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

Overview

The Serpent-Peri in Kúnos and Bain’s tale is found trying to swallow an elephant whose tusk has lodged in its throat. Both animals appeal to a passing wood-cutter’s son, but the youth accepts the serpent’s offer of the easier task and greater reward: he chops off the tusk, enabling it to swallow the elephant. On the journey to its mother’s house the serpent bathes in a spring, accompanied by an immense thunderstorm that ceases when it emerges. It tells the youth not to accept refreshments but to request a small mirror hanging near the door. Introducing him as a brother, it explains that he saved its life; the mother reluctantly gives him the mirror. The narrator explicitly calls the serpent a Peri but describes no transformation into a human. Its role ends before the mirror’s separate efrit carries out the subsequent wishes, and the swallowed elephant is not restored.

Elephant swallowingStorm during bathingReward through mother’s mirrorLife-saving rather than biological brotherhood
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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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