# The Dragon-Prince and the Stepmother

The Dragon-Prince and the Stepmother is a Turkish fairy tale collected by Turkologist Ignác Kúnos. The tale is part of the more general cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom, and is classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as tale type ATU 433B, "King Lindworm", a type that deals with maidens disenchanting serpentine husbands. In the Turkish variants, however, the story continues with the adventures of the banished heroine, who meets a man at a graveyard, rescues and marries him, and eventually is found by her first husband, the snake prince whom she disenchanted before.

## Sources

The tale was published by Kúnos with the Hungarian title A sárkány-királyfi ("The Dragon-Prince"), and translated to German as Der Drachenprinz und die Stiefmutter.

## Summary

A padishah has no children. One day, he is riding along with his lala, when he sees a dragon stroll along with its young. Longing to have a son, he prays to Allah for a son. His wife falls ill with a mysterious disease, and every nurse that enters her room dies of shock. With no other resources, a female subject has a stepdaughter whom she hates and intends to get rid of, and goes to talk to the monarch about the girl's supposed skills that could help the queen. The girl fears for her life, and confides in her father about what to do. The man says that perhaps visiting her mother's grave can bring some comfort.
Before the girl goes to the palace, she cries on her mother's grave. Her spirit counsels the daughter: take a kettle of milk to the queen's room. The girl arrives at the palace, asks for a kettle of milk as her mother instructed, and helps the queen in her mysterious disease. After a while, the girl goes to tell the padishah he has a son: a dragon.
Later, the dragon wants to be educated. Hodjas are brought from everywhere, but the dragon-prince kills them all before they have a chance of teaching him. This second time, the stepmother tries the same trick, and tells the padishah her stepdaughter can teach the dragon-prince. The girl goes to her mother's grave for comfort, and her mother's arm springs from the grave with a staff. The girl's mother's spirit advises to take the staff and use it on the prince in case he attacks her during lessons. The girl goes to teach the prince, and he tries to attack her, but she scolds her with the staff.
Finally, the dragon-prince wants to be married, but every maiden they bring him is devoured every night, a fate the stepmother wishes on her stepdaughter. The maiden is once again helped by her mother's spirit and is instructed to wear a mask made of hedgehog skin, which will prickle him if he tries to attack her. Next, he will ask her to take off the mask, but she has to reply he must take off his clothes first, take the dragonskin and toss it in the fire. On the wedding night, the girl is brought as the dragon-prince's bride, and goes in for the kill, but the girl rebuffs him and tells him to take off the clothes. The dragon-prince obeys and removes the dragonskin, which the girl tosses in the fire. A handsome youth appears in the place of the dragon, and both spend the night together. The girl is celebrated as the prince's releaser.
Time passes. War erupts against a neighbouring padishah. The now human dragon-prince offers to go in his father's place, and leaves his wife unguarded at home. While he is away, the girl's stepmother writes a false letter on the prince's name sends to the prince's father, with orders to banish his wife. The padishah reads the letter, which his daughter-in-law overhears him doing so, and decides to exile herself, following the letter's false orders. She wanders about until she reaches a fountain, a coffin nearby, holding a youth. When night comes, forty pigeons alight in the fountain, become women, run to the coffin and wake the youth up with a magical stick. The resurrected youth talks with the women until dawn, when the maidens touch him with the stick again and he falls into a death-like state. The Dragon-Prince's wife repeats the magical action and wake the youth, who tells her he was stolen as a boy by the peris. They fall in love and she becomes heavy with his child.
One day, the youth warns her the forty dove-peris may learn of their union and their unborn child, so he sends her to his mother's house so she can give birth there, away from the peris that come at night. The girl goes to her house and begs for shelter. She is let in out of pity, and gives birth to a son that same night. Some time later, a dove perches on the window and asks about the boy. The girl answers mother and son are fine, and the dove departs. The old woman, who is the youth's mother and the baby's grandmother, overhears their conversation and is happy to find her son again. She then asks the girl to lie to the dove the next time he appears, saying the boy is angry at his father.
The next time the bird appears, the dove is told the lie and flies in, then takes off the birdskin to become human. The old woman enters the room and asks her son how she can save him from the peris. He explains they must take off the birdskin and toss it in a burning oven, so the peris will shout that their king is burning and will try to retrieve the birdskin; after the peris enter the oven, they are to be locked in to be burnt to death. The youth's instructions are followed to the letter: the peris are destroyed and the youth is back to his family.
Back to the dragon-prince, he returns from war and learns of the falsified letters and his wife's departure. The dragon-prince searches for her until he reaches a land where a great conflagration occurred, and goes to a coffeehouse. The prince tells the coffeehouse keeper he is looking for his wife, and the keeper says a man has been saved from the peris by a beautiful girl, which the prince suspects her to be his wife. As soon as says it, the youth rescued from the peris enters the coffeehouse. The dragon-prince goes to talk to him, learning they have a commonality: their wife. The prince asks the man to inform the wife the Black-eyed Snake is looking for her, and expects her to make a choice.
The girl is told that the dragon-prince is looking for her, and chooses to be with her former husband, despite having "two roses" with her current one. The dragon-prince and his wife return home and he confronts her stepmother, asking the latter which she prefers: forty sticks or forty mules. She replies "forty mules" since the sticks are for her enemies. With this, she is punished by being tied to forty mules, while the couple celebrate their happiness.

## Analysis
### Tale type

In the Typen türkischer Volksmärchen ("Turkish Folktale Catalogue"), by Wolfram Eberhard and Pertev Naili Boratav, both scholars classified the Turkish tales as Turkish type TTV 106, "Die schwarze Schlange" ("The Black Snake"), which corresponds in the international classification to tale type AaTh 433. They also commented that the stories followed a two-part narrative: a first part, with the disenchantment of the snake prince, and a second one, wherein the expelled heroine meets a man in the graveyard and marries him.
The first part of the Turkish tale type corresponds, in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index, to tale type ATU 433B, "King Lindworm": a serpent (snake, or dragon) son is born to a king and queen (either from a birthing implement or due to a wish); years later, the serpent prince wishes to marry, but he kills every bride they bring him; a girl is brought to him as a prospective bride, and wears several layers of cloth to parallel the serpent's skins; she disenchants him. Tale type ATU 433B, "King Lindworm", is part of the cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom, stories that involve a human maiden marrying a prince in animal form and disenchanting him. In addition, the second part of the Turkish tales follows what Georges Dumézil termed "The woman who married a Snake and a Dead Man".
Greek folklorist Georgios A. Megas [el] considered that Greek variants showed a contamination between tale type 433B and subtype ATU 425E, "Enchanted Husband Sings Lullaby", where the pregnant heroine is sent by her lover, kidnapped by the fairies, to his mother's castle, where she can give birth in safety. He also noted that the combined narrative corresponded to Turkish type (TTV) 106, "Die schwarze Schlange" ("The Black Snake").

### Motifs
#### The dragon-prince

Scholar Jan-Öjvind Swahn [sv], in his work about Cupid and Psyche and other Animal as Bridegroom tales, described that the King Lindworm tales are "usually characterized" by the motifs of "release by bathing" and "7 shifts and 7 skins". Similarly, according to Birgit Olsen, "in most versions" the heroine is advised by her mother's spirit to wear many shifts for her wedding night with the lindworm prince.

#### The heroine's dilemma

Swedish scholar Waldemar Liungman [sv] noted that the heroine, in the second part of the tale, is torn between a first and second husbands, and chooses the first - a dilemma that occurs "both in the Nordic as well as in variants from Eastern and Southeastern Europe". As for the nature of the second husband, he is a man cursed to be dead in the latter, while in the former region he is a prince in bird form or a man who has a contract with the Devil. Similarly, Samia Al Azharia John noted that in "all Turkish variants", the heroine is expelled from home due to a false letter and meets a man at the graveyard. The man is victim to a spell by wicked peris in the shape of doves, and is eventually released by the heroine's interference. She eventually marries the dead man, but the snake prince, restored to human form, finds her and disputes her over the second husband.

## Variants
### Distribution

Folklorist Stith Thompson noted that tale type 433B's continuation, with the heroine's adventures, occurs in the Near East. According to researchers Birgit Olsen and Warren S. Walker, and Greek scholars Anna Angelopoulou, Aigle Broskou and Michael Meraklis, the two-part narrative forms an East Mediterranean oikotype, popular in both Greece and Asia Minor. According to Gyula Németh, the first part of the tale is "very widespread" in Anatolia ("dieses in Anatolien stark verbreiteten Märchens", in the original).

### Tales about snakes
#### The Black Snake

Turkologist Ignác Kúnos published a tale titled Кара јылан (Turkish: Kara yılan; English: "Black Snake"), in the 8th volume of Vasily Radlov's Proben der volkslitteratur der türkischen stämme. In this tale, a padishah suffers for not having any children, and journeys with his vizier to find a solution for his problem. On the road, a dervish suddenly appears and announces he has an apple to be eaten by the padishah himself and his wife, so she can bear a child. After nine months and ten days, the queen is ready to give birth to a black snake, but the child kills every midwife that dares to approach him, until there is no midwife left in the kingdom. An old woman, who wants to get rid of her stepdaughter, orders the girl to go to the padishah's palace and act as midwife to the prince. The girl goes to her mother's grave and her mother's voice, from the grave, advises her: she is to take a box with milk and approach the queen; when the snake exits the queen's body, lock him up in the box. The girl does as instructed and delivers the box with the snake prince to the padishah, and is rewarded. After four of five years, the snake prince tells his father he wants to be schooled, but he bites every teacher to death, eventually killing all teaches in the kingdom. The old woman sends her stepdaughter again to the padishah's palace, this time to teach the prince. The girl's mother's voice advises her to gather forty-one rose stems and use them to beat the prince before he attacks her. Again, the girl succeeds and teaches the prince. The third time, the snake prince wishes to marry, but every bride they bring him is bitten to death. The old woman tells the padishah her stepdaughter, who delivered the prince and taught him, should be his bride. The girl goes to her mother's grave for advice and is instructed to wear forty-one hedgehog skins on her wedding night, so that, when the prince poises to attack her, the hedgehog skins will prickle him; she is then to order him to shed layers of his snakeskin, just as she is to remove the skins she is wearing, to disenchant the prince into a youth handsome as a full moon. With her mother's advice, the girl dons the skins and goes to the bridal bed, and disenchants the prince into human form. After two months, the now human snake prince says he will go on a two month journey, and leaves her with his parents. He then sends a letter, which some girls living in the palace intercept and falsify to tell the prince's parents to break his wife's hands and legs and banish her. The girl reads the false letter and decides to leave the palace on her own. She goes to the mountains and finds a coffin with a dead man inside. The dead man comes to life and tells the girl to hide with him in the coffin, for a pigeon appears to bring him food and may kill her. After nine months, the girl becomes pregnant with the dead man's child, and he sends her to his mother's castle to bear their child in safety; she has to beg on Bakhtiyar's name to be let in. The girl does as Bakhtiyar instructed her and is welcomed by his mother; a son is born to her, and the Bakhtiyar comes in the night to name his child: Huptiyar. The following nights, Bakhtiyar comes to rock his child, and, soon after, the castle's servants prepare a heavy dark curtain decorated with stars to fool Bakhtiyar that it still night, to let him tarry until dawn. Bakhtiyar comes to rock his child and his mother embraces him, tricking him into thinking it still night. The pigeon appears and tries to call for Bakhtiyar's attention, but it is dismissed, then perches on the windowsill, a branch on a tree, then disappears. Bakhtiyar is saved and spends time with his family for forty days and nights. Back to the now human snake prince, he returns home and learns of the false letters, and goes to look for his wife. He reaches Bakhtiyar's lands and meets the man in a coffee house. Both share their stories, and Bakhtiyar brings the prince home, where the spouses reunite. Bakhtiyar lets the girl choose whom she wants to be with by sitting next to them, but tells her their son stays with him. The girl chooses to be with her former husband.

#### The Story of the Black Snake

Turkologist Theodor Menzel [de] translated a tale from the Billur Köşk [tr], a compilation of Turkish Anatolian stories. In this tale, titled Die Geschichte von der Schwarzen Schlange ("The Story of the Black Snake"), a padishah has no son and is convinced by the vizier to go on a pilgrimage. The duo meet a dervish who gives him an apple, half to be given to his wife and the other to be eaten by him. He follows his instructions, and his wife becomes pregnant with a black snake, but the baby won't exit her womb, for it bites any midwife. The servants search for a midwife in a hurry and a woman suggests her stepdaughter can help deliver the prince. The girl goes to her mother's grave and her spirit advises her: take a box with milk inside it and, if the snake prince wants to hurt her, lock the box when he exits the womb. It happens thus, and the black snake prince is given birth. Next, he wishes to be schooled, but he bits to death any teacher, and the stepmother sends her stepdaughter again. On the second attempt, the girl is advised to take with her forty-one rose stems to use on the prince. Finally, the black snake wants to marry, but every bride is killed by him. The same woman is advised by her mother's spirit to wear 41 hedgehog skins on the nuptial night, and take off one by one, as she tells the prince to take off one of his clothes. She disenchants him into a human prince. They live together for a time. After two months, while her husband, now human, goes to war, an envious slave exchanges letters and delivers an order to break the princess's arm and to throw her out. The girl decides to leave home before any harm befalls her, and exiles herself. During her wanderings, she goes to the mountains and finds a place filled with graves. Suddenly, a youth comes out of a coffin and warns her that a dove will come and may kill her, so she should hide with him in the coffin. The girl does as instructed, and lies with him in the coffin. In time, she becomes pregnant, and the youth, named Bakhtiyar, sends her to his mother's castle, where she is to beg for shelter in his name and give birth there to their son. The girl goes to Bakhtiyar's parents' castle and asks a slave to be let in on her lover's name. The girl is taken in and gives birth to a boy. That same night, the youth appears to her and names his son Havbetjar. The prince appears in the following two nights, and the queen makes him stay with them, but he warns them that the dove may harm them if it appears. By the morning following the third night, the dove perches on the window and tries to call for Bakhtiyar, but he pays it no mind. The bird begins to fall from the windowsill and tries to call for help, then explodes. Back to the snake prince, he returns from war and learns of the false letters, then goes to look for his wife. He reaches a coffeehouse in Bakhtiyar's land, where he meets the youth. After listening to the stranger's tale of woe, Bakhtiyar takes the snake prince to meet the girl, and sets a test: the girl can choose her husband by entering the room where they are. The girl chooses the now human snake prince and leaves with him, while Bakhtiyar keeps their son Havbetjar with him. Orientalist Friedrich Giese [de] retranslated Billur Koshk's version to German with the title Die Geschichte von der schwarzen Schlange ("The Tale of the Black Snake").

#### Yilan Bey and Peltan Bey

Turkish author Ziya Gökalp published a tale titled Yılan Bey'le Peltan Bey ("Lord Snake and Lord Peltan"). In this tale, a sultan has no children, so he wishes for a snake as a son. Thus, one is ready to be born by his wife, but it does not exit the womb and kills every midwife that attempts to help. This information reaches the imam, whose wife suggests her stepdaughter can help in the delivery. The imam's daughter goes to cry on her mother's grave, and her spirit advises her to take with her a pot of milk, for the snake to drink from. It happens thus, and the snake prince is born. Years later, he tries to be taught, but kills every teacher. The imam's wife sends her stepdaughter again, who cries on her mother's grave, but her mother's spirit assures no harm shall befall her. She teaches the prince with no problems. The third time, the prince wants a wife, but he kills every prospective bride. The imam's daughter is given to him as a bride, and she is advised to wear forty layers of garments on her. On the wedding night, she takes off her layers of dress just as the snake prince takes off his forty layers of snakeskin, and becomes a human prince. After a while, war breaks out, and the now human snake prince joins in the fray. Meanwhile, the imam's wife takes her stepdaughter to a wedding in the countryside on false pretenses, removes her dress and jewelry and shoves her naked into a river. Ayşe, the girl, survives and is washed ashore. Trying to hide her nakedness, she hides behind a grave, which opens up and a youth named Peltan Bey appears. The youth takes her inside the grave and lives with her, explaining he is a prisoner of the fairy king and has to tutor a group of children. In time, she becomes pregnant after four months - which Peltan Bey explains Allah united them in marriage and declares her husband, Yilan Bey, is probably not looking for her. Peltan Bey sends her to his father's castle, where she can give birth to their son, and tells her how he can break the spell: throw her grandchild's shirt in an oven and pretend the baby is burning; two peris will come to rescue the baby and will burn to death. Ayse goes to Peltan Bey's palace and gives birth to her son. A blue bird comes at night and rocks the baby with a song - an event that is witnessed and informed by a black nanny to the king. The king follows the instructions Peltan Bey left with Ayse, and two peris fall into an oven and burn to death, breaking his enchantment. Ayse eventually bears two daughters by him. Back to the snake prince, he learns his wife was exiled from the palace and goes after her in iron shoes and with an iron cane. After seven years, the snake prince reaches Peltan Bey's lands and meets him. Peltan Bey shows the guest his wife, who is the snake prince's spouse. Ayşe decides to stay with Peltan Bey for their children; the snake prince turns back into a snake and slithers away.

#### Yılan Bey (Erzurum)

In a Turkish tale from Erzurum titled Yılan Bey ("Serpent Lord"), a padishah is childless. One day, on a journey, he walks near the beach and listens to the frogs' croaking. He sighs for not having a son, and says a prayer to Allah to give him one, be it a snake. The padishah's prayers are answered and his wife is pregnant with a snake. However, the animal does not leave his mother's womb, and no midwife is capable of helping, since they are all bitten to death. News reach the ears of a local woman who hates her stepdaughter, and says the girl can help in the delivery. Being but a fifteen-year-old, she fears for her life and asks to have some private time to say her prayers. She says her prayers and cry for her fate, then falls asleep. In her dream, a dervish appears and gives her advice: take two sticks from under a stone, one red and one green, get a straw sieve and bring the queen to the inner gardens; if the snake tries to attack her, she is to beat him with the sticks. The girl goes to the palace and, following the dervish's instructions, manages to deliver the prince, who exits the queen's womb. The girl is handsomely rewarded and goes home. Later, when the snake son is fifteen years old, his father wishes to see him married, but he kills every bride. Finally, the stepmother sends her stepdaughter as the snake's bride. The girl spares some moments for herself to pray and cry for her fate, and the same dervish appears in her dreams to guide her: put on layers of clothes and socks and enter the chambers, then ask the prince to remove a skin just as she removes a piece of clothing. The dervish then explains the snake prince is the son of the king of peris, given to the padishah as answer to his prayers. Now with the right instructions, the girl goes to the prince's chambers and does as the dervish instructed, transforming the snake into a human prince, whom she marries. Three years later, the now human snake prince goes to war, while wife's stepmother spreads rumours about her around the palace and sends them a letter with a false order to banish her. The girl takes shelter near a grave in a graveyard, and overhears three birds talking about a youth named Ahmet, son of the village chief, lying in a grave, but he is actually alive and the birds' feathers can dig him up. After the birds leave, the girl plucks the feathers and digs up Ahmet's grave, rescuing him. Ahmet takes the girl to his parents' house, marries her, and they have two children. Back to the now human snake prince, he returns from war and learns his wife has been banished from the palace, then goes in search for her from village to village, until he eventually reaches Ahmet Bey's village and discovers his wife is there with a second family. The snake prince tells Ahmet's family their daughter-in-law is actually his wife, and they decide to bring the question to the mufti. The mufti advises to let the girl eat salty food and drink no water. During the test, the girl asks Yilan Bey to give her water, which seals the mufti's decision. The girl returns to the snake prince, while Ahmet Bey stays with their children.

#### Yilan Bey (Çorum)

In a Turkish tale collected from a source in Çorum with the title Yılan Bey ("Serpent Lord"), a couple has no child. Scholars and doctors come to assess the situation, but provide no answer. After nine months, the woman is pregnant, but every midwife that tries to help in the baby's delivery is killed, for their son is a snake. In the same village, an orphan girl lives with her stepmother, who pushes her to be the boy's midwife, in hopes of killing her. The girl cries for her situation, but, one night, an old man appears in her dreams and advises her: request for a bow of milk, some cotton, and a stick, which will help in the snake's delivery. The girl wakes up and goes to the couple's house, requests the materials and safely helps in the snake's delivery. Some twenty years later, the snake son is all grown up and wishes to marry. His father, who is rich, searches for potential brides for his son, but he bites them all to death. The stepmother decides to send her stepdaughter again to be the snake's bride, in hopes she dies this time. Once again, the old man appears in her dreams and advises her to wear forty layers of skin, to parallel the forty layers of snakeskin the snake son has, and she is to take off one layer and ask the snake son to shed one skin. It happens thus and the snake son turns into a human youth. Some time later, the snake son, now human, joins the army, and the stepmother lies that his wife, her stepdaughter, is not a good person, which causes her to be banished from home. The girl takes shelter with a mother and son, whose name is Ilhan Bey, and is set to marry him. The snake son returns, discovers the truth and goes to look for his wife, finding her with the second paramour. Both men argue about who the girl should be with and take the discussion to court. The judge makes a way to settle the dispute: prepare a salty bread and give her a bit, she will ask for water and whoever gives her water to drink shall be her husband. The judge's orders are followed through, and the snake son gives her water. The girl then remains with her first husband.

#### Yilanbey and Gelenbey

In another tale from Çorum with the title Yılanbey ile Gelenbey ("Snakebey and Gelenbey"), husband and wife, Idi and Bidi have no children, so they pray to Allah for a child to be born to them. Their prayers are answered and a girl is born to them, whom they name Aykiz. Meanwhile, a padishah's wife gives birth to a boy that is cursed by a witch to become a snake. In this state, he kills every approaching person with hsi bite. Back to Aykiz, her mother Bidi dies and her father remarries, but her stepmother dislikes Aykiz's beauty. The padishah issues a proclamation that whoever disenchants the prince will be rewarded. The stepmother tells the padishah Aykiz can do it. The girl is brought to the palace in tears, but an old man appears and gives her two sticks, a green and a red one, for her beat the red one on the green twig. Aykiz enters the palace and does as the old man instructed, restoring the prince to human form. As a reward, she marries the prince. Aykiz's family is brought to live with her. Still hating her stepdaughter, she lies to the girl that she can find a place beyond the mountains where she can dance with her husband. Aykiz falls for her trick, dons iron shoes and walks with an iron cane there. She reaches a place where there are petrified people, and goes down a valley, where she find the same old man again. The old man gives her a bottle with water to use on the petrified people to restore them. She does and among them is a youth named Gelenbey, whom she falls for. Aykiz and Gelenbey make their way to Yilanbey's palace. Yilanbey asks his wife why he left, and she explains about her stepmother's story. Yilanbey also asks her whom she prefers to be with, and she chooses Yilanbey.

#### The Snake Boy

In a Turkish tale collected from Ordu with the title Yılan oğlan ("The Snake Boy"), a padishah's son is born: a snake. The snake son grows up and is ready to be tutored, but he bites every candidate to death. In the same city, a man sends an orphan girl to be the prince's tutor. The girl says she will accept the job, but goes to her mother's grave for counsel. Her mother's spirit advises her to take two rose branches and use them on the prince to force him to complete his lessons. It happens thus. Later, the snake prince reaches marriageable age and they try to find him a suitable bride, but he kills every girl. He then demands as his bride the same girl that tutored him. The girl goes to her mother's grave again and her spirit advises her daughter to request a bridal dress made of forty hedgehog skins. Her request is fulfilled and she is brought to the snake prince. The girl tells the prince she will undo a layer of the dress if the prince removes one of his skins. It happens thus, and the girl, still following her mother's advice, prepares an oven and tosses the snakeskin along with the hedgehog skins to burn them. The snake prince is changed into a human youth, and father celebrates the fact. The now human prince marries the girl and they have many children.

#### The Stepdaughter and the Black Serpent

In a tale collected by Barbara K. Walker from a Turkish source with the title The Stepdaughter and the Black Serpent, a padishah rules a great kingdom, but sighs over the lack of an heir. One day, he prays to Allah to be given a son, even it he is a serpent. Allah hears his prayers and grants him one son: nine months later, a black serpent is born to the queen. Many nurses and maids try to rear the serpentine scion, but he bites them all to death, causing the kingdom to despair in trying to find one able to fulfill the task. In the same kingdom, a beautiful girl lives with her stepmother, who wants to get rid of her, and, upon hearing the padishah is looking for a nurse for the prince, insists her stepdaughter is available to take up the job. The girl is escorted by the royal guards to the palace, but asks to visit her mother's grave under some cypress trees. The girl goes to her mother's grave in search of counsel, and her mother's spirit advises her to prepare a two-handle golden box, with seven holes made in its lid and pour the milk of seven cows inside it, which will draw the snake prince to it. The girl goes to the palace and follows her mother's instructions, then places the box in a diamond cradle. This eases the snake's fury for some time, until the day the prince goes to their parents and announces his wish to be taught to read and write. The padishah agrees to fulfill his wish and summons a Hoca the next morning, whom the black serpent bites to death. A line of scholars ends up dying by the snake's bite, and the padishah, in desperation, turns to the girl who previously nursed the prince. The girl's stepmother, lying again, says her stepdaughter can also teach the prince. The girl goes to her mother's grave a second time and her spirit advises her to fetch a branch of a rosebush and a branch of holly, both sprouting from her grave, which she is to use to scold the prince if he tries to attack her: four times with the rosebush branch and one time with the holly. The girl does as instructed and, after forty days, the prince is taught to read and write. Later, the snake prince wishes to be married, and girls are brought to him as prospective brides, but he kill forty girls for the next forty nights, one per night. At last, the stepmother sends her stepdaughter as a bride to the snake prince, wishing to have her killed once and for all. The girl pays a visit to her mother's grave one more time, and is advised to wear forty hedgehog skins, which she is to remove one by one and ask the prince to remove each of the layers of snakeskin, and toss them all in the fire soon after. The girl is then brought to the snake and both remove each of the layers from both their vestments. The black serpent is disenchanted into a human prince and marries the girl. Back to stepmother, defeated, she enters an underbrush in the forest and becomes a yellow snake.

#### Snake Prince (Sütçüler)

In a Turkish tale collected from a source in Sütçüler with the title Yılan Şehzade ("Snake Prince"), a padishah cries for not having children. One day, he goes for a walk and meets a white-bearded man, to whom he tells his woes. The other man comforts the king that his wife will bear him a son. In time, the queen becomes pregnant and is ready to give birth, but their son is black snake. When the king learns his son is a snake, he remembers his words. The midwife cannot deliver the child, for he bites everyone to death. The king suddenly recalls the daughter of a farmer that can help in the prince's delivery, and sends for her. The story then explains the girl lives with her father and his second wife. The padishah's soldiers come for the girl and escort her back to the palace. The girl asks to pay a visit to her mother's grave before she reaches the palace. At the graveyard, the girl cries on her mother's grave for what she can do to help the padishah, and a voice echoes from the grave, telling the girl to have a cage made with a glass window, place some milk inside and attract the snake with it. The girl goes to the padishah and asks for the glass cage to be made, which she uses to capture the serpentine prince. She also takes care of the prince and feeds him with milk. After seven years, the padishah decides it is time to teach the snake son, but the prince bites every teacher they bring him. Thus, the girl is brought to the palace to deal with the situation. She cries again on her mother's grave, and the woman's spirit advises her to gather forty rose sticks, thirty-nine she will hold in one hand to beat the prince when he leaves the cage and tries to bite her. Some time later, the snake prince wishes to get married, but every bride they bring to him he bites to death. The padishah sends for the girl again, who goes to cry on her mother's grave. Her mother's voice tells her that, on the wedding night, she is to order the prince to take off his skin first, then she will remove her own clothes, and burn all of the snakeskins. Thus, the girl marries the snake prince. On the wedding night, the prince orders the girl to remove her clothes, but the girl replies that her husband should remove his first. The prince takes off the snakeskin, which the girl burns at once. When she goes to see the prince, she finds a youth handsome as the full moon.

#### Snake (Karakuyu)

In a Turkish tale collected from informant Naciye Koyuncu, in Karakuyu village, with the title Yılan ("Snake"), a man lives in a meadow and has no children. One day, he finds a pair of snakes and wishes to God to have a son, like a snake. Thus, a snake son is born to the man's wife. Time passes, and the snake son asks his mother to find him a bride, for he wants to get married. Despite some reservation regarding who would want to marry a snake, the woman arranges a wedding to a girl. However, the snake kills the bride at night. Later, he asks to be married again, despite his mother's reservations about him killing his next bride. Still, a second girl is brought to him as another bride, and he kills her. Yet again, the snake son wants another bride, and his mother finds him one. The third girl goes to cry on her mother's grave before the wedding, fearing for her life due to being married to a snake. She lies asleep on the grave and has a dream: her mother's spirit appears in her dream, tells her the snake is human underneath the snakeskin, and advises her to wear a dress made of needles for her wedding, and for her to remove the layers of dress while the snake removes his skins. The girl wakes up and requests a dress made with needles. On the wedding night, the snake asks the girl to remove the dress, and the girl retorts for the snake to remove his skin first. They remove each other's clothes, until the snake becomes a human being. The girl then quickly burns the layers of snakeskin.

### Other tales

In a tale collected by Ignac Kunos from Adakale with the titlet "Ürem Bej" und eine Padischahstochter ("Ürem Bej and the Padishah's Daughter"), a padishah's daughter is tutored by a female teacher whom she likes very much. Due to this, the teacher says she can be the princess's new mother if the kills her mother by drowning her in the honey jug. It happens thus: the padishah's wife drowns in the honey, and he marries the female teacher. At first, the new stepmother is kind to the girl, but after some days, she begins to mistreat her and sends her to the kitchen to serve with the slaves and servants. The girl cries for her deed of killing her mother. Meanwhile, in another country, a padishah's wife is already in labour and ready to give birth, but her son has killed every midwife in the kingdom, which causes the padishah to search for one in another land. The second padishah comments about it to the first padishah, and his new wife convinces him to take her stepdaughter as the prince's midwife. The girl goes to her mother's grave to cry, and her mother's spirit, who holds no grudge over her death by her daughter's hands, advises her: wear gloves made of hedgehog skin and bring a bowl of warm milk; just as the prince is born, toss him into the bowl of milk. The girl follows her mother's ghost's instructions and delivers the prince: a legless, armless "Schlauch". The girl is rewarded with gold and silver and sent back. Later, the prince, who is named Ürem Bej, wants to be schooled, but he frightens every teaching candidate. The girl's stepmother suggests she becomes Ürem Bej's tutor, and again the girl cries on her mother's grave: her mother's ghost then advises her to put on an apron made of hedgehog skin and carry a rose twig, which she is to use to scold the prince and force him to read his lessons. It happens thus, and the girl survives. Later, Ürem Bej wants to get married, but his parents know that no one will want to marry one such as him. The girl's stepmother suggests her stepdaughter is to be his bride, since she was his midwife and tutor. The girl's mother's ghost advises to wear 40 kaftans made of hedgehog skin, which will prickle the prince if he tries to attack her, and she is to take off each kaftan as the prince takes each of his "veils". During the wedding night, the girl asks the prince to take off his veil one by one, just as she is taking off each of the kaftans. By doing so, the prince is transformed into a human youth. The prince and the girl then celebrate a wedding for forty days and forty nights.
Linguist Gyula Németh collected a tale from the Turkish population of Vidin, Bulgaria, with the German title Evrem Bej ("Evrem Bey"), which was translated as "Эврем-бей" ("Evrem-Bey"). In this tale, a girl lives with her parents and goes to school. One day, she tells her female teacher she likes her, and the teacher says she could be her new mother if the girl kills the current one: she can slam the lid of a trunk on her head. It happens thus and the teacher becomes the girl's stepmother, but begins to mistreat her. In another country, a padishah's daughter-in-law is already in labour, but her baby is killing all midwives. The padishah's wife goes on a journey and meets the teacher, to whom she confides her problem. The stepmother suggests her stepdaughter can serve as midwife to the still unborn prince. The padishah's wife agrees to take her. The girl cries for her fate on her mother's grave, and her mother's ghost, holding no grudge for her killing, advises her: she is to ask for gloves and aprons made of hedgehog skin. The prince is delivered. Some time later, the monstrous prince wants to be schooled, and the stepmother suggests the girl becomes his tutor. The girl goes to her mother's grave and is advised to put on a similar outfit to teach him. Later still, the prince wants to get married, and yet again the stepmother suggests the girl becomes his bride, in hopes of him killing her. This time, the girl's mother's ghost advises her to put on 40 layers of clothes: thirty-nine made of hedgehog skin and one bridal dress, which she is take off one by one, while requesting the prince to do the same to his skins. On the wedding night, the girl does as instructed and disenchants Evrem-Bey to human form. Now in human form, he joins the army and goes to war, leaving his wife at his father's care. Meanwhile, the stepmother falsifies a letter from Evrem-Bey with a command to kill his wife. The padishah receives the letter, but decides to spare the girl, gives her some money and expels her from the castle. The girl then wanders off until she reaches a cemetery with an open tomb: inside lives a youth who has been kidnapped by the peris. The girl and the youth live together and she becomes pregnant. Near the time of the child's birth, the youth asks his wife to go to his parents and have their baby there. The girl knocks on the door to his parents' home and is given shelter. After the baby is born, two doves perch by the window and they comment that, if his curse was lifted, he would rock his son in a golden crib. The youth's mother is alerted about the doves and catches the one that is her son, but he warns her he cannot stay by the morning, lest he dies. And so he dies with the crowing of the rooster. The woman blames her daughter-in-law for killing her son and orders her to find a water of life to revive him. The girl exits the house and, after following two buckets drawing water from the Earth, meets some devs who help her in this mission. Back to Evrem-Bey, he returns from war and is told about the false letter and his wife's second husband. Evrem-Bey complains to the mufti, and the mufti leaves the decision to the girl. The girl answers she loves both men, but chooses Evrem-Bey. According to the translator, "Evrem" is a word meaning 'dragon, monster'.

### Literary versions

Author Adnan Özyalçıner published a tale titled Yılan Şehzade ("Snake Prince"). In this tale, a king rules his kingdom with justice and fairness, but lacks an heir, which greatly imperils the realm. Many neighbouring sultans and kings offer their daughters as prospective brides to solve the issue, but he insists his wife will bear him a son. He prays to Allah for guidance, and his wife has a dream: a white-bearded man prepares some dough, which he molds into people and drops them in a silver basin. The king's wife questions the man, and he answers he prepares people to be born, which greatly interests the woman. The queen begs the man to give her a child, but he denies her request. As a last resort, the woman dips her fingers in the dough to catch some of it; the man sees her deed and curses her rashness by saying she will bear a snake for a son. The woman wakes up and tells her husband the dream. Astrologers and seers interpret it as good omen that a son will be born to the royal couple. Nine months later, the kingdom is abuzz with the birth of the prince, and the queen is in labour, but, when the midwife approaches her womb, the baby, a snake, attacks the woman with its forked tongue. News soon spread about the snake child in the queen's womb throughout the kingdom. Near the outskirts of the kingdom, a stepmother, who wants to get rid of her stepdaughter, goes to tell the king the girl can help in the prince's delivery. The girl is summoned to act as midwife, but tries to delay her task by request a sumptuous bed and accommodations. She also cries for her fate, and her mother appears to her in a dream with advice: take a bowl of warm milk to the queen's chambers. The girl does as her mother instructed and the snake prince, on smelling the milk, exits his mother's womb. The girl is handsomely rewarded with gold and gems, which her stepmother takes to build a larger house for herself. As time passes, the snake prince grows up and ends up killing everyone who approaches him, save his mother. Thus, it is decided to marry him off. Neighbouring sultans and monarchs send their daughters as prospective brides, thinking they will rule in the prince's stead, for he is but a snake, but the snake kills every bride they bring him. The stepmother then says her stepdaughter can be the snake prince's bride. Once again, the girl has a dream about her mother: the woman advises her to wear a heavy dress made with forty buttons of hedgehog skin on the wedding night. The girl does as instructed and enters the couple's room; the snake prince tries to attack and bite her, but the hedgehog skins prickle him. The girl then says she will take off one button as the prince removes a piece of his skin. They each undress themselves, until the snake prince removes the last layer of skin and becomes a black youth ("Kara yağız ... delikanlı", in the original). The girl and the black youth prince celebrate their union, as the stepmother, in defeat, hits her head in some stones and dies.