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

Overview

At the top of the feather ladder the travellers reach an enormous cave closed by a great stone. After the Woodpecker opens its small swivel mechanism, a huge monster appears as the Rabbit Prince is about to enter. Two horns rise from its head, each bearing a human head. Eyes cover its body from head to foot, all glaring at the prince with green light.

The princess draws out the long feather that gave her bird form and built their ladder. She thrusts it into the monster’s face, whereupon it disappears like smoke. The company passes safely through to the inhabited country beyond the cave. This brief appearance supports a precise form and obstacle-removal episode, but the tale gives it no personal name, origin, speech or later return.

Two hornsHuman head on each hornBody covered in eyesGreen eye-lightVanishes after feather strike
01

Origins & earliest records

Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake collected and arranged the English children’s retelling. No individual episode narrator is named. Preface community claims and chapter labels are retained as evidence about the publication, not substituted for current community self-description.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete V. The Rabbit Prince, printed pp. 43–57, read through the ending; title, preface and chapter label checked.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Fairy Tales from South Africa

    Sarah F. Bourhill and Beatrice L. Drake, collectors and arrangers · 1908

    V. The Rabbit Prince, pp. 43–57; published English literary arrangement for children.

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.

Located primary passages

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

Primary source witness

Sarah F. Bourhill (Mrs. E. J. Bourhill) and Beatrice L. Drake (Mrs. J. B. Drake), Fairy Tales from South Africa, London: Macmillan, 1908; selected original title page and complete headed tales in PG75833. Arranged for children; introduction pp.v–xi attributes principally Swazi, also Zulu and border-region contributions, with Shining Princess attributed to Mapoch. Individual narrators for these selected tales unnamed. Historical colonial framing is not current community consensus.

  1. At the upper cave a monster appears with two horns, each bearing a human head, and eyes across its body. It is not described as an ordinary two-headed human or a one-eyed giant.

    V, p.50; threshold form

  2. The princess drives the feather into its face and it disappears. The couple proceeds through the cave to her homeland. The verb of disappearance does not establish a corpse, permanent death or later return.

    V, pp.50–51; removal

Selected historical arrangement, not unmediated original-language oral testimony. Individual contributor not named; no separate manuscript inspected. Original facsimile not visually inspected in this batch.

References

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

  1. Collected historical tale in an English literary retellingBourhill and Drake — V. The Rabbit PrinceResearch 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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