Blind Cave Witch of the Abandoned Children

Overview

The cave witch enters a story already shaped by deliberate parental abandonment. A hunter brings home two partridges daily, dividing one between his children and keeping the other for the parents. His wife wants a whole bird for each adult and proposes losing the children. Their daughter first defeats the plan by leaving a trail of nuts. On the second attempt their father tells them to wait until a rock moves; after three days without food, the girl finds a cave whose blind occupant is baking flat loaves. She removes the finished bread unseen and feeds herself and her brother for another three days. Blindness permits the initial theft, but does not prevent the occupant hearing intruders.

When the girl returns for more bread, her brother insists on coming despite her warning that the woman will eat them. She asks him not to laugh. He nevertheless laughs inside the cave, and the woman hears him. She commands the door to shut; it closes by itself. Having captured the pair, she confines and feeds them until they become fat, then sends them to collect firewood. The cave combines an ordinary bread-making occupation with an extraordinary obedient door and a threat of eating children. Stumme’s German translation calls the occupant a witch.

A speaking dove finds the children weeping during the firewood errand and advises them about the oven. Returning, they wait while their captor lights it and then push her inside. She dies, and they leave to wander. The story continues with a separate spring that changes the brother into a dove, a king who restores him through its water, and the sister’s marriage. The brother ultimately succeeds the king. The oven death is final within this witness; the later water transformation belongs to the spring episode rather than the dead woman’s actions.

Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 1, Die Geschichte von zwei Kindern und einer Hexe: complete German translation pp. 71–73, transcribed Tashelhit text pp. 1–2. Preface pp. v–vi identifies Abdulla Ben Mhammed as the dictating contributor and explains Leipzig collection/publication circumstances.

Records & interpretation

Complete German translation and neighbouring tale boundary read, with original first-page and Preface v/vi pixels checked. Original-language transcription is present but not claimed as an independent linguistic translation here. Child restoration and royal conclusion read through p. 73. The distant folktale setting is not mistaken for the collector’s Leipzig recording location.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt

   Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Hans Stumme, recorder and German translator · 1895

   Tale 1: whole German pp. 71–73; original transcription pp. 1–2; collector/contributor context Preface pp. v–vi.

Family & connections

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References

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

1. Primary collected Tashelhit transcription with German translationOriginal 1895 bilingual collection: Two Children and a WitchResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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