The Snake Prince

The Snake Prince is an Indian fairy tale, a Punjabi story collected by Major Campbell in Feroshepore. Andrew Lang included it in The Olive Fairy Book (1907).

Synopsis

A poor woman, with nothing to eat, went to the river to bathe. When she came out of the river, she found a poisonous snake in her pot. She took it home, so it would bite her and end her misery. When she opened the pot, she found a rich necklace. She sold it to the king. The king put it in a chest, but when he opened it to show the queen, he found a baby boy. He and the queen raised it as their son, and the old woman was the nurse. She spoke a little of how that boy came about.

The king had concluded with a neighboring king that his son should marry that king's daughter, and when the daughter came to marry, her mother warned her to ask about the magic. She refused to speak until he told her. He told her the story, that he was prince from far off who had been turned into a snake, and then he became a snake again. The princess mourned for the prince where he had vanished, and the snake came to her. He told that if she put bowls of milk and sugar in the four corners of the room, snakes would come, led by the Queen of the Snakes. If she stood in the queen's way, she could ask for her husband, but if she were frightened and did not, she could not have him back.

The princess did as he said, and won back her husband.

See also

• The Enchanted Snake