The Princess on the Glass Hill

The Aarne-Thompson-Uther tales types ATU 530, 531 (The Clever Horse) and 533 (The Speaking Horsehead) fall under the umbrella of Supernatural Helper in the folk/fairy tale index and pertain to a cycle of stories in which a magical horse helps the hero or heroine by giving advice and/or instructing him/her.[4]

The gallant knight climbs up the Glass Mountain. Illustration for Barne-Eventyr (1915).

Scholarship recognizes that the tale can be divided in two parts: (1) the method of acquisition of the magical horse; and (2) the rescue of the princess.[5]

Folklorists Johannes Bolte, Jiří Polívka and Marian Roalfe Cox named the main character of the tale type männlichen Aschenbrödel (a Male Cinderella), because the protagonist usually sleeps in the ashes, or plays in ashes and soot.[6][7] As such, English translations commonly name the protagonist "Ashboy", "Ashlad", "Cinderface" or some variation thereof.

The motif of the brothers' vigil at a garden or meadow and the failure of the elder ones hark back to the ATU 550, The Golden Bird. Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald noted in Ehstnische Mährchen (1869) that in several variants the youngest of three brothers, often called stupid or simpleton, is helped by his father's spirit when he is told to hold a vigil for three nights.[8]

August Leskien acknowledged that the "numerous" Slavic variants "almost universally begin" with the father's dying wish for his sons to hold a vigil for his coffin or dead body at night.[9]

In these tales, either the hero receives one single horse, or tames/captures three horses of different colors: copper, silver and gold; of white, black and red;[10] or, as in Latvian variants, of silver, gold and diamond color.[11] Professor Heda Jason suggests that their different color gradient indicates the magical power of each horse.[12]

Some scholars, such as Clara Ströbe,[13] Emil Sommer (de)[14] and Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,[15] noted that the tale of a princess on the Glass Mountain seemed to hark back to the Germanic legend of Brunhilde, who lay atop a mountain, inaccessible to most people.

In some variants, the princess is not located atop a Glass Mountain. Instead she is trapped or locked in a high-store tower.[16] The latter type seems more common to Eastern Europe, Russian and Finland.[17]

French comparativist Emmanuel Cosquin noted that the motif of the hero's ascension on the Glass Mountain, in Western variants, was parallel to the motif of jumping to the roof of a palace, present in Indian variants.[18]

It has been suggested that the motif of the engagement challenge of climbing the Glass Mountain or reaching the princess atop a huge wall or tall tower may have been first recorded in Ancient Egyptian literature, in The Tale of the Doomed Prince.[19][20][21][22]

In some variants, the tournament part is similar to Iron John (Iron Hans), where the prince (who was working as a gardener) wears an armor to take part in the contest and catch the apples the princess throws. Under this lens, the tale type (ATU 530) becomes contaminated with similar tale types about a horse: ATU 314, "Goldener"; ATU 502, "Wild Man as Helper" and former type[lower-alpha 1] AaTh/AT 532, "I Don't Know" (The Helpful Horse).[23]

The tale is said to be popular in Scandinavian countries.[29] Apart from this story, the tale type is reported to record 33 (thirty-three) versions in Norway.[30]

G. A. Åberg collected a variant from Pyttis (Pyhtää), in Nyland, titled Om pojtjin som bläi djift me kuggns dótro (Swedish: Gossen som gifte sig med prinsessan; English: "The boy who married the princess") that begins with the vigil at the father's grave.[31] He also collected two dialectal variants, Prinsässan up glasbjärji[32] and Prinsässan upa glasbjärji.[33]

Anders Allardt collected a dialectal variant from Liljendal, titled Torparpojtjis tjénsten (Swedish: Torparpojkens tjänst), wherein the youth acquires three horses, one with steel "sködder", another with silver "sködder" and the third with golden "sködder". He later climbs the Glass Mountain.[34]

Benjamin Thorpe, in his compilation of Scandinavian fairy tales, provided a Swedish version on his book and listed variants across Norwegian, German and Polish sources.[35]

Several other variants have been collected in Sweden such as The Princess and the Glass Mountain,[36] and Prinsessan uppå Glas-berget[37] ("The Princess on the Glass Mountain") (from South Smaland),[38] George Webbe Dasent also gave abridged summaries of four other variants: one from "Westmanland" (Västmanland), a second from "Upland" (Uppland), a third from "Gothland" (Götaland) and a last one from "West Gothland" (Västergötland).[39]

A version of the tale exists in a compilation of Swedish fairy tales, by Frithjuv Berg. In this story, a young prince is tricked into releasing a dwarf his father captured. The prince is exiled from the kingdom to another realm and finds work as a shepherd. In this realm, the princess wants to marry no one, but the knight who dares climb the Glass Mountain. The prince wants to beat the princess's challenge, and the dwarf, in gratitude, gives him a shining steel armor and gray horse, a gleaming silver armor and white horse, and, finally, a bright gold armor and gold-coloured horse.[40]

Swedish folktale collectors George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius listed at least two Swedish variants that begin with a "Wild Man" character (akin to Iron Hans).[41] They also gave an abridged summary of a version where the peasant hero finds three horses and three armors, in silver and golden color and the third gem-encrusted.[42]

Denmark also attests its own versions: one by Jens Kamp Nielsen (Prinsessen paa Glasbjaerget),[43] and a second, by Svend Grundtvig, translated as The Bull and the Princess at the Glass Mountain, where the hero's helper was a bull, and later it is revealed the bull was the titular princess's brother.[44] In a third variant by Svend Grundtvig, Den sorte Hest ("The black horse"), Kristjan, the youngest brother, herds his sheep to a meadow in the forest and discovers a cave with a (white, red and black) horse, a (white, red and black) armor and (white, red and black) sword. Kristjan then uses the horses to reach the princess atop a Glass Mountain.[45]

In a variant collected by Evald Tang Kristensen, titled Prinsessen på glasbjærget, Perde, the youngest son of a farmer, receives a stick from a donor. Later, when he takes the pigs to graze, he sees a troll with three heads on the first night; a troll with six heads on the second night, and a troll with nine heads on the third night. Perde kills the trolls and discovers their hideout in the mountain: he finds a black horse and a copper armor, a brown horse with a silver armor and a golden horse with a golden armor. After he beats the challenge of the Glass Mountain, he asks the princess to find him on his father's farm.[46]

Jakob Jakobsen listed four Faroese variants, grouped under the banner Øskudólgur ("Ash-lad") and compared it to the Scandinavian versions available at the time.[47]

Professor Maurits de Meyere listed one variant under the banner "Le Mont de Cristal", attested in Flanders fairy tale collections, in Belgium.[48]

In an Austrian variant, Der Aschentagger, Hansl holds a vigil at his father's grave in the churchyard for three nights and is rewarded for his efforts. Later, his brothers take part in the king's challenge: to climb a very steep hill in order to gain the hand of the princess.[49]

The tale type is reported to record 66 (sixty-six) versions in Ireland.[50]

Scholarship acknowledges that the tale type is one of the least or barely attested types in France and in Occitanie.[51] It has been suggested that the region of Montiers-sur-Saulx was "the furthest extension" of the geographical reach of the tale type.[52]

The youth, on the horse, reaches the princess's tower atop the mountain. Woodcut by Ludwig Richter to Bechstein‘s fairy tale Hirsedieb (1853).

Ludwig Bechstein recorded a similar tale in Germany, titled Hirsedieb ("The Millet-Thief") (de), in his book of German fairy tales.[53] This version was translated as The Thief in the Millet and published in 1872.[54] Benjamin Thorpe also translated the tale, with the name Millet-Thief and indicated its origin as North Germany.[55]

Professor Hans-Jorg Uther classifies German tale Old Rinkrank, collected by the Brothers Grimm (KHM 196), as a variant of the tale type.[56] The story involves a king that builds a glass mountain and puts his daughter atop it, setting a challenge for any potential suitors.

Germanist Emil Sommer (de) collected another German variant, from Gutenberg, titled Der dumme Wirrschopf: the youngest brother discovers that a small grey man on a horse has been stealing his father's haystacks for years, but he spares the creature's life and gains three horses (in brown, white and black colors). The king then sets a challenge for all brave knights: to rescue his daughter, trapped at the top of the glass mountain.[57]

In a variant collected from Oldenburg by jurist Ludwig Strackerjan (de), Der Glasberg, the three sons of a farmer, Hinnerk, Klaus and Jan (the youngest and the most stupid), try to discover who or what has been stealing their father's straw from the barn. Only Jan is successful: he follows a giant into a secret cave and finds three armors and three horses.[58]

Heinrich Pröhle collected two variants about a "Mannchen" (a small man) that gives the farmer's son the magnificent horses with which to beat the king's challenges: in the first variant, the farmer's son uses the horses to fetch three wreaths the princess throws, and later she has a tall wall built for him to fail.[59] In the second variant, a small man gives the youngest son a golden key; when the king announces the challenge of the Glass Mountain, the farmer's son uses three different getups: a silver armor on a white horse, a golden armor on a black horse and a gem-encrusted armor on the spotted horse.[60]

In a variant collected by medievalist Karl Bartsch from Mecklenburg, Der dumme Krischan, Fritz, Johan and Krischan are tasked with a midnight watch on their father's coffin, but only Krischan obeys, and is rewarded three horses (of a white, bay and black color, respectively).[61]

Johann Reinhard Bünker collected a variant from the Heanzisch dialect (Ta' Këinich mit 'n Prant'), where the father asks his sons to hold a vigil on his grave for three nights - each son on each night.[62]

A study of fifteen versions of the tale was published by Wilhelm Wisser, with the name Ritt auf den Glasberg. In some of the variants he collected, the hay thieves are giants, the horse itself or human robbers. In other versions, the ride up the Glass Mountain is to redeem the princess from a curse, or is replaced by a simple horse-riding contest with the magical horses the hero found.[63]

German philologist Karl Müllenhoff mentioned a variant from Dithmarschen where the hero, Dummhans, steals the eye of a one-eyed giant that has been stealing the crops. In return for the eye, the giant gives Dummhans three sets of armor and three horses in order to climb the Glass Mountain.[64] In another variant he collected, Das Märchen vom Kupferberg, Silberberg und Goldberg, Hans works as a king's hare herder and, on three occasions, finds a (copper, silver, gold) sword, a horse with a (copper, silver, gold) bridle and a dog with a (copper, silver, gold) collar.[65]

Josef Haltrich (de) collected a variant from the Transylvanian Saxons, titled Der Wunderbaum ("The Wonderful Tree"): a shepherd boy, while herding his sheep to graze in the fields, sees a all tree reaching to the heavens. He decided to climb up the tree and arrives at a copper kingdom, then a silver kingdom and finally a golden kingdom. In each of the kingdoms, there is a pool, where he dips his feet, hands and hair, and takes a twig from each kindgom. He climbs downs the tree and cannot see his sheep, so he travels to another realm. The king of this realm sets a challenge of the Glass Mountain for all potential suitors of his daughter.[66]

Professor Wilhelm Wisser collected a "Plattdeutsche" (Low German) variant titled Simson, tu dich auf!. The story begins when a father's three sons vow to keep watch on their garden, but only the youngest, dumb Hans, is successful. Hans discovers that three giants come in the night and retreat to a cave in the mountain by reciting an incantation "Simson, tu dich auf!" (akin to "Open, Sesame!"). Hans kills the giants, opens the cave and discovers magical horses. Later, the king establishes the challenge of the Glass Mountain ("glåsern Barg").[67]

In a variant from Flensberg, Knæsben Askfis, a farmer's three sons, Pe'r, Poul and Knaesben Askfis try to discover the hay thief, by hiding in a haystack. Knaesben Askfis hides in a haystack and is carried by the thief to a castle. He jumps out of the haystack and kills the thief. He also discovers in the castle three horses, of black, gray and white colors. Later the king sends his daughter to a glass mountain with three golden apples, to await for her future husband.[68]

Some variants from Hessen are reported to have been collected, in fragmented and in complete form.[69]

Professor Alfred Cammann (de) collected a "West Prussian" variant, "Der gläserne Berg", wherein the king, after his wife's death, erects the Glass Mountain and sends his daughter there. Meanwhile, a farmer's three sons are sent to guard their fields, when a mysterious old man appearts to each son and asks for a bit of food. The older sons insult the man and their food is turned into excrement; the youngest shares his food and the man alerts him about the magical horses that come in the night.[70]

Otto Knoop collected a German-language variant from the historical region of the Hinterpommern (Farther Pomerania), named Der dumme Hans. Hans, the youngest and foolish son, is paid talers by his brothers to go in their place for the night vigil for their father's corpse in the barn. Hans gains three whistles, of silver, golden and diamond colors, from his father's spirit. Later, he summons the horses to climb the Glass Mountain.[71]

In the Bosnian fairy tale Die Pferde der Wilen, the youngest of three brothers stands guard in a meadow and captures three wild horses, respectively, of a white, a black and a reddish-brown color. With them, he beats the Sultan's challenges and gains the Sultan's daughters as wives for him and his brothers.[72]

In a Romanian variant, Der Gänsehirt ("The Gooseherd"), the youth, as a baby, was lulled by a nanny that whispered that he would grow up to marry the king's daughter. Years later, the boy intends to make it a reality. He goes to his three pastor godfathers, and the second gives him three feathers (copper, silver and gold) to summon three horses (copper, silver and gold) to climb up the Glass Mountain. He uses the horses to reach the kingdom located atop the glass mountain to woo the king's daughter.[73]

In the Croatian tale Vilen weiden einen Hirseacker ab, a farmer plants fields of millet, but on some nights the entire crop is destroyed by something. He orders his sons to stand guard, but only the youngest is successful: he captures the horse that has been eating the millet. Suddenly, a vila appears and gives him a copper bridle, a silver bridle and a golden bridle. Later, the king announces that whoever fetches a golden apple from the palace's roof shall gain his daughter for wife.[74]

The hero, on the fiery Sivko-Burko, kisses the princess, located in the hightest tower. Study by Victor Vasnetsov (1926).

Professor Jack Haney states that there are at least sixty variants from Russian sources.[75]

Russian folklorist Alexander Afanasyev collected a variant named "Царевна Елена Прекрасная" (Tsarevna Yelena Prekrasnaya; "Tsarevna Yelena, the Beautiful"): Prince Ivan stands at his father's grave and longs for the beautiful Princess Helena the Fair. Sensing his son's deep longing, the father's spirit appears to him and summons a horse to help the prince to gain the affections of the fair princess.[76] This tale was translated by Leonard Arthur Magnus as The Princess to be Kissed at a Charge;[77] as Princess Helena The Fair, by William Ralston Shedden-Ralston;[78] and by French illustrator Edmund Dulac as Ivan and the Chestnut Horse, in his book Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations.[79]

Alexander Afanasyev collected another Russian variant ("Сивко, Бурко, Вѣщій Воронко"),[80] and a Bielorrussian one (originally "Конь със Злато-Серебряной Шерсткой ",[81] "The Horse with Golden-Silver Skin"), all grouped under the name "Сивко-бурко" (Sivko-burko) (fr).[82] The name refers to the horse the hero's father summons to help his son. The steed is described as venting fire from his nostrils.[83][84]

The fierce steed Sivko-Burko, venting fire from his nostrils. Image from a Russian postcard.

Russian variants often begin with the challenge of the Glass Mountain or the high store tower, but continue as ATU 530A, The Pig With Golden Bristles. In The Tale of Little Fool Ivan, after he holds a vigil on his father's grave for three nights, Ivan gains his father's trusty horse, Sivko-Burko, and uses it to beat the challenge of Tsarevna Baktriana: to reach her in a high store terem. After they marry, the Boyards on the Tsar's court lie that Ivan's brothers boast that they can accomplish impossible tasks. As a result, the Tsar sends Ivan's brothers on dangerours errands, such as to capture a pig with golden bristles.[85]

Russian-born British author Edith Hodgetts published, in a book of Russian fairy tales, the story Ivan and the Chestnut Horse: a peasant named Ivan, the Fool, wants to go the king's feast, but is mocked by his brothers. Suddenly, a horse of chestnut color materializes and reveals its intention to help the youth. Ivan then rides the horse to get the shining ring from the king's daughter, a princess who was cursed to remain unmoving on her balcony until someone brave enough took the ring from her hand.[86]

In a version published by Irina Zheleznova, Chestnut-Grey, the magical horse Sivko-Burko is named Chestnut-Grey.[87]

The tale type is said to be one of the most frequent in Polish tradition,[88] with several variants grouped under the banner Szklanna Góra (The Glass Mountain).[89][90][91]

Polish ethnographer Oskar Kolberg, in his extensive collection of Polish folktales, compiled several variants: O trzech braciach rycerzach ("About three knightly brothers"),[92] O głupim kominiarzu,[93] O głupim z trzech braci ("About the foolish of the three brothers"),[94] Klechda.[95]

In a Masurian (Poland) tale, Der Ritt in das vierte Stockwerk ("The Ride to the Fourth Floor"), the youngest son of a farmer holds a vigil on his father's grave, receives a magical horse and tries to beat the King's challenge: to find the princess in the fourth floor of the castle.[96]

Swedish folktale collectors George Stephens and Gunnar Olof Hyltén-Cavallius listed a Polish variant collected by Woycicki, named Der Glasberg ("The Glass Mountain").[97]

In the Polish version O Jasiu Głuptasiu, wieszczym Siwku Złotogrzywku i Śwince Perłosypce ("About foolish Jasiu, the prophetic Siwku with Golden-Mane, the Golden-Beaked Duck and the Swine with Pearls"), foolish Jasiu holds a vigil for his father's coffin and his spirit teaches him a spell to summon the marvellous Sivko horse, the golden-beaked duck and a swine with pearls. The foolish boy uses the horse to grab the princess's ring from a tall pole. Later, after Jasiu and the princess are married, his brothers insist that their younger brother should find the duck and the swine and present them to the king.[98]

In the Polish-Gypsy version Tale of a Foolish Brother and of a Wonderful Bush, collected by Francis Hindes Groome, the youngest son, a foolish boy, beats a bush with a stick and summons a fairy who grants him a silver horse, a golden horse and a diamond horse. In the second part of the tale, the foolish boy dresses up as a prince and defeats a invading army.[99]

Polish ethnographer Stanisław Chełchowski collected a variant from Przasnysz, titled O Trzech Braciach ("About Three Brothers"), wherein the youngest holds a vigil for his father and receives a cane. With the cane, he summons the horses to reach the princess on the second floor on the castle. Later, he uses the cane to summon an army to repel an enemy invasion.[100]

Polish ethnographer Stanisław Ciszewski (pl) collected a variant from Szczodrkowice, titled O dwóch braciach mądrych a trzecim głupim, który wjechał na szklanną górę po królewnę i ożenił się z nią ("About two smart brothers and a foolish one, who climbs the Glass Mountain and marries the princess"). The youngest brother receives a silver, a golden and a diamond horse from his father's spirit after the vigil on his grave.[101]

Seventeen variants have also been collected in Bulgaria, some naming the hero Ash-boy or a variation thereof. In one Pomak tale, the hero Pepelífchono receives a white, a black and a red horse and uses them to win the king's daughters for himself and his brothers.[102]

The title of the Bulgarian tale "Най-Малкият брат и трите коня" (Nay-Malkiyat brat i tritye konya; "The Youngest Brother and the Three Horses") attests the presence of the three horses, akin to other variants.[103][104]

In the tale Drei Brüder ("Three Brothers"), the youngest son, mockingly called Grindkopf, tames a horse that has been ruining his father's fields and receives a tuft of white, red and black hair. He uses the hair to summon three horses in white, red and black color to jump over a large ditch three times in order to reach each of the king's daughters. In the second part of the tale, after his marriage to the youngest princess, Grindkopf moves to a small nouse near the palace.[105]

Professors Viera Gasparíková and Jana Pacálová state that the tale type is very popular in Slovakia, with "numerous variants [početné slovenské varianty]" collected.[106]

In the Slovak variant Popelvár špatná tvár ("Ugly-faced Ashface"), first collected by Pavol Dobsinsky and later published by literary historian Michal Chrástek (sk), the youngest son, a foolish prince mockingly named "Popelvár špatná tvár" by his brothers, stands guard in his father's meadow of soft silk. The youth is the only one kind enough to share his food with a little mouse, who gives him a bridle to tame three ferocious horses that have been trampling the meadow. Some time later, the queen plants a golden egg, a golden ring and a golden crown inside a golden towel, upon a high hill, and announces that she will marry the man who is able to get the three items. Popelvár špatná tvár tries his luck with the tamed horses, of copper, silver and golden color.[107]

In a second variant by Pavol Dobšinský, Popelvár – Hnusná tvár ("Ashface - ugly-face"), a farmer orders his three sons to guard their crop of oats from whatever is coming at night. Popelvár and his brothers have a meal before their duty, and his brothers soon fall asleep, leaving Popelvár the only one awake. The youth climbs up a tree to await for something's arrival. The "something" is three horses, of golden, silver and copper color, which Popelvár tames and receives a bridle of each respective color. Later, the king sets a challenge: he will give his daughter's hand in marriage for the one who can jump very high and take out a ring, an apple and the golden handkerchief from the castle's highest arch.[108]

Slovak author Ján Kollár published a variant titled Tátoš a biela Kňažná ("The Tátos Horse and the White Princess"), wherein it is the princess who sets the engagement challenge for her suitor: she puts a sword, an apple and a little flag on the highest tower for anyone brave enough to jump very high and obtain them.[109] Despite the unusual form, the tale is still classified as AT 530, or "Neznámy rytier sa na zázračných koňoch preteká o princeznú" ("The Mysterious Rider reaches the Princess on Wonderful Horses").[110]

In a Moravian tale, Mr. Cluck, the titular Mr. Cluck (actually, the devil) gives Hans a black horse and a suit of armor, a silver armor with a brown horse and a white horse with another suit of armor. Hans uses the horses to beat the king's three tasks.[111]

In another Moravian tale, Jak se pasák stal králem ("How the herdsman became king"), the herdsman is warned not to take the sheep to graze on a certain meadow, where three giants are said to roam. He shared his food with an old lady by the well and receives a stick that turns someone into dust. The herdsman uses the stick to kill the giants and obtains three keys to open three different doors, of copper, silver and golden colours. Then the king announces a challenge for all brave knights: he hides three treasures (a golden sword, his sceptre and his crown) atop a Glass Mountain, and whoever brings them back, shall marry his daughter and inherit the kingdom. The herdsman opens each door with a key he found and mounts a splendid horse with golden color and diamond hooves.[112]

In the variant O mramorovém kopci ("The Marble Mountain"), the youngest son, foolish Honza, watches his father's haystacks to protect them from a thief. Later, he sees that a bird is the culprit and latches onto the animal to capture it. Honza is transported to a castle where he finds a talking horse. When the king announces that he will give his daughter to anyone who scales the marble mountain. Honza seizes the opportunity, rides the talking horse and succeeds three times, in silver, golden and diamond armors.[113]

In the Moravian tale Janíček s voničkou ("Janicek with the perfume"), Janicek, a prince, dresses in peasant attire and travels to a king's castle. On his way, he gives alms to four beggars and is rewarded with four magical items: a musket, a club, a whistle and a bag. He employs himself as a shepherd in the king's country. One day, he herds the sheep to the forest and sees a castle in the distance. He enters the castle and faces a giant, killing him with the musket. The next day and the day after, he kils the giant's other brothers and takes control of the castle. Soon after, he opens a closet and two servants appear. Janicek also takes three fragrant flowers from the garden and gives to the princess. Later, once each month, a procession of princes pass under the princess's balcony, and each time Janicek grabs her handkerchief when riding a white horse with silver bridle, a red horse with golden bridle, and a black horse with diamond ornaments.[114]

Author Božena Němcová published a variant titled Diwotworný meč, wherein the prince acquires a magical sword and is helped by a talking horse. Some time later, the prince travels to a kingdom where the king built a dam on a huge circle, placing his daughter upon it, and promised his daughter for anyone who jumped very high and got the gifts his daughter held with her. The prince is successful and the tale continues as ATU 314, "The Goldener" (the prince as gardener), after the horse instructs the prince to disguise himself as a lame and ugly gardener.[115]

Czech author Václav Tille (writing under pseudonym Václav Říha) published the tale Tátoš: a man's three sons are tasked with guarding his fields. On the first two nights, a fox approaches the older brothers and asks for a bit of food to eat. Both shoo it away. On the third night, the youngest son, Jan, shares a bit of food with the fox and it warns him of the Tátoš (a powerful and magical horse) that comes in the night. Jan tames the horse and uses it to beat the king's challenge: to jump very high and reach the three princesses sat atop a "gallery" ornated with diamonds and gems. In the second part of the tale (type ATU 530A), the king sends his new sons-in-law after a cooper pine tree with silver branches and golden pines, and a jumping goat with golden horns and a white beard.[116]

In a Serbian fairy tale, The Three Brothers, of considerable complexity and length, after their father dies, three brothers need to decide what to do with his properties. However, for two years, the farm's haystacks are devoured by winged horses led by fairies. On the third year, the eldest brother tames one of the horses and gets a piece of hair to summon the winged steed, should the need arise. When the brothers go their separate ways, the eldest one arrives at three different kingdoms where each king sets a horse-racing contest: any competitor should ride their horse and jump to reach the princess on the other side of a wide and deep ditch.[117]

In a second Serbian tale, collected by Elodie Lawton Mijatovich, The Dream of the King's Son, the youngest prince reveals his prophetic dream: his brothers, his mother and his father would serve him in the future. The king promptly expels him from home. He later finds work with an old man, who, in reality, want to kill the prince. The youth escapes with a talking golden horse and flees to another kingdom, where the king announces that any suitor should jump over a large ditch to reach the princess.[118]

In a Ukrainian tale, "Коршбуры попелюхъ" or Korsbury-popeljuh ("Dirty Cinder-boy"), given in abridged form by English folklorist Marian Roalfe Cox, the hero tames three wild sea horses that have been grazing the king's fields. Later he uses the horses to reach the princess in the second story of the castle, for a kiss.[119] August Leskien, in his summary of this story, described that each horse had, respectively, a star, a moon and the Sun on their bodies.[120]

In a tale collected by O. Malinka, Батько и тры сыны ("The Man and his Three Sons"), only the youngest son attends his father's funeral and receives three horsehairs to summon a magical horse. His father warns him that he will not succeed the first two times, but in the third time he will reach a verandah on the fifth floor of the palace, where the princess is located.[121]

In a Slovene variant titled Trije kmečki sinovi ("The Three Peasant Sons"), three sons volunteer to guard their father's crops from whatever is destroying the fields. The first two brothers meet a little mouse that asks for food and rebuff it, but the third brother, who "played in ashes and straw" shares his food. As a reward, the little mouse informs the boy about the horse and gives him a bridle: a copper bridle for the copper horse in the first night, a silver bridle for the silver horse in the second night, and finally a golden bridle for the golden horse in the third night. The boy tames the wild horses and receives a stick to summon them. Soon after, the king issues a proclamation that whoever climbs the tall tower on the high mountain and grab the golden ball shall marry the princess. This tale was collected in Porabje (Rába Valley), by Károly Krajczár (Karel Krajcar), from an old storyteller named Tek Pista (hu).[122][123]

In a tale from Prekmurje, Pepelko, a peasant couple has three sons, the older two help the father in the fields and the third helps his mother in the kitchen, which is why he is always covered in soot and ashes. When the mother dies, she asks for a hazelnut tree on her grave. Time passes, and the king decided that his daughter must marry. But she is too stubborn, for she will only marry the man who can reach her balcony by jumping and take her ribbon off her hair. The three brothers want to try his luck, but Pepelko cracks a hazelnut from the tree and finds a horse and garments. He wears the fine clothes and accomplishes the impossible task. The princess becomes enamoured of the mysterious stranger and repeats the challenge two other times: to take her golden necklace from her neck, and to allow her to put a ring on their finger as soon as they reach her.[124][125]

Professor Ágnes Kovács commented that the tale type, known as Hamupipöke királyfi ("The Cinderella Prince"), is "very popular" in Hungary, with 32 (thirty-two) versions recorded.[126]

In a Hungarian tale, Hamupipöke (in János Erdélyi's book),[127] Aschenbrödel (in Gottlieb Stier's translation (de))[128] or Cinder Jack, the youngest son acts kindly towards a frog and it rewards him with three rods, "of copper, silver and gold", with which to tame three horses that have been trampling his father's vineyard. The horses soon give him a feather with which to summon them to the boy's aid. Some time later, the king sets a challenge: he erects a high fir pole in front of the church and tied a golden rosemary; whoever gets it in one jump on horseback, shall marry the princess.[129] A very similar version, titled A szegény ember szőlője ("The Poor Man's Vineyard") was collected by Hungarian journalist Elek Benedek, and published in his compilation Magyar mese- és mondavilág.[130]

In another variant, Das Kupfer-, Silber- und Goldgestüt ("The Copper, Silver and Golden Studs"), a friendly mouse informs the youngest son how to tame the thre hordes of horses that have been trampling his father's crops. The youth manages to tame an animal from each herd (a copper horse, a silver steed and a golden stallion), and receives a whistle to summon each one of them. At the end of the tale, the three horses are used to drive the son's coach.[131]

The task of climbing the Glass Mountain appears as an episode in the Hungarian folktale of A három fiú, a tale of the ATU 303 type ("The Twins or Blood Brothers"): three poor brothers inherit, each of them, a lion, a bear and a wolf, and one of the brothers climbs up the Glass Mountain in copper, silver and gold garments.[132]

In the variant titled Hamupepejke, the youngest prince shares his food with a little mouse, which gives him a whistle in return. The neighbouring king announces an engagement challenge: whosoever is able to jump very high, reach the princess (sat on a throne) and receive three kisses, shall marry the princess. When his two older brothers take part in the challenge, Hamupepejke summons the little mouse, which gets him three horses, with copper, silver and golden horseshoes, respectively.[133]

In the similarly named Hamupepejke, in the first part of the tale, the youngest son hold a vigil at his father's grave, covering for his older brothers, and receives a copper bridle, a silver bridle and a wish-fulfilling horn.[134]

In the tale Az aranykőles ("The Golden Millet"), the king promises his sons that whoever finds out what has been eating his crops, shall have half of the harvest as reward. The prince finds out it is a herd of copper/silver/golden horses that graze his father's fields. A friendly mouse intructs the hero on how to tame a copper, silver and golden horse.[135]

In the tale Az elátkozott királykisasszony ("The Cursed Princess"), a king meets an old man, who tells him the extended backstory of a cursed princess, daughter of a powerful queen. The old man also advises the king on how to scale the Glass Mountain, where the princess is located: the king must ride a black/yellow/white horse and wear black/yellow/white robes, jump very high and obtain the princess's gifts (handkerchief, apple and ring) in three trials.[136]

The tale type is said to be quite popular in Estonia,[137] amounting to a number between 157 and 180 variants in Estonian archives.[138]

An Estonian variant, The Princess who slept for seven years, translated by William Forsell Kirby, begins with the Snow White motif of the princess in a death-like sleep. Her glass coffin is placed atop a glass mountain by her father, the king, who promises her daughter to any knight that can climb the mountain. A peasant's youngest son stands vigil at his father's grave and is given a bronze horse by his father's spirit.[139] The tale was first collected by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald in Ehstnische Mährchen (1869), with the title Wie eine Königstochter sieben Jahre geschlafen.[140] The tale was also translated as La Montagne de Verre by Xavier Marmier.[141]

In a Finnish tale from Karelia, Der Aschenhans (Tuhkimo), the youngest son of a farmer, called Tuhkimo ("The One of the Ashes"), prays at his father's grave for three nights and is rewarded for his filial piety with a copper-bridled black horse, a silver-bridled "water-grey" horse and a golden-bridled snow-white horse. Tuhkimo (or Aschenhans) uses the horses to reach the king's daughter, atop the tallest tower.[142][143] This tale also merges with ATU 675,"The Lazy Boy" or "At the Pike's Behest".

In another Finnish variant, Tytär kolmannessa linnan kerroksessa[144] or Das Mädchen im dritten Stockwerke der Hofburg ("The Girl in the Third Floor of the Castle"), a variant of the above,[145] the youngest son, Tuhkimo ("Aschenbrödel") visits his father's grave for three nights and receives a red horse with a "Sternblässe" (a star-like shape on its head), a gray horse with a "Mondblässe" (a moon-shaped patch on its head) and a black horse with a "Sonneblässe" (a sun-shaped mark). He uses them to reach the princess on the third store of the palace.[146]

In a third Finnish variant, Das Zauberroß ("The Magic Steed"), the dumb hero gets from the devil a magical horse that can make him a handsome knight. The youth, named Aschenhans, will try his luck when the king announces his daughter's hand in marriage for anyone who can reach her, inside a house atop a "hall three fathoms large".[147]

The tale type has also been collected from the Inari Sami. A variant was translated into English with the name The Poor Boy and the King's Daughter, where, after his father dies, the poor youngest son captures a golden horse and rescues the king's daughter from a mountain.[148]

In Sámi tale De tre brødre ("The Three Brothers"), a father's dying wish is for his sons to visit his grave for three night, but only Ruöbba, the youngest, respects his last will. As such, his father's spirit grants him a cane to open a hidden storehouse with a horse and splendid garments. Then, the king announces his daughter is sitting atop a mountain and a knight brave enough should ride or jump and reach her to allow her to mark an imprint of her ring in the knight's flesh.[149] Its collectors acknowledged it as a variant of the Norwegian tale.[150]

In a Lithuanian tale, Little White Horse, the youngest of three brothers stands vigil at midnight on his father's barley field and captures a magical, flying steed of a white color.[151] This tale was also collected by August Leskien with the name Vom Dümmling und seinem Schimmelchen.[152]

In other variants of the tale type, the hero tames three horses: in one version, the horse of the sun, the horse of the moon and the horse of the star; in another, three steeds with astronomical motifs on their bodies, and the first two are renamed "Sun-horse" and "Moon-horse".[153]

In addition, according to Professor Bronislava Kerbelytė, the tale type is reported to register 330 (three hundred and thirty) Lithuanian variants, under the banner The Princess on The Glass Mountain, with and without contamination from other tale types.[154] Another research indicates that the number is still high, but amounting to 254 (two hundred and fifty-four) variants.[155]

The work of Latvian folklorist Peteris Šmidts (lv), beginning with Latviešu pasakas un teikas ("Latvian folktales and fables") (1925-1937), recorded 77 variants of the tale type, plus another eleven in his annotations, all under the banner Ķēniņa meita glāžu kalnā ("The King's Daughter on the Mountain of Glass"). The tale is also said to record nearly 420 (four hundred and twenty) variants in Latvian archives.[156]

A version from Latvia was recorded and translated as The Princess on the Glass Mountain.[157]

In a Latvian variant collected in 1877, "Братъ дуравъ и его звѣри помощники" ("The foolish brother and his animal helpers"), the youngest brother, taken as a fool by his brothers, uses a silver horse, a golden goat and a diamond horse to climb up the mountain and retrieve a handkerchief and a ring for the princess.[158] In another variant, the foolish brother rides a silver horse on the first day, a golden horse on the second day and a diamond horse on the third day.[159]

In another Latvian variant, "Братъ дуракъ и отцовская могила" ("The foolish brother and his father's grave"), the foolish brother is the only one to visit his father's grave at night. For his efforts, his father's spirit gives him two sticks with which he can summon a shining horse of gold and diamond colors.[160]

Professor Stefania Ulanowska (pl) published a variant collected from Latgale, originally in Latgalian, titled Ap div bruoli gudri, trešš duraks (Polish: O dwu braciach rozumnych, trzecim durniu.; Engish: "About two smart brothers and the foolish third one"). In this version, the youngest brother visits his father's grave at midnight in his brothers' stead and his father's spirit gives him a copper, a silver and a golden horse. The father explictly tells his son that he would have given the copper and the silver horses for his elder sons, had they come.[161]

Variants have been attested in Spain with the name The Horse of Seven Colors (Catalan: Es cavallet de set colors).[162]

In a Portuguese variant, As Três Nuvens ("The Three Clouds"), the youngest son of a rich farmer goes to investigate a seemingly haunted property that belongs to his father. He takes his guitar with him and, before he sleeps, hits some notes on the strings, an event that disenchants three fairy maidens in the form of clouds: a black one, a "parda" (brownish) and a white one. When the king announces three tournaments, the youth summons the fairies, which grant him the armors and the horses.[163]

A scholarly inquiry by Italian Istituto centrale per i beni sonori ed audiovisivi ("Central Institute of Sound and Audiovisual Heritage"), produced in the late 1960s and early 1970s, found two variants of the tale across Italian sources, under the name La Principessa sulla Montagna di Cristallo.[164]

In a variant from Chechnya, Die Drei Brüder ("The Three Brothers"), a father asks his three sons to hold a vigil for him for three nights, each son on each night. On the first two nights, the oldest and the middle brother do not stay at their father's grave for the whole night out of fear. On the final night, the youngest son completes the vigil and witnesses the arrival of three horses: w black, a red and a white one. The youth tames the three horses and gains three horsehairs from each one. Later, a sovereign with three daughters orders his slaves to dig a deep ditch and erect three high platforms.[165]

In a Georgian variant, sourced as Mingrelian, The Priest's Youngest Son, a father's dying wish is for his three sons to read the psalter over his grave, one son on each night. However, only the youngest son appears and is rewarded with three horses. He later rides the horses to jump very high in order to kiss the princess on the castle's balcony.[166]

In an Avar language version collected by Anton Schiefner, Der schwarze Nart, the youngest prince heeds his father's request to pay his final respects on his grave for three nights. In the first night, the prince tames a "himmelfarbener Apfelschimmel" stallion ("a sky-coloured" gray horse); in the second, a red horse and in the third night a black steed. All animals give him a bit of horsehair to summon them. Later, the first horse is described as a "blue" ride, with blue ornaments, and he uses it to beat the challenge of the "King of the Occident": to jump very high and reach the princess on a tower.[167] Anton Schiefner also connected the tale to similar European variants of The Three Enchanted Princes, a folktype classified as ATU 552, "The Girls Who Married Animals".[168]

Philologist Adold Dirr (de) published an Armenian variant, Das Feuerpferd ("The Fire-Horse"), extracted from his book on Eastern Armenian language.[169] The youngest brother tames the titular Fire-Horse and in return learns a command to summon it. Later, the king invites the entire kingdom for a banquet and a challenge: to reach his daughter on the highest tower on horseback.[170]

A variant named The Three Brothers was recorded from West Virginia.[171]

Richard Dorson collected a variant titled Cinders in Michigan, from a man named Frank Valín: the princess waits at the top of the glass mountain with her photograph, and the bashful Tuhkimo, with the help of an old man, rides horses with silver, golden and diamond shoes to scale the mountain.[172]

Variants of the tale are attested and widespread in Latin-American traditions with the name The Horse of Seven Colors,[173][174] such as a homonymous Venezuelan version.[175]

A variant was collected from Tepecano people in the state of Jalisco (Mexico) by J. Alden Mason titled Fresadiila and published in the Journal of American Folklore. Despite not following the tale type to the letter, the youth Fresadilla captures the "caballo con siete colores" and later takes part in a rodeo as a mysterious horseman, to the delight of the crowd and admiration of his clueless brothers.[176]

Author Elsie Spicer Eells recorded a Brazilian variant titled The Three Horses: the youngest of three brothers tries to seek his own fortune and arrives at a kingdom where the royal gardens were being trampled by wild horses. He manages to tame the horses and gain their trust. In return, the steeds (one of a white color, another of a black color and the third of a sorrel tone) help him win the hand of the princess.[177]

Brazilian folklorist Sergio Romero collected a variant from Sergipe, Chico Ramela: the Virgin Mary, the hero's godmother, disguised as an old lady, instructs the titular Chico Ramela on how to free his elder brothers from the princess. Soon after, the ungrateful brothers take him as their servant and the trio reaches another kingdom. In this new place, the hero discovers and tames three horses.[178]

In another variant, from Minas Gerais, Os Cavalos Mágicos ("The Magical Horses"), by Lindolfo Gomes, the Virgin Mary gives the hero some items to use in his midnight watch for the three enchanted horses.[179]

Folklorist and researcher Berta Elena Vidal de Battini collected a variant from Neuquén Province (Argentina), titled El Caballo de Siete Colores ("The Horse of Seven Colors"): youngest son Manuelito traps a talking horse that has been eating his father's wheat crops, but frees him in exchange for the services of the horse. Manuelito's envious brothers try to kill the boy, but fail, thanks to the horse's protection. Later, Manuelito becomes aware of a princess in a city who will marry the man who can ride at full speed and grab an apple from the princess's hand.[180][lower-alpha 2]

Fréderic Macler collected a "Chaldéen" variant titled Le Testament du Roi ("The King's Will"). In this story, the king asks his sons to ensure that his coffin will not be disturbed after he is interred. His youngest son is the only one to pay heed to the king's request and, during three nights, stops three bandits from desecrating his father's corpse. The youth kills the bandits and steals their (red, black and white) garments and (red, black and white) horses. Later, he takes part in a horse-racing contest to win three brides for himself and his brothers.[181]

In an Iraqi folktale, collected by E. S. Drower, The Boy and the Deyus, a dying king has two wishes for his sons and daughters: one, to guard his tomb from any one who tries to profane his grave, and to marry his daughters to the first passerbys. The youngest son guards the tomb from three "deyus", one riding a "coal-black" mare in the first night, a second one on a red mare and a third on a white mare. The prince kills the deyus and takes the mares for himself. Meanwhile, the youth also marries his sisters to three passing "darwishes". Later on, the prince learns of a challenge set by a neighouring Sultan: he ordered a wide and deep ditch to be dug out and their daughters to be put there, until someone rescued them.[182]

An Indian variant was collected in New Goa, and its compiler remarked on the similarity of the tale to the Norwegian tale by George Dasent.[183]

Francis Hindes Groome stated that the Indian fairy tale The Monkey Prince was "strikingly identical" to the Polish-Gypsy version he collected.[184] In this tale, published by Maive Stokes, six cowives of a rajah eat birth-inducing mangoes, and the seventh eats a mango stone. The seventh queen gives birth to a monkey named Bandarsábásá, or Prince Monkey. In a neighbouring kingdom, King Jamársá promised his daughter, Princess Jahúran, to anyone who would lift a heavy iron ball and throw at the princess. The Monkey Prince tries his luck by removing his "monkey skin" in a remote part of the jungle and summoning a horse from the heavens. He tries his hand at the contest in the second visit, by hitting the verandah, and in third visit, hits the little toe of the princess.[185]

In a story published in The Indian Antiquary by Orientalist William Crooke, The Tale of Paṅchphúla Ráņi, a rajah dreams of a splendid garden and plans to make it a reality. Soon after its construction, some fairies of Raja Indra's court come by and take offense by the beauty of the garden; they send four demons (Red, Green, White and Black) to ravage the garden in the form of horses. The rajah's seventh son, the youngest prince, manages to defend the garden against the creatures and obtains from them a tuft of hair. Later, all seven princes travel to another country, where the princess Paṅchphúla Ráņi sets a challenge: her suitor should jump on the topmost roof of the palace, and also should strike her with a ball five times.[186]

Ethnologist Verrier Elwin collected a tale from Raipur district, titled The Youngest Son. The titular youngest son, the seventh prince, is tasked with guarding his father's crops of "every king of grain" after his older brothers fail. During his watch, he sees the seven horses of Bhagavan coming to eat the crops, but he manages to tame one of them. He later uses the divine horse to jump over the palace and win the princess of a neighbouring kingdom.[187]

Scholars Johannes Bolte and Jiří Polívka indicated that Burmese tale Le prince et les chevaux volants ("The prince and the flying horses") is another variant of the tale type.[188] In this tale, first collected in the "Maghi" dialect,[189] the youngest son (of seven half-brothers) captures flying horses that have been eating the king's mangoes in the garden. Later, the seven royal half-brothers travel to another realm, where the king announces that whoever can beat the princess in a series of horse-racing contests, shall marry her. The prince summons the flying horses to ride them in the contest.[190]

The tale type is reported to have reached even Indonesia: a variant titled Der wundertätige Vogel was collected from "Ceram" (Seram Island). In this story, a rajah has seven sons, the youngest with boils on his skin. The father tasks them with watching their fields at night from robbers, but only the youngest is successful: he discovers it was a bird. The bird pleads for his life and gives him one of his feathers that becomes a ring. Later, the seven brothers travel to another town where the local rajah promises his daughter for anyone who can jump vey high on a horse and reach her on the window of her room, located in the highest tower. The youngest drops the ring on a well and suddenly a white horse appears with white garments on the first day, a brown horse with brown clothes on the second day, a black horse with black clothes on the third day and finally a golden horse with golden clothes on the fourth day.[191]

Professor Jack Zipes states that the tale type inspired Russian poet Pyotr Pavlovich Yershov to write his fairy tale poem The Little Humpacked Horse: a young peasant, Ivan, befriends a white mare, which gives to the human two stallions and a humpbacked horse. The tale mixes motifs with tale type ATU 550, "Bird, Horse and Princess", and ends with the concluding event of variants of type ATU 531, "The Clever Horse" (hero bathes in vat of boiling milk or water).[192]

A literary treatment of the tale exists in The True Annals of Fairy-Land: The Reign of King Herla, titled The Princess on the Glass Mountain: a king captures a wild man that the young prince releases by accident. The prince escapes to another kingdom, where a king sets a challenge: he puts his obstinate daughter atop a tall glass mountain. The young prince is helped by the wild man, who gives him three equipments: a blue-shimmering steel armor, a silver suit of armor and a snow-white steed; and, lastly, a suit of golden armor.[193]

The tale was also published in a fairy tale compilation titled Swanhilde, and other fairy tales, by Catherine Norris Horwitz. In this version, a prince releases a "dwarf old man" his father captured and is exiled to another kingdom. When the other king announces the challenge of the Glass Mountain, the wild man guides the prince to his cave and gives him a steel armor and a bay horse, a diamond-sparkling silver armor and a black horse, and, finally, a golden armor and a white horse.[194]

Professor Jack Haney suggested that the theme inspired American writer Washington Irving, who wrote The Legend of Prince Ahmed al Kamel, or, The Pilgrim of Love, in his book Tales of the Alhambra. The story tells about an Arab prince who acquires a magical horse to compete in a tournament for the hand of a Christian princess of Toledo.[195][196]