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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | Biting the foot | The fox to the bear, who is biting his foot: »You are biting the tree root.» The bear lets loose. | 5 | K543. |
| 1061 | Biting the Stone | No examples in the Database yet | 1061 | K63. |
| 1317 | Blind Man and Elephant | Four blind men feel an elephant's leg, tail, ear, and body respectively, and conclude it is like a log, a rope, a fan, and something without beginning or end. [J1761.10]. | NA | J1761.10. |
| 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. |
| 73 | Blinding the Guard | The rabbit, imprisoned in a hollow tree, induces his guard to look up at him. He spits tobacco juice into the guard's eyes and blinds the guard, and thus effects his escape. | 73 | K621. |
| 485 | Borma Jarizhka | On instructions of the tsar the hero sets off to Babylon to get the crown. He steals the crown and burns the snakes which were sent after him. He comes to a one-eyed giant, blinds him, and escapes from the cave under the belly of the giant (Cf. Type… | ||
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 1832 | Boy answers the priest | A boy rides with a rich man. Goes into church and leaves his coat lying in the sled. Hears the parson preach about the rich man who went to hell. The boy calls out, »Then he took my coat along» [X435.5]. | ||
| 1820 | Bride and Groom at Wedding Ceremony | They make unusual or absurd answers. Cf. Type 1684B*. | ||
| 1453 | Bride test: key in flax reveals laziness | Suitor hides key in flax on spinning wheel. Finds it there next day. [H382.1]. | 1453 | H382.1. |
| 1250 | Bringing Water from the Well | A log is laid across the top of the well. One man holds to the log with his hands, the next climbs down and holds to his feet, and so on; the uppermost man becomes tired and lets go to spit on his hands. [J2133.5]. Cf. Type 121. | 1250, 1250A | J2133.5., J2133.6.1. |
| 450 | Brother and Sister | The boy is turned into a roe by the cruel stepmother. Lives with his sister in the forest. The king marries the sister. Her stepmother usurps her place as wife. Disclosure, punishment, and reunion. Cf. Types 403, 480, 533. I. Cruel Stepmother. A… | , 450 | D114.1.1., D150., D555., D688., H13., K1911.1.2., N711.1., P253.2., S31. |
| 985 | Brother Chosen Rather than Husband or Son | Only one can be saved; he alone is irreplacable. [P253.3]. | ||
| 872 | Brother, Sister and Sister-in-law | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 519 | Brunhilde | The helper in the suitor test. Cf. Type 513A. I. The Suitor. A prince with his extraordinary companion woos a bride who is beautiful, strong, and warlike, and who will have as husband no man who is not her equal in strength. II. Suitor Tests. (a) The… | , 519 | D1500.1.18., H345., H345.1., H345.2., K1844.1., Q451.2., R169.4., T173.1., T58. |
| 1005 | Building a bridge . . . | No examples in the Database yet | 1005 | K1441. |
| 570 | Bunnies Beware of the King | With the help of his magic pipe he calls the rabbits together. He wins the hand of the princess.
|
, 570, 570* | D1224., D1427.1., D1441.1.2., H1045., H1112., K1271.1.1., K1288., T68. |
| 1281 | Burning the Barn to Destroy an Unknown Animal | The cat (owl) is bought. Eats many mice. To kill it they set the house on fire. [J2101]. Cf. Type 1651. | 1281, 1281A | J1815., J2101. |
| 1048 | Buying Wood | Neither straight nor crooked trees (sawdust). | ||
| 1740 | Candles on the Crayfish | The rascal puts burning candles on the backs of the crayfish. The parson and sexton think them the souls of the dead. He robs them meanwhile. [K335.0.5.1]. | ||
| 159 | Captured wild animals ransom themselves | Bring horses, cows, etc. to the man. | 159A, 159B | NA, W185.6. |
| 1082 | Carrying the Horse | The ogre carries the horse on his back and soon has to stop. The man carries it between his legs, i.e., rides. [K72]. Cf. Type 1640. | 1082 | K72. |
| 4 | Carrying the Sham-Sick Trickster | The fox shams sickness and is carried by the wolf. | 4 | K1241. |
| 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. |
| 1911 | Cart as Legs | Small cart serves as back legs for crippled sow. Pigs have also these carts. (Similar stories about other animals.) [X1202.1]. | 1911A | X1721.1. |
| 1006 | Casting eyes | Cf. Type 1685. Ordered to cast eyes on this or that, he kills animals and throws their eyes at the object. [K1442]. | 1006, 1006* | K1440., K1442. |
| 2200 | Catch-tales | The manner of telling forces the hearer to ask a particular question, to which the teller returns a ridiculous answer. [X13]. | ||
| 1180 | Catching Water in a Sieve | The ogre and the girl [H1023.2]. Cf. Type 480. | 1180 | H1023.2. |
| 2014 | Chains Involving Contradictions of Extremes | Cf. Type 2335. | , 2014, 2014A | Z51., Z51.1. |
| 1169 | Changing Heads wih the Devil | St. Peter accidentally strikes off heads of the devil and an old man. Trying to undo the damage he places heads back on wrong bodies. Cf. Type 774A. [A1371.1, E34]. | , 1169 | A1371.1., E34. |
| 114 | Chanticleer Believes that his Crowing Makes the Sun Rise | Chanticleer believes that his crowing makes the sun rise. Disappointed when it rises without his aid. | ||
| 1452 | Choosing a Bride by How She Cuts Cheese | Three girls tested. First eats rind and all, second cuts away good cheese, third cuts away just enough. [H381.2]. | 1452 | H381.2. |
| 1309 | Choosing the Clean Figs | From figs which have been urinated on he is to choose only clean ones. In testing he eats them all. | ||
| 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. |
| 510 | Cinderella and Cap o' Rushes | I. The Persecuted Heroine. (a) The heroine is abused by her stepmother and stepsisters and (a1) stays on the hearth or in the ashes and, (a2) is dressed in rough clothing - cap of rushes, wooden cloak, etc., (b) flees in disguise from her father who… | , 510A, 510B | B450., C761.3., D1050.1., F823.2., H151.5., H36.1., H94.2., K1911.3.3.1., K521.1., L55., M255., N711.6., N815., R255., S31., T311.1., T411.1. |
| 38 | Claw in Split Tree | The fox (or man) persuades the bear to stick his claw in the cleft of a split tree. | 38 | K1111. |
| 1462 | Clean and tidy | No examples in the Database yet | 1462 | K1971.6. |
| 1012 | Cleaning the child | Intestines taken out and cleaned. [K1461.1]. | 1012 | K1461.1. |
| 1016 | Cleaning the Horse | Washing in boiling water or currying with a sharp razor. [K1443]. | ||
| 1035 | Clearing out Manure | The rascal digs a hole [K1424] or piles manure high [K1424.1]. | ||
| 1450 | Clever Elsie | The girl is to get beer from the cellar. Falls into a study as to what her first child's name shall be. Likewise the girl's father and mother. The suitor departs. [J2063]. Cf. Types 1384, 1387, 1430A. | 1450 | J2063. |
| 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. |
| 1073 | Climbing Contest | The man challenged by the ogre to a climbing contest. The ogre agrees to contest against man's young one, i.e., a squirrel. [K15.1]. | 1073 | K15.1. |
| 1014 | Closing the Door Thight | With iron nails. [K1417]. | ||
| 2205 | Come here, Lean! | Girl finds 3 coins and buys 3 pigs: (1) the lean, (2) the fat, (3) the tail. »Come here, Lean.» »I can't, I am too lean.» »Come here Fat.» »I can't, because I am too fat» - »And the other, what was it named?» »The tail.» - »Lift the… | ||
| 1805 | Confessions of a Pious Woman | Allegorically tells her sin; repeatedly confesses the sin she committed in her youth, as its remembrance gives her delight (and the like). Cf. Type 1851. | ||
| 961 | Conqueror of Robber Discovers his Money-Stick | Thinking that he has killed the robber, the man takes his stick or knife with big handle. The robber recovers and, disguised as beggar, inquisitively looks at the stick. The man is suspicious and by examining finds much money inside it. [K437.4] . | ||
| 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. |
| 1920 | Contest in lying | The one says, - and yet lies [X905.4]. The great catch of fish [X1150.1]. Cf. Type 1960C. | , 1920, 1920A, 1920B, 1920D, 1920E*, 1920F*, 1920H, 1920H* | NA, X1215.8., X904.1., X904.2., X905., X905.4., X908. |
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