True gave him some food and told him to go sit in the lime tree, but when the animals came, they knew that someone had overheard all they said, so this year, they did not do more than say good night and part.
The plot of this story is similar to that of The Grateful Beasts, where the hero is crippled by companions, and because of this learns secrets.
Numerous other variants exist, such as the Russian Правда и Кривда (Honesty and Dishonesty),[2] and at least two French tales.
[5] The contrasting results of their listening are similar to that of the Kind and Unkind Girls, as in such fairy tales as Mother Hulda, Diamonds and Toads, The Three Heads in the Well, Father Frost, and The Three Little Men in the Wood.
Such fairy tales as The Prince and the Princess in the Forest and The Three Treasures of the Giants use the motif of overhearing the necessary knowledge.