Distribution
19th century Portuguese folklorist Consiglieri Pedroso stated that the tale was "familiar to the South of Europe". [46] In the same vein, German philologist Bernhard Schmidt located variants in Wallachia, Hungary, Italy and Sicily. [47]
In the 20th century, folklorist Stith Thompson suggested the tale had a regular occurrence in the Mediterranean Area, distributed along Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal. [48] French folklorist Paul Delarue, in turn, asserted that the highest number of variants are to be found in Turkey, Greece, Italy and Spain. [49]
In his 1932 study, linguist Jiří Polívka concluded that the story of "The Three Lemons" was widespread across the Mediterranean (in Greece, in Turkey, in coastal France, Italy, Spain and Portugal), but also popular in Hungary. Among Slavic languages, variants were attested in Ukraine (as the easternmost penetration of the tale in Europe), and among the South Slavs in Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia and Croatia - in the latter two Polívka suggested to be due to Italian influence. Finally, texts were also "numerous" in Czechoslovakian lands. [50]
Italian scholars complement their analyses: philologist Gianfranco D'Aronco [ it ] noted its "large diffusion" in Italy, as well as across the Mediterranean Basin. [51] Other scholars recognize that it is a "very popular tale", but it appears "almost exclusively" in Southern and Southeastern Europe. [52] In addition, Milena Benovska-Sabkova and Walter Puchner state its wide diffusion in the Balkans. [53] [54]
Further scholarly research points that variants exist in Austrian, Ukrainian and Japanese traditions. [55] In fact, according to Spanish scholar Carme Oriol, the tale type is "well known" in Asia, [56] even in China and Korea. [57]
The tale type is also found in Africa and in America: [58] according to Thompson and Polívka, its presence in America (Central and South), being "very popular" with "numerous versions" collected, is due to importation of the tale by settlers of the continent. [59] [60]
Europe
Italy
The "Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi" ("Central Institute of Sound and Audiovisual Heritage") promoted research and registration throughout the Italian territory between the years 1968–1969 and 1972. In 1975 the Institute published a catalog edited by Alberto Maria Cirese [ it ] and Liliana Serafini reported 58 variants of type 408 across Italian sources, under the name Le Tre Melarance. [61] In fact, this country holds the highest number of variants, according to scholarship. [62]
Italo Calvino included a variant The Love of the Three Pomegranates, an Abruzzese version known too as As White as Milk, As Red as Blood but noted that he could have selected from forty different Italian versions, with a wide array of fruit. [63] For instance, the version The Three Lemons, published in The Golden Rod Fairy Book [64] and Vom reichen Grafensohne ("The Rich Count's Son"), where the fruits are Pomeranzen (bitter oranges). [65]
In a Sicilian variant, collected by Laura Gonzenbach, Die Schöne mit den sieben Schleiern ("The Beauty with Seven Veils"), a prince is cursed by an ogress to search high and low for "the beauty with seven veils", and not rest until he finds her. The prince meets three hermits, who point him to a garden protected by lions and a giant, In this garden, there lies three coffers, each one holding a veiled maiden inside. The prince releases the maiden, but leaves her by a tree and returns to his castle. He kisses his mother and forgets his bride. One year later, he remembers the veiled maiden and goes back to her. When he sights her, he finds "an ugly woman". The maiden was transformed into a dove. [66] Laura Gonzenbach also commented that the tale differs from the usual variants, wherein the maiden appears out of a fruit, like an orange, a citron or an apple. [67]
Spain
North American folklorist Ralph Steele Boggs (de) stated that the tale type was very popular in Spain, being found in Andalusia, Asturias, Extremadura, New and Old Castile. [68]
According to Spanish folklorist Julio Camarena (es), the tale type, also known as La negra y la paloma ("The Black Woman and the Dove"), was one of the "more common" (más usuales) types found in the Province of Ciudad Real. [69]
Portugal
According to the Portuguese Folktale Catalogue by scholars Isabel Cárdigos and Paulo Jorge Correia, tale type 408 is reported in Portugal with the title As Três Cidras do Amor ("The Three Citrons of Love"), wherein the maidens appear out of citrons and, alternatively, from oranges, lemons, eggs and nuts. [70] [71]
Switzerland
In a Swiss tale collected from a source named Luigia Carloni-Groppi, in Rovio, Tessin, with the title Die drei goldenen Äpfel ("The Three Golden Apples"), a prince wants to marry the fairy from the three golden apples and decides to go after her. He meets an old woman who advises him how he can find her: he is to bring a sackful of corn, a sack of bread, a sturdy branch, a broom and a cord. The prince goes on a path and eagles fly in to get him, but he throws them the corn; he then passes by some dogs to which he throws the bread, then gives the branch to men trying to lift a heavy rock, the broom to a baker cleaning an oven with his hands and the rope to a woman pulling a bucket from a well. He then reaches an empty house, where he finds three apples of pure gold which he steals and rushes back, passing by the guardians. A witch comes after the prince and orders her servants/guardians to stop the prince, to no avail. At a safe distance, the prince stops to rest under a tree and opens the first apple, releasing a maiden that asks for water. Due to not having any, she dies. The prince reaches a stream which suddenly dries up, then releases the second maiden from the apple, which asks for water and dies for not having any. Finally, the prince opens the last fruit near a spring and releases the last maiden, who is more beautiful than the other two. He gives her water and tells her to wait by the fountain, while he goes back to the castle to bring a carriage and a retinue to welcome her. While he is away, an old witch comes to draw water and finds the beautiful apple maiden. Feeling jealous, she lies that she wants to comb her hair and sticks a pin, turning her into a dove. The prince returns and finds the old witch, who lies that she became ugly because she is hungry. Still, the prince takes her in and goes back to the castle to prepare a feast for her arrival. The apple maiden, in dove form, flies after them and enters the kitchen, casting a spell for the female cook to sleep and let the roast be overcooked. Twice the dove does this to the cook, and the old witch notices the food is taking too long. The third time, the cook manages to finish the roast, but the dove keeps flying over the guests. The prince holds out his hand and the dove flies towards it. He pets it and removes the pin on its head, restoring the apple maiden to human form. The old witch realizes her ruse is over and flees out of the dining hall. The prince then marries the maiden from the three golden apples. [72]
Northern Europe
Author Klara Stroebe published a Northern European variant, from Norway. [73] According to Reidar Thoralf Christiansen, the tale was an "importation", whose source was a hawkerwoman from Kristiania. [74] The tale is listed as the single attestation of tale type 408, Tre sitroner ("The Three Oranges"), according to Ørnulf Hodne [ no ]'s The Types of the Norwegian Folktale. In the singular tale, the heroine is a naked princess transformed into a lemon, and when the false bride replaces her, she undergoes a transformation into a silver fish and a linden tree. [75]
According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, the tale type is also registered in Latvia, with the title Trīs apelsīni ("Three Oranges"): the hero gains three oranges and releases the fruit maiden from the third one; another woman replaces her and turns her into a fish or dove. [76]
Slovakia
Variants also exist in Slovakian compilations, with the fruits being changed for reeds, apples or eggs. Scholarship points that the versions where the maidens come out of eggs are due to Ukrainian influence, and these tales have been collected around the border. The country is also considered by scholarship to be the "northern extension" of the tale type in Europe. [77]
A Slovak variant was collected from Jano Urda Králik, a 78-year-old man from Málinca (Novohrad) and published by linguist Samuel Czambel [ sk ]. In this tale, titled Zlatá dievka z vajca ("The Golden Woman from the Egg"), and translated to German as Das goldene Mädchen aus dem Ei, [78] in "Britain", a prince named Senpeter wants to marry a woman so exceptional she cannot be found "in the sun, in the moon, in the wind or under the sky". He meets an old woman who directs him to her sister. The old woman's sister points him to a willow tree, under which a hen with three eggs that must be caught at 12 o'clock if one wants to find a wife. After, they must go to an inn and order a hearty meal for the egg maiden, otherwise she will die. The prince opens the first two eggs in front of the banquet, but the maiden notices some dishes missing and perishes. With the third egg maiden, she survives. After the meal, the prince rests under a tree while the golden maiden from the egg walks about. She asks the innkeeper's old maid about a well, where the old maid shoves her into and she becomes a goldfish. The prince wakes up and thinks the old maid as his bride. However, the prince's companion notices it is not her, but refrains from telling the truth. They marry and a son is born to the couple. Some time later, the old king wishes for a drink of that well, and sends the prince's companion to fetch it. The companion grabs a bucket of water with the goldfish inside. He brings the goldfish to the palace, but the old maid throws the fish into the fire. A fish scale survives and lodges between the boards of the companion's hut. He cleans up the hut and throws the trash in a pile of manure. A golden pear tree sprouts, which the false princess recognizes as the true egg princess. She orders the tree to be burnt down, but a shard remains and a cross is made out of it. An old lady who was praying in church finds the cross and takes it home. The cross begins to talk and the old lady gives it some food, and the golden maiden from the egg regains human form. They begin to live together and the golden maiden finds work at a factory. The prince visits the factory and asks her story, which she does not divulge. He returns the next day to talk to her and, through her tale, pieces the truth together. At last, he executes the false bride and marries the golden maiden from the egg. [79] [80]
In his study on Slovak folktales, Jiri Polívka reported another Slovak tale with the maiden coming out of the egg. In this tale, sourced from Šariš with the title Ako starý otec pri smrti povedal mladému svojmu synovi, aby si vzal takú ženu, ktorá je nie ani zrodená ani pokrstená ("How a man on his deathbed asked his son to find a bride that was neither born, nor baptized"), after a man dies, his son wanders the world in search of the girl. He meets an old man that tells the youth to climb up a tree and fetch tree eggs from a nest. The prince gets the first egg, cracks it open and releases a maiden that soon vanishes. The man returns to fetch the second egg and releases another maiden. The youth fetches the last egg and the old man advises him to reach a well and only then open the egg. The prince follows the old man's instructions and releases the last maiden near the water. This time, the maiden remains with him and he hides her in a hollow willow tree, while he goes to find some clothes for her, since she is naked. While he is away, a witch named Jendžibaba appears, shoves the egg maiden in the well and replaces her for her daughter. After the prince comes back, he finds his bride is different, and the witch's daughter lies that staying inside the hollow of the tree changed her. As for the true egg maiden, she turns into a goldfish inside the well, which the witch's daughter asks to be cooked. A fish scale remains and turns into a linden tree, which the false bride wants to be cut down. It is done thus, but a splinter remains which an old woman bring home with her. While the old woman is away, the egg maiden comes out of the splinter to do chores for her. The old woman discovers the egg maiden and adopts her. Some time later, at the palace there is a gathering of woman to pluck feathers. The egg maiden attends the gathering and tells her story to the people and the prince. The false bride tries to stop the prince from listening, to no avail. Thus, the prince learns the truth. The egg maiden asks what punishment should be done to one that digs up a live tree and plants a dried up one. The witch's daughter answers that they should be tied to horses to be torn apart. Thus, the prince punishes Jendžibaba and her daughter like so, and marries the egg maiden. [81]
Slovenia
In a Slovenian variant named The Three Citrons, first collected by author Karel Jaromír Erben, the prince is helped by a character named Jezibaba (an alternative spelling of Baba Yaga). At the end of the tale, the prince restores his fairy bride and orders the execution of both the false bride and the old grandmother who told the king about the three citrons. [82] Walter William Strickland interpreted the tale under a mythological lens and suggested it as part of a larger solar myth. [83] Parker Fillmore published a very similar version and sourced his as "Czechoslovak". [84]
Poland
In a Polish variant from Dobrzyń Land, Królówna z jajka ("The Princess [born] out of an egg"), a king sends his son on a quest to marry a princess born out of an egg. He finds a witch who sells him a pack of 15 eggs and tells him that if any egg cries out for a drink, the prince should give them immediately. He returns home. On the way, every egg screams for water, but he fails to fulfill their request. Near his castle, he drops the last egg on water and a maiden comes out of it. He goes back to the castle to find some clothes for her. Meanwhile, the witch appears and transforms the maiden into a wild duck. The prince returns and notices the "maiden"'s appearance. They soon marry. Some time later, the gardener sees a golden-feathered duck in the lake, which the prince wants for himself. While the prince is away, the false queen orders the cook to roast the duck and to get rid of its blood somewhere in the garden. An apple tree with seven blood red apples sprouts on its place. The prince returns and asks for the duck, but is informed of its fate. When strolling in the garden, he notices a sweet smell coming from the apple tree. He orders a fence to be built around the tree. After he goes on a trip again, the false queen orders the apples to be eaten and the tree to be felled down and burned. A few wood chips remain in the yard. An old woman grabs hold of them to make a fire, but one of the woodchips keeps jumping out of the fire. She decides to bring it home with her. When the old lady goes out to buy bread, the egg princess comes out of the woodchip to clean the house and returns to that form before the old lady comes home at night. This happens for two days. On the third day, the old lady discovers the egg maiden and thanks her. They live together, the egg maiden now permanently in human form, and the prince, feeling sad, decides to invite the old ladies do regale him with tales. The egg maiden asks for the old lady for some clothes so she can take part in the gathering. Once there, she begins to tell her tale, which the false queen listens to. Frightened, she orders the egg maiden to be seized, but the prince recognizes her as his true bride and executes the false queen. [85] [86]
Polish ethnographer Stanisław Ciszewski (pl) collected another Polish variant, from Smardzowice, with the name O pannie, wylęgniętej z jajka ("About the girl hatched from an egg"). In this story, a king wants his son to marry a woman who is hatched from an egg. Seeking such a lady, the prince meets an old man who gives him an egg and tells him to drop it in a pool in the forest and wait for a maiden to come out of it. He does as he is told, but becomes impatient and breaks open the egg still in the water. The maiden inside dies. He goes back to the old man, who gives him another egg and tells him to wait patiently. This time a maiden is born out of the egg. The prince covers her with his cloak and takes her on his horse back to his kingdom. He leaves the egg girl near a plantation and goes back to the palace to get her some clothes. A nearby reaper maid sees the egg girl and drowns her, replacing her as the prince's bride. The egg maiden becomes a goldfish which the false queen recognizes and orders to be caught to make a meal out of it. The scales are thrown out and an apple tree sprouts on the spot. The false bride orders the tree to be cut down. Before the woodcutter fulfills the order, the apple tree agrees to be cut down, but requests that someone take her woodchips home. They are taken by the bailiff. Whenever she goes out and returns home, the entire house is spotless, like magic. The mystery of the situation draws the attention of the people and the prince, who visits the old lady's house. He sees a woman going to fetch water and stops her. She becomes a snake to slither away, but the man still holds on to her. She becomes human again and the man recognizes her as the egg maiden. He takes her home and the false bride drops dead when she sees her. [87]
Greece
Scholars Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou, editors of the Greek Folktale Catalogue, stated that tale type 408, Τα τρία κίτρα ("The Three Citrons"), is "common" in Greece, with 85 variants recorded. [88] According to Walter Puchner, Greek variants of the tale type amount to 99 tales, some with contamination with type 403A. [89]
Austrian consul Johann Georg von Hahn collected a variant from Asia Minor titled Die Zederzitrone. The usual story happens, but, when the false bride pushed the fruit maiden into the water, she turned into a fish. The false bride then insisted she must eat the fish; when the fish was gutted, three drops of blood fell to the floor and from them sprouted a cypress. The false bride then realized the cypress was the true bride and asked the prince to chop down the tree and burn it, making some tea with its ashes. When the pyre was burning, a splinter of the cypress got lodged in an old lady's apron. When the old lady left home for a few hours, the maiden appeared from the splinter and swept the house during the old woman's absence. [90] Von Hahn remarked that this transformation sequence was very similar to one in a Wallachian variant of The Boys with the Golden Stars . [91]
Bulgaria
The tale type is also present in Bulgaria, with the name "Неродената мома" or "Неродена мома" or Das ungeborene Mädchen [92] ("The Maiden That Was Never Born"), [93] with 21 variants registered. [94] A later study gives a higher number of 39 variants in archival version. [95]
According to the Bulgarian Folktale Catalogue by Liliana Daskalova-Perkovska, the girls may appear out of apples, watermelons or cucumbers, [96] and become either a fish or a bird. [97]
Bosnia
In a Bosnian tale collected by Friedrich Salomo Krauss with the title Von der Vila in der Goldorange ("About the Vila in the Golden Orange"), an unmarried prince is fixated on the idea of finding a girl from the three golden oranges. However, he knows that such fruits are rare to come by, even in the markets, and decides to search the whole world for the right fruits. At the end of his journey, he meets an old witch who has the tree golden oranges with her. He buys off the three oranges and takes them with him. On the way back, he passes by a forest on a hot day, and decides to quench his thirst by cutting open the first orange: a Vila emerges, and asks for water and, since the prince has none with him, she vanishes. He walks a bit more and opens the second golden orange, releasing yet another Vila who asks for water, and vanishes for not having any drink. The prince decides to hold the last orange for now, and searches for a water body. He reaches a stream and opens the last orange: a beautiful Vila with rosy cheeks and long golden hair appears, to whom he gives some water. The prince notices the Vila is naked, covers her with a cloak and leaves her by the shade of an oak tree, while he goes to buy her some clothes in the next town over. After he leaves, the old witch appears, turns the Vila into a dove, and puts on the cloak to deceive the prince. The prince returns with some clothes and notices the Vila's changed appearance, but the witch lies that the sun darkened her skin. The prince takes the witch with him, but suspects of something amiss. He also takes with him the dove, which tells him about everything, then suddenly turns back into the Vila. He punishes the witch and marries the Vila from the golden orange in a grand celebration, and they have four sons and two daughters. [98]
North Macedonia
In a Macedonian tale translated to German with the title Die goldene Zlata ("The Golden Zlata"), also translated as Granny's Daughter, Golden Goldy, a tsar wants his son to find a bride, so he builds a basin and fills with sherbet, then invites the maidens to fetch some. Maidens come and go with their jars and jugs, but none interests the prince. One day, an old woman wants some sherbet, so she brings her jugs, her vases, butter churns and fills them up. She brings for last an eggshell, when the prince throws a golden apple at her, causing her to drop the eggshell. The old woman is confused at the prince's action and curses him that his golden apple shall give him a bride born of no mother. The tsar watches from the seraglio that the prince did not choose a bride for he did not throw the golden apple at his bride of choice, and orders the prince to return to the palace and the basin to be destroyed. The tsar bids his son travel the realm and the world in order to find a bride, since none of the local maidens were to his liking. The prince departs and searches for a bride in the next kingdoms over, but cannot find any. One night, he has a dream of an old man who tells him to seek the Sun, where he will find his bride. He dons iron shoes and goes to the house of the Sun, whose mother welcomes him in and turns him into a needle to protect him from the man-eating Sun when he returns home. After the Sun returns, eats some food and goes to rest, he scents a human smell, and his mother makes him promise not to hurt him. She restores the prince to human form and he explains the situation to him. The Sun listens to his story and decides to make the prince his brother-in-law, and guides him to a golden apple tree in his garden with golden apples. The Sun explains that the prince just has to pluck a golden apple, open it at home and give some bread and salt to the girl that will appear. The Sun finishes his explanation saying the prince may treat the golden apple maiden as a bride, but she will be the Sun's sister. The prince plucks three golden apples and makes his way down the Sun's abode and back to his realm.
After a good while, he opens up the first golden apple and releases a beautiful maiden that asks for bread and salt, but, since he has none with him, she vanishes. He opens the second golden apple and the situation repeats. Lastly, the prince neares his homeland, and decides to rest under a tree to open the last apple: a maiden comes out and he gives her salt and bread, and she proclaims she is his bride forever. The prince lets the golden apple maiden up a tree while he goes back to the palace to bring a carriage and a retinue to welcome her. While he is away, a curse gypsy girl comes to drink water from a nearby well and finds the Sun's Sister by her reflection, then pulls her down. The gypsy learns everything from the Sun's Sister, trades clothes with her, shoves her down the well and climbs up the tree to wait for the prince. The prince returns to fetch his bride and notices her dark skin, which the gypsy girl lies it was due to the Sun, since being in an apple protected her from the Sun's rays. Still, he marries her. As for the true Sun's Sister, she turns into a goldfish in the well which the people admire and is brought to the prince. The gypsy bride realizes the goldfish is the Sun's Sister, and the prince cooks it and eats it. The gypsy bride gathers the fishbones and tosses them in the fire, but the prince has used one of the fishbones as a toothpick and throws it through the window; where it falls, a golden apple tree sprouts. The gypsy bride notices the Sun's Sister is the tree, and orders the tree to be felled down, and burns the wood to ashes, but a boy fetches a lone twig to play horse with it and brings home to his grandmother. When both grandmother and the boy are not at home, the Sun's Sister comes out of the twig to do chores around the house. The grandmother investigates the mysterious housekeeper, finds the Sun's Sister and adopts her. Her neighbours call her Zlata ("Golden Goldy", in a translation), which draws the prince's attention. He goes to meet Zlata and suspects she is the Sun's Sister from the golden apple, so he devises a ruse: he brings in a wise woman to gather nearby girls for a party and have them tell their lifestories. It happens thus, and Zlata is the last to tell her tale, as the prince spies through a hole: Zlata asks the wise woman not to tell the prince, but narrates how she is the Sun's Sister, born of no mother and father, whose mother is the golden apple, and relates how the prince sought a bride and consulted the Sun, and how the gypsy woman tried to kill and replace her. The prince enters the room, reunites with the Sun's Sister, and brings her to the palace with him, then executes the gypsy girl by rolling her into a carpet and burning her. [99] [100]
Cyprus
At least one variant from Cyprus, from the "Folklore Archive of the Cyprus Research Centre", shows a merger between tale type ATU 408 with ATU 310, "The Maiden in the Tower" (Rapunzel). [101]
Malta
Maltese linguist George Mifsud Chircop stated that the story ‘is-seba’ trongiet mewwija’ ("The Seven Inhabited Citrons") [102] is popular in Malta and Gozo. [103]
In a variant from Malta, Die sieben krummen Zitronen ("The Seven Crooked Lemons"), a prince is cursed by a witch to find the "seven crooked lemons". On an old man's advice, he grooms an old hermit, who directs him to another witch's garden. There, he finds the seven lemons, who each release a princess. Every princess asks for food, drink and garments before they disappear, but the prince helps only the last one. He asks her to wait atop a tree, but a Turkish woman comes and turns her into a dove. [104]
In a Maltese variant collected by researcher Bertha Ilg-Kössler [ es ] with the title Die sieben verdrehten Sachen [ de ] ("The Seven Crooked Things"), a king promises to build a fountain of some liquid for the poor if he is blessed with a son. His prayers are answered. The prince grows up and scares an old woman who has come to the fountain. The old woman curses him to burn with love and never rest until he finds "The Seven Crooked Things". The prince travels high and low until he meets a Turkish bakerwoman who gives the prince seven fruits that look like dry nuts. [105]
Albania
In an Italian-Albanian tale collected by linguist Martin Camaj from a source in Falconara and translated to German with the title Das Mädchen wie Milch und Blut ("The Maiden like Milk and Blood"), a prince is preparing his soup, when he accidentally cuts his finger when cutting bread, letting a few drops of blood fall in the milk. With this, he declares he wants to search for a maiden called "Milchblütige" ("Milkblood"). He tells his father he wishes to search for such a maiden for wife and starts his journey, when he meets an old man, who is Jesus Christ in disguise and gives him three walnuts and some advice: the prince is to crack open the nuts near a body of water, for a maiden will appear out of them and ask for water, and the prince is to find a larger body of water if the first does not have enough. The prince takes the three nuts and finds a pool of water, releases the first maiden and gives water to her, but it is not enough, the girl vanishes. The same thing happens to the second maiden in the second walnut. The prince finally finds the largest pool of water, release the third maiden and gives her water. She stays with him. The prince places the walnut maiden atop a tree while he returns to the castle to bring his father. Meanwhile, a wicked girl comes in and sees the walnut maiden's reflection in the well under the tree, mistaking it for her own. The walnut maiden laughs atop the tree, and the wicked girl notices her. The walnut maiden tells everything, and the wicked girl, envious of her, pretends to find a louse on her hair and sticks a pin on it, turning her into a dove. The girl replaces the walnut maiden atop the tree and the prince and the king return. The king calls the girl ugly, but the prince marries her. However, he keeps her in bed all the time due to not wanting people to see her. The walnut maiden, in dove form, perches on the false princess's window, and she orders her servants to capture and cook it. It happens thus, and its bones are buried in the garden, where a large tree sprouts. The false princess orders the tree felled down; the tree complains to the woodcutters that are chopping it down with their axes. An old woman appears and asks the woodcutters for two pieces of wood for a fire, which she takes and brings home. Whenever the old woman leaves the house, the walnut maiden comes out of the wood to do chores and prepare her food, then returns to the pieces of wood. The old woman investigates the mystery and discovers the walnut maiden, called Milkblood, who tells her everything. One day, the prince passes by the old woman's house, sees the beautiful Milkblood girl and invites her for a meal. After the meal, the prince bids her tell a story, which is customary for them, and she retells her story. The prince listens to the story and realizes she is his true bride, expels the false princess, and marries the walnut maiden. [106]
Caucasus Region
According to scholars Isidor Levin and Uku Masing, tale type 408 is "rare" in the Caucasus, with little more than 5 variants reported. [107]
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani scholarship classifies tale type 408 in Azerbaijan as Azeri type 408, "Əməmxiyar qızı". In the Azeri type, an old woman curses the prince to search for the girl from a fruit (e.g., pomegranate) or a vegetable (e.g., cucumber), or the prince has a dream about the fruit maiden; the prince searches for the three vegetables or fruits and opens them: either he finds nothing, save on the third one, or the first two release maidens that ask for food; the prince leaves the fruit maiden atop a tree and leaves; another girl shoves the fruit maiden in a well and replaces her as the prince's false bride; the fruit maiden goes through a cycle of reincarnations, then regains human form; she then goes to a gathering and reveals her story through the use of a patience stone, or her clothes tell the story in form of a song. The fruit maiden is restored and the false bride punished. [108] [109]
In an Azeri tale published by Azeri folklorist Hənəfi Zeynallı [ az ] with the title "Девушка из граната" ("The Girl from the Pomegranate"), a prince dreams of a maiden in a pomegranate. He decides to seek her out. He visits three dev mothers, who indicate the way to the garden. He takes the three pomegranates and leaves the garden. The first two fruits yield nothing, but the third releases the maiden. He asks the girl to wait nearby a tree, while he goes back to the kingdom. A slave girl sees the maiden, shoves her down the well and replaces her. The girl becomes a rosebush, a platane tree and a tree splinter. The splinter is found by a man and brought to his home. The fruit maiden comes out of the splinter to do household chores and is discovered by the man. One day, the prince summons all women to his yard for them to tell him stories, and the fruit maiden sings about her story while weaving and counting pearls. [110] The compiler sourced the tale from an informant in Nakhkray (Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic), and classified the tale as type 408. [111]
In another Azeri tale collected from Nakhkray with the title "Женщина, вышедшая из камыша" ("The Wife from the Reeds"), a king has a son. One day, the prince tells his father he had a dream he would marry a woman from the djinns, and decides to look for her. He consults with an old woman in the city, and the old woman advises him to take provisions for a seven-month journey, ride all the way to the west, where he will meet a div with a blister on his leg; the prince is to pierce the blister, hide and wait for the div to swear on his own mother's blood not harm his helper. The prince heeds her words and journeys west to meet the div; he pierces the leg blister, and the div wakes up in pain. The div swears on his mother's name not to harm the person, and the prince presents himself and explains the reason for his journey. The div then directs him to a river with three reeds, where he is to cut one and only open it at home, not on the way. The prince follows the div's advice, but, nearing his home, he cuts open the reed: a beautiful girl comes out of it, but admonishes him for disobeying the div's orders. Still, the prince is enchanted with the girl and helps her climb a plane tree, while he goes back home and bring a retinue to properly welcome her. As he leaves, and time passes, the girl becomes thirsty and sees a black girl coming with some dishes to wash. The girl asks for some water, but the black girl shoves her into the sea and takes her place up the plane tree. The prince comes back and takes the black girl into the palace, thinking her to be the reed girl. As for the reed girl, she becomes a fish that is captured and brought to the prince, and begins to sing to him. The false bride orders the fish to be cooked and that no drop of its blood is to fall on the ground. The cook follows the orders, but the fish's blood drops on the ground and a plane tree sprouts. The tree uses its leaves to caress the prince when he passes by, and the false bride also wants it chopped down. A splinter of the plane tree survives and is taken by an old woman to her house. The reed girl comes out of the splinter to do chores at the old woman's house, but is discovered and adopted by the old woman. Time passes, the reed girl dies, and the old woman, fulfilling her last request, places her body in a tomb. One day, the prince passes by the tomb and hears someone calling for him from within. He returns to the tomb some days later and finds the reed girl, alive. The reed girl tells him her adventures, and says the black girl has a key around her neck, which is to be returned to the reed girl. The prince returns the key to the reed girl, punishes the false bride and marries her. [112] The tale was also classified by the compilers as type 408. [113]
Georgia
In a Georgian tale titled "კიტრის ქალი" ("ḳiṭris kali"), translated into Hungarian with the title Az uborkalány ("The Cucumber Girl"), an old woman curses a prince to not rest until he finds the cucumber girl. He travels to another kingdom and steals a cucumber from a royal garden. When he cuts open the vegetable, a girl appears. He takes her to the border of his kingdom and goes to the castle, but the girl from the cucumber warns him against it. An Arab girl appears, trades clothes with her and throws the maiden in the well. The cucumber girl goes through a cycle of transformations (goldfish, then a silver tree, then tree splinter, and human again). She appears out of the tree splinter to clean an old woman's house, and goes to the castle with other woman to tell stories to the prince. The cucumber girl tells her tale and the prince notices the deception. [114] [115]
In another Georgian tale, "ლერწმის ქალი" ("lerc̣mis kali"), translated as The Reed Lady, the king's son goes after a bride for himself and finds three reeds in the sea. He takes them back to his kingdom, releases a "reed lady". Eventually, an Arab woman throws her in the water and replaces her as the king's son's bride. The reed lady goes through a cycle of reincarnations (fish to tree to human), and the Arab woman orders her rival's form to be destroyed in order to hide her crime, but the reed lady survives in the shape of a tree chip brought home by an old lady. The reed lady comes out of the chip and performs chores for the old lady, who discovers her and adopts her. The reed lady eventually goes to a gathering to tell her story, through which the king's son recognizes her and punishes the Arab woman. [116] [117] [e]
Armenia
In an Armenian tale titled "Сказка о небывалом огурце" ("The Tale of the Fantastic Cucumber"), translated as The Extraordinary Cucumber, a large cucumber appears in a man's garden, who sells it to the prince, with a piece of advice: take the vegetable and keep walking until he reaches a sycamore, but do not look back. The prince heeds the man's words and hears voices telling him to look behind him, but he presses on until he reaches a plane tree. He then takes a knife to cut open the cucumber, and out comes a beautiful golden-haired maiden. He falls in love with her on the spot and guides her up the plane tree, where she is to wait until he returns for her. He goes back to the palace, leaving the maiden unprotected: an old woman sees the girl's shadow in a spring behind the tree and tries to convince the girl to come down, but she refuses. The old woman then transforms the girl into a bird, changes her shape into the girl and tricks the prince. Later, the girl, as bird, flies over the prince and his friends, but the prince snaps its neck and throws it in a garden. On its place, a mulberry tree sprouts, which the garden's owner chops down, but a large splinter the size of a spoon flies over to a poor woman's yard. The poor woman finds the spoon and brings it home; when she leaves, the cucumber maiden comes out of the spoon, cleans the house and prepares the food, then turns back into the spoon. The poor woman discovers her presence and adopts her as her daughter. Later, the king orders that every house is care for and feed one of the king's horses. In the poor woman's house, the cucumber maiden feeds and grooms the horse; the prince comes to fetch the horse and sees the poor woman's daughter, which he notices is a lookalike of the cucumber girl. The next day, the prince orders that one person from every household shall come to the palace to comb wool. The cucumber maiden goes with the others and they finish the task. The prince then offers a reward, and the maiden asks for a ripe pomegranate, a little doll and a sharp razor. Despite the strangeness of the request, the prince produces the objects, which the maiden takes with her to a deserted road. The cucumber maiden then begins to tell her sorrows to the objects: the pomegranate bursts in response to her story, the doll dances and the razor greatly sharpens, but before she does anything, the prince finds her and takes her to the palace. He punishes the sorceress and marries the true cucumber maiden. [119] [120]
Author A. G. Seklemian published an Armenian tale titled Reed-Maid. In this tale, a king insists his unmarried son finds a wife, and the prince retorts that he will only marry a maiden "not begotten of father and mother". Pondering on the words, the king travels far and wide, asking people if they know of such a maiden. A hermit tells the king about a river in a forest where reeds grow near the shore. The king is to choose the best looking one and cut it off with a golden pocket-knife. The king follows the hermit's instructions, finds a reed and releases a beautiful maiden for his son. He leaves the girl, named Reed-maid, atop a tree, while he goes to fetch maidservants and clothes for her. As the king departs, a gypsy girl from a nearby gypsy camp sees the Reed-maid and wants to take her place: she shoves the reed maiden inside the river and waits for the king's arrival. When the monarch arrives, he finds that his prospective daughter-in-law has changed appearance, but falls for the false reed-girl's excuses. The false bride claims to the prince she is the reed maiden his father procured, but he does not believe her. As for the true maiden, she goes through a cycle of reincarnations: on the spot she was drowned, a silver fish with gold fins appears, which the gypsy woman orders to be cooked; one of the fish bones remains and is discarded in the garden, where a beautiful tree sprouts; the gypsy orders the tree to be felled and burnt, but a chip survives and is flung off to the cabin of a poor old woman, which she takes as a pot lid. The next days, when the old woman leaves, the reed maiden gets out of the chip to do chores and returns to that form after. The old woman finds out who is doing chores at her house and adopts the reed-maid as her daughter, who says she cannot reveal her origins yet. Later, the old woman sells embroideries sewn by the reed-maid, which the prince notices to be very beautiful and demands to know its maker. The old woman consults with the reed-maid, who tells her to invite them to the cabin for a meal. It is done as the reed-maid requests, and the prince, his father and the false bride attend the occasion. After the meal, the king suggests the maiden regales them with a story, which she agrees to do: she places a dry grapevine and a dove prepared to be cooked on the table, then claims that, if her story is true, the vine will yield fresh grapes and the dove will be cooked without fire. The reed-maiden then narrates the tale of the king who searched for a wife for his son, and, when she finishes, the vine yields fresh fruits and the dove is cooked, confirming her identity as the true reed-maid. The gypsy is then executed. [121] The tale was originally published by author Ghazaros Aghayan, with the title Եղեգնուհին [ hy ] (Yeghegunhi; "Reed-Girl"). [122]
Ossetia
In an Ossetian tale titled "Сказка о нерождённой" ("Tale of the Unborn One"), a malik and his wife have a son, and die some time later. One day, a kulbadagus's daughter brings ten pots in her hands to fetch some water from a fountain in the malik's property, and the malik's son, who is practicing his archery skills, shoots arrows and breaks the pots. The kulbadagus's daughter returns to her mother and complains about it, and she says the next time the malik's son shoots his arrows at her, curse him to seek for his wife a girl no mother has given birth to. It happens thus, and the malik's son becomes obsessed with finding this mysterious girl. He journeys far and wide, and meets with other kulbagadus in his quest, until he gets the first clue about such a girl: such girls live in the bottom of the sea, where there are three trees. The malik's son, joined by a hound, dives to the bottom of the sea, cuts down the middle tree and brings it with him. He journeys back to a female kulbadagus who wishes to have him for son-in-law, and her daughter keeps pestering the youth with questions about the tree trunk he brought with him. Annoyed at her growing insistence, the malik's son chops down the trunk and a golden-haired maiden steps out of it. The female kulbadagus's daughter marvels at the tree maiden's beauty and convinces the youth to go back home and bring musicians and a retinue for his soon-to-be bride. As he departs, the female kulbadagus's daughter strips the tree maiden, cuts her hair and shoves her in the water, then takes her place by putting on the clothes and the hair. As for the tree maiden, she becomes a goldfish when she falls into the water, and is later killed to be prepared for a meal for the false bride. With the help of a poor old woman in the village, the tree maiden, as the fish, asks her to fetch a few drops of her blood in an apron and bury it near the malik's son's house. The old woman follows her instructions and, out of the drops of blood, spring two apple trees bearing golden fruits. The false wife orders the trees to be made into firewood, and they are promptly chopped down. However, a splinter remains and falls into the poor woman's house. The tree maiden comes out of the splinter to sweep the house and prepare the food and is discovered by the old woman, who adopts her. Later, the tree maiden uses her magic powers to create a large house for the poor woman, and bids her invites the malik's son and his wife there. After three times, the malik's son goes to the poor woman's house for a meal, and the tree maiden tells her life story. The malik's son recognizes her and punishes the false wife. [123]
Romani people
Romani-Kelderari
In a Romani-Kelderari tale collected from Kalderash teller Ishvan Demeter with the title "Крестевецо", translated as "Огурец" ("Cucumber"), a young woman has a child, but likes to dance and have fun, and leaves her son to dance with other girls. One day, she arrives late and goes to breastfeed her baby, who bites her breast. For this, she curses her son to never marry until he finds a girl from the cucumber. The boy grows up to be a handsome man and tries to look for a wife, but none pleases him. An old man explains the youth his mother cursed him to have only a wife from the cucumber, and directs him to an old woman in the woods that can help him. The youth meets the old woman, who gives him an apple for him to throw and follow where it lands. The youth does and reaches a cucumber orchard, then takes two cucumbers with him, which he is to cut in half and toss in a pool after he hears a voice asking for water. The youth takes two cucumbers, cuts open the first one, hears someone asking for water, but forgets what to do with it. He cuts open the second cucumber and tosses it in a river, causing a beautiful maiden to spring out of the water. The youth notices she is naked, covers her with a cloak and leaves her by a willow tree near the river while he goes back home to bring a cart to carry her. After he leaves, an ugly girl named Chernyavka appears to draw water and sees the cucumber maiden's visage in water, mistaking it for her own and believing herself to be beautiful. The cucumber maiden calls for Chernyavka from up the tree and she climbs to join the cucumber maiden. They talk, and the cucumber maiden asks Chernyavka to delouse her. The ugly girl sticks a comb in the maiden's head and turns her into a dove, then replaces her atop the tree. The youth appears with a cart and notices his bride has darker skin, and the ugly girl lies that she smacked her lips against each other and was adjusting her buttocks on the willow, muttering about her lover coming for her, so this explains her big lips and big behind. Still, the youth takes her as his bride. After a year, he cannot help but feel something wrong, and notices that some animal is pecking at the trees, which he surmises to be a bird and aims to capture it. He lies in waiting and sees a bird perching on an apple tree. He moves to capture it, grabs it and dislodges the magic comb from its head, turning the bird back into the cucumber maiden. The youth realizes this is the true cucumber maiden, his true bride, and does nothing to Chernyavka, save letting her go where her eyes can take her. [124]
Romani-Manouche
In a tale collected by Joseph Valet from a Manouche teller named Anna Warner, with the Manouche title O trin sonekángre éple, translated as Les 3 pommes d'or ("The Three Golden Apples"), a prince has a dream about three golden apples and decides to search for them the following morning. One day, he rides next to a castle and finds a tree with golden apples, then plucks three fruits in the following three days, one per day. He approaches a fountain under a fir tree and cuts open the first one, releasing a maiden that asks for a mirror, but, since the prince has none with him, she turns into a dove and flies away. He cuts open the second one and out comes a maiden that asks for a comb, but turns into a dove and flies away after not getting the object. The prince buys combs and mirrors and opens the remaining apple near the fountain: out comes the most beautiful maiden to whom he gives a bowl of water to drink. He leaves her atop the fir tree while he goes back to return with clother for her. While he is away, a black woman goes to draw water and sees the golden apple maiden in water, mistaking it for her own, then goes to complain with her mistress about being made to serve her. She is shooed away by her mistress and returns to the fountain, then spots the apple maiden up the tree after she laughs. The black woman tells the maiden to climb down so she can comb her hair, sticks a pin in her head and turns her to a dove, then replaces her atop the tree. When the prince returns, he notices the apple maiden turned into a ugly woman, and she lies that she ate a cake and will regain her beauty in a few months. Still, he takes the false bride and arranges their wedding, when the dove flies behind them. The black woman wants the bird dead, but the prince spares it, and allows it to peck at the plates during his wedding. The dove eats a bit of eat place and defecates on the black woman's dish. The black woman wants to kill the bird for this, but the prince grabs the bird and removes the pin from its head, restoring the apple maiden to human form. The king and the queen question if their son has two wives, but the prince points to the true apple maiden as his true bride, who reveals the black woman tricked and replaced her. The black woman is locked in a room, while the prince thinks about how to deal with her, but the apple maiden asks him to let her live, give her some money and let her seek her happiness elsewhere. It happens thus, and the prince marries the apple maiden. [125]
Asia
The tale is said to be "very popular in the Orient". [126] Scholar Ulrich Marzolph remarked that the tale type AT 408 was one of "the most frequently encountered tales in Arab oral tradition", albeit missing from The Arabian Nights compilation. [127]
Middle East
Scholar Hasan El-Shamy lists 21 variants of the tale type across Middle Eastern and North African sources, grouped under the banner The Three Oranges (or Sweet-Lemons). [128] Variants have been collected from Palestine (jrefiyye, or 'magic tale' titled Las muchachas de las toronjas, or "The Girls from the Toranjs"), [129] and Lebanon (with the title Die drei Orangen, or "The Three Oranges"). [130]
Syria
In a Syrian tale collected by Uwe Kuhr with the title Drei Zitronen ("Three Lemons"), a prince has a dream about a maiden, and desires to marry her. He rides to the beach and embarks on a ship to another country. In this land, he meets a woman tearing leaves from a tree, and she explains every leaf is the life of one that dies. The woman directs him to her sister. The prince meets a second old woman who is sewing clothes and whenever she finishes a person is born. The second old woman gives the prince three lemons and tells him to open each one. The prince makes the journey back and cuts open the first two: a maiden springs out of each one, but disappears soon after. Finally, the prince comes near his father's palace and cuts open the last lemon: a maiden comes out to whom the prince gives water. The prince asks her to climb a tree and wait for him. As he leaves, an ugly servant comes out of the palace to wash the king's clothes, sees the lemon girl's reflection in the water, and turns her into a brown-feathered bird, taking her place on the tree. The servant passes herself as the lemon girl, and marries the prince. The brown-feathered bird flies to the prince's window, and the false bride wrings its neck. The bird's blood drops to the ground and three lemon trees sprout. The prince orders the trees to be fenced in until their lemons are ripe. At the end of the tale, the prince takes the lemons to his chambers, cuts open the third one and the lemon girl appears to him. He notices the deception and kills the false bride. [131]
Kurdish people
In a Kurdish tale titled The Eggs of the Ancient Tree, a padishah's son goes to a secret garden protected by creatures in order to fetch three eggs from a tree. After he takes three eggs, the tree they were on begins to ring out loud, and he escapes on a horse from the garden. He stops by a tree near a river and breaks each of the eggs: the first two cry out for "bread and water", then disappear. He then breaks the third egg and fulfills its request. A beautiful peri maiden comes out of the egg, who the prince places up a nearby tree while he goes back to the palace to bring the bridal party (berbûk) to welcome her as his bride, and leaves her there. Meanwhile, two old traveling women see the perî's reflection in the water and fight against each other, wanting the beautiful visage for themselves. The perî maiden, watching the scene and pitying the rowing women, says from her location that the reflection is hers, to quell their fighting. The vagabond women sight the perî and one of them climbs up the tree, then tricks the fairy into giving her clothes. After the perî naïvely does so, the vagabond women take the fairy down the tree so they could see their visages in the water, and shove her into the river, and "nature blossomed", with trees and flowers everywhere. One of the women leave, while the other, wearing the perî's clothes, remains. The prince's berbûk arrives, and everyone marvels at the flowers instead of the false bride, who is rude to them. Despite some reservation, the bridal party brings back the false bride and she marries the prince. Soon after, the peri maiden goes through a cycle of reincarnations: the flower the bridal party brought with them falls to the ground and becomes a poplar tree that the false bride wants to be made into a cradle for her baby; later, the false bride orders the cradle to be burnt down. Her orders are carried out. One day, an old woman comes to the palace to borrow some coals, and finds an egg amid the ashes, which she brings home and places in a wooden basket. In her house, after the old woman leaves, the perî comes out of the egg, does the chores, then returns to her previous form. The old woman discovers her and adopts her. Later, the padishah's son gives donkeys to every house to be taken care of, and the woman takes an ugly-looking one per the perî's request. The perî feeds the donkey until it becomes healthy, and the padishah's son orders his soldiers to collect the animals back to the royal stables. To the soldiers' surprise, the lame-looking donkey is indeed healthy, but, at the palace, it sits down and does not move (which it was instructed to do by the perî). The padishah's son wants some explanation, and the old woman says her daughter was the one that cared for the animal, but she will only come if the prince fills the path with featherbeds. After the maiden's request is carried out, the perî comes to the palace in fine clothes and the prince recognizes her. [132]
Turkey
In the Typen türkischer Volksmärchen ("Turkish Folktale Catalogue"), by Wolfram Eberhard and Pertev Naili Boratav, tale type ATU 408 corresponds to Turkish type TTV 89, "Der drei Zitronen-Mädchen" ("The Three Citron Maidens"). [133] [134] Alternatively, it may also be known as Üç Turunçlar ("Three Citruses" or "Three Sour Oranges"). [135] The Turkish Catalogue registered 40 variants, [136] being the third "most frequent folktale" after types AT 707 and AT 883A. [137]
In Turkish variants, the fairy maiden is equated to the peri and, in several variants, manages to escape from the false bride in another form, such as a rose or a cypress. [138] In most of the recorded variants, the fruits are oranges, followed by pomegranates, citrons, and cucumbers in a few of them; then apples, eggs or pumpkins (respectively in one variant each). [139] [140] In addition, according to French folklorists Paul Delarue and Marie-Louise Théneze, a very frequent motif in the Turkish texts is the hero breaking the old woman's jar or jug, and the old woman, in return, cursing the hero to find the fruit maidens. [141]
Hungarian folklorist Ignác Kúnos published a Turkish variant with the title A három narancs-peri, translated into English as The Three Orange-Peris . [142] [143] The tale was also translated as The Orange Fairy in The Fir-Tree Fairy Book. [144]
In a Turkish tale collected in the Ankara province with the title The Young Lord and the Cucumber Girl, a young lord takes his horse to drink water from a fountain and the animal accidentally steps on the foot of a witch. For this, she curses the young lord to burn with love for a cucumber girl. He tells his father, the bey, of his longing, and decides to ride away to find this girl. He takes shelter with a man with a long beard and his daughter. Both give instructions to the lord how he can reach the orchard with the cucumbers. He warns them to open the cucumbers near a body of water, lest the girls that come out of will die of thirst. The young lord follows the instructions and gets the cucumbers. On his way back, he opens the first two vegetables in desert places, and the girls die. He reaches a fountain next to the city and cracks open the last cucumber, giving water to the girl. The cucumber girl asks the young lord to hold a 40-day wedding celebration, then return to fetch her, since she will be waiting on top of a poplar tree. After the lord leaves, an ugly woman appears with pitchers and mistakes the image of the cucumber girl for her own reflection, and stops working, breaking the pitchers. Her family chastises her and she goes to the fountain, where she notices the girl on the tree. She convinces the girl to climb down so she would delouse the girl's hair, but she plucks a strand of white hair (the girl's vital spot) and she dies. When she dies, a sesame plant sprouts. The young lord returns and is tricked by the ugly woman, who passes herself off as the cucumber girl. As for the girl, she passes by a cycle of reincarnations: first, into a sesame plant, which is tossed in the fire; then to two pigeons, who are captured and killed; third, to a poplar tree where the birds are buried, which is cut down to make a crib for the woman's child; then to a single chip that is taken by an old woman. The cucumber girl comes out of the wooden chip to clean the woman's house, and is discovered, being adopted by her. Later, during a famine, the lord sends his horses to each house, even to the old woman's, to be taken care and fed. The cucumber girl feeds and grooms the lord's horse for a while, and, when the lord goes to get it back, he finds out the truth from the reborn cucumber girl. [145]
Afghanistan
In an Afghan tale from Herat, The Fairy Virgin in a Pumpkin, a prince goes to a garden to pick up exquisite pumpkins and brings them home. He cuts open one of them and out comes a fairy maiden, who complains to him. He walks a bit more and rests by a canal. He decides to cut open the second pumpkin and out comes a second fairy maiden. She says she is naked and asks him to bring her some clothes. Since she is naked and anyone might see her, she climbs up a tree. While the prince is away, the fairy maiden protects the Simurgh's nest from a snake attack. Soon after, an ugly maidservant appears and sees a beautiful face reflected in the water - the fairy's. Thinking it is her own, she goes back to her master and says she will not work for him anymore. Her master beats and expels her. The maidservant sees the fairy maiden on the tree. Suddenly, the tree splits open, the fairy maiden enters it, and it closes again. The maidservant replaces her and marries the prince. One day, she asks for the tree to be used to make a cradle for her daughter. Sensing it is the fairy maiden, somehow still alive, she orders the cradle to be burnt to cinders. An old woman gathers some leftover wood and cotton and takes them home. The fairy maiden comes out of the wood and the cotton to help the old woman spin and do the chores. One day, the prince summons all maidens to his yard to string a pearl necklace for his daughter. The fairy maiden is invited and the prince recognizes her. [146]
Central Asia
Researcher Aziza Shanazarova summarized a narrative from the Central Asian work Maẓhar al-ʿajāʾib by a Sufi scholar, dated to 16th century. In this tale, titled The Story of the Patience Stone, a prince of Qanshīrīn wants a beautiful wife, and journeys to a "hidden realm" where he is given three loaves of bread, for him to open near water. On his journey back, the prince breaks open the first bread, a beautiful woman appears out of it, asks for water, but dies of thirst soon after. After a while, he opens the second loaf, another woman appears and dies due to lack of water. Finally, the prince opens the last loaf near a water source, a third woman appears and drinks some water. The prince takes her to Chahār Bāgh ('Four Gardens') and leaves her up a tree, while he goes to the city. Meanwhile, an enchantress kanīzak ('servant') from Kashmīr goes to fetch water and sees the bread woman reflection in a magical pool, thinking it is her own. The bread lady laughs at the servant and is thrown in the magical pool, while the servant takes her place and marries the prince. As for the bread lady, she survives being in the pool by the ghawth-i aʿẓam ('the greatest sustenance'), who gives her a key that allows her to leave the pool, and she makes her way to the city to find a pīr ('master') and a sang-i ṣabr ('stone of patience') to which she is to tell her secrets. The bread lady meets the pir, who adopts her. Later, the prince, increasingly suspicious of his false bride, becomes ill and asks his subjects to bring him food. One day, he gets a dish with a peeled mung bean (mash-i muqashshar), prepared by the pir's daughter. The prince eats the dish and goes to meet the pir, who is wearing a veil to conceal her identity. The veiled lady asks the prince to bring her the patience stone. The prince does as asked and people gather to see the event: the veiled lady places the patience stone on a bowl of milk and asks it to retell her story. The stone narrates the veiled lady's story until the milk becomes blood and the stone bursts open, revealing a white stone inside that hits the servant's head, killing her. The lady removes the veil and reveals herself to the prince as the woman from the bread and they marry. [147] According to Shanazarova, the tale is contained in a copy of Maẓhar al-ʿajāʾib, catalogued as MS 8716 and dated to the year 1766. [148]
Uzbekistan
Uzbek author Mikhail I. Sheverdin [ ru ] translated and published an Uzbek tale with the title "Сын бедняка" ("The Poor Man's Son"). In the first part of the tale, a poor old man earns his living by gathering and selling bushes. One day, he goes on an outing with two neighbours and happens to find some sacks of gold. His greedy neighbours kill him and take the gold, but, as last mercy given on him, lie to his old widow he departed and told her to name their unborn son "Dod". Seven years later, Dod wants to play with other children, but her mother puts a mask on him to hide his face. Eventyally, the mother and son go to gather bushes to sell, but go astray. A padishah finds the boy and inquires him the reason for his mask; he takes it off and shows his face to the padishah, who decides to adopt him as his son. Later, mother and son find each other, and the padishah helps them solve the mystery of the boy's father's murder. After seven more years, Dod settles his widowed mother in more comfortable circumstances, and goes to the padishah's palace as his adoptive son. One day, he goes for a walk in the royal gardens and stops to rest. He then has a dream about a beautiful pari coming down from Mount Kuhikaf with a stick of kebab in one hand and a cup of wine in the other; he wakes up and decides to search for his dream maiden. He takes a tulpar horse from the stables and reaches Mount Kuhikaf, then rides into the steppe until he stops next to a river. An old man appears and warns him from the other margin at the devs live by the river, but he will help the prince: he teleports the prince to the other side of the river, bids him approach a hut under a tree, enter it and steal the vegetable in the middle of three pumpkins. It happens thus, and the prince returns with the pumpkin; the old man explains contains the pari he saw in his dream, but which he must not open anywhere save at home, and transports him next to his kingdom with a spell. Nearly back home, the prince is riding his horse, when he slices open the pumpkin, sighting a girl inside so beautiful he faints. The pari comes out of the pumpkin and revives him with water, but admonishes him for not opening the gourd at home. Still, he leaves her next to a hut while he goes back the palace to bring a chariot and a retinue to welcome her. After he leaves, the sorceress who lives in the hut spots the pari and questions the reason for her presence: the pari reveals - and demonstrates - her powers of transformation (into a snake, a dove, and even an old woman), and goes to fetch water for the sorceress. However, the sorceress shoves the pari inside the well, puts on her clothes and pretends to the pari for the prince to find. On seeing her, he doubts she is the pari, but the false bride threatens to turn into a dove and fly back to Kuhikaf. Suddenly, a black horse emerges out of the well and gallops around Dod. The prince takes a liking to the horse and brings both it and the false bride home. The false pari rushes the wedding and wants the horse dead and its meat made into a dish: some butchers try to kill it, but the horse turns into the real pari and stops their actions with her powers. The false bride herself takes an axe and kills the animal; three drops of blood spill on the ground and three poplar trees sprout.
After nine months, the false pari gives birth to a son, and orders the poplars to be felled down and made into a cradle. It happens thus. However, the true pumpkin pari, as the cradle, shrinks itself and crushes the false pari's son to death. Dod laments for the death of his son. A qalandar comes to the palace and asks for some of the remaining splinters he can use as fuel for the fire. When he tries to fetch them, the splinters fly off to his hut and turn into a magnificent palace. The qalandar enters the palace and a pari appears with two div servants, who explains the palace is his, and bids him invite the padishah and his son Dod for dinner. The next day, prince Dod goes to the newly built palace and is acquainted with the qalandar's pari companion, who is the pari from the pumpkin. The pari admonishes him for falling for the sorceress's tricks and killing the pari time and time again. Dod returns to the palace, executes the false pari, and takes the pumpkin pari as his true bride back to his father's palace. [149] In a review of Sheverdin's book, scholar Heda Jason [ de ] classified the tale as type ATU 408. [150]
Karakalpak people
In a Karakalpak tale titled "Анаргул" ("Anargul"), a childless king makes a vow: he will fill up two fountains, one with water and the other with honey if he has a child. In time, his wife becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son, so he prepares to fulfill the vow. One day, an old woman comes to fetch water and the prince, named Әдишер (Edisher), throws stones at her. Bothered by the prince's actions, she tells him to find Anargul. Years later, when he is seventeen, the prince has nurtured the idea for years and asks the old woman where he can find this Anargul. She directs him to go past wild animals in a grove and meet another old woman. Edisher does as instructed and meets a second old woman, who advises him to tie his own horse there and ride a tulpar to a garden. The prince rides the tulpar and reaches a garden where a div is guarding a tree with pomegranates. Edisher plucks five pomegranates and goes back to the tulpar. On the way back, he cuts open four of the pomegranates and releases a maiden from each that asks for bread and water. Edisher gives them bread and water to each, but they die. Unable to secure a maiden alive, he goes to talk to the second old woman who advises him to cut open the remaining fruit near water, and give her water when she asks for bread and bread when she asks for water. Edisher goes near a stream and cuts open the last fruit, doing what the old woman advised. He takes Anargul with him to his kingdom and marries her in a 40 day celebration. [151]
Japan
Japanese scholarship argues for some relationship between tale type ATU 408 and Japanese folktale Urikohime ("The Melon Princess"), since both tales involve a maiden born of a fruit and her replacement for a false bride (in the tale type) and for evil creature Amanojaku (in Japanese versions). [152] [153] In fact, professor Hiroko Ikeda classified the story of Urikohime as type 408B in his Japanese catalogue. [154]
Africa
Wolof people
Researcher Lilyan Kasteloot [ fr ] collected a Wolof language tale titled Jinne Ji, Ndaw Si Ag Picc Bi, translated to French as La djinné, la jeune femme et l'oiseau ("The Female Djinn, the Woman, and the Bird"), and also republished as La Femme aux trois citrons ("The Girl from the Three Lemons"). [160] In this tale, a man is rich and handsome, but with no wife. Even the local maidens do not strike his fancy, so he decides to find one himself. He takes a horse and goes for a walk, until he finds an old man in the forest. He explains the situation to the old man, who directs him to an orchard of lemon trees where he can find three lemons on a tree. The man follows the intructions and plucks three lemons, then opens the first: out comes a maiden who asks for tobacco and bread, but, since he has none with him, she returns to her shell. He opens the second lemon on the road and releases another maiden that asks for tobacco and bread, but vanishes since she is not given any. With the last fruit, the man buys some bread and tobacco in advance and opens the last lemon, then gives bread to eat and tobacco to chew to the maiden. He establishes himself there with the maiden, builds a treehouse and they have a son. He leaves the lemon maiden in their house and returns to his country to announce he found a wife. The lemon maiden rocks her child to sleep and lets her head peak out of the house over a well. A female djinn comes to draw water and sees the lemon maiden's visage in the water, mistaking it for her own. The djinné spots the maiden atop the treehouse and convinces her to come down so she can braid her hair. It happens thus, and the djinné sticks a pin in her head, turning her into a bird. The man returns home and sees his wife does not look like she did before, and the djinné lies that people from her land alternate between beautiful and ugly features, which despairs the man, since he told his people he found a beautiful wife. Stil, he takes the false wife back and he is mocked by his countrymen for such an ugly wife. Some time later, the man joins other in capturing birds in the wilderness, and unknowingly captures his wife's bird form, which he brings home. The man's son plays with the bird and loves it. After some years, and the djinné says they must kill the birds. The child fears for the bird and begs his father to spare it. They spread the mat to eat, and the bird-wife perches on the plate. The son pets the bird and removes the pin, restoring his mother to human form. The djinné dies on the spot, and the man introduces the lemon maiden to his countrymen as his true wife. [161] The tale was reprinted and sourced from Senegal. [162]
Kabiye language
In a Kabiye language tale from Togo, translated to French with the title La fille d'oranger ("The Daughter of the Orange Tree"), a chief's son dislikes the three prospective brides his father brings him, and declares he will only marry the daughter of the three orange trees. His father questions what orange tree would produce such a bride, and tells his son to go there himself. Years later, when he reaches marriageable age, the young man departs from home in search of the tree orange trees, which are located in the sky and yield tree oranges each. He finds an old woman under a tree and tells her he wishes to have a bride from the orange tree. She plucks tree oranges from the furthest tree, gives him the fruits and advises him to open them at home and give some water and some dough for the girl that will emerge, otherwise she will vanish. The youth takes the three oranges and walks back home, but opens up a fruit on the road, releasing a girl from the orange who asks for water, but, since her has any on him, she vanishes. He reaches a lake and opens up the second fruit, releasing a second maiden to whom he gives water. She also asks for dough, but, since her has none with him, she turns into a dove and flies away. Lastly, the youth reaches his maternal aunt's house to find some water and his aunt's dough, which he gives to the third maiden he releases from the orange. The youth returns home, but stops just before a lake and leaves the orange maiden atop a tree, while he returns home to fetch drummers to announce her arrival. After he leaves, an old woman comes to draw water and sees the orange maiden's visage in the lake, mistaking it for her own. She spots the orange maiden atop the tree, learns of her story and, feeling jealous towards the girl, sticks a pin in her head. The orange maiden turns into a dove that falls into a furrow near the lake, while the old woman replaces her atop the tree. The prince arrives with the drummers, who complain about being summoned to escort the ugly woman, and returns home with her. The chief takes his own life after he sees his son's ugly bride, and the chief's son assumes the throne. Some time later, the chief's son's sister goes to draw water and finds the bird near the lake, which asks the sister to send its regards to the chief's son. The girl is afraid and goes to report to his brother about the talking bird. The chief's son learns of the talking turtledove and goes to meet it. He takes it and removes the pin, restoring the orange maiden to human form. He takes the orange maiden back home and the people admire her beauty. In secret, the orange maiden explains about the old woman's ruse and how she can identify the culprit. The chief's son assembles the crowd and reveals the old woman's deceit, orders people to bring firewood and burns the old woman in a pyre, then spreads her ashes in a river. [163]
Swahili language
In a Swahili language tale titled Sultani mjeuri, translated to French with the title Le Sultan arrogant ("The Arrogant Sultan"), a king and queen have a boy they name Sultan Mohamed. As he grows up, he becomes arrogant. Eventually, he decides he wants to find Biringi-bin-Kiringi and consults with an old woman who says the journey to her is dangerous, for she lives with the ogres. Still, the woman prepares a philtre and advises him how to proceed: he is to pass by the ogres if they are talking to one another; pay no heed if they shout for their members to deter him, tie his horse to a tree, and walk alone until he finds a lemon tree full of fruits, and he must pluck one to find the beautiful Biringi-bin-Kiringi, whom he wants to make his bride. He goes to the garden, steals seven lemons from under the watch of the guardian ogres, then returns to the old woman's house. The old woman bids Sultan Mohamed flee this instant with the lemons, since the ogres will chase after him as soon as they notice the theft of the lemons, and the Sultan must only open the fruits of he has some water on him. With these words, Sultan Mohamed rushes back to his kingdom. On the road, he begins to feel curious about the contents of the fruits, and opens up one of the lemons: out emerges a beautiful Arab girl who asks for water, but dies after not getting any to drink. Sultan Mohamed buries her and continues his way, then opens the remaining lemons, save one. He makes his path towards home and opens the last lemon, which contains the beautiful Biringi-bin-Kiringi, who is safe and sound in the house of Kitunguu, slave of Bizari. Suddenly, one day, two bandits enter the house and toss Biringi in a well, and some time later a lemon tree sprouts in the same place. Mohamed plucks a lemon from the tree and cuts it in half in bed, releasing a maiden that looks like the previous one. Sultan Mohamed relents that he learned his lesson from God about becoming more humble, and accepts his wife coming from a lemon. He then marries Biringi, the maiden from the lemon. [164] Researcher Pascal Bacuez, who collected the tale, sourced it from Kilwa, in the Tanzanian coast, from a 75-year-old female teller called Biti Zaira Binti Swaleh Abdallah. [165]
