Folklore Database · Browse
Stith Thompson Motif Index
About this index and how to read it
Stith Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature classifies recurring narrative elements in folktales, myths, legends, ballads and related traditional narratives. Each entry below gives Thompson's motif reference and the description recorded in the index.
The index is large, so this browser displays 250 entries per page. You can search by motif reference or by words in the description, restrict the results to one of Thompson's main letter categories, and click motif references mentioned inside descriptions to follow cross-references. Individual motif pages also show any ATU tale types whose concordance explicitly cites that Thompson reference.
All
A
Mythological Motifs
B
Animal Motifs
C
Motifs of Tabu
D
Magic
E
The Dead
F
Marvels
G
Ogres
H
Tests
J
The Wise and the Foolish
K
Deceptions
L
Reversals of Fortune
M
Ordaining the Future
N
Chance and Fate
P
Society
Q
Rewards and Punishments
R
Captives and Fugitives
S
Unnatural Cruelty
T
Sex
U
The Nature of Life
V
Religion
W
Traits of Character
X
Humor
Z
Miscellaneous Groups of Motifs
| Thompson reference | Description ▲ |
|---|---|
| P12.10 | King is superior to all in strength, beauty, largeness, etc., and usually has victory. Icelandic: *Boberg; Jewish: *Neuman. |
| P14.22 | King keeps lions as pets and a lion-tamer at his palace. Jewish: Neuman. |
| F1041.9.1.2 | King keeps to his bed, mourning over vanished bride. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P16.3 | King killed when old. Hawaii: Beckwith 409f.; Tonga: Gifford 31. |
| W181.2 | King kills architect after completion of great building, so that he may never again build one so great. (Cf. S161.0.1, W154.21.) Wesselski Theorie 15; Ireland, England: Baughman. |
| M203.2 | King kills self to carry out own promise. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J347.2 | King lays aside crown since it brings too many cares. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| M21 | King Lear judgment. A king flattered by his elder daughters and angered by the seeming indifference, though real love, of the youngest, banishes the youngest and favors the elder daughters. Type 510; BP II 47, III 305; *Cox Nos. 208—226; *Hartland FLJ IV 308; *Oesterley No. 273; Herbert III 201; India: *Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX 183 No. 124. |
| P16.1.2 | King learning of queen's adultery abdicates. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| T583.3 | King leaves bell with his wife for her to ring so he will know when her child is born. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| T50.2 | King likes his daughter so much that he does not wish to marry her to anyone. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| J816.1.1 | King living apart from wife brought to sense of duty by philosopher. Asks if there is harmony among the cities and republics of Greece: philosopher tells him to ask it of his own house. Spanish: Childers. |
| P15.3 | King loses his kingdom to impostor. (Cf. K1934.1.) Jewish: Neuman. |
| K341.8.4 | King loses signet ring while endeavoring to learn from a thief the art of stealing. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| K948 | King lured to send his sons on fatal quests and to kill nephews. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga II 158—79, Boberg. |
| F675.1 | King makes a wooden peacock machine for his son. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J817.2.1 | King makes absurd statement about flowers. Flatterer agrees: it is the king he serves, not the wretched flowers. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| N713.2 | King marries girl who finds his lost ring. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| N713 | King marries girl who finds lost object of his. |
| T67.3.1 | King marries girl who frees him from the clutches of magic doll. (Cf. D1268.) Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| P19.2 | King may have any woman as paramour if he makes her a settlement. Irish myth: Cross. |
| P19.4.1 | King may judge against all save one of highest rank in religion or learning. Irish myth: Cross. |
| T131.7 | King may not marry girl who has been wife of another. Irish myth: *Cross; Jewish: Neuman. |
| K1771.9 | King menaced into giving his daughter by means of borrowed fleet. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| N339.16 | King mortally wounded on killed enemy's tooth. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P27.2 | King mourns so much at wife's death that he goes on piracy, (every summer afterward). Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| P13.4 | King must marry. Irish myth: Cross. |
| P13.8 | King must never be present at funeral. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| P19.3 | King must procure whatever visiting poets ask, or suffer from their satire. Irish myth: Cross. |
| P16.2.1 | King must resign if he begets natural son. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| P16.2 | King must resign if maimed (disfigured). Irish: MacCulloch Celtic 25, Cross. |
| P14.5 | King never touches earth: carried always by slaves. Africa (Upoto): Einstein 121. |
| J52 | King observes retaliation among animals: becomes just. Dog breaks fox's foot; man breaks dog's; horse breaks man's leg; horse steps in hole and breaks his. Chauvin II, 116 No. 93. |
| B245 | King of amphibians. |
| B240 | King of animals. Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "roi", "bêtes", Fb "konge" II 265a; Jataka Index s.v. "king"; India: Thompson-Balys; Jewish: Neuman. |
| B241.2.13 | King of antelopes. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B246.1 | King of ants. Fb "myre". |
| B241 | King of beasts (quadrupeds). |
| B246.3 | King of bees. Chinese: Eberhard 102 No. 59. |
| D666.1 | King of birds transforms his quails into sticks and pebbles so king and his hunters and hawks cannot kill them. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B242 | King of birds. *Type 221; *BP III 278 (Gr. No. 171).—Irish myth: Cross; Bødker Exempler 293, No. 52.; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "oiseaux"; Missouri-French: Carrière; English: Jacobs English 82 No. 17; Hindu: Tawney I 183, II 65 n.; India: *Thompson-Balys; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 40, 437. |
| F981.7 | King of cats killed by glowing mass of iron thrown by saint. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| B241.2.3 | King of cats. Fb "kattekonge".—English: Jacobs More Eng. 237; Irish myth: Cross. |
| B242.2.1 | King of crows. Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "corbeaux"; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| B241.2.10 | King of deer. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera II 69. |
| F402.2.1 | King of demons (Asmodeus). Jewish: *Ginzberg Jewish Encyclopaedia s.v. "Asmodeus", bin Gorion Born Judas I 230, *Neuman; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B241.2.7 | King of dogs. Fb "hund" IV 227b. |
| B242.2.2 | King of doves. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| B248 | King of dragons. Chinese: Graham. |
| B243.2.2 | King of eels. Fb "еl" III 1190b. |
| B241.2.11 | King of elephants. Panchatantra (tr. Ryder) 275, 308; Wienert FFC LVI 47; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 415, 483, 921. |
| K815.17 | King of fishes eats his subjects as they pay him their respects day and night. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 269. |
| B144.1 | King of fishes prophesies hero's birth. *Type 303; BP I 528 (Gr. Nos. 60, 85).—Africa (Angola): Chatelain 66 No. 3. |
| B243 | King of fishes. (Cf. B236.2.) *Type 303; *BP I 528, III 284 (Gr. No. 172); *Dh IV 192ff.; Hartland Science 174.—Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "poisson"; Missouri French: Carrière; India: *Thompson-Balys.—Africa (Angola): Chatelain 65 No. 3; S. A. Indian (Toba): Métraux MAFLS XL 6, 52. |
| B245.1 | King of frogs. Type 440, Grimm No. 1; BP I 1ff.; Panchatantra (tr. Ryder) 369; Bødker Exempler 297 No. 61; Cosquin études 530; Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "roi", "grenouille".—English: Jacobs English 237; Hindu: Keith 147; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Eberhard 76 No. 43. |
| B242.2.9 | King of geese. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 948, II 581. |
| B241.2.6 | King of hares. Penzer V 101f.; Bødker Exempler 294 No. 54. |
| J915 | King of humble lineage cannot be flattered. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| B246 | King of insects. |
| J951.5 | King of jackals captured because of his large banner. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B241.2.9 | King of jackals. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| B242.2.3 | King of kites. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| F252.1.0.2 | King of Land under Water. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| B242.2.12 | King of larks. Crane Vitry I No. 4. |
| B241.2.1 | King of lions. Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "roi"; Malone PMLA XLIII 409. |
| B244.3 | King of lizards. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 657. |
| B241.2.5 | King of mice. English: Jacobs English 82 No. 17; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| B241.2.14 | King of mongooses. Africa (Ganda): Rowling Tales of Sir Apolo 44ff. |
| B241.2.2 | King of monkeys. Cowell Jataka III 225 No. 407; Penzer V 127ff.; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 287; Chinese: Eberhard 40 No. 27, 411 s.v. "Affenkönig". |
| F167.12 | King of otherworld. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| B242.2.8 | King of parrots. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera II 572. |
| B242.2.5 | King of peacocks. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B242.2.4 | King of pigeons. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B242.2.6 | King of quails. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B241.2.4 | King of rats. Breton: Sébillot Incidents s.v. "rats"; India: Thompson-Balys; Korean: Zong in-Sob 28 No. 12. |
| B244 | King of reptiles. |
| B243.2.1 | King of salmon. Japanese: Hartland Science 174. |
| B244.1 | King of serpents (snakes). *Type 672; BP II 463f.; *Fb "snogekonge" III 437b, "lindorm" II 433 b, "hugormekonge" I 667.—Danish: Kristensen Danske Sagn II (1893) 213ff., (1928) 139ff.—Hindu: Keith 154; Penzer VI 29; India: *Thompson-Balys; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 27, 64, 230, 1149, II 529, 556; Chinese: Eberhard 17 No. 8; Zanzibar: Bateman 202 No. 10. |
| B242.2.7 | King of sparrows. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B242.2.10 | King of swans. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 98, 210, 242, 447. |
| B241.2.12 | King of the boars. Irish myth: Cross; Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 986, II 819f. |
| G156 | King of the giants. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A161.2 | King of the gods. See all references to A101 (Supreme god). |
| B241.2 | King of the various kinds of beasts. |
| B242.2 | King of the various kinds of birds. |
| B241.2.8 | King of tigers. Africa (Gold Coast): Barker and Sinclair West African Folk-Tales 105ff. No. 19.; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| A2777.2 | King of trees. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| F721.3.1 | King of underground kingdom. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B243.2 | King of various kinds of fishes. |
| B242.2.11 | King of vultures. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 269. |
| E481.9 | King of world of dead. (Cf. E481.1.1.) Irish myth: Cross (E481.1.1.1); Icelandic: Boberg; India: Thompson-Balys; Africa (Baholoholo): Einstein 216. |
| N771.1 | King on hunt is taken prisoner. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga II 120 —40. |
| P16.1.1 | King on retiring orders funeral obsequies given him. Chauvin VIII 115 No. 98. |
| P14.4 | King orders all gold brought to him. Wesselski Archiv Orientální I 77. |
| J1873.4 | King orders houses built to keep howling jackals warm in winter. Rascal misappropriates funds. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P14.18 | King orders man whose neck the rope will fit to be executed. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| J912.1 | King orders piece of cloth shown after his death. The measure of all that he has taken with him to the grave. Herbert III 10; *Crane Vitry 185 No. 119; Krappe Bulletin Hispanique XXXIX 24; Wesselski Mönchslatein 67 No. 54; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| N454.2 | King overhears conversation of lamps. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| N455.4 | King overhears girl's boast as to what she should do as queen. Marries her. *Type 707; BP II 380ff., *393; India: *Thompson-Balys; N. A. Indian: Thompson CColl II 388. |
| J221.1 | King overlooks wife's unfaithfulness rather than to cause troubles of state. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 207. |
| L410.5 | King overthrown and made servant. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| P15.1.2 | King pardons person who has made mistake of addressing one of his courtiers as king. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| K346.1.1 | King persuaded to change clothes with thief disguised as old woman. Thief rides king's horse away. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| K1774 | King persuades men to follow him, pretending that he is going to make peace with his brothers, instead battle. [A]ns saga Bogsveigis 335ff. |
| P14.3 | King playing chess when important news arrives. *Dickson 233 n. 30; Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| H1218 | King possessing one marvelous object sends hero on quest for another like it. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J146.1 | King prefers educated men as company. Pauli (ed. Bolte) Nos. 95, 98, 106. |
| K245 | King promises beggars new clothes: burns their old and gets much gold and silver. Keeps it. Wesselski Theorie 15; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| Q115.2 | King promises daughter she may marry anyone she desires. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J1198.1 | King promises thieves pardon for confession: pleased with their cleverness. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| K234.1 | King promises valuable dog to each of two powerful and mutually hostile tribes. At feast prepared by king the two tribes get into fight and king escapes. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| H508.1 | King propounds questions to his sons to determine successor. England: Child I 13 n., Baughman. |
| H540.3 | King propounds riddles. |
| M203.1 | King punishes one of his men who robs someone to whom the king has given safe conduct. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J171.2.3 | King questions six doctors: what do you like best of all on earth? That all evil and hypocrisy will have an end. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2.2 | King questions six doctors: what do you like best of all on earth? That all joys are mixed with sorrow. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2.1 | King questions six doctors: what do you like best of all on earth? That man has not what he wishes to have. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2.6 | King questions six doctors: what must you most marvel at on earth? That man lives in a state in which he cannot die. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2.4 | King questions six doctors: what must you most marvel at on earth? That those who are most respected are the biggest fools. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2.5 | King questions six doctors: what must you most marvel at on earth? That those who speak of spiritual matters are usually the most depraved. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 107. |
| J171.2 | King questions six doctors. |
| P12.13 | King quick to anger. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P19.5 | King raised from dead (by saint). Irish myth: Cross. |
| H41.9 | King recognized by unique ability to occupy certain seat (Siege perilous). Irish myth: *Cross; *Nutt Studies in the Legend of the Holy Grail (London, 1888) 81f., 88. |
| J215.1.2 | King refuses to exile gossipers. They would defame him among strangers. At home they serve to test the king's patience and to reform his life. Spanish: Childers. |
| J912.2 | King refuses to have fine tomb erected for him since his stay on earth is so unimportant. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| Q45.1.2 | King refuses to invite Patrick to feast. Poor man kills only cow and uses his only measure of meal to entertain Patrick. Patrick blesses his wife and son. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J411.9.1 | King refuses to quarrel with bird. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| P14.14 | King requires everyone who comes before him to tell a story. Irish myth: Cross. |
| R131.11.2 | King rescues abandoned child. Dickson 170 n. 24; Italian: Basile Pentamerone III No. 2; Jewish: *Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| J571.5 | King restrained from hasty judgment by being told story. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| W11.12.1 | King rewards knight with large sum of money. Chancellor: "If you saw such a sum it would seem large to you." King answers that it looks small and doubles it. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| Q91.3 | King rewards poem. (Cf. Q112.0.1.2, Q411.10.1.) Icelandic: *Boberg; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| Q91.2 | King rewards scullion for bon-mot. Makes him a valet. Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| W32.1 | King Richard leads host to victory by leaping his horse overboard. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J372 | King ridiculed for inventing trifle of musical instrument but praised for constructing a great mosque. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J2103.2.1 | King ruins his garden to get rid of viper. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| T64 | King seeks bride only because counsellors insist. *Thien Motive 4; Chaucer's Clerk's Tale; Irish myth: *Cross; Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| H1311.1 | King seeks one richer (more magnificent) than himself. (Cf. H1395.) English: Child I 275—283 passim, III 17n., 503f.; Pélerinage de Charlemagne; Huet 146; Thien Motive 7; Russian: Andrejev No. 650b*; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Chavannes 500 Contes I 374 No. 107. |
| T252.2.1 | King sees how male stork kills his unfaithful wife. Follows its example. Scala Celi 7a No. 40; Oesterley No. 82; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J1085.3 | King sees poor man far happier than himself. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| U35.1 | King seizes old woman's cow. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| U35.1.1 | King seizes poor man's lamb. Jewish: Neuman. |
| H171.1 | King selected by elephant's bowing to him. *Penzer V 175ff.; *Hartland Ritual and Belief (1914) 290ff.; *Christiansen FFC XXIV 124; Paris Zs. f. Vksk. XIII 6 n. 8.—India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| H162.2 | King selected by having a cricket light on his head. Cheremis: Sebeok-Nyerges. |
| M203.3 | King sells self and family into slavery to keep promise. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H1252.4 | King sends hero to otherworld to carry message to king's dead father. *Cosquin Contes indiens 405ff. |
| K2098 | King sends regrets for death of man he has ordered executed. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| L418 | King shown he is less powerful than God. In spite of all his plans, his servant recovers the lost (exchanged) treasure. Type 841. |
| P14.21 | King shows himself in public only one day a year. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| J914 | King shows humility by mingling with common people. |
| P27.1 | King sits mourning on his wife's grave mound. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| P16.7 | King slain by "his own household" in revenge for deposing his father. Irish myth: Cross. |
| F564.3.3 | King sleeps for six days and acquires after that magic wisdom. Icelandic: Hjálmpérs saga ok ölvis 505, Boberg. |
| B765.22 | King snake: kills and eats any snake that does not accept his authority. U.S.: Baughman. |
| F571.6 | King so old that he cannot get on horseback without help. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| F571.5 | King so old that he only can take food from a horn. Icelandic: Flateyjarbуk I 26, Boberg. |
| H561.3.1 | King Solomon as master riddle-solver. (Cf. H540.2.1, H540.4.) Jewish: Neuman. |
| Q424.1 | King strangles falcon when it kills eagle. (Cf. Q211.6.) Köhler-Bolte I 583; Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1189.3 | King substitutes for condemned man when he is told that whoever is executed that day is destined to become king in his next birth. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| M177.1.1 | King swears to become Christian if he wins battle. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J634 | King takes measures against assassination. |
| T481.5 | King takes subject's wife while her husband is sent away. Icelandic: *Boberg; Danish: Grundtvig No. 145. |
| T252.2.2.1 | King tells jackal his statistics are wrong since there are more men than women. Jackal: husbands ruled by their wives counted as women. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H1557.6 | King tests gardener's obedience by playing thief. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| Q591.1.1 | King tests saint by having man feign death; saint perceives trick and causes man to be dead. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J634.2 | King to avoid possible assassination has queen's quarters searched before he enters. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| J634.1 | King to avoid possible assassination singes his beard rather than have barber shave him. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| P12.13.1 | King to be seen after anger cools. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P17.12 | King to be succeeded by whoever can carry his dead body a certain distance. Irish myth: Cross. |
| N125.3 | King to be victorious as long as he rides muzzled gelding. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J1289.20 | King to smoker: "Even donkeys will have nothing to do with tobacco." Smoker: "Donkeys don't know how to enjoy themselves." India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P16.3.2 | King too old to fight goes himself into his grave mound. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| R115 | King transformed to parrot frees captured parrots. (Cf. D641.) *Fischer-Bolte 209. |
| K1235 | King tricked into sleeping with hag. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| N731.1.1 | King unknowingly adopts his own lost son. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| T50.2.1 | King unwilling to marry his daughter to a man not her equal. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| L414.1 | King vainly attempts to measure the height of the sky and the depth of the sea. Lithuanian: Balys Index No. 920A*. |
| L414 | King vainly forbids tide to rise. (Canute.) Herbert III 62; Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| K839.4 | King who demands milk from all hornless cows forced to accept bogstuff milked from wooden cows: he dies. Irish myth: Cross. |
| J245.2 | King who experiences the cultural civilization of an empire in dream would rather be poor and primitive. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| D1812.5.2.9 | King who finds golden bow and arrow (spindle) knows an heir will be born to him. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P12.4 | King who intends rape killed. Attackers flee into exile. Irish myth: Cross. |
| Q520.4 | King who loved to give death sentence accepts penance of always postponing sentence until thirty days period of examination has passed. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| W11.2.2 | King will not eat breakfast till gifts are given. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P14.2 | King will not permit a one-eyed man in his presence. *Chauvin V 160 No. 84 n. 1. |
| T586.2.2 | King with 60,000 sons. Hindu: Keith 115. |
| T586.2.1 | King with fifty sons (daughters). Greek: Fox 20, 30. |
| Z71.5.7 | King with seven wives and seven mares. The seven wives pregnant for seven years, the seven mares seven years in foal. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| T51.2 | King wooes through his daughter and the princess's maiden. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| L410.2 | King, defeated in battle, obliged to flee without money. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| K1845.2 | King, fearing death at hands of enemy, forces follower to take his place on throne. Follower is killed. Irish myth: Cross. |
| S322.1.5.1 | King, jealous of son, banishes him and his wife. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 210. |
| N349.3 | King, seeing eldest son leaving room, decides that he is a rakshasa. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H583.1.1 | King: Are you alone at home? Youth: Not now; I see the half of two quadrupeds. (Two legs of the king and the forefeet of his horse.) *Köhler-Bolte I 84, 87. |
| H587.1 | King: Show me a ruby eight for a pice, nectar eight for a pice, and a faithless creature worth one-eighth of a pice. Minister: The lamp sells at eight for a pice and gives more light than any ruby; the water is the real nectar; and the dog is worthless and faithless lover because he follows anyone who feeds him. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H583.6 | King: What are you doing? Youth: I boil those which come and go. (Beans which keep rising and falling in water.) *Types 875, 921; De Vries FFC LXXIII 115. |
| H583.4.5 | King: What are your mother and father doing? Girl: Mother is separating earth (being a midwife), and father is mixing earth (at a funeral). India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H583.1 | King: What do you see? Youth: One and a half men and a horse's head. (Himself, the legs of the king on horseback in the door, and the horse's head.) *Köhler-Bolte I 84, 87, 151ff.; *Basset 1001 Contes II 41. |
| H583.3 | King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He hunts; he throws away what he catches and what he does not catch he carries with him. (Hunts for lice on his body.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 128ff.; Wesselski Mönchslatein 120 No. 102; Missouri French: Carrière. |
| H583.3.1 | King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He runs back and forth. (Plows.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 128ff. |
| H583.3.2 | King: What is your brother doing? Youth: He sits between heaven and earth. (In a tree.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 128ff. |
| H583.2.4 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Cuts wood which was burnt last year. (To pay old debts.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. |
| H583.2.5 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: He fences thorns with thorns. (Eggplant garden fenced with thorns.) India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H583.2 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: He is in the vineyard and is doing good and bad. (He prunes vines and sometimes cuts good and sometimes lets bad ones stay.) *Köhler-Bolte I 84, 87. |
| H583.2.1 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes an evil greater. (Closes up a path; this causes another to be opened.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. |
| H583.2.3 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes better from good. (Hedges his field.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. |
| H583.2.2 | King: What is your father doing? Youth: Makes many out of few. (Sows grain.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 116ff. |
| H583.4.6 | King: What is your mother doing? Girl: She has gone to turn one into two (to split peas). India: Thompson-Balys. |
| H583.4.3 | King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She cuts off the heads of the well to cure the sick. (Kills chickens to feed her sick mother.) Köhler-Bolte I 85, 87. |
| H583.4 | King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She does for another what the latter cannot do for her. (Lays out a corpse.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 124ff. |
| H583.4.4 | King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She drives away the hungry and compels the filled to eat. (Drives away the hungry hens and stuffs the geese.) Köhler-Bolte I 85, 87. |
| H583.4.2 | King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She is baking the bread we ate last week. (To pay back borrowed bread.) (Cf. H583.2.4.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 124ff.; Köhler-Bolte I 85, 87. |
| H583.4.1 | King: What is your mother doing? Youth: She shows the light of the world to one who has not yet seen it. (Assists at a birth.) De Vries FFC LXXIII 124ff. |
| H583.5 | King: What is your sister doing? Youth: She is mourning last year's laughter. (Nurses child, the fruit of last year's love affair.) *De Vries FFC LXXIII 133ff. |
| H583.7 | King: Where shall I tie my horse? Maiden: Between summer and winter. (Between wagon and sleigh.) De Vries FFC LXXIII 254. |
| H585.2 | King: Why did you not do it (marry so that sons could help you)? Peasant: I did, but it was not God's will (I married three times but it was not God's will to give me sons). India: Thompson-Balys. |
| P14.6 | King's (prince's) sulking chamber. He sulks here until his wishes are carried out. India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| K2126.1 | King's advisor falsely accused of treason. Accusers exposed and punished. Italian Novella: *Rotunda. |
| J1675.1.1 | King's attention attracted by fighting when it cannot be otherwise gained. *Chauvin VII 162 No. 439 n. 1. |
| J1675.3 | King's capriciousness censured: the ass in the stream. A nobleman seeing an ass letting water in a river remarks that it reminds him of his king. He explains to the king that just as the ass puts water where it is already plentiful, so the king awards wealth where it is not needed. The king says that it is all in the nature of the nobleman's fate. Subsequent events prove this. Pauli (ed. Bolte) No. 836; Boccaccio Decameron X No. 1; Italian Novella: Rotunda. |
| P16.9 | King's coffin sunk into river. Jewish: *Neuman. |
| N178.3 | King's counselor expelled from a court thereby escapes accompanying the king, who is killed by robbers. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| F166.4.1 | King's crown in well in otherworld. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| F355 | King's crown stolen from fairyland. Irish myth: Cross. |
| K1223.5 | King's daughter deceives king by substituting her maid. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| K425 | King's daughter put into brothel to catch thief. *Type 950; *BP III 395ff.; *Chauvin VIII 186; Schoepperle I 214—222 passim. |
| K2034.1 | King's daughter secretly pledged to many to win their aid. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| N415 | King's example makes merchant wealthy. The king buys shoes for a high price and then has all his dinner guests buy them. Estonian: Aarne FFC XXV 137 No. 100. |
| K2121.2 | King's faithful servant falsely accused of familiarity with queen. Icelandic: Þiðriks saga II 164—9, Boberg; Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 393. |
| Q431.2.3 | King's foster brothers banished for lawlessness. Irish myth: *Cross. |
| K2126.2 | King's man falsely accused of being in the secret service of another king. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P19.1 | King's presence necessary for army's victory. English romance: Malory passim. |
| M203 | King's promise irrevocable. Basil Pentamerone I No. 5; Irish myth: *Cross; Missouri French: Carrière; Spanish Exempla: Keller; India: Thompson-Balys; West Indies: Flowers 560. |
| P273.1.2 | King's son begs pardon for treacherous foster brother. Icelandic: *Boberg. |
| N699.2 | King's son comes home just at his father's funeral, when the heritage has to be divided. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P273.2.3 | King's son falsely accuses foster brother of attempt to seduce his sister. Icelandic: Lagerholm 161—63, introd. lxxviii, *Boberg. |
| P271.7 | King's son named after his father's foster father. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P30.1 | King's sons called kings. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| P14.17 | King's stronghold on island. Irish myth: Cross. |
| P19.4.0.1 | King's wand (rod). Irish myth: Cross. |
| T257.1.1 | King's wives jealous of his attention to pet animal. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| B222 | Kingdom (land) of birds. Arabian: Burton Nights VIII 91; Japanese: Anesaki 324, Ikeda. |
| Q112.0.5 | Kingdom and hand of princess as reward for virtuous life. Spanish Exempla: Keller. |
| Q112.0.1.3 | Kingdom as reward for finding abducted princess. Icelandic: Boberg. |
| Q112.0.1.1 | Kingdom as reward for piety. (Cf. Q20.) Irish myth: Cross; Jewish: Neuman. |
| Q112.0.1.2 | Kingdom as reward for poem. (Cf. Q91.3.) Icelandic: Boberg. |
| Q112.0.1 | Kingdom as reward. Irish myth: Cross; Jewish: *Neuman; India: *Thompson-Balys. |
| B226 | Kingdom of amphibia. |
| B224.1 | Kingdom of ants. Chauvin VII 40 No. 153 n. 3; Jewish: Neuman. |
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.