GRATEFUL DEAD The Motif Of A Cycle Of Folk Tales Which Begin With The Hero's Coming Upon A Group Of People Ill-treating Or Refusing To Bury The Corpse Of A Man Who Had Died Without Paying His Debts.

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GRATEFUL DEAD The motif of a cycle of folk tales which begin with the hero's
coming upon a group of people ill-treating or refusing to bury the corpse of
a man who had died without paying his debts. He gives his last penny either
to pay the man's debts or to give him a decent burial. Within a few hours he
meets with a travelling companion who aids him in some impossible task, gets
him a fortune, saves his life, etc. The story ends with the companion's
disclosing himself as the man whose corpse the other had befriended.
-- FUNK & WAGNALLS
-- NEW PRACTICAL STANDARD DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
-- BRITANNICA WORLD LANGUAGE EDITION, VOL.1, 1955

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