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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 670 | The Language of Animals | A man learns animal languages. His wife wants to discover his secret. The advice of the cock. Cf. Types 517, 671. I. The Gift of the Snake. A man receives from a grateful snake the power of understanding animal languages. He is not to reveal this… | , 670 | B216., B350., B491.1., C425., N451., N456., T252.2., T253.1. |
| 671 | The Three Languages | The youth learns the languages of dogs, birds, and frogs. Through this knowledge he makes his fortune. The father drives him out for his stupidity and orders him killed, but a compassionate servant substitutes an animal's heart and lets him escape.… | , 671 | B215.1., B215.2., B215.4., H171.2., K512.2. |
| 673 | The White Snake | No examples in the Database yet | , 673 | B217.1.1., N451. |
| 674 | Incest Averted - Talking Animals | A princess, abandoned by or separated from her husband, gives birth to a son. The son is taken from her by trickery and he grows up without knowing who his true mother is. When grown, he sees his mother, falls in love with her [N365.1.1], and goes to her at night hoping to become her lover. On the way he overhears animals (calves) talking [N451] and learns the truth. | ||
| 675 | The Wish-Fish | No examples in the Database yet | , 675 | B375.1., D1131.1., D1523.1., D1601., D1761.0.1., H481.1., H486., L114.1., L175., S141., T513. |
| 676 | Open Sesame! | A poor man observes robbers who enter into a mountain [F721.4]. Uses, like them [N455.3], the words »Open up» [D1552.2] and gets gold from the mountain [N512]. His rich brother tries to do the same thing but is killed [N471]. The rich brother lends… | ||
| 677 | "Iron Is More Precious than Gold" | Hero lets himself fall from the ship to the bottom of the sea, where with the help of this charm he acquires much gold [D1273]. Cf. Type 910B. | ||
| 678 | The King Transfers his Soul to a Parrot | A king has learned how to transfer his soul [E725] to dead bodies, as has his vizier or another servant. The king transfers his soul to a parrot and the vizier transfers his soul to the king's body. The queen determines the truth (she hears of wise… | ||
| 681 | King in the Bath; Years of Experience | This illusion takes place when the king puts his head under water. [D2012.1]. | 681 | D2012.1. |
| 700 | Tom Thumb | Plowing. The king buys the boy. In thieves' company. In the belly of the cow and of the wolf. Cf. Type 327B. I. The Hero's Birth. A childless couple wish for a child, however small he may be; they have a boy the size of a thumb [F535.1.]. II. His… | , 700 | F535.1., F535.1.1.1., F535.1.1.11., F535.1.1.8., F535.1.1.9., F911.3.1., F913. |
| 701 | The Giant's Toy | No examples in the Database yet | 701 | F531.5.3. |
| 703 | Snow Maiden | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 704 | The Princess and the Pea | A princess is recognized by her inability to sleep in a bed which has a pea under its dozen mattresses. | 704 | H41.1. |
| 705 | Born of a Fish | Cf. Type 303. The king's son finds the speechless maiden in a bird's nest. Marries her. The children are stolen away. She is driven forth by her husband. The riddle. A man receives a magic fish which he shall feed to his wife. Instead, he eats it… | , 705 | N711., R13.3., S410., T412., T511.5.1., T541.16., T578. |
| 706 | The Girl Without Hands | Becomes wife of the king. Is driven forth. Gets her hands back and is received again by her husband. | , 706, 706B | K2117., N711., Q451.1., S322.1.2., S451., T327.1. |
| 707 | The Bird of Truth | The queen bears marvelous children. They are stolen away. The queen is banished. The quest for the speaking bird, the singing tree, and the water of life. | , 707 | H1381.2.2.1., H71.1., H71.2., H71.3., K2110.1., K2115., L162., N201., R131.2., S301. |
| 708 | The Miraculous Child | Through the magic power of her evil stepmother, a princess gives birth to a monster and is banished. The monster aids her till everything turns out well. The monster is transformed into a prince. | , 708 | D1717.1., D741., S441. |
| 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. |
| 710 | The Black Madonna | A girl comes into possession of her foster mother through an unwitting promise to her father. The girl falsely denies having looked into a forbidden room, and becomes dumb. She becomes the wife of the king... | , 710 | C611., C911., C912., C944., D2025.1., G261., H215., J213., K2116.1.1., N711.1., Q451.3., S211., S240., V271. |
| 711 | The Twin Sisters | The deformed maiden disenchanted. A queen is childless and gets from a witch advice how to have a child, but she breaks a condition connected with the advice, and has two girls, a very beautiful one and one deformed (with an animal's head). The ugly… | , 711 | C152., D1860., D732., L145.1., T548.2., T551.3. |
| 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. |
| 713 | The Mother Who Did Not Bear Me But Nourished Me | A stepdaughter is accused of bearing her sister's illegitimate child [K2112] and she and the child are expelled [S410]. Wherever they go famine ceases and magic abundance comes [D1652.1, D2081], but famine comes to places they have left [D2157.1].… | ||
| 715 | Demi-coq | Is put in with the horses, oxen, etc. The animals taken along (bear, wolf, etc.) help. | , 715 | B171.1., B435.1., D1382.8., D915.2., F601.7., K481. |
| 717 | Meat Stolen for Poor Turns to Roses | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 720 | From the Juniper Tree | The boy's bones transformed into a bird. The bird lets the millstone fall on the mother. Becomes boy again. I. The Murder. (a) The little boy is slain by his cruel stepmother, who closes the lid of a chest on him. (b) She cooks him and serves him to… | , 720 | E607.1., E610.1.1., G61., Q412., S121. |
| 722 | The Brother Married the Sister | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 725 | The Dream | The boy refuses to tell his dream to his father, and even to the king. Various adventures. Conquers enemies, wins the princess. Thus the dream is fulfilled. The boy dreams that his parents shall serve him and that the king shall pour water on his… | , 725 | D1812.3.3., H551., L425., M312.0.1. |
| 726 | The Oldest on the Farm | A wayfarer asks for a night's lodging at a farm. He meets a very old man outside, but he is shown to his father who has to decide, and so on up to the seventh generation [F571.2]. Sometimes mixed up with fairy tradition: the old troll finishes by… | 726 | F571.2. |
| 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. |
| 735 | The Rich Man's and the Poors Man's Fortune | The fortune of the rich brother gives the poor brother the advice to seek his luck under a bush. The poor man goes there and Fortune tells him to become a merchant. He becomes rich. | , 735A | N112., N112.1., N181. |
| 736 | Luck and Wealth | The fish with the jewel. Cf. Types 745, 745A. A poor man gets a piece of tin. He gives it to a fisherman under the agreement that the first catch of fish shall be given to him. In the net is a fish with a precious stone in his body. [N421]. | 736A | N211.1. |
| 737 | Who Will be her Future Husband | No examples in the Database yet | 737 | D1825.1. |
| 738 | The Battle of Serpents | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 740 | The Brother to Hang Himself | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 745 | Hatch-penny | Always returns to its owner. Eaten by cow; owner happens to buy cow and kill her; etc. [D1602.11, N212]. | 745A | N212. |
| 746 | Floating Stone | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 748 | Queen Jelaous of Peasant Couple | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 751 | The Greedy Peasant Woman | Christ and Peter ask entertainment from a peasant woman [K1811]. Although the cake magically grows larger [D1652.1.2], she gives them but a morsel. She is punished [Q1.1]. | , 751A, 751C* | D153.1., D1652.1.2., K1811., K1811.1., Q292.1. |
| 753 | Christ and the smith | Christ takes off the horse's foot in order to shoe him and rejuvenates an old woman by putting her in the fire. The smith tries disastrously to do the same. | , 753 | A1861.2., D1886., E121.2., E782.4., F663.0.1., J2411.1., K1811. |
| 755 | Sin and grace | The rose from the stone table. The preacher's wife magically prevents the birth of her children. Since she throws no shadow, her husband casts her forth as a sinner until a rose shall grow from a stone table. A churchman takes the woman at night into… | ||
| 756 | Forgiveness and Redemption | The hard penance and the green twigs on the dry branch. | , 756A, 756B, 756C | F771.1.9., F81.2., F971.1., H1235., H1273.1., J172., L435.1., N843., Q172.3., Q211.1., Q222.1., Q520.1., Q520.2., Q521.1., Q521.1.1., Q521.1.2., Q521.2., Q521.4., Q523.5., Q545., Q553.2., Q561., S211., V29.1. |
| 758 | The various children of Eve | Eve has so many children that she is ashamed when God pays her a visit. She hides some of them and they fail to receive the blessing that God gives those in sight. Thus arises the differences in classes and peoples. [A1650.1]. | 758 | A1650.1. |
| 759 | God's Justice Vindicated – The Angel and the Hermit | People will not take sacrament from him. Another priest (God) shows that even this priest is according to God's will. [V39.3]. Cf. Type 756E*. | , 759 | C411.1., C491., J225.0.1., J225.0.2., J225.3., J225.4., J225.5., U21.3. |
| 760 | The Unquiet Grave | The man burns his three wives. Finds no rest in the grave. A maiden takes the dead man to a priest and secures his pardon for the murder of his wives. | , 760 | E411.0.2., E411.1., Q211.3. |
| 762 | Woman with three hundred and sixty-five children | Punished for self-righteous condemnation of unchaste girl. [L435.2.1]. | , 762 | L435.2.1., T586.1., T587.1. |
| 763 | Treasure Finders Murder One Another | Two hunters are shown a treasure. One of them puts poison in the other's wine, but the other kills him, drinks the wine and dies. [K1685]. | 763 | K1685. |
| 764 | The Devil's Son as a Priest | A youth (a) encounters the devil or (b) takes liberties with the corpse of a hanged man. With this companion he goes to certain houses, some of which because they are properly ordered the companion may not enter. The Devil (dead man) is able to enter… | ||
| 766 | The seven sleepers | No examples in the Database yet | 766 | D1960.1. |
| 767 | Food for the Crucifix | A boy offers bread to a statue of Christ or the Virgin [Q172.1]. | 767 | Q172.1. |
| 768 | St Christopher and the Christ child | The saintly ferryman. He carries the child across the stream. The child becomes heavier with each step, but the saint still carries him. The child reveals himself as Christ. [Q25]. | 768 | Q25. |
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