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Overview
The travelling maiden takes shelter successively with mothers of the south, north and north-east winds. Each woman hides her in a wooden chest. Their sons arrive noisily, whistle or blow, and detect human flesh or blood. The mothers calm them and explain the visitor’s search rather than allowing an attack.
The south wind directs her toward the north wind and advises wetting her iron boots so that they will wear away. The north wind passes her onward. Only the north-east wind knows the distant tower: he supplies the three-day route and the crucial instructions for catching the largest crow without releasing its wings. He then blows out of the hut. Their separate mothers are identified, but the text does not establish that the three winds are brothers.
Origins & earliest records
Consiglieri Pedroso, Portuguese Folk-Tales, translated from the original manuscript by Henriqueta Monteiro, London: Elliot Stock for the Folk-Lore Society, 1882; tale XXVI, pp. 105–110. The selected account does not identify an individual narrator or collecting locality.
Records & interpretation
The located 1882 English translation presents this figure within a complete collected narrative. Pedroso’s introductory pp. 1–2 describe the thirty published selections from his larger collection.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Portuguese Folk-Tales XXVI: The Prince who had the Head of a Horse, pp. 105–110
Located complete narrative in the original London edition; Ralston’s comparative introduction is separate commentary.
Family, evolution & connections
Three separate wind households - Pedroso XXVI
The south, north and north-east Winds and the mothers in their separate homes.
Scroll sideways to see all branches. With a keyboard, focus the tree and use the arrow keys.
- Separate households (no shared ancestor asserted)
- South Wind’s unnamed mother
- South Wind
- North Wind’s unnamed mother
- North Wind
- North-east Wind’s unnamed mother
- North-east Wind
Each maternal branch follows an explicit mother-and-son exchange. The top heading groups selected households, not a common ancestor. The mothers are unnamed. No father or sibling relationship between the three winds is stated, and the maiden is a visitor, not a daughter.
South Wind’s unnamed mother
The south Wind has his own mother in the successive household visited by the searching maiden (p. 108). These separate mother-and-son scenes do not establish that the three winds are brothers.
North Wind’s unnamed mother
The north Wind has his own mother in the successive household visited by the searching maiden (p. 109). These separate mother-and-son scenes do not establish that the three winds are brothers.
North-east Wind’s unnamed mother
The north-east Wind has his own mother in the successive household visited by the searching maiden (p. 109-110). These separate mother-and-son scenes do not establish that the three winds are brothers.
The four brother winds in Dasent’s East o’ the Sun tale
Dasent’s East, West, South and North Winds explicitly address one another as brothers. Pedroso instead visits South, North and North-east Winds in separate maternal households without saying they are siblings. Kinship from the Norwegian telling is not transferred to the Portuguese one.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary textPortuguese Folk-Tales, original 1882 edition scan and transcriptionResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.