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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2271 | Mock Stories for Children | When children, by persistently demanding a story, become a nuisance to their elders, the latter get rid of them by telling brief »mock stories», e.g. the dog's name was »Enough». | ||
| 70 | More cowardly than the hare | The hare finds a (sheep, fish, frog, etc.) who is afraid of him and laughs till his lip splits. | 70 | J881.1. |
| 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. |
| 1090 | Mowing Contest | The man takes the center of the field. The ogre is given a dull sickle and mows around the outside of the field. Tires himself out. [K42.2]. Cf. Type 820. | 1090 | K42.2. |
| 65 | Mrs. Fox's Suitors | The widowed she-fox proves her faithfulness by rejecting suitors who do not resemble her deceased husband. | 65 | N681. |
| 151 | Music lessons for wild animals | He tricks them by catching their claws in a cleft tree. Similarly betrays many other animals. The freed animals try in vain for revenge. | 151 | K1111.0.1. |
| 1835 | Not to turn round | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1464 | Nothing to cook | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1218 | Numskull Sits on Eggs to Finish Hatching | Cautions people to be quiet and not frighten the eggs. (Sometimes puts on honey and feathers before sitting on the eggs.) [J1902.1]. Cf. Type 1677. | , 1218 | J1902.1., K1253. |
| 1293 | Numskull Stays until he has Finished | As he is making water he hears a brook flowing and mistakes what it is. He waits for a day and a half. [J1814]. | ||
| 1287 | Numskull unable to count their own number | No examples in the Database yet | 1287 | J2031., J2031.1. |
| 860 | Nuts of "Ay ay ay!" | Princess offered to man who brings a glass of all waters, a bouquet of all flowers and nuts of ay, ay, ay! Hero brings seawater, a beehive and hazelnut with thorns so that the king cries »Ay, ay, ay!» [H1377.1, H1377.2, H1377.3]. | ||
| 931 | Oedipus | As foretold by the prophecy, the hero kills his father and marries his mother. | , 931 | M343., M371.2., N323., R131., S354., T412. |
| 881 | Oft-proved Fidility | A merchant's son marries the king's daughter. An attempt is made to seduce her [K2112]. The man strikes his wife and thinks he has killed her. A physician heals her and wants to secure her for himself [T320.1]. She flees in men's clothes [K1837].… | , 881 | , H21., K1837., K2112., T320.1. |
| 1122 | Ogre's wife killed through other tricks | No examples in the Database yet | 1122 | G519.1. |
| 1119 | Ogres Kill Their Own Children | Places changed in bed (night-caps) [K1611]. Cf. Type 327 B. | 1119 | K1611. |
| 980 | Old Grandfathers and Their Grandsons | Ungrateful Son Reproved by Naive Actions of Own Son: Preparing for Old Age [W121]. | , 980, 980A, 980B, 980C, 980D | D444.2., J121., J121.2., NA |
| 841 | One Beggar Trusts God, the Other the King | The king gives them each a loaf of bread, but the loaf of the second beggar is filled with gold. The beggars not knowing the nature of the loaves exchange them. [N351]. | 841 | N351. |
| 839 | One Vice Carries Other With It | A man is permitted to choose one of the following vices: theft, incontinence, drink. He chooses the last, which seemed to him least harmful. All the other vices follow in the train of the first. [J485]. | 839 | J485. |
| 1227 | One woman to catch the squirrel; the other to get the cooking pot | One falls from the tree and kills herself; the other breaks the pot. [J2661.3]. | 1227 | J2661.3. |
| 511 | One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes | Cf. Type 302 I*. I. The Ox Helper. A stepbrother of One-Eye, Two-Eyes and Three-Eyes is cruelly treated by his stepmother and stepsisters. He is assisted by a magic ox which furnishes him food from his removable horn. II. Spying on the Ox. The… | , 511, 511A | , B100.1., B535.0.1., D1470.2.1., D830.1., F512.1., F512.2.1.1., H31.12., L162., S31. |
| 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… | ||
| 2009 | Origin of Chess | Inventor asks one wheat-grain for the first square, two for the second, four for the third, eight for the fourth, etc. The king cannot pay. [Z21.1]. | ||
| 1833 | Other anecdotes of sermons | The parson: - »He stayed to hold the oxen.» [X435.2]. | ||
| 1319 | Other mistaken identities | No examples in the Database yet | 1319, 1319A*, 1319J* | J1761.11., J1772.1., J1781.2. |
| 927 | Out-riddling the judge | The accused is set free when the judge cannot solve the riddles propounded to him. The riddles: (a) what has seven tongues in one head? (bird's nest with seven young found in a horse's head); (b) formerly I was a daughter, now I am a mother; (c) or… | , 927 | H542., H792., H793., H804., H805., H806., H807. |
| 130 | Outcast Animals Find a New Home | They drive away an intruder. | , 130, 130A | B296., K1161., K335., NA |
| 1249 | Oxen Hitched Before and Behind Wagon | Cf. Type 801. | ||
| 1824 | Parody sermon | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1843 | Parson visits the dying | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 62 | Peace Among the Animals – The Fox and the Cock | The fox tries to beguile the cock by reporting a new law establishing peace among the animals. Dogs appear and the fox flees saying that the dogs have not yet heard of the new law. | 62 | J1421. |
| 244 | Peacock Plumes | No examples in the Database yet | 244, 244A*, 244C* | , J267.1., J951.2. |
| 161 | Peasant Betrays Fox by Pointing | The peasant has hidden the fox in a basket, and promised not to tell. When the hunters come, he says, »The fox just went over the hill,« but points to the basket. [K2315]. | 161, 161A* | K2315., NA |
| 804 | Peter's Mother Falls from Heaven | It is permitted to the son in heaven [A661.0.1.2] to pull his mother out of hell on a stalk [F51.1.3]. When the other dead catch her feet, she kicks them and falls back into hell [Q291.1]. | , 804 | A661.0.1.2., F51.1.3., Q291.1.St. |
| 938 | Placidas | He is converted by a vision. All his goods are destroyed, his wife seized by a ship captain, his young sons carried off by a lion and a bear [N251]. He finally recovers them all [N121]. | , 938 | J214., N251. |
| 928 | Planting for the Next Generation | Man who is planting tree told that it will never mature in his day. He is planting it for the next generation. [J701.1]. | ||
| 1003 | Plowing | The man is told to come home when the dog does. He beats the dog so that it runs home. Then he destroys the horse and harness and goes home. [K1411]. (Cf. Type AT 0650 incident IVc). | 1003 | K1411. |
| 910 | Precepts bought or given correct | Drie mannen, een molenaar met een kwaad wijf, een koopman die het ondanks goede zaken slecht gaat, en een arme dokter, vragen een waarzegster om raad. Zij geeft hen elk een briefje met resp. deze voorschriften: 1. luister naar je molen; 2. koop een… | , 910A, 910B, 910C, 910D, 910E, 910F, 910G | 21.4., C320., D758., H588.7., J1021., J154., J163.1., J1655.2., J21.1., J21.10., J21.15., J21.2., J21.22., J21.24., J21.26., J21.27., J21.28., J21.3., J21.46., J21.47.1., J21.5., J21.6., J21.9., J571., J865., K2155., K2213.3., N545.1., Q20.2. |
| 836 | Pride is Punished | The rich man boasts that God has not the power to make him poor [C454]. While the man is at church, his property burns and he returns home a poor man [L412]. Cf. Types 736A, 830. | , 836F* | D1323.5., D1331.3.1. |
| 430 | Prince Donkey | The prince transformed to an ass. Plays a lyre and is entertained at king's court. Becomes husband of a princess who disenchants him. For analysis see Type 425 (I a, II b). | , 430 | 641.4., D721.3., T554. |
| 871 | Princess and Ogress | A princess in a forbidden chamber sees a man's picture and falls in love. A magician as bird brings the princess at night to the lover. Once they stay too late. The sun sees them, so that the magician bursts and dies. The girl left alone becomes… | , 871 | C325., C611., D567., F93.0.2.1., G11.3., N681.1., T11.2. |
| 1279 | Protected by the Needle | In a storm on the ice, fools stick needles into the ice to keep from blowing away. [J1965]. | ||
| 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]. | ||
| 1045 | Pulling the Lake Together | The hero threatens to do so with a rope. The ogre is intimidated. [K1744]. Cf. Type 1650. | 1045 | K1744. |
| 2044 | Pulling up the turnip | Final formula: The mouse holds onto the cat, the cat holds onto Mary, Mary holds onto Annie, Annie holds onto grandmother, grandmother holds onto grandfather, grandfather holds onto the turnip - they all pull and pull it out. [Z49.9]. | ||
| 1085 | Pushing a hole into a tree | Contest with ogre, to push a hole in a tree with his head. The hero has already cut a hole with his axe. [K61]. Cf. Types 1086, 1640. | 1085 | K61. |
| 1425 | Putting the Devil into Hell | Obscene trick used to seduce woman. [K1363.1]. | 1425, 1425B* | K1363.1., na |
| 748 | Queen Jelaous of Peasant Couple | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1330 | Quenching the Burning Boat | People row to land and fetch water from a spring to put out the fire. [J2162.3]. | ||
| 1316 | Rabbit Thought to be a Cow | Servant sent to bring in cows is found chasing rabbits. [J1757]. Cf. Type 570. | , 1316 | J1751., J1754., J1755., J1757. |
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