ATU Tale Type Index
The international Aarne-Thompson-Uther classification of 2,247 folk tale types, cross-referenced with Estonian treasure legends. Browse the standard typology used by folklorists worldwide to classify narrative traditions.
What is the ATU Index?
The Aarne-Thompson-Uther (ATU) classification system is the international standard for cataloguing folk tale types. Originally developed by Antti Aarne (1910) and revised by Stith Thompson (1928, 1961) and Hans-Jörg Uther (2004), it assigns a numeric code to each recurring tale plot found across world traditions. This page presents 2,247 tale types sourced from the Trilogy dataset.Chapters and Categories
Tale types are organized into broad chapters: Animal Tales, Tales of Magic, Religious Tales, Anecdotes and Jokes, Formula Tales, and others. Use the chapter tabs at the top to filter by category. Each tab shows the number of tale types it contains. Click "All" to return to the full listing.Searching
The search box filters tale types by ATU number, name, or description text. Results update as you type. The Random button picks a tale type at random for serendipitous browsing. You can also link directly to a search using the URL parameter?q=your+query.
Card Details
Each tale type card shows: the ATU number and name, its chapter and division classification, a description summarizing the tale plot, optional remarks with scholarly notes, and provenance indicating geographic distribution (click to expand).Treasure Legend Cross-References
Some tale types are linked to Estonian treasure legends (varandusemuistendid) in the RunoVerse corpus. Links are organized by confidence: gold badges indicate canonical references found in folkloristic literature (explicit ATU/AT codes in legend type names). Lighter gold badges with a "≈" prefix indicate strong thematic parallels where core narrative motifs are clearly shared. Dashed-border badges with a "?" prefix indicate experimental matches based on shared motifs -- plausible but not established in the literature. Hover over non-canonical badges for a rationale. Click any badge to view the legend type in the Treasure Legends explorer.TMI Motif Cross-References
Where available, each tale type lists its associated Thompson Motif Index (TMI) motifs as green badges. Click any motif ID to look it up in the Motifs (TMI) explorer. The "Combines with" row (orange badges) shows other ATU types that frequently co-occur in the same narrative tradition; click one to search for it.Finnic Provenance Badges
Tale types with documented Finnish or Estonian tradition show FI (blue) and ET (green) badges in the card header. Use the Finnic filter button to show only tale types attested in Finnish or Estonian tradition.Folktale Examples
Some tale types include an expandable example text from the Trilogy folktale corpus. Click the summary line to read the full tale. These provide concrete illustrations of each type's narrative pattern.Most-Shared Narrative Motifs
The Most-Shared Narrative Motifs panel (collapsed by default, below the search controls) ranks the TMI motifs that appear across the greatest number of ATU tale types -- the fundamental narrative building blocks shared across folk traditions worldwide. Click any motif to look it up in the Motifs (TMI) explorer.
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