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

Overview

In “The Stag-Prince,” a woman jealous of the ruler’s wife pushes her into the palace fountain, where a great fish immediately swallows her. She remains alive inside it and gives birth to a son. When her transformed brother calls from the bank, she answers and describes the child in her arms. Their exchange reveals the deception to the ruler, who drains the basin and cuts open the fish to recover his wife and baby.

The stag then finds an unspecified substance in the fish’s blood; swallowing it restores his human form. No species, personal name, speech or intention to protect the woman is assigned to the fish, and its fate after being opened is not narrated. Its extraordinary bodily capacity and connection with the restoration belong to this one tale rather than to observed fish biology.

Living human occupantsBirth inside fishRevelation through swallowed womanTransformation-ending blood episode
01

Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through a Hungarian and then English publication

02

Records & interpretation

Complete English tale, attached glossary footnotes, title, preface and contents directly read.

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 the Hungarian version) · 1901

    “The Stag-Prince,” pp. 1–11; footnotes 2–3. London: A. H. Bullen. Preface dated July 1896, pp. v–viii, says Bain used the first Hungarian Török Népmések edition of 1889. This is not a direct Turkish-to-English translation.

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, relevant footnotes and edition frame read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. The Stag-Prince, pp. 1–11; footnotes 2–3; preface v–viii

Master kunos-bain.html/.txt, full chapter kunos-bain-1.txt. Actual 1901 title distinguished from July1896 preface and 1889 Hungarian source. Footnotes only gloss Padishah/emperor and peri/fairy; source-language originals not collated. Full transformation, tree healing, fish childbirth/restoration, violent punishment and family reunion read. Final four Romanian tales clearly separated in contents and excluded from this Asian source batch.

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/Bain, Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales (1901), The Stag-PrinceResearch access: 2026-10-05
  2. Edition and contributor metadataProject Gutenberg catalog: Kúnos, Bain and Levetus editionResearch 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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