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Overview

The fairy explains that a tigress with seven heads inhabits a distant mountain. The relationship is functional rather than genealogical: her own death depends on defeating that beast and obtaining the egg inside it. She says that possession of the egg would let the tigress regain its life and heads, preserving her own survival. No wings, fiery breath, children or specific tiger colour appear in the selected passage.

The rescued-maidens’ helper takes lion form and fights across successive days, severing six heads before resting two days ahead of the final struggle. As the heads are lost, the fairy grows weaker. When the last head falls, the dead beast disappears and its egg rolls into the sea. A dog-fish that the youth earlier helped retrieves it. The account then turns to the fairy’s defeat; it does not show the tigress restored or independently identify it with a named traditional tiger deity.

Seven headsContains fairy’s life-ending eggHead loss weakens fairyDisappears after defeat
01

Origins & earliest records

Crane, Italian Popular Tales (1885), VI: The Cloud, printed pp. 30–35. The story list identifies Domenico Comparetti, No.32, La Nuvolaccia, from Pisa. The full selected English tale has been used; no individual oral narrator is named in that presentation.

02

Records & interpretation

The selected tale provides this figure’s stated form, speech or supernatural action and its narrative outcome. Crane’s preface acknowledges changes of tense and omitted repetitions; this English presentation is distinguished from independently inspecting its underlying regional collection.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Italian Popular Tales, VI: The Cloud, pp. 30–35

    Thomas Frederick Crane, translator/compiler; source Domenico Comparetti, No.32, La Nuvolaccia, from Pisa · 1885 English edition

    Complete selected tale, including its final resolution; nearby editorial comparisons remain separate.

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.

References

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

  1. Primary textCrane1885: VI: The Cloud, story list and prefaceResearch 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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