A Note in Favor of Motif Indexes.

The article discusses motif indexes broadly. Much of the theory and practice of European folkloristics has focused on repertoires within individual national frames, with increasing recognition of the limitations of that focus. The author had created various ad hoc motif catalogues to help answer specific problems dealing with genres and themes which have enabled preliminary generalizations. He had been particularly fascinated by the variety of indicators, the geographical distribution, and the identification of certain semantic cores that exist across genres.