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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1894 | The man shoots a ramrod full of ducks | No examples in the Database yet | 1894 | X1111. |
| 1895 | A man wading in water catching many fish in his boots | No examples in the Database yet | 1895 | X1112. |
| 1896 | Hunting the wolves with rod and line | No examples in the Database yet | 1896 | X1132.1. |
| 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. |
| 1916 | The Breathing Tree | A hunter cuts down a tree packed so full of animal that a crack opens as the animals inhale, closes when they exhale. | 1916 | X1116. |
| 1927 | The Cold May Night | A very cold night comes in May. Hearing of a much colder night long ago, a man sets out to find about it. In his travels he comes to (a) an otter lying in a deep hole on top of a rock: he has been so long lying there that the rock has been worn… | 1927 | X1620. |
| 1940 | The Extraordinary Names | The place where animals and things have extraordinary names. | 1940 | X1506. |
| 1951 | Is Wood Split? | A lazy man asks if wood is split before he accepts it as a gift [W111.5.12]. Sometimes, if rice is cooked. | 1951 | W111.5.10. |
| 1965 | Lying tales | No examples in the Database yet | 1965 | X1791. |
| 2 | How the bear lost his tail | The bear (wolf) is persuaded to fish with his tail through a hole in the ice. His tail freezes fast. When he is attacked and tries to escape, he loses his tail. | 2, 2A, 2B, 64 | K1021, K1021.1., K1021.2. |
| 20 | Animals Eat One Another Up | The fox persuades them to begin with the smallest. | 20, 20A, 20C, 61A | K1024., K2027., Z43.3. |
| 200 | The Dog's Certificate | Through the cat's carelessness it is lost. Since then dogs and cats are enemies. | 200, 200A, 200B, 200C* | A2232.8., A2275.5.5., A2281.1., A2494.4.4. |
| 201 | The Lean Dog Prefers Liberty to Abundant Food and a Chain | Sie hielt allein Prozession, als die Menschen dies versäumten (als über den Prozessionsweg Streit war). | 201 | L451.3. |
| 2010 | Ehod mi yodea (One, who knows?) | Le dodici parole della verità. Las doce palabras retorneadas. The numbers from one to twelve are brought into relation with various objects, often of religious significance. [Z22]. | 2010 | Z22. |
| 2015 | The goat that would not go home | One animal after another tries in vain to persuade the goat to go home. Finally a wolf (bee) bites him and drives him home. [Z39.1]. Variants: a hog, wolf, cat or the like [Z39.1]. Often mixed with Type 2030. Cf. Type 212. | 2015 | Z39.1. |
| 2019 | Fair Katrinelje and Pif-Paf-Poltrie | Each member of a family is assigned a characteristic function; various wooers appear and are rejected until the one which is apparently the most unpromising is chosen. [Z31.1]. | 2019 | Z31.1. |
| 2023 | Little Ant Finds a Penny, Buys New Clothes with it, and Sits in her Doorway | Various animals pass by and propose marriage. She asks what they do at night. Each replies with its characteristic sound, but none pleases her but the little quiet mouse, whom she marries. She leaves him to tend the stew, and he falls in and drowns.… | 2023 | Z32.3. |
| 2025 | The Fleeing Pancake | A woman makes a pancake which flees. Various animals try in vain to stop it. Finally the fox eats it up. [Z33.1]. | 2025 | Z33.1. |
| 204 | Sheep, duck and cock in peril at sea | The duck swims; the cock flies to the mast and crows that he sees the shore. | 204 | J1711.1. |
| 206 | Straw Threshed a second Time | The animals eating at night say they have good food because the straw has not been well threshed. The master hears and threshes it a second time. They grow hungry. (Animals' voices imitated in telling story.) Cf. Types 106, 2075. | 206 | J2362. |
| 207 | Rebellion of the Work Animals | Cock as leader punished. | 207, 207A, 207B, 207C | B271.3., J2413.1., K1633., NA |
| 21 | Eating his own Entrails | The fox persuades the wolf (bear) to eat his own entrails. | 21 | K1025. |
| 210 | The Traveling Animals and the Wicked Man | The animals and objects hide themselves in various parts of a house. They punish with their characteristic powers the owner of the house and finally kill him. Cf. Type 130. | 210 | K1161. |
| 211 | The hog who was so tired of his daily food | Schwarzer Tod im "Stipelloch" gefangen (entkommt später) | 211 | J1612. |
| 212 | The Lying Goat | A father sends his sons one after the other to pasture the goat. The goat always declares he has had nothing to eat. The father angrily sends his sons from home and learns, when he himself tries to pasture the goat, that he has been deceived. Cf.… | 212 | K1151. |
| 214 | Ass Tries to caress his Master like a Dog | He is driven off. | 214, 214A, 214B | J2133.1., J2413.1., J951.1. |
| 221 | The Election of Bird-King | Wren wins by cleverness. | 221 | B236.1. |
| 222 | The Willow-Wren and the Bear | Birds win by cleverness. The fox's lifted tail is to be the signal. The gnats stick him under the tail. He drops it and the quadrupeds flee. Cf. Type 104. It often serves as introduction to Type 313. | 222, 222A | B261., B261.1. |
| 225 | The Tortoise That Wanted to Fly | Lets him fall to the earth | 225, 225A | J2357., K1041. |
| 227 | The geese's eternal prayer | The fox attacks a group of geese. They ask his if they can make one last prayer. The fox agrees. The geese make so much noise that the farmer hears them and saves them. | 227 | K551.1. |
| 228 | The Titmouse Tries to be as Big as a Bear | She ruffles up her feathers but does not succeed in fooling her young. But in her own form she flies into the bear's ear and kills him. | 228 | L315.1. |
| 231 | The Heron (Crane) Transports the Fish | A heron (crane) tells the fish in a lake that is drying up that it will transport them one by one to another lake, but eats them instead. A crab sees through the deception, seizes the heron by the throat and kills it. | 231 | J657.3. |
| 232 | The Heathcock and the Birds of Passage | The former prefers to remain at home amid hardships than to go to foreign lands. | 232D* | J101. |
| 234 | The Nightingale and the Blindworm | No examples in the Database yet | 234, 234A* | , A2241.5. |
| 235 | The Jay Borrows the Cuckoo's Skin | No examples in the Database yet | 235 | A2241. |
| 236 | Imitating bird sounds, | The dove keeps saying >>I know>> and persists in building her small nest. (Imitation of bird's sounds.) Cf. Type 2075. | 236, 236* | A1952., A2271.1. |
| 237 | The Parrot That Talked Too Much | A magpie is punished by his master, who throws him into a mud puddle. The magpie sees a muddy sow. He says, "You also must have had a quarrel with your master." | 237 | J2211.2. |
| 242 | The Frog Enticed out of his Hole | Crow (or other bird) swears not to eat him. Breaks his oath. | 242 | K815. |
| 244 | Peacock Plumes | No examples in the Database yet | 244, 244A*, 244C* | , J267.1., J951.2. |
| 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. |
| 248 | The Dog and the Sparrow | A man runs over the dog, friend of the sparrow. The sparrow takes vengeance. The man loses his horse, his property, and finally his life. | 248 | N261. |
| 250 | Swimming Match of the Fish | The perch hangs on to the tail of the salmon and wins. Cf. Types 221, 275. | 250A | A2231.1.2. |
| 253 | The Fish in the Net | The little fish slip through the meshes; the big ones are caught. | 253 | L331. |
| 275 | The Race of the Fox and the Crayfish | The latter hangs on to the fox's tail and wins. Cf. Types 250, 1074. (The Keen Sight of the Dove and the Keen Hearing of the Frog. See Type 238.) | 275, 275A, 275A* | K11., K11.1., K11.3. |
| 278 | Rat and Frog Tie Paws Together | A rat and a frog get their paws entangled and get c arried off by a falcon. | 278, 278A*, Frog | J652.1., J681.1., J752.1. |
| 280 | The Ant Carries a Load as Large as Himself | The contest of the raven (or other bird) with the ant. | 280, 280A | A2251.1., J711.1. |
| 283 | Spider Invites Fly to Rest on her Curtain | Eats her. | 283 | K815.2. |
| 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. |
| 289 | Bat, Diver, and Thornbush Shipwrecked | Bat brought money, bush put on clothes, and diver brought leather. All shipwrecked. Diver is looking for his leather. Bush looks for his clothes and holds fast to all passers-by. Bat is abroad only at night to escape creditors. (Cf. A2471.4,… | 289 | A2275.5.3. |
| 291 | Deceptive Tug-of-war | Small animal challenges two large animals to a tug-of-war. Arranges it so that they unwittingly pull against each other (or one end of rope is tied to a tree). | 291 | K22. |