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

Overview

The unnamed old woman in Massang’s tale is only a span high and carries a bundle no bigger than an apple. Asking for a taste of food makes the meal and cooking vessel disappear with her. Massang sees her climb to the clouds and squeeze water into the leaking pail he has provided.

Her small bundle contains catgut, iron pincers and an iron hammer. Massang secretly replaces these with hemp and wooden implements, then uses the originals against her in the three trials she proposes. Wounded, she flees into a rock cleft and dies above treasure. The companions identify her as a Schimnu. Contact with her corpse explains Massang’s years of sleep in this version, rather than demonstrating a general rule for all Schimnus.

Tiny Schimnu antagonistSource-specific narrative
01

Origins & earliest records

Kalmouk tale cycle as presented by Rachel Harriette Busk

02

Records & interpretation

Complete relevant tale or frame passages directly read in the 1873 textual witness.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Sagas from the Far East

    Rachel Harriette Busk, compiler and adapter · 1873

    Tale III, pp. 39–48

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

Rachel Harriette Busk, Sagas from the Far East (1873)

Saga of the Well-and-wise-walking Khan. Tale III, pp. 39–48

Full relevant narrative read from cached Gutenberg historical text; preface read for transmission limits. Primary evidence of this published adaptation, not proof of the described supernatural events. No modern translation quoted.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical literary adaptationBusk, Sagas from the Far East (1873), Tale III, pp. 39–48Research 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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