ATU 2013 'There Was Once a Woman; the Woman Had a Son'
Open in the ATU tale-type index →
The tale in brief
A very short tale that turns in a circle: it names a woman, her son and something of his, then asks whether it should be told again and starts from the beginning. The Finnish versions run 'Once there was an old man, the old man had a wife, the wife had a son, the son had red trousers', and then ask 'shall I tell it to the end?' and, when the listener says yes, start again.
Summary written for RunoVerse and checked against the Finnic texts linked on this page.
Runosong types
The SKVR or ERAB type index cites this tale type in its description of these song types:
- Oli ennen ukko, akka ja pojalla punaiset pöksyt Once an old man and wife, and the boy in red breeches · SKVR · 27 poems · cited for comparison
- Muorin musta kana The old woman's black hen · SKVR · 1 poem · cited for comparison · old number AT 2320
The index writes the old Aarne-Thompson number AT 2320, which Uther's catalogue of 2004 merged into this tale type.
Possibly related: the songs of these types follow the formula of this chain tale (as judged by a language model).
- Onnimanni Onnimanni (endless rhyme) · SKVR · 335 poems
- Mikä kirkko? - Ryssän kirkko. What Church? — The Russian's Church · SKVR · 72 poems
- Jäniksellä on pitkät korvat The hare has long ears · SKVR · 3 poems
- Too vett! Bring water! · ERAB · 3 poems
- Isä kylvää nisuja Father sows the grain · SKVR · 2 poems
- Satu meni saunaan, punaiset pöksyt jalassa Satu went to the sauna in red trousers · SKVR · 1 poem
- Valkea kana muni uunin alle White hen laid an egg under the stove · SKVR · 1 poem
Finnic sources cited in the catalogue
The entries of the catalogue’s list of literature and variants that concern Finnic tradition.
Finnish Aarne 1911, No. 2013*, SKS, Nos. 2013, 2320
Estonian Aarne 1918, No. 2013*
Full references:
- Aarne 1918: Aarne, Antti: Estnische Märchen- und Sagenvarianten. Verzeichnis der zu den Hurt'schen Handschriftensammlungen gehörenden Aufzeichnungen. FF Communications 25. Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918.
Motifs and related tale types
Motifs: Rounds Z17·There Was Once a Woman; the Woman Had a Son; the Son Had Red Breeches; Etc --At Last: "Shall I Tell It Again?" Z49.4
Sources
Tale-type number, title, classification, related types and the Finnic sources: Hans-Jörg Uther, The Types of International Folktales (FF Communications 284–286, Helsinki 2004). · Uther 2004, part II (FF Communications 285), free online ↗
Runosong types cited in the type indexes: the song-type indexes of SKVR and ERAB.
Possibly related runosong types: a reading of the song types by a language model (Claude Opus 5.5, 2 November 2026); only links it rated high or medium in confidence are shown.
Motifs and combinations with other tale types: the Trilogy dataset, from Stith Thompson’s Motif-Index of Folk-Literature and the ATU catalogue.
The plot summary, the notes and the arrangement of this page are RunoVerse’s own.