āvaśyakacūrṇi (17: Disgust towards worldly life, II, 197.8~200.10); Shiki [Shiji, History], ‘Wu Tai Bo Shi Jia No. 1’; Lu Shi Chunqiu [Ro-shi Shunju], 16.6; Jataka, 536 ‘Kunala-j.’; Ailianos, Varia Historia, 11.6 ‘The story of an adulterer’; El Conde Lucanor, 42 ‘Was dem Teufel mit einer Pilgerin begegnet’; Seisui Sho, vol. 1 ‘Rakusho (Lampoons)’, 41 ‘Echizen ni Monokire Futatsu’ (Two brothers kill each other because of sumo wrestling). Additional Bibliography: Chauvin 9, 161; Landau 28; Minakata Kumagusu, ‘Legends about Dogs’, in The Twelve Chinese Zodaic Signs. |
| Critical Literature |
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| Nishimura (2001), Clouston (1884) |
| Mel appears in the following versions and secondary versions |
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| Mel is narrated in the following occurrences |
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| Mel appears in the following manuscripts |
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