Joanne,

I'm not near a library today, so can't check myself, but you might want to try looking through the Stith Thompson "Motif-Index of Folk Literature," which bills itself as a “Classification of Narrative Elements in Folk Tales, Ballads, Myths, Fables, Mediaeval Romances, Exempla, Fabliaux, Jest-Books, and Local Legends.” I remember finding this tremendously useful when researching Ibsen’s use white horses in Rosmersholm, and at various other points in my somwhat-checkered graduate career. I don’t own this 1955 (6 volume and horrendously expensive — ca. $660.00) work, but for western folk elements and symbolism, it’s great.

Lee