''The Sleeping Prince'' is a Greek

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

collected by in ''Folktales of Greece''. It is Aarne-Thompson 425G: False Bride takes the heroine's place as she tries to stay awake; recognition when heroine tells her story. This is also found as part of ''

Nourie Hadig Nourie Hadig is an Armenian fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and m ...

'', and a literary variant forms part of the frame story of the ''

Pentamerone The ''Pentamerone'', subtitled ''Lo cunto de li cunti'' ("The Tale of Tales"), is a seventeenth-century Neapolitan fairy tale collection by Italian poet and courtier Giambattista Basile. Background The stories in the ''Pentamerone'' were collec ...

''. The tale type was also closely related to AaTh 437, "The Supplanted Bride (The Needle Prince)". However, the last major revision of the International Folktale Classification Index, written in 2004 by German folklorist

Hans-Jörg Uther Hans-Jörg Uther (born 20 July 1944 in Herzberg am Harz) is a German literary scholar and folklorist. Biography Uther studied Folklore, Germanistik and History between 1969 and 1970 at the University of Munich and between 1970 and 1973 at the Uni ...

, reclassified the tale type as ATU 894, "".

Synopsis

A king had only his daughter, his wife having died, and had to go to war. The princess promised to stay with her nurse while he was gone. One day, an eagle came by and said she would have a dead man for a husband; it came again the next day. She told her nurse, and her nurse told her to tell the eagle to take her to him. The

third day Third Day was a Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia during the 1990s. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee (both of whom were the only constant members) and Billy Wilkins. Drummer David Carr was the ...

, it came, and she asked; it brought her to a palace, where a prince slept like the dead, and a paper said that whoever had pity on him must watch for three months, three weeks, three days, three hours, and three half-hours without sleeping, and then, when he sneezed, she must bless him and identify herself as the one who watched. He and the whole castle would wake, and he would marry the woman. She watched three months, three weeks, and three days. Then she heard someone offering to hire maids. She hired one for company. The maid persuaded her to sleep, the prince sneezed, and the

maid A maid, or housemaid or maidservant, is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era domestic service was the second largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids ...

claimed him. She told him to let the princess sleep and when she woke, set to tend the geese. (The fairy tale starts to refer to the prince as the king.) The king had to go to war. He asked the queen what she wanted, and she asked for a golden crown. He asked the goose-girl, and she asked for the millstone of patiences, the hangman's rope, and the butcher's knife, and if he did not bring them, his ship would go neither backward nor forward. He forgot them, and his ship would not move; an old man asked him if he had promised anything, so he bought them. He gave his wife the crown and the other things to the goose-girl. That evening, he went down to her room. She told her story to the things and asked them what she should do. The butcher's knife said to stab herself; the rope, to hang herself; the millstone, to have patience. She asked for the rope again and went to hang herself. The king broke in and saved her. He declared she was his wife and he would hang the other on the rope. She told him only to send her away. They went to her father for his blessing.

Analysis

Richard MacGillivray Dawkins Richard MacGillivray Dawkins FBA (24 October 1871 – 4 May 1955) was a British archaeologist. He was associated with the British School at Athens, of which he was Director between 1906 and 1913. Early life He was the son of Rear-Admiral ...

described that the "essence" of the tale type involves the heroine being destined to marry "a dead man", which is not dead at all. The prince, in fact, is under a magical sleep in a room in a castle somewhere. The heroine finds him and stays by his side on a long vigil. The heroine hires a maid or slave to help her in the long vigil, but she replaces the heroine and takes credit for awakening the prince. At the end of the tale, the prince, now back to life, is asked by a broken heroine to bring her ("almost always") three objects: a knife, a rope to hang herself with and a stone of patience.

Variants

Greek scholars Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou locate variants of type AaTh 425G in Greece, Turkey, Southern Italy, Sicily, Spain, North Africa (among the Berbers) and even in Poland. Israeli professor Dov Noy ( de) reported that the tale type 894 was "very popular in Oriental literature", with variants found in India, Iran, Egypt and regionally in Europe (southern and eastern). As for type 437,

Richard Dorson Richard Mercer Dorson (March 12, 1916 – September 11, 1981) was an American folklorist, professor, and director of the Folklore Institute at Indiana University. Dorson has been called the "father of American folklore"Nichols, Amber M.Richard M. ...

stated that it appears "sporadically in Europe", but it is "better known in India". Indian scholar A. K. Ramanujan states that the tale type is known in Europe as "The Needle Prince".

Europe

Scholars

Ibrahim Muhawi Ibrahim Muhawi (born 1937, ar, إبراهيم مهوي) is a Palestinian academic and writer, specializing in Palestinian and Arabic literature, folklore and translation. He is a member of the Palestinian diaspora.Ibrahim Muhawi,’Translation and ...

and Sharif Kanaana stated that "in European tradition" type AaTh 894 is found in association with the story of "The Sleeping Prince". Professor Jack V. Haney stated that type 437 is more common in

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

, but "uncommon" in

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

Italy

A Sicilian variant was collected by

Laura Gonzenbach Laura Gonzenbach (1842–1878) was a fairy-tale collector of Swiss-German origins, active in Sicily, who collected fairy tales told orally in the local dialects. Gonzenbach was born in a Swiss-German community based in Messina, to a German-speaking ...

with the title ''Der böse Schulmeister und die wandernde Königstochter'' ("The Evil Schoolmaster and the Wandering Princess").

Greek

According to scholars Anna Angélopoulos and Marianthi Kaplanoglou, the tale type AaTh 425G (now included in the general subtype ATU 425A after 2004) is the "most widely disseminated subtype in Greece, with 118 versions". In another Greek variant, ''The Knife of Slaughter, the Whet-stone of Patience and the Unmelting Candle'', a girl is broidering when a bird chirps that she is to marry a "lifeless man". One day, she enters a neighbouring house and sees the body of a prince holding a letter in his hand, telling for someone to hold a vigil for three nights, three days and three weeks. Nearing the end of the vigil, she takes in a gypsy as a companion, who takes the credit for the vigil. After the prince and the gypsy marry, she asks the prince to bring her the titular items: the Knife of Slaughter, the Whet-stone of Patience and the Unmelting Candle.

Spain

Hispanist located a Spanish tale he numbered as type *445B (a number not added to the revision of the international index, at the time). In this story, the princess holds a vigil on a king that will only awake on St. John's Day. She buys a slave woman for company, who takes her place at the king's bed and passes herself as his saviour. The despondent princess asks the prince to bring her two objects: a hard stone and the branch of bitterness. The king learns these are objects requested by people who are on the verge on taking their own lives. Scholars Wolfram Eberhard and Pertev Naili Boratav considered this story so close to the Turkish tales that they believed it to be a version that developed locally.

Armenia

According to Armenian scholarship, Armenia also registers similar tales about the heroine's confession to the object of patience. In Armenian tales, the object is called ''Sabri Xrcig'' or ''Doll of Patience'', related to the cycle of stories called ''Le Prince endormi'' ("The Sleeping Prince"). Professor Susan Hoogasian-Villa collected two variants from Armenian tellers in Detroit. In the first, titled ''Saber Dashee'', during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, a girl loses her way from her family and enters an abandoned house. Inside, a man under a cursed sleep, on whom she has to bear ten years on a vigil. She gets replaced by a gypsy girl, who marries the prince after the vigil. The heroine asks for the ''Saber Dashee'' and pours out her story to it. In a second story, ''The Dead Bridegroom'', the trees and the river predict that a girl will marry a dead man. The girl enters a palace that locks behind her, then sees a man in a cursed-like sleep. Hoogasian-Villa noted that it follows very closely the outline of the first variant.

Albania

In an

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

n tale published by

Lucy Garnett Lucy Mary Jane Garnett (1849–1934) was a folklorist and traveller. She is best known for her work in Turkey. She also translated Greek folk poetry. See also *''Turkey of the Ottomans'' References

English folklorists Women folklorist ...

with the title ''The Maiden who was Promised to the Sun'', a queen prays to the Sun to give her one daughter, and the Sun agrees, with the condition that she relinquishes the girl to him when she is of age. It does happen and the girl is taken to the Sun. At the Sun's abode, there lives a Koutchedra (

kulshedra The kulshedra or kuçedra is a water, storm, fire and chthonic demon in Albanian mythology and folklore, usually described as a huge multi-headed female serpentine dragon. The kulshedra is believed to spit fire, cause drought, storms, floodi ...

) that hungers to devour the maiden. She escapes with the help of a stag and returns home (tale type ATU 898, " The Girl Promised to the Sun"). In the second part of the story, the girl enters a garden and opens a locked gate that closes itself behind her. She discovers the petrified body of a prince and she decides to release him from this curse, by holding a vigil for three days, three nights and three weeks without sleeping. Nearing the end of the trial, and feing tired, she hires a slave woman to continue the vigil in her place, when the girl with reassume her position by the prince's side. The slave woman ends up replacing the princess as the man's saviour and marries him. The girl laments her fate to the "Stone of Patience" and the prince overhears her story.

Lithuania

Lithuanian folklorist , in his analysis of Lithuanian folktales (published in 1936), listed one variant of type *446 (a type not indexed in the international classification, at the time), under the banner ''Miegas karalaitis'' ("The Sleeping Prince"). In the only recorded tale, the princess finds the coffin of the sleeping prince and a note to hold a vigil for three nights.

Latvia

According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, in type 437, ''Neīstā līgava'' ("The False Bride"), the heroine helps break the curse on the whole kingdom, until a girl comes and takes the credit for the deed. The true heroine asks the prince to bring her a stone or a doll, to which she tells her story.

Asia

Turkey

According to Dov Noy, the Turkish Folktale Catalogue (''Typen türkischer Volksmärchen'', or ''TTV'') by

Wolfram Eberhard Wolfram Eberhard (March 17, 1909 – August 15, 1989) was a professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley focused on Western, Central and Eastern Asian societies. Biography Born in Potsdam, German Empire, he had a strong f ...

and

Pertev Naili Boratav Pertev Naili Boratav, born Mustafa Pertev (September 2, 1907 – March 16, 1998) was a Turkish folklorist and researcher of folk literature. He has been characterized as 'the founding father of Turkish folkloristics during the Republic'.Arzu Öztür ...

registered 38 variants in the country. In their joint work, the Turkish tales were grouped under type TTV 185, . In a Turkish variant collected by folklorist

Ignác Kúnos Ignác Kúnos (originally ''Ignác Lusztig;'' 22 September 1860, in Hajdúsámson, Hungary – 12 January 1945, in Budapest, Hungary) was a Hungarian linguist, turkologist, folklorist, a correspondent member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. ...

with the title ''Stone-Patience and Knife-Patience'', a poor woman's daughter stays at home when a bird chirps that "death" is her ''kismet'' ('fate', 'destiny'). The situation repeats itself, to the mother's concern. She decides to let her daughter walk a bit with the neighbour's daughters to put her mind at ease. When walking with the girls, a huge wall rises out of the ground to isolate the poor woman's daughter from the other, who return to the village to inform the old woman of the occurrence. Back to the girl: she finds a door on the wall, opens it and is transported to a grand palace. The girl opens all doors, filled with treasures and gems, and behind the fortieth door, lies a

Bey Bey ( ota, بك, beğ, script=Arab, tr, bey, az, bəy, tk, beg, uz, бек, kz, би/бек, tt-Cyrl, бәк, translit=bäk, cjs, пий/пек, sq, beu/bej, sh, beg, fa, بیگ, beyg/, tg, бек, ar, بك, bak, gr, μπέης) is ...

on a bed holding a note that says a damsel must stay by his side for 40 days to find her kismet. So she decides to follow the note. Time passes, the girl meets a black woman outside of the palace and brings her in to help her vigil. The Bey awakes, sees the black girl and thinks she is his saviour. At the end of the tale, the girl asks the Bey to bring her a stone-of-patience of a yellow colour and a knife-of-patience with brown handle. She gets both items: she tells her woes to the stone, but chooses the knife. The Bey appears in the nick of time to stop her attempt.

Iran

German scholar reported 22 variants of tale type 894, ''Der Geduldstein'', across Iranian sources. In a Persian tale collected by

Emily Lorimer Emily Overend Lorimer OBE (10 August 1881-June 1949), also published as ''E. O. Lorimer'', was an Anglo-Irish journalist, linguist, political analyst, and writer. Life Emily Martha Overend was born in Dublin on 10 August 1881, the daughter of ...

and

David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer Lieutenant-Colonel David Lockhart Robertson Lorimer CIE (24 December 1876 in Dundee – 26 February 1962) was a member of the British Indian Army, a political official in the British Indian government and a noted linguist. The Indian Politic ...

, from Kermani, ''The Story of the Marten-Stone'', a king's daughter finds a castle with a sleeping prince inside, his body covered with needles. She begins a long and strenuous vigil, picking each needle for the next 40 days and 40 nights. After her slave girl replaces her as the prince's saviour, she asks for a marten-stone to pour out her woes to.

Uzbekistan

In an Uzbek tale titled "Горючий камень" ("The Burning Stone"), a girl named Rose Bloom is fetching flowers, when she follows a trail deep into a mansion. Inside it, there lies the body of a man, all riddled with pins. The girl extracts each pin carefully, until she begins to get tired. She hires a servant girl from a passing caravan to continue the vigil on him. The man wakes up and mistakes the servant girl for Rose Bloom. At the end of the tale, Rose Bloom asks the prince to get her a burning stone: she plans to tell her sorrows to the stone until it bursts into a pyre, and intends to throw herself into it.

India

Ramanujan states that the story is combined in India with a local version of the ''King Lear'' judgment, indexed as type AT 923B, "The Princess Who Was Responsible for Her Own Fortune". In a tale from New Goa, collected in the

Konkani language Konkani () is an Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Konkani people, primarily in the Konkan region, along the western coast of India. It is one of the 22 scheduled languages mentioned in the Indian Constitution, and the official language of ...

, ''The King of Pins'', a princess gives alms to a beggar lady. In return, the lady prays that the maiden will marry the "King of Pins". Her interest piqued, the princess asks around the location of this prince. When she reaches her destination, she enters a fabulous palace and enter a room. Inside, there is a prince in a coma-like state, his body prickled by pins from head to toe. The princess then begins to take out the pins. Unfortunately, she falls asleep, and a "wicked black woman" appears to finish her job. When all pins are taken out of his body, he awakens and sees the black woman instead of princess, thinking her to be his saviour. India-born author

Maive Stokes Maive S. H. Stokes (20 November 1866 - 3 December 1961) was an author. Life Maive Stokes was born on 20 November 1866 to Whitley Stokes and Mary Bazely in Shimla, then under British India. Her grandfather is William Stokes and Margaret Stokes ...

collected and published the Indian tale
The Princess who Loved her Father like Salt
'. In the first part of the tale, three princesses are asked a question about how much they love their father - akin to

King Lear ''King Lear'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It is based on the mythological Leir of Britain. King Lear, in preparation for his old age, divides his power and land between two of his daughters. He becomes destitute and insane an ...

's judgment or tale type

ATU Atu may refer to: * Atu, a character in Samoan mythology * Atu Bosenavulagi, an Australian rules footballer * Atu, Iran, a village in Iran * Atu Moli, New Zealand rugby union player * Atu'u is a village on Tutuila Island, American Samoa ATU may re ...

923, "Love Like Salt". After the princess is banished by her father to the jungle, she finds a palace deep within the jungle. Inside lies a prince in a deep sleep, his body prickled by needles. She begins the task of carefully taking each needle, one by one, until one day she purchases a slave girl to keep her company. Maive Stokes compared this tale to a Sicilian variant collected by folklorist

, with the name ''Der böse Schulmeister und die wandernde Königstochter'' ("The Evil Schoolmaster and the Wandering Princess"). In a Central Indian tale collected from a Bharia in

Mandla Mandla is a city with municipality in Mandla district in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative headquarters of Mandla District. The city is situated in a loop of the Narmada River, which surrounds it on three sides, and ...

and titled ''The Sister'', a princess with seven brothers receives a prophecy by an astrologer: she will marry a corpse. She and her brothers later find a house in the jungle. Inside, there lies the body of a man with innumerable pins on it. The princess holds a vigil on the man, is replaced by a slave and buys a doll to be her confidant. Indian scholar

A. K. Ramanujan Attipate Krishnaswami Ramanujan (16 March 1929 – 13 July 1993) was an Indian poet and scholar of Indian literature and Linguistics. Ramanujan was also a professor of Linguistics at University of Chicago. Ramanujan was a poet, scholar, ...

collected a

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

tale titled ''The Dead Prince and the Talking Doll''. In this tale, the heroine (a king's daughter) is predicted by a beggar to have a dead man as husband. The king decides to avert this fate for his daughter and departs from the kingdom. Meanwhile, the story takes a turn to explain how a prince from a neighbouring kingdom fell deathly ill and seemed to die, so his father put his body in a bungalow outside his kingdom, only to be accessed by his destined bride. The action returns to the first king and his family: they pass by the bungalow and his daughter enters it, the door closing behind her. She discovers the body of the prince and holds a long, 12 year vigil on him. The girl longs for a female companion and an acrobat girl appears outside the bungalow. She contorts herself and enters the building. Some time later, a bird chirps outside that the time of the vigil is at an end and the girl should take the leaves from a certain tree, make a juice out of it and give it to the prince. The acrobat girl obeys the bird's instructions and passes herself off as the prince's saviour, making the princess her servant. Later, the princess asks the prince for a talking doll, to whom she tells her story, and the prince overhears it. Ramanujan cited it as an example of "woman-centered folktale".Ramanujan, A. K.
A Flowering Tree: A Women's Tale
. In: ''Syllables of Sky: Studies in South Indian Civilization''. Oxford University Press, 1995. pp. 21, 39. .