Fairy-Tale Motif Index - Revision history

User: Add four Grimm tales and motif comparisons; preserve old collection section anchor

2026-10-25T17:51:11Z

Add four Grimm tales and motif comparisons; preserve old collection section anchor

User: Add evidence and obligation comparisons and distinguish the literary companion works

2026-10-25T17:31:48Z

Add evidence and obligation comparisons and distinguish the literary companion works

User: Add specific motif comparisons for the four expanded companion tales

2026-10-25T17:15:30Z

Add specific motif comparisons for the four expanded companion tales

User: Connect motif browsing with the five ordered thematic reading routes

2026-10-25T16:49:39Z

Connect motif browsing with the five ordered thematic reading routes

User: Create comparative motif routes and an index to all forty fairy-tale additions

2026-10-25T15:01:47Z

Create comparative motif routes and an index to all forty fairy-tale additions

New page

'''The Fairy-Tale Motif Index''' offers comparative routes through the wiki's story collection. Start with an image, action or narrative problem, then follow the links to articles that identify their source versions, distinguish events from editorial interpretation, and document idioms and cultural adaptations.

This is an editorial navigation index, not a formal folklore motif-number catalogue or a dictionary of universal symbols. A shared image can perform different functions. A helper can also threaten; a homecoming can bring loss; a successful command can cause trouble when it continues. The comparisons below refer to the particular tellings examined in the linked articles.

== Forbidden knowledge, objects and commands ==
* [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]: seeing a concealed partner changes the conditions of an enchantment. Compare the girl's knowledge before and after the prohibition is broken.
* [[Urashima Taro]]: a forbidden box becomes important after a return to a profoundly changed home. Read the motive for opening alongside the narrator's judgment.
* [[The Firebird]]: taking an accessory triggers an alarm and creates another errand. The desired object and the condition of obtaining it are different things.
* [[Iron Hans]]: a forbidden cage is opened, followed by tasks at a golden well. The consequences differ across deliberate action, pain and accident.
* [[Sweet Porridge]] and [[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]: knowing how to start does not guarantee knowing how to stop.

'''Compare:''' What information is withheld, what rule is stated, and what does the character actually know when acting? For related physical imagery, see [[Locks and Keys]] and [[Doors, Gates and Thresholds]].

== Helpers, bargains and obligations ==
* [[Rumpelstiltskin]] and [[The Little Mermaid]]: assistance has explicit conditions whose significance changes as the story develops.
* [[The Elves and the Shoemaker]]: repeated help alters a household's work and resources; the humans eventually respond with gifts.
* [[Vasilisa the Beautiful]] and [[The Firebird]]: help comes through figures whose roles cannot be reduced to uniformly benevolent companions.
* [[The Frog Prince]] and [[The Tongue-Cut Sparrow]]: a relationship with an animal includes promises, gifts or obligations that require attention to the particular telling.
* [[Aladdin]]: different helpers have different powers. A limited resource can still provide a useful next movement.
* [[Momotaro]]: assembling companions involves resources and command as well as cooperation.

'''Compare:''' Who requests help, who specifies the terms, who performs the work, and what remains owed afterwards? Shared assistance does not establish equal power.

== Stolen identities, appearances and recognition ==
* [[The Goose Girl]] and [[The Firebird]]: false claimants receive recognition until testimony changes what others know.
* [[Cinderella]], [[Iron Hans]] and [[The Ugly Duckling]]: outward position, appearance and eventual recognition interact in different ways. Do not assume that recognition creates the capacity or identity it recognises.
* [[Puss in Boots]] and [[The Brave Little Tailor]]: claims, appearances and others' inferences help produce social advancement.
* [[The Emperor's New Clothes]]: public agreement and fear affect what people say they perceive.
* [[The Princess and the Pea]]: a hidden test supplies the story's criterion of recognition. The article distinguishes that narrative criterion from evidence outside the tale.

'''Compare:''' Is identity discovered, restored, performed or accepted through a test? Who controls the evidence? See [[Clothing, Shoes and Armour]] and [[Mirrors and Reflections]].

== Hunger, abundance and consumption ==
* [[Hansel and Gretel]]: food is provision, a failed route marker, a lure and part of a captor's plan.
* [[Stone Soup]]: an apparently useless ingredient gathers real contributions. Compare nourishment with the distribution of credit.
* [[Sweet Porridge]]: relief from hunger becomes obstruction when production continues beyond need.
* [[The Fisherman and His Wife]]: successive demands change the scale of what is wanted.
* [[Jack and the Beanstalk]]: household scarcity, exchange and the taking of another household's resources belong to the same sequence.
* [[Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]: food, furniture and sleep involve suitability as well as entering someone else's dwelling.
* [[The Little Match Girl]]: imagined warmth and nourishment must be read alongside material exposure and deprivation.

'''Compare:''' Is the problem absence, access, suitability, appetite, ownership or excess? An abundant image does not answer all these questions. Continue through [[Food, Hunger and Nourishment]].

== Lost voices, testimony and listening ==
* [[The Little Mermaid]] and [[The Wild Swans]]: restrictions on speech affect how others interpret a character's actions.
* [[The Goose Girl]]: a coerced oath restricts testimony while indirect speech remains possible.
* [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]: reaching the listener is insufficient while he is drugged; other captives help the message reach him.
* [[The Nightingale]]: performance, praise and attentive listening are different relationships.
* [[The Tongue-Cut Sparrow]]: an attack on a speaking creature changes a household's obligations and later encounters.
* [[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]: Morgiana's observations and actions repeatedly protect a household whose title foregrounds someone else.

'''Compare:''' Is speech physically impossible, forbidden, disbelieved, unheard or overlooked? See [[Echoes, Silence and Unheard Voices]] and [[Music, Rhythm and Harmony]].

== Shelter, confinement and thresholds ==
* [[The Three Little Pigs]]: houses differ as barriers and places from which to respond to danger.
* [[The Bremen Town Musicians]]: displaced animals seek shelter and achieve an unexpected form of belonging.
* [[Thumbelina]]: homes offered by others can bring protection, restriction and unwanted expectations.
* [[Snow White]]: entry into successive households changes dependence, danger and recognition.
* [[The Twelve Dancing Princesses]]: a concealed route connects an apparently closed room with repeated journeys.
* [[The Snow Queen]]: a distant enclosure is part of a wider sequence of altered perception, travel and recovery.

'''Compare:''' Who can enter, leave, observe or invite others? A safe exterior and a wanted interior are separate matters. See [[Houses, Rooms and Hidden Spaces]] and [[Inside and Outside: Shelter, Confinement and Belonging]].

== Movement, repetition and the ability to stop ==
* [[The Red Shoes]]: movement persists beyond the wearer's wishes.
* [[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]: an attempted interruption multiplies the unwanted activity.
* [[Sweet Porridge]]: stopping production leaves an existing obstacle that still affects movement.
* [[The Steadfast Tin Soldier]]: imposed transport and restricted movement complicate the language of steadfastness.
* [[Little Red Riding Hood]]: the route, encounter and destination acquire different significance when read as a sequence.
* [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]: changing carriers extends reach; no single helper supplies everything.

'''Compare:''' Who initiates movement, supplies propulsion, chooses direction and can bring it to an end? Continue through [[Agency and Motion: Moving and Being Moved]].

== Homecoming, altered time and belonging ==
* [[Mother Holle]]: homesickness persists despite better treatment elsewhere, and a helpful host permits departure.
* [[Urashima Taro]]: geographical return cannot restore the relationships of an earlier time.
* [[The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child]]: return to an origin is separation from a loved foster-home.
* [[Iron Hans]]: eventual family reunion contradicts an earlier claim that return would never happen.
* [[Momotaro]] and [[Vasilisa the Beautiful]]: what comes back changes the household, but with different consequences and forms of agency.

'''Compare:''' Whose home is named, what has changed during absence, and what can actually be brought back? See [[The Return Journey: Bringing Experience Back into Everyday Life]] and [[Time as Space and Movement]].

== Browse the forty article collection ==
* [[Aladdin]]
* [[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]
* [[Cinderella]]
* [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]
* [[Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]
* [[Iron Hans]]
* [[Jack and the Beanstalk]]
* [[Little Red Riding Hood]]
* [[Momotaro]]
* [[Mother Holle]]
* [[Puss in Boots]]
* [[Rumpelstiltskin]]
* [[Snow White]]
* [[Stone Soup]]
* [[Sweet Porridge]]
* [[The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child]]
* [[The Brave Little Tailor]]
* [[The Bremen Town Musicians]]
* [[The Elves and the Shoemaker]]
* [[The Emperor's New Clothes]]
* [[The Firebird]]
* [[The Fisherman and His Wife]]
* [[The Frog Prince]]
* [[The Goose Girl]]
* [[The Little Match Girl]]
* [[The Little Mermaid]]
* [[The Nightingale]]
* [[The Princess and the Pea]]
* [[The Red Shoes]]
* [[The Snow Queen]]
* [[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]
* [[The Steadfast Tin Soldier]]
* [[The Three Little Pigs]]
* [[The Tongue-Cut Sparrow]]
* [[The Twelve Dancing Princesses]]
* [[The Ugly Duckling]]
* [[The Wild Swans]]
* [[Thumbelina]]
* [[Urashima Taro]]
* [[Vasilisa the Beautiful]]

Existing companion articles also include [[Rapunzel]], [[Hansel and Gretel]], [[Bluebeard]], [[The Sleeping Beauty]], [[Beauty and The Beast]] and [[Pied Piper]]. These provide further routes beyond the forty additions listed above.

== Reading across versions and media ==
Use the individual article's source before extending a comparison. The stove in [[The Goose Girl]], the nail in [[Stone Soup]], and the reason for burning the elixir in [[The Bamboo-Cutter and the Moon-Child]] are version-specific details. A later novel, illustrated edition, musical work or film may reorganise motives and episodes.

For language, distinguish a dictionary-recorded idiom from a recognisable story allusion and an original comparison. A phrase can illuminate a translated tale without originating in that tale or belonging to its source language. For archetypes, name what a character does in each episode before assigning a stable role.

== Related collections and subjects ==
* [[Fairy Tales, Idioms and Everyday Speech]]
* [[Reading Fairy Tales: Archetypes, Motifs and Narrative Roles]]
* [[Idioms A-Z]]
* [[Comparative Metaphor Library]]
* [[Stories and literature]]
* [[Subject index]]

[[Category:Stories and literature]]
[[Category:Wiki guides]]

← Older revision		Revision as of 16:49, 25 October 2026
Line 2:		Line 2:

	This is an editorial navigation index, not a formal folklore motif-number catalogue or a dictionary of universal symbols. A shared image can perform different functions. A helper can also threaten; a homecoming can bring loss; a successful command can cause trouble when it continues. The comparisons below refer to the particular tellings examined in the linked articles.		This is an editorial navigation index, not a formal folklore motif-number catalogue or a dictionary of universal symbols. A shared image can perform different functions. A helper can also threaten; a homecoming can bring loss; a successful command can cause trouble when it continues. The comparisons below refer to the particular tellings examined in the linked articles.
		+
		+	For an ordered sequence with reading tasks, use [[Thematic Reading Routes: Stories, Idioms and Movement]]. Its five routes develop comparisons of compelled movement, forbidden knowledge, bargains, recognition and homecoming.

	== Forbidden knowledge, objects and commands ==		== Forbidden knowledge, objects and commands ==

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Forbidden knowledge, objects and commands ==
 * [[Bluebeard]]: the key exposes a discovery, while the room exposes earlier violence. Distinguish those two kinds of evidence.
 * [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]: seeing a concealed partner changes the conditions of an enchantment. Compare the girl's knowledge before and after the prohibition is broken.
@@ Line 28: / Line 29: @@
 == Stolen identities, appearances and recognition ==
 * [[Rapunzel]]: recognition through a familiar voice after the old means of access becomes misleading.
 * [[Beauty and The Beast]]: evaluating conduct before a transformation that also restores appearance and rank.
@@ Line 50: / Line 52: @@
 == Lost voices, testimony and listening ==
 * [[The Little Mermaid]] and [[The Wild Swans]]: restrictions on speech affect how others interpret a character's actions.
 * [[The Goose Girl]]: a coerced oath restricts testimony while indirect speech remains possible.
@@ Line 71: / Line 74: @@
 == Movement, repetition and the ability to stop ==
 * [[The Red Shoes]]: movement persists beyond the wearer's wishes.
 * [[The Sorcerer's Apprentice]]: an attempted interruption multiplies the unwanted activity.
@@ Line 90: / Line 94: @@
 '''Compare:''' Whose home is named, what has changed during absence, and what can actually be brought back? See [[The Return Journey: Bringing Experience Back into Everyday Life]] and [[Time as Space and Movement]].
-== Browse the forty article collection ==
+<span id="Browse_the_forty_article_collection"></span>
 * [[Aladdin]]
 * [[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]]
 * [[Cinderella]]
 * [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]
 * [[Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]
 * [[Iron Hans]]
 * [[Jack and the Beanstalk]]
 * [[Little Red Riding Hood]]
 * [[Momotaro]]
@@ Line 114: / Line 121: @@
 * [[The Fisherman and His Wife]]
 * [[The Frog Prince]]
 * [[The Goose Girl]]
 * [[The Little Match Girl]]
 * [[The Little Mermaid]]
@@ Line 132: / Line 141: @@
 * [[Vasilisa the Beautiful]]
-Existing companion articles also include [[Rapunzel]], [[Hansel and Gretel]], [[Bluebeard]], [[The Sleeping Beauty]], [[Beauty and The Beast]] and [[Pied Piper]]. These provide further routes beyond the forty additions listed above.
+Existing companion articles also include [[Rapunzel]], [[Hansel and Gretel]], [[Bluebeard]], [[The Sleeping Beauty]], [[Beauty and The Beast]] and [[Pied Piper]]. These provide further routes beyond the collection listed above.
 == Literary companions: following, growing and returning ==

@@ Line 6: / Line 6: @@
 == Forbidden knowledge, objects and commands ==
 * [[East of the Sun and West of the Moon]]: seeing a concealed partner changes the conditions of an enchantment. Compare the girl's knowledge before and after the prohibition is broken.
 * [[Urashima Taro]]: a forbidden box becomes important after a return to a profoundly changed home. Read the motive for opening alongside the narrator's judgment.
@@ Line 15: / Line 16: @@
 == Helpers, bargains and obligations ==
 * [[Rapunzel]] and [[Beauty and The Beast]]: a parent's encounter creates consequences for a daughter; being pledged and offering to substitute are different actions.
 * [[Rumpelstiltskin]] and [[The Little Mermaid]]: assistance has explicit conditions whose significance changes as the story develops.
@@ Line 131: / Line 133: @@
 Existing companion articles also include [[Rapunzel]], [[Hansel and Gretel]], [[Bluebeard]], [[The Sleeping Beauty]], [[Beauty and The Beast]] and [[Pied Piper]]. These provide further routes beyond the forty additions listed above.
 == Reading across versions and media ==

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 == Helpers, bargains and obligations ==
 * [[Rumpelstiltskin]] and [[The Little Mermaid]]: assistance has explicit conditions whose significance changes as the story develops.
 * [[The Elves and the Shoemaker]]: repeated help alters a household's work and resources; the humans eventually respond with gifts.
@@ Line 25: / Line 26: @@
 == Stolen identities, appearances and recognition ==
 * [[The Goose Girl]] and [[The Firebird]]: false claimants receive recognition until testimony changes what others know.
 * [[Cinderella]], [[Iron Hans]] and [[The Ugly Duckling]]: outward position, appearance and eventual recognition interact in different ways. Do not assume that recognition creates the capacity or identity it recognises.
@@ Line 55: / Line 58: @@
 == Shelter, confinement and thresholds ==
 * [[The Three Little Pigs]]: houses differ as barriers and places from which to respond to danger.
 * [[The Bremen Town Musicians]]: displaced animals seek shelter and achieve an unexpected form of belonging.
@@ Line 75: / Line 79: @@
 == Homecoming, altered time and belonging ==
 * [[Mother Holle]]: homesickness persists despite better treatment elsewhere, and a helpful host permits departure.
 * [[Urashima Taro]]: geographical return cannot restore the relationships of an earlier time.