A Guide to Folktales in the English Language Based on the Aarne-Thompson Classification System

Awards:

• ALA Outstanding Reference Source, 1988

Reviews:

• Students of folklore and storytellers will find this new guide useful. Ashliman has followed the Aarne-Thompson classification system fairly closely in his geographical classification and his tale type headings. To improve it he has `revised Thompson's verbal descriptions to the types ... to better describe the variants that are currently available in English,' has incorporated several new numbers proposed by other scholars and collectors for the Aarne-Thompson system, and has included two bibliographies, one of books about folklore and folktales, the other an up-to-date list of folktale collections. Ashliman's main aim is to `help readers find reliable texts of any given folktale, not only in its best-known version, but also in less familiar variants.' There are cross-references from one tale type to another, a complete listing of Grimm's 200 tales with type classifications as an appendix, and an index of best-known titles and key words from typical plots.... For libraries, even those that own Antti Aarne's The Types of the Folktale
  —Choice

Table of Contents:

• Introduction
• Animal Tales
• Magic Tales
• Religious Tales
• Romantic Tales
• Anecdotes
• The Grimms' Tales
• Bibliography of Secondary Literature
• Bibliography of Folktale Collections
• Index