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

Overview

The boy and his sister are twice abandoned by parents who want to keep the hunter’s daily food for themselves. A trail of nuts laid by the sister lets them return after the first abandonment. The second leaves them waiting in the wilderness for a rock to move. She steals bread from a blind cave baker; when the boy insists on accompanying her and laughs, the woman discovers and confines them. A speaking dove advises the children’s successful escape through the bread oven. This adviser appears before the brother becomes a bird.

After the captor’s death, the siblings wander to a spring whose water turns drinkers into doves. The brother drinks and takes dove form. His sister continues to a king’s palace and makes the king’s proposed marriage conditional on bringing back her brother. Asked where he is, she identifies the dove sitting on the royal house. The king catches the bird, asks the sister where it drank, and learns that the transformation happened at a desert spring. He takes the dove there and throws it into the water; it emerges as a human.

The restored boy returns with the king to his sister and gives his consent to their marriage. The wedding lasts seven days. Both siblings remain at the court until the king dies, when the brother is made king. Drinking and being thrown into the same spring have opposite effects in the narrated sequence: one changes the boy into a bird, the other restores him. The earlier advising dove and the transformed brother therefore have distinct roles and appearances in the episode.

Dove transformationSpring waterReversal by return to waterHuman restorationLater kingship
01

Origins & earliest records

Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 1, Die Geschichte von zwei Kindern und einer Hexe: complete German translation pp. 71–73, transcribed Tashelhit text pp. 1–2. Preface pp. v–vi identifies Abdulla Ben Mhammed as the dictating contributor and explains Leipzig collection/publication circumstances.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete German translation and neighbouring tale boundary read, with original first-page and Preface v/vi pixels checked. Original-language transcription is present but not claimed as an independent linguistic translation here. Child restoration and royal conclusion read through p. 73. The distant folktale setting is not mistaken for the collector’s Leipzig recording location.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt

    Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; Hans Stumme, recorder and German translator · 1895

    Tale 1: whole German pp. 71–73; original transcription pp. 1–2; collector/contributor context Preface pp. v–vi.

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 collected Tashelhit transcription with German translationOriginal 1895 bilingual collection: Two Children and a WitchResearch 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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