Crow-Peri in Kúnos and Bain

Overview

In “The Crow-Peri,” a young fowler spares a captured crow after she promises him a more valuable bird. She directs him to sell the beautiful replacement to the Padishah, whose jealous favourite then persuades the ruler to impose dangerous tasks on the seller. The crow advises him to obtain ivory by filling elephants’ drinking trenches with wine. She next designs a ship with a garden, attendants and a bath-house, and directs him to entice aboard only the queen of forty Peris. The ship sails while the queen bathes, carrying her unwillingly to the ruler who subsequently marries her. The crow’s assistance thus includes abduction as well as protection of the fowler.

When the queen falls gravely ill, the fowler must retrieve medicine from her own palace. The crow gives him a feather that makes its two guarding lions harmless when he touches their mouths. The palace Peris provide the drug; after it heals their queen, she recognises the crow as her own servant, whom she had transformed for negligence. Forgiveness immediately restores the servant as a beautiful damsel. At the queen’s request she marries the fowler, who becomes Vizier after the malicious favourite’s banishment. This located transformation does not make every crow a Peri, and the initial beautiful bird is a different creature, not the servant’s second disguise.

Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through Hungarian and English publication

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 Crow-Peri,” pp. 134–142. London: A. H. Bullen, 1901; English through the Hungarian collection, not direct source-language collation.

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

References

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

1. Historical English folktale translation through HungarianKúnos/Bain 1901, The Crow-PeriResearch access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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