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ATU 531 The Clever Horse (previously Ferdinand the True and Ferdinand the False)

Tales of Magic › Supernatural Helpers (ATU 500–559)

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The tale in brief

A clever horse helps a young man in the king's service: on its advice he takes meat and bread along, wins the help of animals with them, and fetches the queen the king wants.

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:

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, Nos. 79, 80

Finnish-Swedish Hackman 1917f. I, No. 99

Estonian Aarne 1918

Livonian Loorits 1926

Lappish, Wepsian, Wotian, Karelian, Syrjanian Kecskeméti/Paunonen 1974

Full references:

Motifs and related tale types

Motifs: Truth-Speaking Horse B133·Speaking Horse B211.1.3·Helpful Animal an Enchanted Person B313·Helpful Animal's Injunctions Disobeyed B341·Grateful Animals B350·Animal Grateful for Food B391·Helpful Horse B401·Helpful Birds B450·Helpful Fish B470·Animal Gives Part of Body as Talisman for Summoning Its Aid B501·Transformation: Man to Horse D131·Beautification by Decapitation and Replacement of Head D1865.1·Person Disenchanted D700·Resuscitation by Decapitation E12·Resuscitation by Boiling E15.1·Quest for Princess Caused by Sight of One of Her Hairs Dropped by a Bird (Or Floating on River) H1213.1·Son Seeks Unknown Father H1381.2.2.1·Quest for Bride for King (Prince) H1381.3.1.1·Identification by Hair Dropped by Bird H75.2·Tasks Assigned at Suggestion of Jealous Rivals H911·Animals Help Man Perform Task H982·Imitation of Magic Rejuvenation Unsuccessful J2411.1·Impostor Forces Hero (Heroine) to Change Places with Him (Her) K1934·Supernatural Godfather N811·Love Through Sight of Hair of Unknown Princess T11.4.1

Combines with: ATU 1060 Squeezing the (Supposed) Stone·ATU 1119 The Ogre Kills His Mother (Wife) (previously The Ogre Kills his Own Children)·ATU 300 The Dragon-Slayer·ATU 300A The Fight on the Bridge·ATU 302 The Ogre's (Devil's) Heart in the Egg·ATU 303A Brothers Seek Sisters as Wives (previously Six Brothers Seek Seven Sisters as Wives)·ATU 313 The Magic Flight·ATU 314 Goldener (previously The Youth Transformed to a Horse)·ATU 327B The Brothers and the Ogre (previously The Dwarf and the Giant)·ATU 328 The Boy Steals the Ogre's Treasure·ATU 329 Hiding from the Princess (previously Hiding from the Devil)·ATU 400 The Man on a Quest for his Lost Wife·ATU 461 Three Hairs from the Devil's Beard·ATU 465 The Man Persecuted Because of his Beautiful Wife·ATU 502 The Wild Man·ATU 505 The Grateful Dead·ATU 513A Six Go through the Whole World·ATU 513C·ATU 516 Faithful John·ATU 530 The Princess on the Glass Mountain·ATU 550 Bird, Horse and Princess (previously Search for the Golden Bird)·ATU 551 Water of Life (previously The Sons on a Quest for a Wonderful Remedy for their Father)·ATU 554 The Grateful Animals·ATU 567 The Magic Bird-heart·ATU 590 The Faithless Mother (previously The Prince and the Arm Bands)·ATU 611 The Gifts of the Demons (previously The Gifts of the Dwarfs)·ATU 613 The Two Travelers

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.

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.