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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 ▲ |
|---|---|
| A1171.2 | Windows in firmament shed light. Irish myth: Cross. |
| A661.0.6 | Windows in heaven: sixty-six (seventy-two) windows in the firmament. Irish myth: Cross. |
| A1123 | Winds as children of titans (giants). Greek: Grote I 6. |
| A1125 | Winds caused by flapping wings. A giant bird causes the wind with his wings. The wings are cut by the culture hero so that the bird cannot flap so hard.—Gaster Thespis 158; Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 276; Babylonian: Spence 117; India: Thompson-Balys.—N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 292 n. 74; American Negro (Georgia): Harris Friends 39ff. No. 5. |
| A1127 | Winds of the four quarters established. Winnebago, Omaha: Alexander N. Am. 99; Quileute: Farrand-Meyer JAFL XXXII 271 No. 13. |
| A131.7 | Winged god. Jewish: Neuman. |
| A1185 | Wings cut from flying mountains. In beginning mountains have wings. They are cut off by thunderbolt.—Hindu: Penzer VI 3 n. 1; India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A726.2 | Wings of sun. Jewish: Neuman. |
| A195.2 | Wisdom as God's companion. Jewish: Neuman. |
| A878.3.4 | Wise eagle in the earth-tree. Holmberg Baum 67ff.—Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 332ff., Boberg. |
| A205 | Witch-woman of upper world. Tuamotu: Stimson MS (Z-G. 13/249). |
| A1833.3 | Wolf as God's dog. German: Grimm No. 148. |
| A2211.3 | Wolf falls out of nest: cause of straight back. (Cf. A2356.2.2.) —Finnish: Aarne FFC XXXIII 53 No. 76**. |
| A1833.2 | Wolf from man transformed by magician. (Cf. A1710.)—Finnish: Aarne FFC VIII 14 No. 76. |
| A2546.2 | Wolf granted patent of nobility. Dh IV 125. |
| A671.2.6 | Wolf in hell. Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 319. |
| A2302.5 | Wolf's body made smaller. (See A2213.1.)—Dh III 7. |
| A165.2.1.1.1 | Wolves as god's dogs. *Fb "ulv" III 971, BP III 199.—Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 65. |
| A1224.3 | Woman created from dog's tail. Eve.—*Dh I 114ff.; *Bolte Zs f. Vksk. XI 255 n. 3; Polívka ibid. XVI 212.—Finnish: Aarne FFC VII 5 No. 11, XXXIII 52 No. 11; Estonian: Aarne FFC XXV 140 No. 10; Livonian: Loorits FFC LXVI 82 No. 17; Flemish: DeMeyer XXXVII 83 No. 11; Lithuanian: Balys Legends Nos. 36ff., 52, 65. |
| A751.8.4 | Woman in moon's oven seen on clear nights. Samoa: Clark 120. |
| A751.8 | Woman in the moon. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 242, Tuamotu: Stimson MS (T-G. 3/1010). |
| A920.1.11 | Woman transformed to pool of water. Irish myth: Cross. |
| A21.1 | Woman who fell from the sky.—Daughter of the sky-chief falls from the sky, is caught by birds, and lowered to the surface of the water. She becomes the creator. —*Iroquois: Thompson Tales n. 27.—Cf. Finnish: Kalevala rune 1. |
| A1313.4.1 | Women at first with breasts on their foreheads. S. Am. Indian (Yuracare): Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 503. |
| A2611.0.4.1 | Women transformed into flowers. Marquesas: Handy 135. |
| A2423.1.1 | Woodcock's ugly voice. Exchanged with thrush. (See A2245.1.) |
| A714.8 | Wooden circles that were the sun and moon animated after human sacrifice of blood. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A1957.1 | Woodpecker from devil's herdsman transformed. The devil strikes his herdsman so that he turns into a bird who continually calls after his beloved cow. (Cf. A1710.)—Livonian: Loorits FFC LXVI 90 No. 80. |
| A2239.4 | Woodpecker punished for stinginess. North Carolina: Brown Collection I 633. |
| A2261.4 | Woodpecker transformed from stingy woman: therefore stingy. North Carolina: Brown Collection I 633. |
| A2255.1 | Wool on his forehead awarded sheep in lawsuit. He is given the privilege of keeping it when the rest of his body is shorn. (Cf. A2322.5.)—Finnish: Aarne FFC VIII 12 No. 64. |
| A677 | Workmen and tradesmen of hell. |
| A655 | World as egg. The two halves are heaven and earth.—Hindu: Penzer I 10 n. 3; Greek: Fox 5. |
| A1090 | World calamities and renewals: miscellaneous motifs. |
| A1099 | World calamities—additional motifs. |
| A1007 | World calamity will begin in Palestine. Jewish: Neuman. |
| A1000 | World catastrophe. The world is destroyed. The incidents are usually the same whether a final destruction is thought of or a destruction which may be overcome by a renewal of the earth.—**Olrik Ragnarök; Fb "verden" III 1039ab; *G. Neckel Studien zu den germanischen Dichtungen vom Weltuntergang (Stzb. d. Heidelberger Akad. d. Wissenschaften 1918); **H. Fischer Weltwenden (1928); **Henne-am Rhyn Das Jenseits: kulturgeschichtliche Darstellung der Ansichten über .... Weltuntergang (1881); **Reitzenstein Weltuntergangsvorstellungen (Kyrkohistoriska Еrsskrift [Uppsala 1924]).—Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 336ff.; Irish myth: *Cross; Jewish: *Neuman; Egyptian: Smith Dragon 111; Hindu: Keith 105.—S. Am. Indian (Guarani): *Métraux RMLP XXXIII 124. |
| A1009 | World catastrophes—miscellaneous. |
| A1099.1 | World destroyed by rain of stones. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A1099.2 | World devoured by ogre. India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Graham. |
| A822.1 | World is transformed mud parrot in golden cage. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A696 | World of serpents. Hindu: Keith 154. |
| A625 | World parents: sky-father and earth-mother as parents of the universe. The sky-father descends upon the earth-mother and begets the world.—Greek: *Frazer Apollodorus I 2 n. 1, Fox 5, 272; Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 194, 328; Hindu: Keith 16; India: Thompson-Balys.—Eastern Indonesia: Dixon 166; Chatham Is.: ibid. 10 n. 12; Cook and Hervey Is.: ibid. 14 n. 21; Maori: ibid. 7 n. 3, 8 n. 7, 9 n. 10, 31; Tahiti: Henry 337f.; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 280 n. 37; S. Am. Indian (Cora): Alexander Lat. Am. 121, (Antilles): ibid. 24; African: Werner African 124. |
| A1099.3 | World turned topsy-turvy and eaten by an earthworm. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A841 | World-columns. Four (two, etc.) columns or supports sustain the earth. —Irish myth: Cross; Estonian: Loorits Grundzüge I 385, 400; Jewish: Neuman; Greek: *Grote I 70; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX III No. 66.—Sumatra: Dixon 163; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 286 n. 56; Maya: Alexander Lat. Am. 154.—See also references to A665.2.1. |
| A1046.1 | World-eclipse ended by bat making sun smile. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A1031.2 | World-fire after theft of fire. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A1031.5 | World-fire because of man's arrogance. African (Fang): Trilles 131. |
| A1039 | World-fire—miscellaneous. |
| A1030 | World-fire. A conflagration destroys the earth. Sometimes (as with the flood legends) the tradition is somewhat local and does not refer to an actual destruction of the whole earth; sometimes the fire marks the end of the world.—*Olrik Ragnarök 483 s.v. "Weltbrand", *Danske Studier (1913) 204ff.; *Eisler Weltenmantel und Himmelszelt 452.—Icel.: MacCulloch Eddic 336ff., Boberg; Greek: Grote I 94; Lithuanian: Balys Tautosakos Darbai VI 133f.; Jewish: Neuman; Babylonian: Meissner Babylonien und Assyrien II 118; Siberian: Holmberg Siberian 368ff.; Hindu: Keith 105; India: Thompson-Balys; Chinese: Eberhard FFC CXX 84.—Maori: Dixon 47 n. 33; N. Am. Indian: *Thompson Tales 287 n. 57d.; S. Am. Indian (Yuracare, W. Brazil): Alexander Lat. Am. 313, (Araucanian): ibid. 330, (Chaco, Tupinamba, Apapocuva-Guarani, Tembé, Shipaya, Carajá, Mura, Cashinawa, Witoto, Arawak, Yuracare): Métraux MAFLS XL 36 (Mataco): ibid. 35, (Toba): ibid. 33, (Tucuna): Nimuendajú BBAE CXLIII (3) 724, (Bacairi): Lévi-Strauss ibid. (3) 347. |
| A612.1 | World-soul. The universe a manifestation of the creator.—Society Is.: Dixon 12 n. 19. |
| A652 | World-tree. Tree extending from lowest to highest world. (Cf. A878.) —**Holmberg Baum des Lebens.—Irish myth: Cross; Norse: MacCulloch Eddic 331ff., De la Saussaye 346ff.; Hagen MPh I (1903—4) 57; **Olrik Danske Studier, 1917, 49ff.; Babylonian: Spence 138; N. A. Indian: *Thompson Tales 286 n. 56a. |
| A651.3.2 | Worlds above and below—miscellaneous. Hawaii: Beckwith Myth 42; S. Am. Indian (Chamacoco): Métraux MAFLS XL 25. |
| A651.3 | Worlds above and below. |
| A13.4.2 | Worm as creator. Guarayú: Métraux BBAE CXLIII (3) 437. |
| A2284.3 | Worm, thinking that world is coming to end, blinds self so as not to see calamity. (Cf. A2332.6.4.)—Dh III 21. |
| A1348.1 | Wren helps mankind restore prosperity to the world. India: Thompson-Balys. |
| A2741.2 | Yams dropped by bird and split: why some are good and some bad. (Cf. A2793.3.)—New Hebrides (Leper's Island): Dixon 144. |
| A697.2.1 | Years are days in Tusita world. Buddhist myth: Malalasekera I 1033. |
| A881 | Zones of earth corresponding to Zodiac. Jewish: Neuman. |
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