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Overview
The mother of the ogress queen first shelters seven human princesses in her household, where her husband later eats one of their own daughters after the visitors exchange clothes with the children. Years later, a son of one escaped princess reaches her carrying a death letter written by the queen but secretly replaced with a request that he be protected and given medicine.
Initially speaking of the approaching boy as meat, the Rākshasī instead feeds and lodges him after reading the altered letter. She identifies a tree whose juice restores sight and gives him a packet of it; he returns and heals the seven queens. The tree is unnamed, the means is a narrative remedy, and no practical treatment is established. The tale supplies no final death for this mother.
Origins & earliest records
Sri Lankan narratives collected and translated by H. Parker
Records & interpretation
Complete tale and all its printed variants/comparative notes read; relevant introduction passages on collection and translation directly read.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
No. 48, The Seven Princesses, pp. 270–275; comparative variants and notes pp. 275–278
Family, evolution & connections
The ogress queen’s parents in The Seven Princesses
Parker’s main tale No. 48, distinct from his comparison notes.
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- Rākshasa father and Rākshasī mother (joint parents)
- Six other daughters (group; one accidentally eaten)
Explicit household parentage and the daughter’s mother-addressed letter. Seven daughters are distinct from the seven human princesses. One daughter is accidentally eaten; no daughter names are supplied. The main tale does not give the queen an external-life bird or narrate her death.
Rākshasī queen in The Seven Princesses
The queen’s murderous letter addresses her mother; the later substituted message makes the same mother protect the messenger. This is a named-tale relationship, not a genealogy of all Rākshasīs.
Primary records and illustrations
Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon, Volume I
Volume I. No. 48, The Seven Princesses, pp. 270–275; comparative variants and notes pp. 275–278
Full principal narrative and all comparative notes read. Raksasa parents and daughter kept distinct; magical blinding is her own action, not a royal order. Missing death/external-soul ending not imported from cited Punjabi, Bengali or Kashmiri parallels.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Historical collected oral narrative translationParker, Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon I — No. 48, The Seven Princesses, pp. 270–275; comparative variants and notes pp. 275–278Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.