A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.
Overview
The woman resembling a prince’s beloved marble statue lives in a magician’s house. A beggar fears that the absent magician will eat him if he returns; this is the beggar’s apprehension, not a narrated act of cannibalism. The elder prince tricks the woman aboard his ship by offering mirrors and takes her away despite her distress. Her father eventually reaches the royal household in the role of a physician.
After the elder prince has been petrified by telling forbidden warnings, the physician demands the blood of the younger king’s two children. The mother refuses, but the king has them killed while she attends a ball and uses their blood to restore his brother. The mother then finds her children apparently dying. Challenged by her, the physician sends her back, and she finds them alive and noisy. He reveals that he is her magician father and presents the ordeal as a lesson in parental love. The family reconciles; the tale supplies no broader account of his training, age or magical ancestry.
Origins & earliest records
Thomas Frederick Crane, Italian Popular Tales (1885), XVII, In Love with a Statue, pp. 85–88; identified source: Comparetti 29, L’Innamorato d’una Statua.
Records & interpretation
The creature is described in the specified historical English tale. Its actions belong to this account, rather than to a general species definition.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Italian Popular Tales: XVII, In Love with a Statue, pp. 85–88
English witness; source attribution: Comparetti 29, L’Innamorato d’una Statua. Original-language collection not independently collated.
Family, evolution & connections
The magician’s daughter and her children — Crane XVII
The complete main telling, pp. 85–88; later summarized comparative versions are excluded.
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- His unnamed daughter
- Her two unnamed children (collective)
Explicit father declaration and mother–children statements establish two generations. The daughter and two children are unnamed; child genders and birth order are unstated. The black bird is not expressly the magician in another shape. Later variant healing sequences and donors are not blended into this family.
The abducted woman who resembles the statue
After restoring her children, the physician explicitly identifies himself as the magician and the woman’s father. Her earlier abduction by the prince is distinct from this stated parentage. The black bird is not explicitly identified as the father’s transformed body.
His daughter’s two unnamed children
The woman is identified as mother of the two children and as the magician’s daughter. This supplies the maternal-grandfather relationship. Their killing and restoration belong to this version; no names, genders or further descendants are supplied.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary historical literary collectionCrane, Italian Popular Tales (1885): XVII, In Love with a Statue, pp. 85–88Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.