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

Overview

A sudden storm carries a princess from her garden to a cave in a sheer cliff. The narrative identifies its cause as the bird with nine heads. A youth who witnessed the abduction is lowered into the cave by another man and his companions. He finds the princess treating the bird’s wound: a heavenly hound had previously bitten off its tenth head. Thus the nine-headed form belongs to a creature whose tenth head has already been lost, rather than a stated unchanging anatomy.

The princess signals the rescuer to hide. After she washes and bandages the wound, all nine remaining heads fall asleep one after another. The youth then cuts them off with a sword. He sends the princess up first; she leaves halves of a hairpin and a silk kerchief as recognition tokens. The other man abandons him below and claims the rescue. Exploring the cave, the youth finds the remains of other captive maidens who had starved, as well as a nailed fish that becomes a young man when released.

The later dragon episode enables the rescuer to return, and the matching tokens eventually establish his claim; the false bridegroom is punished. This record follows the captor in this particular tale and does not merge it with Jiufeng or another named nine-headed being without further evidence. The collection’s note calls the story traditionally narrated but gives no individual teller or original-language creature name. Its reference to another tale numbered81 cannot be resolved within this volume’s74 numbered stories.

Abducts with a stormTenth head previously bitten offNine remaining heads sleep before being severed
01

Origins & earliest records

Chinese tales mediated by Richard Wilhelm and Frederick H. Martens

02

Records & interpretation

Complete tale and its attached source note read in the retained1921-edition transcription.

Selected bibliography

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

  1. 01

    The Chinese Fairy Book

    Richard Wilhelm, editor; Frederick H. Martens, translator · 1921

    The Bird with Nine Heads, pp.13–17; New York, Frederick A. Stokes Company

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.

Primary records and illustrations

Complete historical translated tale

Richard Wilhelm/Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book (Stokes1921)

Nursery Fairy Tales. The Bird with Nine Heads, pp.13–17

Full tale and ending/source note read in29939.html/wilhelm-martens1921.txt, title/copyright/preface checked. No independently verified Chinese textual antecedent; source-specific identities retained.

Inspect the digitized plate · Source collection manifest

References

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

  1. Historical translated taleWilhelm/Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, The Bird with Nine Heads, pp.13–17Research 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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