Folklore Database · Browse
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.
Animal Tales 1–299
| ATU | Title | Summary ▲ | Arne Thompson | Thompson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 235 | The Jay Borrows the Cuckoo's Skin | No examples in the Database yet | 235 | A2241. |
| 244 | Peacock Plumes | No examples in the Database yet | 244, 244A*, 244C* | , J267.1., J951.2. |
| 246 | The Hunter Bends the Bow | One bird escapes; other remains and is shot. (Told also of fish.) | ||
| 179 | What the bear whispered in his ear | Paid guide climbs tree and leaves traveler to mercy of a bear. Traveler feigns death and the bear sniffs at him and leaves. The guide: »What did the bear say to you?« »He said, never trust a coward like you.« | 179 | J1488. |
| 59 | Fox and the Sour Grapes | Pretends that the grapes he cannot reach are sour. | 59 | J871. |
| 165 | The wolf in the company of saints | Promises to give up slaying animals. After wringing the gander's neck, excuses himself, saying: »He should not have hissed at the saint.« [K2055.1]. | ||
| 30 | The Fox Tricks the Wolf into Falling into a Pit | Race. | 30 | NA |
| 211 | The hog who was so tired of his daily food | Schwarzer Tod im "Stipelloch" gefangen (entkommt später) | 211 | J1612. |
| 37 | The fox as shepherd | Search for a nursemaid (or mourning-woman). Fox takes service and eats up the young bears. | 37, 37* | K931. |
| 178 | The Faithful Animal Rashly Killed | See AT 0178A and AT 0178B. | 178, 178A | B331.2., NA |
| 226 | The Goose Teaches the Fox to Swim | Shakes him off in the water. | ||
| 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. |
| 93 | The Master Taken Seriously | She-fox and her children do not flee from the vineyard until owner begins in earnest to root it out. (Also told of other animals.) | 93 | J1031. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 294 | The Months and the Seasons | Symbolic actions. | 294 | NA |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 52 | The Ass without a Heart | The ass as toll-gatherer is killed by the lion for asking for toll. The fox eats the ass's heart. When the lion asks for it, the fox replies that the ass could have had no heart since he was such a fool as to ask the lion for toll. | 52 | K402.3. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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 |
| 7 | The calling of three tree names | The bear and the fox wager as to which can name three trees first. The bear names different varieties of the same tree. The fox wins the wager. | 7 | N51 |
| 116 | The Bear on the Hay-Wagon | The bear on the hay-wagon (or on the horse) is mistaken for the preacher . | ||
| 105 | The fox and the cat | The cat has only one trick and saves herself in a tree. The fox who knows a hundred tricks is captured. | 105, 105* | J1662., K522. |
| 103 | War between Wild Animals and Domestic Animals | The cat shrieks; the bear falls out of the tree and breaks his backbone. | 103, 103A, 103A*, 104 | B262., B281.9.1., NA |
| 295 | The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean | The coal burns the straw in two and falls into the water. The bean laughs till it splits. | 295 | F1025.1. |
| 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. |
| 60 | The Fox and the Crane Invites Each Other | The crane (heron) has his food in a deep dish, the fox his on a flat plate. The crane injures his beak. | 60 | J1565.1. |
| 76 | The Wolf and the Crane | The crane pulls a bone from the wolf's windpipe. When he asks for payment the wolf says, "That you were allowed to take your beak from my throat is payment enough." | 76 | W154.3. |
| 239 | The Crow Helps the Deer Escape from the Snare | The deer aids the jackal, but when the deer is caught in a snare the jackal refuses to help him. On the advice of the crow the deer feigns death. When the hunter releases him, he bounds away. | ||
| 102 | The Dog as Wolf's Shoemaker | The dog as wolf 's shoemaker. He demands material for the shoes and then successively eats up the cow, hog, etc. furnished him. | 102 | K254.1. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 220 | The Council of Birds | The eagle as judge assigns each his place and work. | ||
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 15 | Stealing the Partner's Butter | The fox (the hen) pretends that he has been invited to be godfather and steals the butter stored by him and the bear (the cock) for the winter. He smears butter on the mouth (tail) of the sleeping bear. | 15 | K372. |
| 55 | The Animals Build a Road (Dig Well) | The fox as overseer punishes lazy animals. | 55 | A2233.1. |
| 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. |
| 3 | Sham Blood and Brains | The fox covers his head with buttermilk (blood, urine, etc.) and says that his brains have been knocked out. Frightens the bear. | 3 | K473. |
| 39 | The Bear Pulls Mountain Ashes apart so that the Fox's Old Mother can Get Berries | The fox eats the berries himself. | ||
| 154 | The Jackal and the Farmer | The fox helps the man; his reward. He converses with his members. | 154 | J2351.1. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 49 | The bear and the honey | The fox leads the bear to a wasp-nest. | 49 | K1023. |
| 21 | Eating his own Entrails | The fox persuades the wolf (bear) to eat his own entrails. | 21 | K1025. |
| 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. |
| 20 | Animals Eat One Another Up | The fox persuades them to begin with the smallest. | 20, 20A, 20C, 61A | K1024., K2027., Z43.3. |
If you wish to get access to data for projects and research, then please contact us, we do our best to help
How to cite: Fielder-White, Jonathan (2026). The Folklore Database. https://folkloredatabase.com
0009-0006-1672-4451
Please cite the relevant sources, catalogues, and classification systems, including the Folklore Database, Berezkin-Duvakin Catalogue, ATU, Thompson, alongside the page accessed and the last time accessed. Please respect copyright and licenses.
Editorial annotations and database enhancements © Jonathan Fielder-White licensed under CC BY 4.0. Berezkin-Duvakin derived narrative and metadata licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Full rights information can be found here.
All rights are reserved in the database structure, selection, arrangement, metadata, classifications, software, interface design, and original editorial content.
Important: The Folklore Database expressly reserves all rights in relation to text and data mining, automated extraction, scraping, machine learning, dataset creation, and the training, development, validation, or improvement of artificial intelligence technologies or systems. No part of this website or database may be scraped, copied, reproduced, harvested, downloaded in bulk, or otherwise used for AI training or commercial data extraction without prior written permission.
Designed and Developed by Jonathan Fielder-White.
© 2024–2026 Crecganford / Jonathan Fielder-White. All rights reserved.