ATU 500 The Name of the Supernatural Helper
Open in the ATU tale-type index →
The tale in brief
A supernatural being helps a girl with her spinning, and she is freed only when she finds out its name.
Summary written for RunoVerse from Antti Aarne’s list of tale types of 1910 and 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:
- Tittilän Tuure Tuure of Tittilä · SKVR · 4 poems
Possibly related: the songs of these types match a passage of this tale, often words a character says or sings (as judged by a language model).
- Killi kirkkoja tekee Killi Builds Churches · SKVR · 22 poems
- Aurinko ja kuu jättiläislapsen leikkikaluina Sun and moon as a giant child's toys · SKVR · 1 poem
Finnic and Finland-Swedish sources cited in the catalogue
The entries of the catalogue’s list of literature and variants that concern Finnic tradition.
Finnish Rausmaa 1982ff. I, No. 62
Finnish-Swedish Hackman 1917f. I, No. 83(3), 95
Estonian Aarne 1918
Lappish, Karelian, Syrjanian Kecskeméti/Paunonen 1974
Full references:
- Rausmaa 1982ff.: Rausmaa, Pirkko-Liisa (ed.): Suomalaiset kansansadut 1–6. Helsinki: Suomalaisen Kirjallisuuden Seura, 1982–2000.
- Hackman 1917f.: Hackman, Oskar (ed.): Finlands svenska folkdiktning I A: Sagor. Referatsamling 1–2. Helsingfors: Svenska litteratursällskapet i Finland, 1917–1920. Read online ↗ (National Library of Finland)
- Aarne 1918: Aarne, Antti: Estnische Märchen- und Sagenvarianten. Verzeichnis der zu den Hurt'schen Handschriftensammlungen gehörenden Aufzeichnungen. FF Communications 25. Hamina: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, 1918.
- Kecskeméti/Paunonen 1974: Kecskeméti, István; Paunonen, Heikki: Die Märchentypen in den Publikationen der Finnisch-ugrischen Gesellschaft. Journal de la Société Finno-Ougrienne 73 (1974), 205–265.
Motifs and related tale types
Motifs: Guessing Name of Supernatural Creature Gives Power Over Him C432.1·Magic Spinning D2183·Task: Spinning Gold H1021.8·Task: Spinning Impossible Amount in One Night H1092·Test: Guessing Unknown Propounder's Name H521·Tasks Assigned Because of Mother's Foolish Boasting H914·Secret Name Overheard by Eavesdropper N475·Man Promises (Sells) Child in Order to Save Himself from Danger or Death S222·Woman Promises Her Unborn Child to Appease Offended Witch S222.1
Combines with: ATU 501 The Three Old Spinning Women (previously The Three Old Women Helpers)
Example tales
English example tales of this type in the Trilogy folktale corpus; their texts can be read in the ATU tale-type index.
- Doubleturk · Germany · J. D. H. Temme, Die Erdgeister in Greifswald, Die Volkssagen von Pommern und Rügen (Berlin: In der Nikolaischen Buchhandlung, 1840), no. 216, pp. 255-256.
- Duffy and the Devil · England (Cornwall) · Robert Hunt, Popular Romances of the West of England; or, The Drolls, Traditions, and Superstitions of Old Cornwall (London: John Camden Hotten, 1871), pp. 239-247.
- Dwarf Holzrührlein Bonneführlein · Germany · Carl and Theodor Colshorn, Zwerg Holzrührlein Bonneführlein, Märchen und Sagen aus Hannover (Hannover: Verlag von Carl Rümpler, 1854), no. 29, pp. 88-89.
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 I (FF Communications 284), 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.
Example tales: the Trilogy folktale corpus; each tale’s own source is named beside it.
The plot summary, the notes and the arrangement of this page are RunoVerse’s own.