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

Overview

Malik Mahmad and Sultan Mahmad are twin sons born to Malik Ahmad’s youngest wife after she and her husband eat a dervish’s pomegranate. The dervish later claims the elder under an agreement made before their birth. Warned by a vanishing greybeard that his escort intends to kill him, Malik Mahmad kills the dervish first. He rides through the blood-stained spring and emerges golden, together with his horse. His golden body remains living and vulnerable: villagers must rescue him from a snowstorm.

When a gazelle-woman defeats and imprisons him, the ring he gave Sultan Mahmad slips from his brother’s finger as a signal of distress. The younger brother crosses the same spring and also becomes gold. He follows the greybeard’s advice to overcome the woman and revives his brother with the bottle she supplies. Sultan marries her; Malik returns to his earlier wife. Despite the villagers’ speculation that Malik may be a peri, the narration presents the brothers as human-born twins transformed by the spring, not an independently named supernatural species.

Twin brothers whose bodies become goldSpecific translated narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Bakhtiari storytelling, Iran

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale read in original 1919 scan transcription, including ending; contents and body title difference retained.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Persian Tales

    D. L. R. Lorimer and E. O. Lorimer, collectors/translators · 1919

    Bakhtiari tale XXXII, The Story of the Two Golden Brothers, pp. 212–219; contents: The Gazelle Maiden and the Golden Brothers

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

Direct primary record

D. L. R. and E. O. Lorimer, Persian Tales (Macmillan, 1919)

Bakhtiari tales. Bakhtiari tale XXXII, The Story of the Two Golden Brothers, pp. 212–219; contents: The Gazelle Maiden and the Golden Brothers

Entire pp.212–219 read in retained scan OCR. Bodies become gold after birth; villagers’ peri speculation is not the narrative’s identification. Gazelle transformation and differentiated twin actions retained.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical collected narrative in translationOriginal 1919 edition of Persian TalesResearch 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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