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

Overview

When the future Muchie Ranee weeps beside a river, her tears fall into the dwelling of an old seven-headed cobra. He speaks to her, recognizes the Fish Prince as an enchanted human and gives her the three stones that will restore him. This is a named episode in Anna Liberata de Souza’s tale, not an identification with a particular pan-Indian Nāga king. The cobra’s seven heads are explicit; his wife and children are not separately assigned that anatomy.

The same cobra later sees the woman pushed into the river by her stepsister, carries her on his back and brings her into his home. Its two entrances connect the river and dry land. He and his wife shelter her, and her son Muchie Lal grows up playing with the young cobras. Treasure from the dwelling supports the household and the child’s repeatedly replaced bangles. Their care also has a restriction: the cobra refuses to let her wander alone in search of her husband and insists that the husband come to fetch her.

A bangle-seller finally guides the searching prince to the dwelling. Once he arrives, the cobra consents to the family’s departure and gives them costly gifts; his wife and children lament losing their companions. The woman’s address to him as Father Cobra expresses this protective relationship rather than biological parentage. Bartle Frere’s appended discussion of people handling snakes is separate editorial material, and it ends with a boy’s fatal bite. Neither that discussion nor the fictional rescue establishes that real venomous snakes are safe companions.

01

Origins & earliest records

Told by Anna Liberata de Souza and collected in English by Mary Frere; introduction and notes by Bartle Frere.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete selected tale, attached footnote and related endnote read; title, introduction, collector apology and narrator autobiography with all referenced notes checked.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends Current in Southern India

    Anna Liberata de Souza, narrator; Mary Frere, collector; Bartle Frere, introduction and notes · 1870

    XIX, Muchie Lal, pp.258–267; footnotes83–86 and endnote342–343; Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co. Complete tale and attached/source notes read.

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 XIX258–267 and all notes83–86/endnote342–343 read; full collection and narrator prefatory materials previously checked.

Old Deccan Days; or, Hindoo Fairy Legends Current in Southern India

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott & Co.,1870. XIX, Muchie Lal, pp.258–267; footnotes83–86 and endnote342–343

Caches frere1870-19.txt, frere1870-notes19.txt and frere-deccan-1870.html. Fish father distinct son Muchie Lal; cobra rescue, restrictive shelter, bangle-seller discovery and permission/gifts ending retained. No original-language collation.

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References

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

  1. Historical collected oral narrative in EnglishOld Deccan Days — XIX, Muchie Lal, pp.258–267; footnotes83–86 and endnote342–343Research access: 2026-10-06

Image credits

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

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