A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

Overview

Bowl-on-the-Back grows, reaps and threshes corn while a passing fox does no work beyond offering good wishes. At harvest the fox claims that those greetings made him a partner. They agree to race for the grain, but the tortoise privately sends his brother to hide at the threshing floor. Bowl-on-the-Back himself shelters under a bush while the fox runs; the waiting brother announces victory at the finish and expels the fox.

The deception depends on the fox failing to distinguish two brothers, not on impossible speed or a duplicated body. The editorial note explains the brother’s count of twenty-eight as a claim to have arrived long enough beforehand to count that high. That explanation is tentative in the edition. The brother remains unnamed, and the story ends with a moral against greed.

Speaking tortoise farmer and brother who defeat a fraudulent harvest claim
01

Origins & earliest records

Bakhtiari storytelling, Iran

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and editorial note directly read in original-edition OCR.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Persian Tales

    D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, collectors/translators · 1919

    Bakhtiari tales; XLVI, Tortoise Bowl-on-the-Back and the Fox, pp. 304–305

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (London: Macmillan, 1919)

Bakhtiari tales; XLVI. Bakhtiari tales; XLVI, Tortoise Bowl-on-the-Back and the Fox, pp. 304–305

Complete tale and final editorial note read. Ordinary deception distinguished from magic; uncertain source-language gloss retained as uncertain. Literal tortoise brotherhood distinguished from fox address-form brothers.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Historical translated folktaleLorimer, Persian Tales (1919), Bakhtiari tales; XLVI, Tortoise Bowl-on-the-Back and the Fox, pp. 304–305Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.

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