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

Overview

In “The Golden-Haired Children,” an enemy repeatedly sends a brother into the realm of the Queen of the Peris by persuading his sister to demand her treasures. With a Mother of Devils’ advice he first obtains a branch covered in singing birds, then a mirror showing the whole world. He survives the second journey by assisting the doors, animals and furnaces along his route; they consequently refuse or are unable to obey the voice ordering his capture. The text does not separately identify that commanding voice.

The third quest is for the queen herself. The young man passes earlier seekers turned into stones and calls her name three times before her palace, becoming stone progressively until the transformation is complete. She restores him with water drawn from a diamond fountain into a golden saucer, challenges his intrusion and then agrees to leave with him. At his request she sprinkles the other stones too, releasing all the petrified men. The source calls her Queen of the Peris but does not print a personal name for his summons.

Back with the siblings, she becomes the brother’s partner and directs the encounter with their father, who does not yet know them. She summons her Lala to fetch her own father’s horse and uses its neighing to time the young man’s departure from a royal visit. Meanwhile she rescues the siblings’ mother from the earth where she was punished and restores her youth. She then commands a magnificent palace and garden to replace their hut and arranges a feast that reveals the family’s identities. The mother’s recovery is not explicitly a resurrection from a narrated death.

The reunion ends with forgiveness for the mother’s sisters and punishment of the woman who substituted puppies for the infants. The queen’s earlier petrification of suitors is not erased by her later aid. Her father is mentioned but unnamed; his horse’s origin is not evidence that every animal of the fairy realm shares its abilities.

Petrification of seekersRestorative fountain waterMagic branch and mirrorFamily reunion
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Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through Hungarian and English publication

02

Records & interpretation

Complete English tale, its footnote and edition preface 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 Hungarian) · 1901

    “The Golden-Haired Children,” pp. 53–73; footnote9 glosses Lala as counsellor. London: A. H. Bullen. English through the Hungarian1889 edition, as stated in the July1896 preface.

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 tale and attached footnote read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. The Golden-Haired Children, pp. 53–73; footnote9

Full cache kunos-bain-5.txt,27041characters. All infant substitution/goat fosterage, three quests, actual petrification/release, horse timing, mother recovery and final differentiated punishments read. Boy/sister humanmarkedchildren notnewrace; servantnotautomaticallyJinn. Mother’s death notnarrated, king final “as if turned to stone” onlysimile. Originals/printedscans uncollated.

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 Golden-Haired ChildrenResearch 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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