Jawnomicon

Thompson

Folklorists file the elements of a story against Stith Thompson's index, so that a headless body in Ireland and one in Bengal can be recognised as the same element. 116 motifs in this bestiary carry one of its codes. They are shown here under the classes the index files them in. The symbols are the other way into the same figures: what a figure stands for, rather than what happens in its stories.

The classes and codes are the index's; the motif names and the counts of figures carrying them are this site's. None of the index's own entries are reproduced. Stith Thompson, Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, revised edition, Indiana University Press, 1955-58.

Mythological motifs · A · 12 motifs · 40 figures

Class A in the index itself

Animals · B · 33 motifs · 276 figures

Class B in the index itself

Magic · D · 20 motifs · 153 figures

Class D in the index itself

The dead · E · 11 motifs · 18 figures

Class E in the index itself

Marvels · F · 19 motifs · 78 figures

Class F in the index itself

Ogres · G · 8 motifs · 19 figures

Class G in the index itself

Tests · H · 2 motifs · 2 figures

Class H in the index itself

Deceptions · K · 5 motifs · 23 figures

Class K in the index itself

Ordaining the future · M · 1 motif · 4 figures

Class M in the index itself

Rewards and punishments · Q · 1 motif · 1 figure

Class Q in the index itself

Unnatural cruelty · S · 1 motif · 6 figures

Class S in the index itself

Sex · T · 2 motifs · 6 figures

Class T in the index itself

Miscellaneous groups of motifs · Z · 1 motif · 2 figures

Class Z in the index itself