Library Research Guide for Folklore and Mythology

Tales are composed of elements called “motifs,” which are combined in any number of ways to create a plot. Many tales have the same patterns of motifs. These patterns are called “tale-types.” Identifying the building-blocks and patterns of narratives is helpful in studying, comparing, and analyzing them. For a very brief overview of this process, see: Motif Index, What it Is and What it Does from the British Columbia Folklore Society. Below are a few important definitions:

A Function or mytheme is a plot point which directs the course of the tale and appears in set orders.  

A motif is the smallest definite element of a tale.

A Tale type (or tale-type) is a recurring, self-sufficient plot or group of motifs.

The Finnish scholar, Antti Aarne, compiled the first major tale-type index in 1910. The work was limited to European tales and was later expanded by, first, Stith Thompson, and, then, Hans-Jörg Uther. Stith Thompson translated and expanded Aarne’s tale-type index. His work categorized mostly European tales, with a selection of Near Eastern tales, into different general, abstracted types. His and Aarne’s work are collectively referred to as the “AT number system.” Each tale type is assigned a number identifier and a title (e.g. 510A Cinderella tale-type). In 2004, Aarne and Thompson’s tale-type system was expanded by Hans-Jörg Uther. Known as the “ATU tale-type index”, or “the ATU index” for short, this index is a standard reference in folklore studies.

The ATU index (and here) allows researchers to identify the underlying structure of a tale and to cross-reference it with other tales from all around the world which share the same elements or themes. Each tale-type entry describes which themes and motifs comprise a specific tale-type. Motifs each have an identifying number, which can be cross-referenced with Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature. In this way, researchers can identify similar story plots, and even vastly different tales which share motifs.  

The Aaarne-Thompson-Uther tale-type index (ATU index) classifies story plots into seven broad categories. Each category is assigned a group of numbers. For example, tale-types which are “Tales of Magic” are tale-types 300 to 749. All tale-types in the index are prefaced with either “AT” or “ATU” to indicate whether they are an original tale-type outlined in Aarne and Thompson’s 1928 or 1961 index or whether they have been re-organized or created by Uther in the new 2004 index, respectively.
 

1-299             Animal Tales
300-749         Tales of Magic
750-849         Religious Tales
850-999         Realistic Tales
1000-1199     Tales of the Stupid Ogre (Giant, Devil)
1200-1999     Anecdotes and Jokes
2000-2399     Formula Tales

If a researcher were studying the tale Cinderella, they would find it cataloged under “Tales of Magic” in the ATU index. The story is tale-type 510 (ATU 510) or “The Persecuted Heroine”. This tale type has two variant types, ATU 510A “Cinderella” tale-type and ATU 510B “Catskin” tale-type. Each ATU index entry contains:

• Tale-type title
• Summary of plot
• Motif references
• Other tale-types with which it is often combined
• Comments
• Bibliography of relevant scholarship

How To Read an ATU Entry

Stith Thompson compiled a massive index of motifs found in European and Eastern folktales between 1932 and 1958. His work, The Motif-Index of Folk Literature (and here or try this online version.), is used by folklorists to identify the elements or “building blocks” which make up a tale. The index assigns a number to each motif and lists tales in which it appears. This allows researchers to identify different tales which contain the same motif, as well as the range of functions of a certain motif in tales, and is useful for comparative analysis. The limits of the index are its geographical range; it is mainly restricted to Europe, though it does recognize a number of Eastern tales. Subsequently, various scholars have created cultural or regional specific indexes to supplement and expand Thompson’s work.

The Motif-Index of Folk Literature organizes motifs into twenty-six different classes, lettered A to Z. Each motif, then, is given a letter to designate its type and a number to identify it.
 

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

If a researcher were trying to find the slipper motif in Cinderella, they should search for “slipper” or “shoe” in the subject index which accompanies Thompson’s Motif-Index. According to the index, the word “slipper” is relevant to the H36 motif. Each entry contains:

• Motif number
• Motif title (and description)
• Culture(s) and text(s) in which motif is found
• Related motifs
   

How to Read a Motif-Index Entry

Perry's Index
This invaluable index to fables in the Aesopic tradition is to be found in the "Indices" section of Babrius, Phaedrus. Fables. Translated by Ben Edwin Perry in the Loeb Classical Library, volume 436 (Harvard University Press: Cambridge, 1965).

Aesopica Posteriora: Medieval and Modern Versions of Greek and Latin Fables
Aims to encompass the entire European tradition of the fable by guiding the scholar topically to ancient, Medieval, and modern fables. By Gert-Jan van Dijk. With a preface by Prof. Francisco Rodríguez Adrados and an elaborate Index Fabularum at the end of the book. Many of the fables referenced can be found in Early English Books Online.

History of the Graeco-Latin Fable
See volume 3 (book no. 236) of this work by Francisco Rodríguez Adrados, Gert-Jan van Dijk, and Leslie A. Ray. Volume III (book no. 236) is an Inventory and Documentation of the Graeco-Latin Fable. 

Fables 
This 1960 edition of the 1927 translation of Aesop's fables by Emile Chambry is written in French and Ancient Greek. 

ATU-AT-Motif guide 
Although incomplete, a great portion of the AT and ATU classification schemes can be found on this site curated by academic librarian Michael Muchow. He has linked many of them to tales stored on the Internet Archive website.

Folk Tales Online
A helpful guide to finding folk tales online, created by academic librarian Michael Muchow.

Unpacking World Folk-literature: Thompson's Motif Index, ATU's Tale Type Index, Propp's Functions and Lévi-Strauss's Structural Analysis for Folk Tales Found Around the World 
This site is curated by Shawn Urban and hosted at the University of Alberta. It has some overlap with Muchow's resource, above, but includes some unique items. It links to the Multilingual Folk Tale Database (MFTD). Neither is exhaustive. Note: When you see an abbreviated reference to a collection where a published tale can be found that illustrates one of Thompson's motifs, look it up in the detailed Bibliography and Abbreviations section on p. 31 (#45) of Thompson's Motif Index of Folk-Literature as published in Indiana University Studies no. 96–97, via HathiTrust.

Folklore and Mythology Electronic Texts
This site is provided by retired professor D.L. Ashliman and hosted at the University of Pittsburgh. Again, there is some overlap with the other sources listed above, but some entries are unique. It is not exhaustive.

Motif-Index of Folk-Literature; a Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk-Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends (Stith Thompson, 1932)
Used by folklorists to identify the elements or “building blocks” which make up a tale. The index assigns a number to each motif and lists tales in which it appears. This allows researchers to identify different tales which contain the same motif, as well as the range of functions of a certain motif in tales, and is useful for comparative analysis. The limits of the index are its geographical range; it is mainly restricted to Europe, though it does recognize a number of Eastern tales. Subsequently, various scholars have created cultural or regional specific indexes to supplement and expand Thompson’s work. Note: Some of these volumes are available online via HathiTrust's record for Indiana University Studies (wherein a copy was printed); specifically, see IUS volume no. 96-97 which is available online and contains the following volumes of the Motif Index: v. 1 (A–C: Mythological, Animal, Tabu), v. 2 (D–E: Magic, The Dead) and v. 3 (F–H: Marvels, Ogres, Tests). The following IUS volumes containing Motif Index volumes are available via search-only: 100-101, 105-106, 108-112.

MythFolklore.net
Online resources compiled by Laura Gibbs, a professor of mythology & folklore at the University of Oklahoma. She earned her Ph.D. in Comparative Literature: Latin, Greek, Polish. It includes an index to Aesop's Fables that she translated. (See also, Perry's Index, above).

Multilingual Folk Tale Database
Folk tales from all over this world are provided on this site, in their original language or in translation. To organize the stories and make it easier to find and compare them, the stories have been classified along the Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification, which is the established standard for folk tales. Although the database contains over 10,000 stories and translations, it contains stories exemplifying only a limited portion of the ATU classes.