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

Overview

Looking into the mirror obtained through the Serpent-Peri summons an efrit whose lips reach respectively to heaven and earth. He asks the wood-cutter’s son for commands, supplies a banquet, creates a palace and then transports the Padishah’s daughter to join him. This particular manifestation is attached to a mirror, not a lamp, and has no stated three-wish limit. The historical translation’s racialised description accompanies a fantastic supernatural servant; it is not evidence about the appearance or character of any human population.

An old woman sent to retrieve the princess infiltrates their household and steals the mirror. The efrit obeys her instead, taking the two women to the princess’s father and reducing the young man’s palace to ashes. When he finds his beloved again as a kitchen servant, the old woman uses the mirror to exile him a second time. Three mice eventually recover it, allowing him to summon splendid clothing, a horse and an army. The ruler yields both daughter and kingdom; the old woman is handed over to the efrit, but her precise punishment is not described. The couple retain the mirror at the conclusion. The efrit’s compliance with different possessors should not be recast as personal loyalty to the original recipient.

Mirror summonsEnormous lipsPalace creation and destructionTransport and army provision
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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 Serpent-Peri and the Magic Mirror,” pp.176–187. London:A.H.Bullen,1901; complete English account, 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 Serpent-Peri and the Magic Mirror, pp.176–187

Complete cache kunos-bain-15.txt,15097characters, no footnote. Moving cypress, swallowed elephant, tempest bath, mother’s mirror, abducted princess, old woman’s theft, cook reunion, repeated exile, mouse retrieval, army and final kingdom all read. Serpent helper called brother as life-saving relationship, not biological kin. No original-language or image collation.

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References

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

  1. Historical English folktale translation through HungarianKúnos/Bain1901, The Serpent-Peri and the Magic MirrorResearch 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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