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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 ▲ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1231 | The Actack on the Hare (Crayfish) | Seven men make strenuous plans for the attack on the fierce animal. One screams with fright and the animal runs away. [J2612]. Cf. Type 103. | 1231 | J2612. |
| 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. |
| 131 | Tiger as False Friend to the Cow | A tiger and a cow become friends and both bear offspring. The tiger drinks water downstream from the cow, decides her flesh would be sweet, and kills and devours her. The calf has been forewarned (lifetoken: cup of milk). The cub, ashamed of its… | 131 | J427. |
| 293 | Debate of the Belly and the Members | Debate as to their usefulness. All are mutually useful. | 293 | J461.1. |
| 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. |
| 85 | The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage | The mouse, the bird, and the sausage keep house together each with appropriate duties. When they exchange roles, all goes ill. | 85 | J512.7. |
| 292 | Ass Tries to Get a Cricket's Voice | Asks cricket what they eat to get such a voice. They answer, >>dew.>> He tries it and starves. | 292 | J512.8. |
| 100 | The Wolf as the Dog's Guest Sings | The wolf as the dog's guest sings. Has drunk too much. Sings in spite of the dog's objections. Is killed. | 100 | J581.1. |
| 72 | The Rabbit Rides Fox A-Courting | The fox is the favorite suitor of the girl the rabbit wants. The rabbit tells the girl that the fox is his horse. She refuses to believe him. She agrees to marry if he will ride to her house. He persuades fox to carry him—usually by feigning lameness—and wins the girl. (Sometimes told of human beings.) Cf. Type 4. | 72, 72* | J61., K1241. |
| 50 | Curing a Sick Lion | The fox pretends to seek a remedy for the lion; advises him to skin the wolf . | , 50, 50A, 50C | J644.1., K961., W121.2.1., , |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 110 | Belling the Cat | The mice buy a bell for the cat but no one dares tie it on her. | 110 | J671.1. |
| 43 | The Bear Builds a House of Wood; the Fox, of Ice | In summer the fox wants to drive the bear out of his house Cf. Types 81, 1097, 1238. | 1097, 43 | J741.1. |
| 889 | The Faithful Servant | A lord makes a wager with his neighbor on the faithfulness of his servant [N25]. The servant is sent to the neighbor's house, where he is made drunk, etc. The neighbor loses the wager. Sometimes joined with Type 930 III a. | , 889 | J751.1., N25. |
| 51 | The Lion's share | The ass divides booty equally between himself, the fox, and the lion. The lion eats the ass. The fox then divides: gives the lion meat and keeps bones. | 51 | J811.1. |
| 298 | Wind and sun | Sun by warmth causes traveler to remove coat, while the wind by violent blowing causes him to pull it closer around him. | 298, 298C* | J832., L351. |
| 53 | Reynard the Fox at Court | The fox is summoned to appear before the court of justice, but he does not come and laughs at the messengers. When he is caught at last and about to be hanged, he escapes again. | 53 | J864.2. |
| 59 | Fox and the Sour Grapes | Pretends that the grapes he cannot reach are sour. | 59 | J871. |
| 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. |
| 1135 | Eye-remedy | A glowing mass is put into his eye [K1011]. Cf. Type 1137. | , 1135 | K1010., K1011. |
| 153 | The Gelding of the Bear and the Fetching of Salve | The man tells the bear that the horse is strong because he is gelded. The bear has the man geld him to make him strong. He is to geld the man the next day. The man substitutes his wife and sends her with salve; the bear in disgust throws the salve into the tree. Cf. Type 1133. | 153 | K1012.1. |
| 1133 | Making the ogre strong (by castration) | Same as Type 153 with the ogre in place of the bear. | , 1133 | K1012.1., K1012.2., K241. |
| 8 | "Painting" on the Haycock | The bear (wolf) wants to be painted like the birds. The fox persuades him to lie on a haycock and sets fire to it. | 8, 8A | K1013., K1013.2 |
| 1138 | Gilding the Beard | A man named »Such a one» persuades the ogre to have his beard gilded. Covers it with tar, and leaves the ogre caught to the tar-kettle. The ogre with his kettle wanders about and asks everyone »Have you seen such a one?» [K1013.1]. | 1138 | K1013.1. |
| 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. |
| 41 | The Wolf Overeats in the Cellar | The fox persuades the wolf to enter a cellar (smokehouse or kitchen) and steal food. The wolf eats so much that he cannot escape through the hole he has entered by. He is killed. Cf. Types 33*, 33**. | 33*, 33**, 41, 41* | K1022.1. |
| 49 | The bear and the honey | The fox leads the bear to a wasp-nest. | 49 | K1023. |
| 20 | Animals Eat One Another Up | The fox persuades them to begin with the smallest. | 20, 20A, 20C, 61A | K1024., K2027., Z43.3. |
| 21 | Eating his own Entrails | The fox persuades the wolf (bear) to eat his own entrails. | 21 | K1025. |
| 136 | Wolf Surprises Pig in Apple Tree | Wolf surprises pig in apple tree. Will release him in return for one of his harms. Pig throws down a piece of thorny wood instead, which splits wolf's gullet. | 136 | K1043. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 1072 | Race with Little Son | The man challenged by the ogre to running race persuades the ogre to race his little son, i.e., a rabbit [K11.6]. | 1072 | K11.6. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 1159 | The Ogre Wants to Learn to Play | Finger caught in a cleft of a tree. [K1111.0.1]. Later he is terrified by the man's wife with her legs apart. He thinks he is to be caught again [K1755]. Cf. Type 151, 326, 1095. | , 1159 | K1111.0.1., K1111.1., K1755. |
| 1051 | Springing with a Bent Tree | The boastful trickster bends down a tree, but when he pauses to catch his breath the tree shoots him into the sky. [K1112]. | 1051 | K1112. |
| 44 | The Oath on the Iron | In a dispute between the fox, the wolf, and the bear concerning the theft of their winter supplies, the fox denies the guilt and swears by touching iron (a trap). The bear follows his example but hits the iron so hard that his paws are caught. | 44 | K1115. |
| 1548 | Stone Soup | No examples in the Database yet | 1548 | K112.2. |
| 791 | The Saviour and Peter in night-lodgings | Peter is twice beaten. Peter and Christ are sleeping in the same bed. The drunken host returns home and beats Peter. Peter changes places with Christ. The host then comes in to beat the other lodger. Peter again receives the blows. [K1132]. In French… | 791 | K1132. |
| 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. |
| 1407 | The Miser | Gives his wife too little to eat. On the advice of the servant boy, he spies on her from inside the chimney, under the bolster, etc. Gets burned in the chimney, beaten in the bed. [W153.2]. Cf. Types 1373, 1458. | 1407, 1407A | K1155., W153.2. |
| 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. |
| 1142 | Hot Tin under the Tail of the Ogre's Horse | The smith promises to make the horse wild. The ogre on the horse's back. [K11811]. | 1682* | K1181. |
| 1070 | Wrestling Contest: Looks Where to Throw him | The ogre squeezes the man so that his eyes bulge out. The ogre: »Why do you glare so?» »I am looking to see where to throw you.» The ogre flees. [K12.1]. | 1070 | K12.1. |
| 1071 | Wrestling Contest (with Old Grandfather) | The man challenged by ogre to wrestling contest persuades the ogre to wrestle his old grandfather, i.e., a bear [K12.2]. | 1071 | K12.2. |
| 1456 | The blind fiancée | The search for the needle. The girl mistakes the dish for a cat. The blindness is thus discovered. [K1984.5]. | , 1456 | K1225., K1984.5. |
| 4 | Carrying the Sham-Sick Trickster | The fox shams sickness and is carried by the wolf. | 4 | K1241. |
| 1530 | Holding up the Rock | The rascal puts his shoulder under a great rock and pretends to hold it up. He persuades a man to take his place and then runs away with the dupe's goods. [K125.1]. Cf. Types 9A, 1731. | 1530 | K1251. |