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

Overview

The first monster in “The Cinder-Youth” is explicitly three-faced. It diverts a girl carrying dinner and swallows her whole when she reaches its household. Her two elder brothers are likewise swallowed after failing a sequence involving bread, wine, two bridges and sweet or bitter apples. The account alternates between a wife and a mother as the female figure who lures victims; it does not establish that these kinship terms denote a single woman.

The youngest brother completes the tests and meets the devil in a contest of lances. He breaks the monster’s weapon and strikes it, causing its first soul to leave through its nose. The monster demands another blow, but the youth refuses; its last soul then departs. He pursues the devil’s wife and cuts both bodies open, whereupon all three siblings appear alive. The text states neither three heads nor a fixed total of three souls, and the later devil beneath the well is a separate opponent.

Three facesSwallowed living victimsDeparture of first and last soulsDefeat in lance combat
01

Origins & earliest records

Turkish storytelling collected in Anatolia, through Hungarian and English publication

02

Records & interpretation

Complete English tale and final comparative footnote read, preserving separate opponents and journeys.

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 Cinder-Youth,” pp. 84–96; footnote10 compares the flesh-offering incident with Bird Zhar and Bird Mogol tales. London: A. H. Bullen. English through Hungarian1889, as stated in 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 comparison note read

Turkish Fairy Tales and Folk Tales

Ignácz Kúnos / R. Nisbet Bain; London: A. H. Bullen, 1901. The Cinder-Youth, pp. 84–96; footnote10

Complete cache kunos-bain-7.txt,16609characters. Full three-faceddevil/wife rescue, separatewelldevil, betrayedbrother, blackramdescent, nestrescue and bothAnkajourneys, restoredthigh/finalkingdommarriage read. Firstflightnohumanflesh; whiteascentonlyprincessprediction. Simurghrawunchanged, regionalbirdnotassertednewuniversalidentity. No original-language/artworkcollation.

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 Cinder-YouthResearch 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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