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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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1842 | The Testament of the Dog | The owner of a dog has him given Christian burial. The bishop thereupon pretends that the dog has left the church a large legacy. [J1607]. | ||
| 1843 | Parson visits the dying | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1844 | The Parson Visits the Sick | |||
| 1845 | The student as healer | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1851 | Jokes about Devout Women | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 1855 | Jokes about Jews | She bears a girl. [J2336]. | ||
| 1875 | The Boy on the Wolf's Tail | He hides himself in the mill and frightens the robbers from their treasure; cf. Type 1653. Is hidden in a barrel. Holds fast to the wolf's tail through a hole in the barrel. [X1133.3]. Cf. Types 169H*, 1229, 1900. | 1875 | X1133.3. |
| 1876 | The Geese on the Line | The hawk flies away with them on it. The geese have been bound together as protection from the hawk. [X1267.1]. | ||
| 1882 | The Man who Fell out of a Balloon | Buried in the earth, he goes to get a spade to dig himself out. | 1882 | X1731.2.1., X1757. |
| 1886 | Man Drinks from own Skull | The skull falls into the water and a duck makes a nest in it. | ||
| 1890 | The lucky shot | Discharge of gun kills the heath-cock, which falls on the sprouts on the tree, which kills the bear, etc. [X1124.3]. | 1890, 1890D, 1890E, 1890F | X1122.2., X1122.3., X1124.3. |
| 1891 | The Great Rabbit-Catch | The rabbits freeze their feet fast to the ice at night [X1115.1]. | 1891B*, 1893A* | NA, X1114.1. |
| 1892 | The Trained Horse Rolls in the Field | Oats grow in his flanks. The man ties a club to the horse's tail and thus kills many moor-hens. [X1241.2.2]. | ||
| 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. |
| 1913 | The Side-hill Beast | Animal with two short legs on one side for convenience in living on hillsides. It can walk around the hill in only one direction. [X1381]. | ||
| 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. |
| 1917 | The Stretching and Shrinking Harness | A man driving a team with a wagon in the rain finds on arrival at the top of the hill that the tugs of rawhide have stretched and that the loaded wagon is still at the bottom. He unhitches the horses and throws the harness across a stump. Later when… | ||
| 1920 | Contest in lying | The one says, - and yet lies [X905.4]. The great catch of fish [X1150.1]. Cf. Type 1960C. | , 1920, 1920A, 1920B, 1920D, 1920E*, 1920F*, 1920H, 1920H* | NA, X1215.8., X904.1., X904.2., X905., X905.4., X908. |
| 1925 | Wishing contests | No examples in the Database yet | ||
| 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. |
| 1931 | The woman who asked for news from home | Gets many impossible answers, which she believes. »The cock has become sexton.» - »That is why he sang so well in the morning» [J2349.4]. Cf. Type 1920A. | ||
| 1935 | Topsy-Turvy Land | Land where all is opposite from the usual. [X1505]. | ||
| 1940 | The Extraordinary Names | The place where animals and things have extraordinary names. | 1940 | X1506. |
| 1948 | Too much talk | Three men vowed to silence go to a glen away from the world. At the end of seven years one speaks: I heard a cow lowing. Others are angry but silent. At the end of seven years more, second one says: 'Twas not a cow but a bull! The third is very angry… | ||
| 1950 | The three lazy ones | Who is the laziest. Each recounts a proof of his laziness. [W111.1]. | , 1950 | W111.1., W111.1.1., W111.1.2., W111.1.3. |
| 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. |
| 1961 | The big wedding | Giant with sixty daughters. | ||
| 1965 | Lying tales | No examples in the Database yet | 1965 | X1791. |
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