The Children with the Golden Locks (German: Die Kinder mit dem Goldschopf;Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Märchen. Jena: Verlegt bei Eugen Diederichs. 1920. pp. 42–45. )Грузинские народные сказки [Georgian Folk Tales]. Сост., вступит, статья, примеч. и типолог. анализ сюжетов Т. Д. Курдованидзе. Book 2. Moskva: Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1988. pp. 147-150 (Tale nr. 96). is a Georgian folktale. It is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children".Hoogasian-Villa, Susie. 100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1966. p. 493. These tales refer to stories where a girl promises a king she will bear a child or children with wonderful attributes, but her jealous relatives or the king's wives plot against the babies and their mother.
Summary A widowed man remarries. His new wife convinces him to abandon his three daughters. The father draws the three girls to the woods under the pretence of gathering apples. The man digs up a hole in the ground and covers it with a sheet. He climbs up the tree and beckons his daughters to come near the apple tree. The three sisters fall into the hole, and their father returns home.
Deep in the hole, they begin to feel hungry and the elder and middle sisters offer themselves to the others. The youngest, however, prays to God for an answer and her hands turn into a pickaxe and a spade. She excavates an exit out of the hole and reaches the king's stables. She steals the horses' fodder of almonds and raisins and takes them back to her sisters. One day, the horse groom notices that the horses are looking emaciated and investigates the matter. He discovers the girl stealing the horses' food and alerts the king.
The horse groom takes the three sisters to the king's court, who inquires them about their skills: the eldest claims she can weave a large carpet to accommodate the whole kingdom and then some; the middle one that she can cook a meal in an egg-shell for the whole kingdom, and the third sister promises to give birth to twin children, a boy and a girl with golden locks ("Goldschopf", in Dirr's text). The king marries the third sister and she gives birth to twins, but her jealous sisters replace the children for puppies and cast them in the sea in a box. The king then orders his wife to be bound in the castle gates, and for citizens to spit at and throw soot at her.
The box with the twins is found by a miller, who adopts and raises them as his own. Years later, when the boy and the girl are grown up, the king invites the mothers and matrons of his kingdom for a feast. The miller takes the children to the feast and pass by the woman at the gate. The boy and the girl give her roses, wipe the soot off her body and kiss her. They join the feast and tell the guests that the woman at the gate is their mother. The king refuses to believe the two, until the boy produces a branch of dried vine. The boy then proclaims that the dried vine will spring to life and yield grapes, and that a roasted pheasant will come to life, perch on the branch and spread its wings. It happens so, thus proving their parentage. The king embraces his children, reinstates his wife and punishes the sisters-in-law.Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Märchen. Jena: Verlegt bei Eugen Diederichs. 1920. pp. 42–45.Dirr, Adolf; Menzies, Lucy. Caucasian Folk-tales, Selected & Translated From the Originals. New York: E.P. Dutton & co., 1925. pp. 44–47.
Sources Adolf Dirr stated that the source of this tale was the publication "Thedo Razikašvili, Xalxuri zγaprebi, Kaxet'sa da P'šavši šekrebuli", published in Tiflis in 1909.Dirr, Adolf. Kaukasische Maerchen. Jena: Eugen Diederich, 1922. pp. 288-289.
Analysis Tale type The tale is classified in the Georgian folktale index as tale type ATU 707, "Wonderful Children" (or "The Three Golden Children", in the international index). According to the Georgian folktale index, the children are born with golden hair and, years later, a "beautiful maiden" reveals the truth to the king.Kʻurdovaniże, Tʻeimuraz et al. The index of Georgian folktale plot types: systematic directory, according to the system of Aarne - Thompson. Tbilisi: Merani, 2000. p. 64.
Georgian scholarship also states that the "starting episode" of Georgian variants is another tale type, indexed as -480G*, "Stepmother and Stepdaughter": a man remarries and his new wife orders him to abandon his daughters in the woods; they fall into a hole, but dig a way out to the king's stables.Kʻurdovaniże, Tʻeimuraz et al. The index of Georgian folktale plot types: systematic directory, according to the system of Aarne - Thompson. Tbilisi: Merani, 2000. p. 48.Грузинские народные сказки [Georgian Folk Tales]. Составление, вступительная статья, примечания и типологический анализ сюжетов: Т. Д. КУРДОВАНИДЗЕ. Book 1. Moskva: «Наука», 1988. p. 354.
Variants Georgia In The Three Sisters and their Stepmother, published by author Marjory Scott Wardrop, a widowed man with three daughters remarries. His new wife orders her husband to get rid of them. The man goes to the forest and digs a hole under an apple tree. He lures his daughters and they fall in the hole. Down in the hole, the youngest sister prays to God for a way out and her hands become a shovel and pickaxe. They dig an exit to the king's stables and eat almonds and raisins. The horse groom catches them one day and takes them to the king. The king inquires each of them about their skills: the youngest says she will bear two golden-haired boys. The truth is told by one of the brothers during a banquet with the king.Wardrop, Marjory Scott. Georgian folk tales. London: D. Nutt. 1894. pp. 5–11.
In a Georgian tale translated into Russian with the title "Три сестры" ("Three Sisters"), a widower has three daughters and remarries. His new wife hates her stepdaughters, and orders her husband to get rid of them. The man then goes to the woods, digs up a hole near an apple tree, and brings some apples with him back home. The man's daughters accompany him to the woods to pick up fruits and fall into the hole. Their father buries them and returns home. However, the girls pray to God for their hands to become shovels and pickaxes, and they excavate an exit to a king's stables. The girls steal the horses' fodder (almonds and raisins), which causes the horses to grow emaciated. The prince wonders about it and places a watchman: after three nights, the watchman discovers the three sisters. The prince then inquires the three sisters about their abilities: the elder boasts she can cook food for the whole army inside an eggshell, and there would be half left; the middle one that she can weave a carpet large enough for the people to sit on, and there would be space left; and the youngest promises to bear children with golden locks. The prince chooses the third sister as wife, and marries the other two to his personal servants. For the next three years, the prince's wife gives birth to three golden-haired children in three consecutive pregnancies, which the elder sisters replace for puppies (the two boys) and a stone (the girl) and throw each of them in the water in a box. The prince returns and, on finding no human children, orders his wife to be wrapped in animal's skin, tied to a door and spat on by the people. Back to the children, a miller finds the siblings and raises them by the mill. One day, the prince rides near the mill and spots the three children playing together, resigning himself to the animals born by his wife. The prince keeps visiting the miller's children (unaware they are his own sons), gifiting them gems and coins, and one day invites them to his palace. The prince's sisters-in-law, fearing their deception will be discovered, go to the miller's house and convince the girl to send her brothers on quests: first, for a golden shirt she can wear to be even more beautiful. The elder brother goes to fetch it, and an old woman says the shirt is nailed to a church door, guarded by lions and tigers. He brings back the shirt, and the prince's sisters-in-law talk about another quest: for a singing nightingale. The elder brother goes to fetch the bird, and becomes petrified. The middle brother goes next and also falls before the bird. Lastly, their young sister manages to find the bird, rescues her brothers, and they return home. The prince notices their absence, but the siblings explain their sister was sick, thus they could not fulfill his invitation. The nightingale, who can sing and speak, advise the children to bring bouquets to the woman nailed at the church door. It happens thus, and the elder sister try to poison their dish during the meal, but the bird warns them to throw the food to the dogs. The animals eat it and die. The next day, they invite the prince for another meal, where he learns the whole truth. The prince then orders his wife to be taken off the door, given a nice bath and clothes, and brought to him. The family is reunited at last."Грузинскія преданія и сказки по русски" [Georgian Legends and Fairy Tales - in Russian]. In: "Сборник материалов для описания местностей и племен Кавказа". Тom X, Section 3. Тифлис: Управление Кавказского учебного округа, 1890. pp. 61-66 (tale nr. 8).
Azerbaijan Azerbaijani scholarship classifies tale type 707 in Azerbaijan as two Azeri types. In the first type, 707A, "Uşağın dəyişdirilməsi" ("Replacing Children"), the king overhears three sisters talking, the youngest of whom promising to bear children with hair of gold and hair of silver; the king marries the third sister and she gives birth to twins, a golden-haired daughter and a silver-haired son, who are replaced for puppies; the twins' mother is punished in a harsh way, while the children are rescued by a miller. The children reunite with their father years later. In the second type, indexed as 707B, the twins are sent on quests for extravagant objects by a witch; the male twin fulfills the quests with the help of a horse.