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Overview

A poor girl finds a ladder along her garden cabbage stalk descending into a splendid underground palace. It supplies food and a bed whenever she secretly visits. Her suspicious mother follows one night, lifts the bedclothes with a candle and discovers a beast beside her. Three drops of grease fall on it, transforming it into a prince who says the intervention has broken his spell and prevented their marriage.

He gives the girl iron shoes and a staff, telling her to return when the shoes are worn away. After prolonged travel she finds him engaged to another princess. Golden objects obtained on her journey purchase three nights near him, but sleeping draughts prevent him from hearing her first two appeals. Informed by a valet, he discards the third draught and recognizes her.

At the planned wedding he poses a comparison about recovering a lost original key after making a replacement. The other princess’s father favors the original; the prince reveals the girl’s history and marries her instead. The beast’s initial species and bodily features are not described, and the cabbage stairway does not establish that he is a plant spirit.

Underground palaceUnspecified beast formCandle-grease transformationIron-shoe separation questRecognition after third vigil
01

Origins & earliest records

Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese Folk-Tales, translated from the original manuscript by Henriqueta Monteiro, London: Elliot Stock for the Folk-Lore Society, 1882; tale XX, pp. 81–85. The selected account does not identify an individual narrator or collecting locality.

02

Records & interpretation

The located 1882 English translation presents this figure within a complete collected narrative. Pedroso’s introductory pp. 1–2 describe the thirty published selections from his larger collection.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Portuguese Folk-Tales XX: The Cabbage Stalk, pp. 81–85

    Collected by Consiglieri Pedroso; translated by Henriqueta Monteiro · 1882

    Located complete narrative in the original London edition; Ralston’s comparative introduction is separate commentary.

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. Primary textPortuguese Folk-Tales, original 1882 edition scan and transcriptionResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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