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

Overview

In “The World’s most Beauteous Damsel,” Earless is summoned by the aged guardian of the larger garden belonging to the Demon of Autumn. The prince sees a shrivelled, huddled creature compared to a toad, explicitly lacking both eyes and ears. Initially it appears as small as a worm, yet it carries him on its back and covers an ocean’s breadth in three leaps. The account supplies these comparisons and capacities without naming a natural species or explaining a change in its size.

Earless warns its passenger not to speak whatever he hears or sees, then vanishes near a marvellous garden. The prince enters and plucks a cluster of fifty singing pomegranates, provoking a terrible outcry. Earless is waiting again at the gate, urges him to flee and carries him beyond the ocean in a couple of leaps, returning him to the old guardian. That guardian explains the wedding-night vigil needed to secure the pomegranates’ favour. Earless receives no further fate or family history in the account; the later marriage and succession concern its human passenger.

No eyes or earsToadlike comparisonImmense leapsSpeech and escape guidance
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Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through Hungarian and English publication

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Records & interpretation

Complete English tale and ending read, with its attached footnote where present.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

    Ignácz Kúnos (collector); R. Nisbet Bain (translator from Hungarian) · 1901

    “The World’s most Beauteous Damsel,” pp.154–165. London:A.H.Bullen,1901. Complete English tale; no attached footnote.

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

Complete English narrative and ending read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. The World’s most Beauteous Damsel, pp.154–165

Complete kunos-bain-13.txt,14791characters, no footnote. All three grateful-animal tasks, two garden guardians, Earless journey, fifty singing pomegranates, wedding-night vigil and final succession read. Guardian’s promised protection distinguished from later demonstrated rescue. Heroine compared with Peris, not explicitly classified as one.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical English folktale translation through HungarianKúnos/Bain1901, The World’s most Beauteous DamselResearch 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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