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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1535 | The Rich Peasant and the Poor Peasant | I. (a) Twee broers, (a1) mannen, (a2) boeren, (a3) neven, (a4) een boer en een jongen, (a5) zijn arbeider, (a6) een woonwagenbewoner. (b) Grote en Kleine Doeke, (b1) Klaas, (b2) Obe, (b3) Oege, (b4) Grote Arend en Kleine Hendrik, (b5) Hearke en… | 1535 | na |
| 1537 | The corpse killed five times | The corpse on the horse, in the sleigh, in the boat [K2151, K2152]. Cf. Type 1536A. | , 1537 | K2151., K2152. |
| 1538 | The youth cheated in selling oxen | Avenges himself. As carpenter and as doctor in the purchaser's house he punishes the latter [K1825.1.3]. Brings it about that the miller is hanged in his place [K841]. | , 1538 | K1825.1.3., K713.1. |
| 1539 | Cleverness and gullibility | The youth sells pseudo-magic objects and animals. The wolf is sold as a goat [K132]. The rabbit as letter carrier [K131.1]; the hat that »pays everything» [K111.2]; the wand that revives the dead [K113.4]. The teaching of languages or the… | , 1539 | K1068.2., K111.1., K111.2., K112.1., K113.4., K131.1., K132., K911.1. |
| 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. |
| 1541 | For the long winter | The numskull has been told to keep the sausage »for the long winter». When the trickster hears this, he claims to be Long Winter and receives the sausage. [K362.1, cf. also J2355, K1821.1]. | , 1541 | J2460.1., K362.1. |
| 1542 | The clever boy | Peik with his fooling-sticks. I. Deceptions as a Trade. Brother and sister live together but are poor and Peik goes out to make a living by fooling people [K301]. See Type 1525A. II. Animal Bargains. (a) He gets the king's horse by borrowing it to… | , 1542**, 1542A | J2401., K112.1., K113., K1321.1., K1363., K341.8.1., K842., L161. |
| 1543 | The man without a member | No examples in the Database yet | 1543*, 1543A*, 1543C* | J1919.8., NA |
| 1544 | The man who got a night's lodging | The rascal feigns deafness and eats the best food. He accepts the hospitality before it is offered [K1981.1]. He takes the man's horse out of the stable and puts his own in. He is to pay for his lodging with a goat skin; he takes one of the man's own… | , 1544, 1544A* | K1572., K1981.1., K258., K942., NA |
| 1545 | The boy with many names | A man gets lodging in a beautiful woman's house. He pretends not to know how to sleep in bed; she must go with him. | 1545, 1545B | K1327., K602. |
| 1548 | Stone Soup | No examples in the Database yet | 1548 | K112.2. |
| 1551 | The Wager that Sheep are Hogs | A trickster wagers with a sheep driver that the sheep he is driving are hogs. The next man to overtake them will act as umpire. The trickster's confederate now arrives and declares that they are hogs. [K451.2]. | 1551 | K451.2. |
| 1553 | An Ox for Five Pennies | A woman who has been left the ox on condition that she give the proceeds to the poor offers it for five pennies, but it must be bought along with a cock at twelve florins. She gives the five pennies to the poor and keeps the twelve florins. [K182]. | ||
| 1555 | Milk in the Cask | Order to put a small vessel of milk into huge container. Of a small shrewd group each by himself pours water thinking this will not be detected if the others pour milk. [K231.6.1.1]. (Sometimes told of wine.) | 1555A, 1555B | K231.6.2.2., K233.4. |
| 1556 | The Double Pension (Burial Money) | A husband and wife are jointly under a pension from the king. She reports her husband dead and gets the whole pension. He likewise reports her dead and gets the whole money. [K441.1]. (Sometimes concerned with money for the burial.) (K482.1). | 1556 | K482.1. |
| 1557 | Box on the Ear Returned | At table each gives his neighbor a box on the ears. The soldier is to give it to the king, but he returns it to the courtier from whom he has received it. [K2376]. | 1557 | K2376. |
| 1558 | Welcome to the Clothes | A man at a banquet is neglected because of his poor clothes. He changes clothes, returns, and is honored. »Feed my clothes,» he says, »for it is they that are welcomed.» [J1561.3]. | 1558 | J1561.3. |
| 1560 | Make-believe eating; make-believe work | At the table the peasant says, »We will only act as if we were eating.» At work the servant: »We will only act as if we were working.» [J1511.1]. | ||
| 1561 | The boy 'loses his sight' | No examples in the Database yet | 1561 | W111.2.6. |
| 1562 | "Think Thrice before you Speak." | The youth obeys literally the precept even when he sees the master's coat on fire. [J2516.1, cf. J571.1]. | 1562, 1562A, 1562B* | J1269.12., J2516.1., NA |
| 1563 | 'Both' | No examples in the Database yet | , 1563 | K1354.1., K1354.2.1. |
| 1565 | Agreement Not to Scratch | In talking, the trickster makes gestures and scratches without detection. [K263]. | 1565 | K263. |
| 1567 | Hungry Servant Reproaches Stingy Master | Cf. Type 1389*. | , 1567, 1567F, 1567G | J1341.1., J1341.11., J1341.4., J1341.6. |
| 1568 | The master and the servant at the table | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1573 | Inspecting the daughter | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1574 | The flattering foreman | A tailor dreams that at Judgment Day he sees a flag made up of all the pieces of cloth he has stolen. Upon waking he asks his servants to warn him if they ever see him tempted to steal again. This happens. He replies, »The piece I am about to steal… | 1574 | J1401. |
| 1577 | Blind Men Duped into Fighting: Money to be Devided | Trickster says that he is giving one of them money to be divided with the others. Gives it to none. They quarrel and fight. [K1081.1]. (Cf. K1883.6.) | 1577* | N455.1. |
| 1579 | Carrying Wolf, Goat, and Cabbage across Stream | A man is to set across a stream, in a boat that will hold himself and only one other object, a wolf, a goat, and a cabbage. He must do this so that the wolf doesn't eat the goat, nor the goat the cabbage. Two solutions: (1) (a) take goat over, (b)… | 1579 | H506.3. |
| 1586 | The Man in Court for Killing a Fly | Cf. 1586, 163A* (a) A fool sees a fly light on his mother's (companion's) head and hits it with an axe, etc., killing his mother [J1833.1, N333.1]. (b) When a grasshopper (fly) lights on a hunter's shoulder, his companion shoots it, killing the… | , 1586 | J1193.1., J1833.1. |
| 1587 | Man Allowed to pick out Tree to be Hanged on | Cannot find one. [K558]. | ||
| 1589 | The Lawyer's Dog Steals Meat | The lawyer tells the butcher that the dog's owner (himself) is liable for damages. He asks double the amount of the damages as fee. [K488]. | 1589 | K488. |
| 1590 | The Tresspasser's Defence | With earth from his own property in his shoes, the man swears, when he is on his neighbor's land, that he is on his own. [J1161.3, K1917.1]. Cf. Types 859A, 859B, 859C, 859D. | , 1590 | J1161.3., K2310., K475., M105., Q270. |
| 1591 | The Three Joint Depositors | Money is left with a banker by three joint depositors. The money is to be delivered only on demand from all three. One of the men steals the money. The others sue the banker for the money. He agrees to deliver it when all three jointly demand it.… | 1591 | J1161.1. |
| 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. |
| 1600 | The fool as murderer | The brothers put a he-goat in place of the body and thus save their brother. [H472.1, K661.1]. Cf. Type 1381B, C, E. | 1600 | NA |
| 1610 | To Divide Presents and Strokes | The boy (peasant) promises the soldier what the king has promised to give him. The soldier receives a beating in place of the boy. [K187]. Cf. Types 1642, 1689. | 1610 | K187. |
| 1611 | Contest in Climbing the Mast | The boy falls from the mast and lodges in the rigging: »You do the same thing!» The sailors are persuaded that he is an expert sailor. [K1762]. | 1611 | K1762. |
| 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. |
| 1613 | "Playing-Cards are my Calendar and Prayerbook." | A soldier reproved for playing cards during church service answers thus and shows so cleverly the symbolic meanings of each of the cards that he receives a reward. [H603]. | 1613 | H603. |
| 1615 | The Heller Thrown into Other's Money | A rascal sees robbers dividing their booty. He puts a red string through his only coin (a heller) and slips it into the others' money. He claims the money as his, and says he has marked it with a heller having a red string through it. The robbers… | ||
| 1620 | The conversation of the one-eyed man and the hunchback | An impostor pretends to make clothes for the king and says that they are visible only to those of legitimate birth. The king and courtiers are all afraid to admit that they cannot see the clothes. Finally a child seeing the naked king reveals the… | , 1620 | J2312., K445. |
| 1624 | Thief's Excuse: the Big Wind | A vegetable thief is caught in a garden. Owner: How did you get into the garden? A wind blew me in. How were the vegetables uprooted? If the wind is strong enough to blow me in, it can uproot them. How did they get into your bag? That is what I was… | ||
| 1626 | Dream Bread | The most wonderful dream. Three pilgrims agree that the one who has the most wonderful dream shall eat the last loaf. One eats it. He declares he dreamed the others were dead and would not need it. [K444]. | 1626 | K444. |
| 1628 | The learned son and the forgotten language | Having left the seminary, a son speaks only Latin, pretending to have forgotten his own language. When a rake strikes him in the forehead, he screams in his own tongue »Devilish rake!» [J1511.11]. Cf. Type 1641 C. | 1628* | J1511.11. |
| 1631 | Horse which will not Go over Trees | A salesman tells the buyer that he is selling the horse because it eats too much and will not climb trees. On the way home the horse bites everyone and refuses to cross a bridge. Seller is literally correct. [K134.1]. | ||
| 1635 | Eulenspiegel's tricks | No examples in the Database yet | 1635 | K300. |
| 1640 | The Valiant Little Tailor | Seven with one stroke. While fleeing defeats the enemy (the sign-post on his arm). Kills wild boar. Also incidents belonging to the stupid ogre and the clever man | , 1640 | H38.2.1., J1115.4., K1082., K1112., K18.3., K1951.1., K1951.2., K1951.3., K525.1., K61., K62., K63., K71., K72., K771. |
| 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. |
| 1642 | The Good Bargain | The fool throws money to the frogs. Sells butter to sign-post and meat to the dogs. Makes the princess laugh. I. Money to the Frogs. The numskull throws money to the frogs so that they can count it. II. Selling to Dogs. (a) He sells meat to dogs, (b)… | , 1642 | H341., J1151.2., J1851.1.1., J1852., J1853., J1853.1., K187. |
| 1643 | The Broken Image | The fool sells his cow to a crucifix [J1853.1.1]. He knocks it to pieces because it will not pay him. He finds a treasure inside [N510]. | 1643 | J1853.1.1. |
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