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Overview
Mogarzea directs his rescuer to a lake where three fairies are said to live, while admitting that he has not seen it himself. The youth’s flute draws one dazzling fairy with golden hair and costly clothes. Twice he stops playing in astonishment and she vanishes. On the third day he keeps playing as he approaches, then embraces and kisses her and takes the rose from her head.
She begs in great distress for the flower’s return. He refuses and puts it in his hat, after which she follows him. Their marriage follows his continuing refusal to restore it; the tale does not portray an unconstrained original courtship. They settle in Mogarzea’s father’s kingdom and return to the lake every May to bathe their children. No wing theft, fish-tail, named species or regained rose is narrated. The three fairies’ existence is introduced through Mogarzea’s report, whereas only this bride appears in the youth’s encounter.
Origins & earliest records
Roumanian Fairy Tales, collected by Mite Kremnitz, adapted and arranged by J. M. Percival (New York: Henry Holt, 1885), Mogarzea and His Son, pp. 62–69.
Records & interpretation
Complete selected English narrative through annual bathing visits and the kingdom’s division. The preface assigns tale 6 to P. Ispirescu’s collection.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Roumanian Fairy Tales: Mogarzea and His Son, pp. 62–69
Preface assigns tale 6 to P. Ispirescu. Complete English adaptation; Romanian original not collated.
Family, evolution & connections
Mogarzea, his adopted son and the fairy’s children
Complete English adaptation, pp. 62–69; royal father, permanent adoption, subsequent marriage and children.
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- Mogarzea’s unnamed royal father
- Unnamed orphan — adopted son, husband of the Milk Lake fairy
- Their unnamed children, number unspecified
Explicit parentage and adoption statements; node labels distinguish biological descent from adoption. Mogarzea’s father, orphan and children are unnamed; child count is unspecified. Adoption is not biological descent. The fairy’s coerced capture precedes marriage. The three soul-stealing elves have no stated kinship, and the fairies are not stated sisters. Romanian originals have not been collated.
Her unnamed orphan husband and their children
The fairy marries the orphan after he takes and withholds her rose. Their subsequent children are explicit, but unnamed and uncounted. The coercive beginning is retained rather than presented as an unqualified courtship.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary historical English adaptationKremnitz/Percival 1885: Mogarzea and His SonResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.