The Three Winged Princesses of the Brazen Mountain

Overview

Three winged young women descend to a lake and remove their garments and wings to bathe. A concealed prince steals the youngest sister’s wings. The elders fly away as birds to fetch replacements, while he offers to return the stolen pair if she marries him. She agrees on condition of immediate return, but he postpones it until after the church ceremony. Once he gives them back, she fastens them to her shoulders and flies away. The text does not name their bird species.

The searching prince acquires a magical whip, travelling boots and an invisibility cap. At the Brazen Mountain he forces information from a sorcerer-miller and rides unnoticed on flour that the sisters hoist to their summit palace. The elder sisters weave gold while the youngest confides her regret at leaving the husband whom she says she loves. He removes his cap and embraces her. She supplies wings for him, and both fly to his parents’ kingdom. This later return is separately narrated after the original coercive theft.

Appendix Note IV explicitly calls the tale freely translated and much shortened, with the miller’s dialogue altered and extended pious reflection omitted. This English narrative supports the sisters’ actions and reunion but is not an unabridged rendering of Gliński’s original.

Origins & earliest records

Polish Fairy Tales, translated from A. J. Gliński by Maude Ashurst Biggs (1920), The Princess of the Brazen Mountain, pp. 69–78.

Records & interpretation

The selected English tale supplies the transformation, actions and ending. Biggs’s preface explicitly acknowledges considerable shortening of her source.

Selected bibliography

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

1. 01

   Polish Fairy Tales: The Princess of the Brazen Mountain, pp. 69–78

   A. J. Gliński; Maude Ashurst Biggs, translator; Cecile Walton, illustrator · 1920

   Complete selected tale plus Appendix Note IV, p. 96; especially free translation, shortening and changed miller conversation explicitly acknowledged.

Family, evolution & connections

Three sisters of the Brazen Mountain

Complete English telling, pp. 69–77; literal sisterhood and youngest sister’s marriage.

Explicit sister statements, relative elder/youngest labels and completed wedding. Parents and personal names are unstated. Wing theft and conditional release precede the wedding; the later reunion does not erase that coercive beginning. No offspring or kinship with the miller, birds or monkeys is supplied. Appendix Note IV expressly describes this English version as freely translated and shortened, with the miller conversation changed.

References

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

1. Primary historical shortened literary translationGliński/Biggs 1920: The Princess of the Brazen MountainResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.