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

Overview

A white bird lives alone in a magnificent palace beyond successive coloured doors. He promises to recover a missing goat if its keeper marries him; the youngest of three sisters accepts. At a festival she admires a handsome rider on a dappled grey horse, unaware that he is her husband in human form.

Following an old woman’s advice, she burns his cage, perch and feathers. He explains that his soul was also in the cage. Her attempt to free him by working continuously at a mother-of-pearl door fails when her eye closes momentarily, and the gods and demons carry him away to serve as their water-carrier.

She finds him with a bundle of boots worn out by this labour. At his direction she rebuilds the cage and calls his soul back into it, allowing him to return permanently. The story does not identify the bird’s zoological species or supply a personal name, and its final restoration differs from the earlier failed effort to force a permanent human appearance.

Bird-form supernatural spouseSource-specific narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Kalmouk tale cycle as presented by Rachel Harriette Busk

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale or frame passages directly read in the 1873 textual witness.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Sagas from the Far East

    Rachel Harriette Busk, compiler and adapter · 1873

    Tale VII, pp. 89–96

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.

Primary records and illustrations

Direct primary record

Rachel Harriette Busk, Sagas from the Far East (1873)

Saga of the Well-and-wise-walking Khan. Tale VII, pp. 89–96

Full relevant narrative read from cached Gutenberg historical text; preface read for transmission limits. Primary evidence of this published adaptation, not proof of the described supernatural events. No modern translation quoted.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical literary adaptationBusk, Sagas from the Far East (1873), Tale VII, pp. 89–96Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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

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