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Overview

A hermit lends the horse to the Green Prince in exchange for a share of youth-giving water. It grazes on the fairies' silken meadow and can fly. It knows where the prince's stolen sisters live. When it drives their devil husbands home from hunting rabbits, the devils are terrified because they know it as a persecutor of their kin.

The horse coaches the prince to bargain for an invisibility plaid, a waking ring and a sword, then carries him to the fairy queen's palace and grazes overnight. At the well it warns that the gourd must touch the water before its own hooves do, or both horse and rider will die. Following its instructions, the prince succeeds, and the horse helps free all three sisters.

The restored hermit gives the horse to the prince for good, mentioning that he has a similar foal hidden away. Later, in the paternity ordeal, the piebald leaps high and plunges with its rider into boiling lead without harm.

Piebald horse that speaks and flies, though the tale does not give it wingsKnows the timing rule for drawing water from the fairies' well safelySurvives a dive into boiling lead together with its rider
01

Origins & earliest records

Known here from tale LI of the 1889 Jones and Kropf translation of a multi-compiler Magyar collection. The teller is not identified.

02

Records & interpretation

Tale LI, The Fairies' Well, pp. 288–297.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Folk-Tales of the Magyars

    Collected by Kriza, Erdélyi, Pap and others; translated and edited by W. Henry Jones and Lewis L. Kropf · 1889

    Selected bibliography; primary English translation (tale LI, The Fairies' Well).

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.

References

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

  1. Public-domain primary translationThe Folk-Tales of the Magyars (Project Gutenberg plain text)Research access: 2026-10-07
  2. Catalogue recordThe Folk-Tales of the Magyars (Project Gutenberg catalogue record)Research access: 2026-10-07

Image credits

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