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.

Tales of Magic 300–559

111 tale types

Sorted by Thompson references, ascending

Showing 101–111 of 111 · Page 3 of 3

ATU Title Summary Arne Thompson Thompson ▲
334 In the Household of the Witch Visit to house of a witch (or other horrible creature). Many gruesome and marvelous happenings. Lucky escape. Cf. Type 327G. 334 G11.3.3.
363 The Vampire The bridegroom eats corpses in three churches [E251.3.1, G20]. He appears to his bride in the form of her father, her mother, etc. [D40, D610] and when she tells about his habit he devours her. 363 G20.
501 The Three Spinners Invited to the wedding. I. Spinning Assigned to Girl. (a) Through false boast of a girl's mother, or (b) of the girl herself, or (c) false reports by jealous servants a girl is compelled to spin an impossible amount (cf. Type 500). (d) She is to… , 501 G201.1., G244., H1092., H914.
462 The Outcast Queens and the Ogress Queen Cf. Type 590. I. The Ogress Queen. (a) Men in a forest are pursued by an ogress who takes on the form of a lovely girl [G264, G369.1.5]. (b) A king hunting in the forest [G405] sees the lovely girl and takes her as his queen. II. The Blinded queens.… , 462 G264., G405., K511., L71., S435., S438.
502 The Wild Man The prince sets the prisoner free. The latter becomes his servant and helper. (The Ride on the Glass Mountain; cf. Type 530. Rescue of the Princess from the Dragon, cf. Type 300. Service as Shepherd; War or Other Adventures). The youth wins the… , 502 G671., R222.
551 The Water of Life The youngest succeeds with the help of an eagle (dwarf) and various magic objects. The brothers gain possession of the remedy. The princess searches for the father of her child. For analysis see Type 550: I b, (c); II; III c, d; IV; V b. , 551 H1210.1., H1242., H1321.1., H1381.2.1., H80., H81.1., K1932., K2211., L161., N711.3., N825.2., T475.2., W154.12.3.
326 The Youth Who Wanted to Learn What Fear Is Various episodes: in the church tower, under the gallows, etc. Cf. Types 1159, 1160.
  • I. Quest: To Meet Fear. A youth who does not know what fear is goes out to find it.
  • II. Experiences. He tries various frightful experiences: (a) playing cards with devil in church; (b) stealing clothes from a ghost; (c) staying at night under a gallows, (d) in a cemetery, or (e) in a haunted house where a dead man's members fall down the chimney; (f) vanquishing ghost like cats; (g) playing ninepins with a reassembled dead man; (h) being shaved by barber-ghost; (i) cutting devil's finger nails.
  • III. Learning Fear. After his wedding he learns fear when cold water is thrown on him or eels are put down his back while he is asleep.
    		•  , 326, 326A*, 326B* H1376.2.2., H1411., H1441., K335.1.10.1.10.
    507 The Mistress of the Monster I. The Grateful Dead Man. See Type 506 I. II. The Monster Husband. The hero woos a princess whose former suitors have all come to misfortune and whose heads have been stuck on poles. With the help of the dead man who has taken the necessary magic… , 507A H322.1., H972., T172.0.1., T172.2.1.
    335 Death' Messengers Death promises the man to indicate his future. He gives him a blow, blindness, etc. But the man does not understand the signs and lives happily throughout. 335 J1051.
    318 The Batamärchen Batu: the Egyptian >>Two Brothers>> Tale. Plots with paramour against life of her husband. Cf. Types 303, 315, 590, 590A. I. Rescue of a Princess from a Dragon. [R111.1.3]. II. Treacherous Wife. The hero marries the princess, but she falls in love… 318 K2111.
    331 The Spirit in the Bottle The man frees the evil spirit from the bottle and receives in reward a wonderful remedy or the power to turn iron into silver (gold). He tricks the spirit into the bottle again. (Often combined with Types 330 or 332.) , 331 K717., R181.

    Showing 101–111 of 111 · Page 3 of 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 ORCID iD 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.