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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.
Anecdotes and Jokes 1200–1999
| ATU ▲ | Title | Summary | Arne Thompson | Thompson |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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. |
| 1454 | The greedy fiancee | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1455 | The Hard-hearted Fiancée | The father-in-law disguised as a beggar. [H384.1]. | ||
| 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. |
| 1457 | The lisping maiden | The suitor on a visit. The impediment in speech discovered. The girls have been warned against talking but forget and speak out. [K1984.1]. (Sometimes other impediments or deformities.) | ||
| 1458 | The girl who ate so little | The girl eats lightly and the mother declares this is always so. Next day the suitor sees her baking and discovers that she can eat. [K1984.2]. Cf. Types 1373, 1407. | ||
| 1459 | Keeping up appearances | No examples in the Database yet | 1459** | K1984. |
| 1461 | The girl with the ugly name | Her mother gives her a new one. The girl does not recognize it when she is called in, and her mother must use the old one. [K1984.3]. | ||
| 1462 | Clean and tidy | No examples in the Database yet | 1462 | K1971.6. |
| 1463 | Finger-drying Contest Won by Deception | Three daughters are to wet hands; the first to have hands dry is to be the first to marry. The youngest waves her hand, exclaiming, »I don't want a man!» She wins. [K95]. | ||
| 1464 | Nothing to cook | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1468 | Marrying a stranger | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1475 | Marriage Forbidden Outside the Parish | An order is read in church forbidding the young people to marry girls from other parishes. [X751]. | ||
| 1476 | The Prayer for a Husband | The old maid prays in church that she may get a husband [X761]. The (supposed) advice of God (the church janitor) [K1971.9]. She must raise her foot to her neck (or other disgraceful act). Cf. Type 1462. | 1476, 1476A, 1476B | G303.12.5., K1971.9., NA |
| 1477 | The wolf steals the old maid | She keeps him for a husband [X755]. | ||
| 1478 | The Meal of Beans | One of the old maid's three teeth breaks off [X754]. | ||
| 1501 | Aristoteles and Phyllis | The philosopher warns the king against luxoriousness. In revenge the queen beguiles the philosopher into letting her ride him on all-fours. The king comes and sees. [K1215]. | ||
| 1503 | The daughter-in-law and the real daughter | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1511 | The Faithless Queen | Cf. Type 871A. I. The Queen and the Loathsome Paramour [T232]. (a) A king follows his queen as she slips out of their bedchamber. (b) The queen goes to her lover, a loathsome cripple, beggar, etc., (c) who beats her for coming late to their… | ||
| 1525 | The robber brothers | The man pretends to show how the horse can be stolen. Really leads it away. [K341.8]. Cf. Types 1540, 1542. | , 1525, 1525A, 1525D, 1525G, 1525H, 1525J*, 1525M, 1525N, 1525Q, 1525Q*, 1525R | H1151., H1151.2., H1151.3., J1516., K301., K301.1., K306., K307.1., K308., K311., K332., K341.20., K341.21., K341.3., K341.6., K341.7., K362.2., K406.2., L142.1., NA |
| 1526 | The Old Beggar and the Robbers | The robbers dress an old beggar up in fine clothes. They take him in front of the shopkeeper's house. Get many goods on the credit of the fine gentleman. Disappear with the goods and leave the old man behind. [K455.3]. Cf. Types 1531, l920E. | , 1526A | K455.1., K455.2. |
| 1527 | The Robbers are Betrayed | The master and servant exchange places for a day. The servant in tar and feathers. Has his former master take him to the robbers' house. They flee in terror and leave their treasure behind. Cf. Types 1525H, 1650, 1653, 1654**. [K335.1, K335.1.8]. | , 1527A | K630., K724. |
| 1528 | Holding Down the Hat | A rascal stands by the side of a road near his hat under which he has hidden dung. When the dupe arrives he offers to pursue the rascal with the dupe's horse if the latter will guard his hat under which is a beautiful bird. He escapes with the horse.… | 1528 | K1252. |
| 1529 | Thief Claims to have been Transformed into a Horse | While the owner sleeps, the peasant steals his horse. He hitches himself to the owner's wagon and says that he is a horse transformed to a man. [K403]. | 1529, 1529A* | K403., na |
| 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. |
| 1531 | The Man Thinks he has Been in Heaven | The rich lord puts fine clothes on a drunken peasant and gives him good food and drink. [J2322]. Cf. Types 1313A*, 1526. | ||
| 1532 | The Voice from the Grave | Cf. Types 1380, 1476, 1676. (a) Two rascals hear of a wealthy man who has recently died. One digs a hole near the grave with a speaking tube leading out or hides near the grave. The other goes to the relatives of the dead man claiming that the dead… | ||
| 1533 | The wise carving of the fowl | A clever person divides it symbolically head to head of house, neck to wife, wings to daughters, legs to sons; keeps rest for himself. (Cf. Type 875 II e.) [H601]. | 1533 | NA |
| 1535 | The Rich Peasant and the Poor Peasant | I. (a) Twee broers, (a1) mannen, (a2) boeren, (a3) neven, (a4) een boer en een jongen, (a5) zijn arbeider, (a6) een woonwagenbewoner. (b) Grote en Kleine Doeke, (b1) Klaas, (b2) Obe, (b3) Oege, (b4) Grote Arend en Kleine Hendrik, (b5) Hearke en… | 1535 | na |
| 1537 | The corpse killed five times | The corpse on the horse, in the sleigh, in the boat [K2151, K2152]. Cf. Type 1536A. | , 1537 | K2151., K2152. |
| 1538 | The youth cheated in selling oxen | Avenges himself. As carpenter and as doctor in the purchaser's house he punishes the latter [K1825.1.3]. Brings it about that the miller is hanged in his place [K841]. | , 1538 | K1825.1.3., K713.1. |
| 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. |
| 1540 | The student from Paradise (Paris) | The woman sends money or clothes to paradise for her deceased husband. The horse is stolen. I. Goods Sent to Paradise. A student tells a woman that he comes from Paris. She understands him to say paradise and gives him money and goods to take to her… | , 1540 | J2326., K341.9.1. |
| 1541 | For the long winter | The numskull has been told to keep the sausage »for the long winter». When the trickster hears this, he claims to be Long Winter and receives the sausage. [K362.1, cf. also J2355, K1821.1]. | , 1541 | J2460.1., K362.1. |
| 1542 | The clever boy | Peik with his fooling-sticks. I. Deceptions as a Trade. Brother and sister live together but are poor and Peik goes out to make a living by fooling people [K301]. See Type 1525A. II. Animal Bargains. (a) He gets the king's horse by borrowing it to… | , 1542**, 1542A | J2401., K112.1., K113., K1321.1., K1363., K341.8.1., K842., L161. |
| 1543 | The man without a member | No examples in the Database yet | 1543*, 1543A*, 1543C* | J1919.8., NA |
| 1544 | The man who got a night's lodging | The rascal feigns deafness and eats the best food. He accepts the hospitality before it is offered [K1981.1]. He takes the man's horse out of the stable and puts his own in. He is to pay for his lodging with a goat skin; he takes one of the man's own… | , 1544, 1544A* | K1572., K1981.1., K258., K942., NA |
| 1545 | The boy with many names | A man gets lodging in a beautiful woman's house. He pretends not to know how to sleep in bed; she must go with him. | 1545, 1545B | K1327., K602. |
| 1548 | Stone Soup | No examples in the Database yet | 1548 | K112.2. |
| 1551 | The Wager that Sheep are Hogs | A trickster wagers with a sheep driver that the sheep he is driving are hogs. The next man to overtake them will act as umpire. The trickster's confederate now arrives and declares that they are hogs. [K451.2]. | 1551 | K451.2. |
| 1553 | An Ox for Five Pennies | A woman who has been left the ox on condition that she give the proceeds to the poor offers it for five pennies, but it must be bought along with a cock at twelve florins. She gives the five pennies to the poor and keeps the twelve florins. [K182]. | ||
| 1555 | Milk in the Cask | Order to put a small vessel of milk into huge container. Of a small shrewd group each by himself pours water thinking this will not be detected if the others pour milk. [K231.6.1.1]. (Sometimes told of wine.) | 1555A, 1555B | K231.6.2.2., K233.4. |
| 1556 | The Double Pension (Burial Money) | A husband and wife are jointly under a pension from the king. She reports her husband dead and gets the whole pension. He likewise reports her dead and gets the whole money. [K441.1]. (Sometimes concerned with money for the burial.) (K482.1). | 1556 | K482.1. |
| 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. |
| 1558 | Welcome to the Clothes | A man at a banquet is neglected because of his poor clothes. He changes clothes, returns, and is honored. »Feed my clothes,» he says, »for it is they that are welcomed.» [J1561.3]. | 1558 | J1561.3. |
| 1560 | Make-believe eating; make-believe work | At the table the peasant says, »We will only act as if we were eating.» At work the servant: »We will only act as if we were working.» [J1511.1]. | ||
| 1561 | The boy 'loses his sight' | No examples in the Database yet | 1561 | W111.2.6. |
| 1562 | "Think Thrice before you Speak." | The youth obeys literally the precept even when he sees the master's coat on fire. [J2516.1, cf. J571.1]. | 1562, 1562A, 1562B* | J1269.12., J2516.1., NA |
| 1563 | 'Both' | No examples in the Database yet | , 1563 | K1354.1., K1354.2.1. |
| 1565 | Agreement Not to Scratch | In talking, the trickster makes gestures and scratches without detection. [K263]. | 1565 | K263. |
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