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Overview

Three brothers take turns serving an old man whose only instruction is to follow his sheep. The two elder brothers stop at a swift river and lose their wages. The youngest follows the flock into the water; the current strips his clothes and withers his flesh, but the lambs breathe on him and give him a finer body.

The flock leads him past a series of strange sights: starving cattle in rich pasture, fat cattle on barren ground, naked sparrows crying, dogs that never stop fighting, a woman endlessly bailing a lake, and clear water pouring from a dead dog's mouth. They end in a beautiful garden, where he shoots a feather from a white pigeon.

The master then explains the journey in Christian moral terms. He names the sheep as angels and good teachers, and the river as the water of life and renewal. He reveals that he was the pigeon and restores a missing finger with the feather. Because the youth chose heaven over gold, he is given a sack of gold anyway.

Leads the servant safely through a swift, flesh-stripping riverRestores his body by breathing on himGuides him through a sequence of symbolic moral scenes to a garden
01

Origins & earliest records

Translated tale XVIII, The Baa-Lambs, pp. 90–94, with a note citing Kriza xiv, in Jones and Kropf's 1889 edition.

02

Records & interpretation

Directly read in the Project Gutenberg public-domain translation; the identification of the lambs as angels is the master's interpretation within the story.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    The Folk-Tales of the Magyars

    W. Henry Jones and Lewis L. Kropf (translators and editors); collected by Kriza, Erdélyi, Pap and others · 1889

    Selected bibliography; tale XVIII, The Baa-Lambs, pp. 90–94, with note on Kriza xiv.

Family & connections

A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.

References

Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.

  1. Public-domain primary translationThe Folk-Tales of the Magyars (plain text)Research access: 2026-10-07
  2. Catalogue recordThe Folk-Tales of the Magyars (catalogue record)Research access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

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