ATU 670 The Man who Understands Animal Languages (previously The Animal Languages)

ATU 670

The Man who Understands Animal Languages (previously The Animal Languages)

Aarne–Thompson–Uther tale-type index · Tales Of Magic · The full type description is not served here; the number and name are the classification facts.

Motifs the recorded variants carry

Tabu: revealing knowledge of animal languages. 12 variants
Enigmatical smile (laugh) reveals secret knowledge. 12 variants
Nagging wife drives husband to prepare for suicide. 12 variants
Helpful cock. 4 variants
Secrets overheard from animal (demon) conversation. 4 variants
Cock shows browbeaten husband how to rule his wife. (Cf. J21.16, J130.) 4 variants
Animal languages learned from serpent (not eaten). (Cf. B176.) 3 variants
Knowledge of animal languages. Person understands them. 3 variants
Grateful animals. 3 variants
Helpful serpent. 3 variants

Type numbers and names after Aarne–Thompson–Uther, via Hagedorn, trilogy (2022), CC-BY-NC-SA; motif links weighted by the dataset’s recorded tale variants. Served as classification facts with attribution.