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Overview

In “The Three Orange-Peris,” a prince obtains three oranges with a devil’s help and is warned to open them only where water is available. He disregards the warning twice: each of the first two damsels appears, asks for water and vanishes when none is supplied. He opens the third beside a spring, gives her water and leaves her in a tree while fetching clothes and a carriage. The narration does not subsequently recover the first two fairies.

An impostor climbs beside the third Orange-Peri and pierces her head with a needle, turning her into a bird. Taking her place, the impostor persuades the prince that the sun has changed her appearance. The bird later visits his garden, asks after him and voices a warning while the trees she alights on wither. He has her caught with bird-lime. The impostor arranges to eat the bird by bribing a doctor to prescribe it, and the bird is killed.

One brilliant feather escapes notice between the floorboards. An older woman finds it and takes it home, where it becomes a girl in her absence, tidies the house and cooks before returning to feather form. The woman eventually catches her and hears her account, then brings the prince to meet her. He recognises the recovered Orange-Peri, puts the impostor to death and celebrates their union for forty days and nights. Her recovery is not caused by removing the original needle; the feather episode is essential to this telling.

Emergence from an orangeNeed for waterBird transformationReturn through surviving feather
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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 attached greeting footnotes read, with full edition preface.

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 Three Orange-Peris,” pp. 12–29; footnotes 4–5. London: A. H. Bullen. Preface dated July 1896 states use of Kúnos’s first Hungarian edition, 1889.

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, footnotes and edition frame read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. The Three Orange-Peris, pp. 12–29; footnotes 4–5

Full cache kunos-bain-2.txt, 23066 characters. Complete three devil households, three oranges, bird killing/feather survival, domestic revelation, reunion/punishment ending read. Notes4–5 merely translate greetings. Anatomy scoped to first mother; first two peris vanish, not stated killed. No original-language collation or artwork verification claimed.

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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/Bain 1901, The Three Orange-PerisResearch 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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