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Aarne–Thompson–Uther index
About this index and how to read it
The ATU index classifies international folktales by type. Each row gives the type number, its title and summary, followed by the references it inherits: Arne Thompson is the earlier Aarne–Thompson type number, and Thompson lists the motif references from Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature associated with that type.
Cross-references inside a summary open the relevant tale-type or motif record. Thompson motif references in the final column are linked directly to the corresponding entry in the Stith Thompson Motif Index when that reference exists in the database. Any column heading can be clicked to sort by it, and clicking again reverses the order. Following a type number opens that type on its own page.
| ATU | Title | Summary ▲ | Arne Thompson | Thompson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 36 | The Fox in Disguise Violates the She-Bear | The she-bear is caught in a tree cleft or hole in the hedge . To avoid later recognition the fox covers himself with soot and is taken for the pastor. Variant: the hare, the she-fox. | 36 | K1384. |
| 125 | The Wolf Flees from the Wolf-head | The sheep have found a sack and wolfhead. They make the wolf believe that they have killed a wolf. He flees in terror.Cf. Type 1149. | 125 | K1715.3. |
| 958 | The Shepherd Youth in the Robbers' Power | The Shepherd Youth in the Robbers' Power calls on his him for help. The helpers come. [K551.1]. | 958C*, 958E* | K311.1., K437.2. |
| 1285 | Pulling on the shirt | The shirt is sewed together at the neck. The man's head is cut off so that the shirt can be put on him. [J2161.2]. | ||
| 610 | The Healing Fruit | The sick princess is offered to the man who can cure her [T681, H346]. An old woman [N825.3] gives healing power to the fruits [D1500.1.5] of the youngest brother [Q2, L13]. After the youngest brother has succeeded [L10] he is given tasks: herding rabbits (Type 570); making a land and water ship (Type 513), and fetching a feather from a magic bird (Type 461). He performs the tasks, goes and makes a fortune, returns and humbles the king and marries the princess [L161]. | , 610 | D1500.1.5., D1533.1.1., H1010., H1112., H1331.1.2.1., H346., L10., L13., L161., N825.3., Q2., T68.1. |
| 514 | The Shift of Sex | The sister becomes a soldier in place of her brother. Marries the daughter of the king [K1837, K1322]. She is driven away and rescued by her companions. The change of sex in the ogress' house [D11]. Marriage with the princess [L161]. | , 514, 514** | D11., F954., K1825.1., K1837., K2111., L162. |
| 1886 | Man Drinks from own Skull | The skull falls into the water and a duck makes a nest in it. | ||
| 712 | Crescentia | The slandered and banished wife is reinstated through her miraculous healing powers. | , 712 | H151.8., K2110.1., K2112., K2116.1.1.1., S451. |
| 158 | The wild animals on the sleigh | The sleigh comes in two. The animals get satisfactory material for repairs from the forest. [B831]. While the owner goes for good material they eat the horse. | ||
| 1142 | Hot Tin under the Tail of the Ogre's Horse | The smith promises to make the horse wild. The ogre on the horse's back. [K11811]. | 1682* | K1181. |
| 1738 | The Dream: All Parsons in Hell | The smith, who is sick, sends for the parson, whoAT first refuses to come on account of bad weather. When he arrives the smith says that he has dreamed that he went to heaven, where St. Peter would not admit him before he saw a priest. There were no… | ||
| 285 | The child and the snake | The snake drinks from the child's milk-bottle. | 285, 285B*, 285D, 285E | B391.1., B784.2.1.1., J15., J552.3. |
| 247 | Every Mother Thinks Her Child Is the Most Beautiful | The snipe asks the sportsman to spare its small ones, easily recognized as being the prettiest in the forest. To be on the safe side the man shoots only the ugliest he can find. They are the young snipes. (Often told of the ape.) | 247 | T681. |
| 933 | Gregory on the Stone | The son of an incestuous union is abandoned and saved by a sailor. He undergoes years of penance and finally becomes pope. The parents come to the pope to be confessed. | ||
| 898 | The Daughter of the Sun | The Speechless Maiden; the Puppet Bride). I. Virgin in the Tower. To avoid fulfillment of a prophecy that a princess shall be impregnated by the sun and bear a child, she is confined in a tower. Nevertheless the prophecy is fulfilled. [T381, T521].… | , 898 | R131.11.3., S313., T381., T521. |
| 77 | The Stag Admires Himself in a Spring | The stag admires himself in a spring. He is proud of his horns, ashamed of his legs. In flight his horns are caught and the dogs overtake him. | 77 | L461. |
| 563 | Three Magic Gifts | The stick compels the treacherous host of the inn to give back the table and the ass. See analysis below: I a, b, c, d; II a, (b) d. - ANALYSIS: Types 563 and 564. I. The Magic Objects. (a) A poor man receives three magic objects: (b) a table or sack… | , 563 | B103.1.1., D1401.2., D1472.1.7., D861.1., D881.2., J2355.1. |
| 1792 | The stingy parson and the slaughtered pig | The stingy parson does not want to give anyone a part of his pig, which he has just slaughtered. The sexton advises him to hang the pig up in the garden overnight so as to make everyone think it has been stolen. The sexton steals it himself.… | ||
| 1326 | Moving the church | The stolen coat. To see whether the church is moving someone lays down his coat in front of it. It is stolen. They think the church has passed over it. [J2328]. | 1326 | J2328. |
| 1641 | Doctor Know-all | The stolen horse. The stolen money (»That is one of them»). The covered dish (»Ah, poor crab that I am»). Often joined with the story of the sawed pulpit; cf. Types 1810C*, 1825C. I. The Sham-Doctor. A peasant named Crab (Cricket, Rat) buys the… | , 1641, 1641C | K1956., K1956.1., K1956.2., K1961.1.2., K1961.1.3., N611., N688. |
| 1182 | The Level Bushel | The student is to come into the devil's power if at the end of a year he does not at least return for the heaping bushel of gold a level one. The student forthwith hands back the level bushel and keeps the surplus. [K223]. | ||
| 1457 | The lisping maiden | The suitor on a visit. The impediment in speech discovered. The girls have been warned against talking but forget and speak out. [K1984.1]. (Sometimes other impediments or deformities.) | ||
| 1612 | The Contest in Swimming | The swimmer takes a knapsack of provisions on his back. His rival is afraid and gives up. [K1761]. | 1612 | K1761. |
| 245 | Tame Bird and Wild Bird | The tame bird advises the wild bird to look about him. The wild bird is shot. Cf. Type 112. | ||
| 577 | The Order of the King | The three brothers; the oak in the king's castle yard. The king's daughter is promised to the one who is able to perform certain difficult tasks, usually to cut down a large tree. The three brothers set out, and the youngest is the only one who pays… | , 577 | D1581., D1601.14., D1601.15., D1601.18.2., H335., H971.1. |
| 1451 | A suitor chooses the thrifty girl | The thrifty girl makes herself a dress from the flax the lazy fiancé has thrown on the floor. The young man chooses the thrifty girl. [H381.1]. | 1451 | H381.1. |
| 1226 | The Rabbit Catch | The trap on the stable roof. Cf. Type 1171. | ||
| 1157 | The gun as tobacco pipe | The trickster gives the ogre the gun to smoke [K1057]. Cf. Type 1228. | , 1157 | J2131.4.1., K1057. |
| 1592 | The Iron-eating Mice | The trustee claims that mice have eaten the iron scales confided to him. The host abducts the trustee's son and says that a falcon has carried him off. [J1531.2]. | 1592, 1592B | J1531.2., J1531.3. |
| 451 | The Nurse looking for her Brothers, | The twelve brothers are changed into ravens. Cf. The Speechless Princess, Types 705, 710. I. The Brothers and their Sister. (a) Seven (twelve) brothers have a younger sister. (b) The parents have promised the death of the brothers if a daughter is… | , 451 | D161.1., D753.1., D758., K2116.1.1., P253.0.5., P253.2. |
| 915 | All depends on how you take it | The two stepsisters marry. The daughter of the second wife follows the three precepts of her mother literally; the stepdaughter in conformity with her father's explanations. On their visit the parents find that with the first daughter everything is… | ||
| 729 | The Axe Falls into the Stream | The water-spirit exhibits a golden axe, but the honest man admits that it does not belong to him [Q3.1]. Another man deliberately throws his axe into the water and claims the golden one as his. He gets neither. | 729 | Q3.1. |
| 1015 | Whetting the Knife | The whole blade whetted away. [K1418]. | ||
| 709 | Snow White | The wicked stepmother seeks to kill the maiden. At the dwarfs' (robbers') house, where the prince finds the maiden and marries her. I. Snow-White and her Stepmother. (a) Snow-White has skin like snow, and lips like blood. (b) A magic mirror tells her… | , 709 | D1311.2., D1323.1., D1364.16., D1364.4.1., D1364.9., E21.1., F451.5.1.2., F852.1., K512.2., L55., M312.4., N831.1., Q414.4., S111.2., S111.4., S322.2., Z65.1. |
| 65 | Mrs. Fox's Suitors | The widowed she-fox proves her faithfulness by rejecting suitors who do not resemble her deceased husband. | 65 | N681. |
| 890 | The Pound of Flesh | The wife as judge saves her husband. I. A merchant buys a bride in Turkey for her weight in gold. II. He gets the money by giving as security a piece of his own flesh. III. (a) The husband is abroad and (b) while he is away three merchants fall in… | , 890 | J1161.2., K1825.2., K443.2., T52.3. |
| 1423 | The Enchanted Pear Tree | The wife makes the husband, who has seen her adultery from the tree, believe that the tree is magic (or that he has seen double) [K1518]. | 1423 | K1518. |
| 1386 | Meat as food for cabbage | The wife places pieces of meat on a growing cabbage. [J1856.1]. Cf. Type 1642. | 1386 | J1856.1. |
| 1385 | A Woman Loses Her Husband's Money | The wife sells cows. Gets one of them back as pledge for the unpaid purchase price [J2086]. Cf. Types 1382, 1384. | 1385, 1385* | J2086., na |
| 252 | The Pike and the Snake Race to Land | The winner is to remain on land. | ||
| 34 | The Wolf Dives into the Water for Reflected Cheese | The wolf and the fox think the reflection of the moon in the water is a cheese. The fox lowers the wold into the water, the wolf fall into the water and the cheese disappears. | 34, 34A | J1791.3., J1791.4. |
| 100 | The Wolf as the Dog's Guest Sings | The wolf as the dog's guest sings. Has drunk too much. Sings in spite of the dog's objections. Is killed. | 100 | J581.1. |
| 123 | The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids | The wolf comes in the absence of the mother and eats up the kids . The old goat cuts the wolf open and rescues them . Cf. Type 333. | , 122E, 123, 123B | F913., K1832., K553.2., K828.1., Q426. |
| 122 | The Wolf Loses His Prey | The wolf loses his prey. Escape by false plea. | 122, 122A, 122B, 122C, 122D, 122F, 122G | K550., K551.8., K553., K553.1., K553.5., K561.2., K562. |
| 333 | Little Red Riding Hood | The wolf or other monster devours human beings until all of them are rescued alive from his belly. Cf. Types 123, 2027, 2028.<br /> I. Wolf's Feast. (a) By masking as mother or grandmother the wolf deceives and devours (b) a little girl (Red Riding Hood)… | , 333, 333A | F913., J21.5.5., K1044., K2011., Q426., Z18.1.1. |
| 990 | Revived from Apparent Death by a Grave-Robber | The Woman gets a ring stuck in her throat. A man enters the grave to steal a ring from the finger of the dead. The woman wakes up and goes home. [K426] | 990 | K426. |
| 1405 | The Lazy Spinner | The woman hidden in the bushes calls out to her husband, who is cutting wood: »Whoever cuts wood for a spinning wheel will die; whoever uses the wheel will be destroyed.» The man becomes worried and no longer keeps her at the reel [K1971.4.1]. When… | , 1405 | J2325., K1971.4.1. |
| 1540 | The student from Paradise (Paris) | The woman sends money or clothes to paradise for her deceased husband. The horse is stolen. I. Goods Sent to Paradise. A student tells a woman that he comes from Paris. She understands him to say paradise and gives him money and goods to take to her… | , 1540 | J2326., K341.9.1. |
| 1286 | Jumping into the Breeches | The woman tries to pull on her husband's breeches for him on both legs at once. | 1286 | J2161.1. |
| 1277 | The Boat Gets Tired | The woman tries to tire out her rival's boat so as to win the race, but only tires herself. [J1884]. |
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