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Overview
The ferryman encounters Storm-wind as a youth riding a grey horse. He requests fine clothes for his intended bride and promises to answer a spoken call in return. Further on, Frost appears as a grey-haired but vigorous old man, asking for gifts for his daughter’s wedding to Storm-wind. Their prospective father-in-law and son-in-law connection is explicit; they are not brothers or a single changing figure.
When the sea-maiden approaches the ferryman’s bait of clothes and jewels, he calls both helpers. Storm-wind blows until her silver boat overturns. Frost breathes upon the sea until it freezes, enabling her capture. The ferryman does not battle or defeat either helper: gifts secure their assistance. Their intervention serves a coercive capture in this particular narrative, while the wedding they mentioned remains offstage. The tale supplies no wind wings, ice weapons or separate animal body for either figure.
Origins & earliest records
Polish Fairy Tales, translated from A. J. Gliński by Maude Ashurst Biggs (1920), The Good Ferryman and the Water Nymphs, pp. 53–68.
Records & interpretation
The selected English tale supplies the transformation, actions and ending. Biggs’s preface explicitly acknowledges considerable shortening of her source.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Polish Fairy Tales: The Good Ferryman and the Water Nymphs, pp. 53–68
Complete selected English narrative and translator’s preface. No individually named oral contributor provided; original Polish text not collated.
Family, evolution & connections
Frost’s daughter — Biggs
Complete pp. 53–68 narrative; encounter p. 61.
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- Frost
- Unnamed daughter, intended bride of Storm-wind
Frost explicitly identifies his daughter. Mother unnamed. Intended Storm-wind marriage is not depicted as completed. Storm-wind and Frost are not inferred biological brothers; the grouped profile remains a pair of helpers.
Frost’s unnamed daughter
Frost says his daughter is to marry Storm-wind. Her parentage is explicit, but the story does not narrate the wedding or supply her mother. The two male helpers are not called brothers.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary historical shortened literary translationGliński/Biggs 1920: The Good Ferryman and the Water NymphsResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.