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

Overview

To earn a horse from the mountain stable, the prince must keep its owner’s mare and foal for three nights. Whenever he falls asleep while mounted, he awakens on a tree trunk holding an empty bridle. Their owner has secretly ordered successive refuges: fish, foxes and wolves. The mare and foal adopt matching adult and young forms in each community.

The prince calls upon a fish, fox and wolf whom he previously rescued. Each identifies the hidden pair, allowing him to recover them in horse form. The mare speaks when its owner angrily questions the failed concealment, explaining that these animal helpers have betrayed the refuge. The episode links transformation with the guarded service test, while the separate stable horses provide the final reward.

Mare and foal change togetherFish, fox and wolf formsMare speaks to its owner
01

Origins & earliest records

Woislav M. Petrovitch, Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians, Chapter XIV.IX, printed pp. 276–279. First publication August 1914; inspected imprint lists November 1916 and December 1921 reprints. Earlier oral and Serbian-language witnesses remain separate research questions.

02

Records & interpretation

Entire selected tale read in two consecutive bounded sections, including the final horse exchange and the dragon’s death. Narrated forms belong to this witness; actual illustrations have not yet been visually matched.

In the literature

“her foal into a cub”
Woislav M. Petrovitch · Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians
Chapter XIV IX, p.278; second-night form · Woislav M. Petrovitch

The prince must guard the mare and her foal for three nights to earn a chosen horse; failed servants’ heads surround the yard. The mare and foal disappear while he sleeps, first becoming a fish and a small one, then fox and cub. Animal allies whom the prince previously helped reveal their hiding places. The reward horse is a distinct stable animal, not identified as this foal.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians, XIV.IX: The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens, pp. 276–279

    Woislav M. Petrovitch; preface Chedo Miyatovich; illustrators William Sewell and Gilbert James · First publication 1914; selected imprint lists December 1921 reprint

    Primary selected text and imprint read. No unpublished narrator or earliest origin date inferred.

  2. 02

    Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians

    Woislav M. Petrovitch, English prose presenter/translator; Vuk Stefanović Karadžić credited in catalogue for underlying collected material · 1921

    Woislav M. Petrovitch, Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians, London: George G. Harrap; selected December1921 reprint of first August1914 edition, November1916 reprint recorded. Complete Chapter XIV IX The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens, pp.267–280, independently read in original English prose rendering; original Serbian source not independently inspected.

Family, evolution & connections

The changing mare and her foal

Chapter XIV IX, pp. 277–279.

The foal explicitly follows its mother, through their coordinated changes of form. Forms are not descendants. The prince’s reward horse is a separate selection and is not stated to be the foal; the mare’s owner is not her mother. Historical English retelling, 1921 reprint of the 1914 publication.

Petrovitch, Hero Tales (1921 reprint), XIV IX, pp. 277–280
Documented · canonical kinship

The mare’s foal in The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens

The foal follows its mother. Both change to fish, foxes and wolves, preserving the same parent–child pair. The separately selected reward horse is not identified as this foal.

Petrovitch, Hero Tales (1921 reprint), XIV IX, pp. 277–280

Located primary passages

Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.

Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians

Woislav M. Petrovitch, Hero Tales and Legends of the Serbians, London: George G. Harrap; selected December1921 reprint of first August1914 edition, November1916 reprint recorded. Complete Chapter XIV IX The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens, pp.267–280, independently read in original English prose rendering; original Serbian source not independently inspected.

  1. The prince must guard the mare and her foal for three nights to earn a chosen horse; failed servants’ heads surround the yard. The mare and foal disappear while he sleeps, first becoming a fish and a small one, then fox and cub. Animal allies whom the prince previously helped reveal their hiding places. The reward horse is a distinct stable animal, not identified as this foal.

    Chapter XIV IX, The old Woman and her Horses, pp.276–278; guarded mother and young

  2. On the third night the mare appears among wolves as a she-wolf, her foal as a wolf cub. The grateful wolf helps recover them. The old woman beats the mare for being found on each occasion, and after the third return must honour the promised choice. The transformations belong to this mother/foal pair, not every horse in the stable.

    Chapter XIV IX, pp.278–279; wolf form and completed service

Specific tale; first work1914 distinguished from selected1921 reprint. Original Serbian source and individual oral narrator not independently established. No sacred formula excerpted.

References

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

  1. Primary textPetrovitch: The Golden Apple-tree and the Nine Peahens, complete taleResearch 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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