Greuceanu

[8][9] Hungarian scholar Ágnes Kóvacs recognized some mythical components in the story: the theft of the celestial bodies; the confrontation between heroes and the serpents (dragons, etc.

According to Hungarian scholarship (namely, János Berze Nagy and Ágnes Kovács), versions are attested in Romania, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia, Lithuania, Estonia, as well as some Asian/Siberian variants.

[12] Ágnes Kovács also named this type Szépmezőszárnya ("Beautiful Wing-Field"), with similar tales in Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Ruthenia, Russia, Vogul, Chuvash, Tatar, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian, Caucasian and South Siberian.

[13] Hungarian-American scholar Linda Dégh also reported that "parallels" were found in Romania, and stories with its "elements" were located among "the Russians, the Ural-Altaic Turks, and to [the Hungarians'] kindred nations of North Asia".

[15] In addition, according to Barag, in an article in the Enzyklopädie des Märchens, type AaTh 300A* becomes "contaminated" with the release of the celestial lights from devils in Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Latvia, Belarus and Ukraine, as well as among the Chuvash and the Mari.

[17][18] In a Muntenian variant collected by Petre Ispirescu with the title Voiniculŭ de plumbă, the Red Emperor's three daughters are kidnapped, and the Sun, the Moon and the Stars also vanish.

Voiniculŭ de plumbă convenes with his brothers, and the group makes his way back to the Red Emperor's kingdom, but find on the way a fountain, a rose in bloom and a pear tree with fruits, which are the zmeis' wives in disguise.

[21][22] In a Transilvanian tale published by Tuducescu with the title Aripa câmpului ("Field Wing"), in a certain empire, the emperor witnesses the theft of the Sun, the Moon and the Stars by the zmeis, and offers half of the kingdom and his daughter to anyone brave enough to take them back.

Field Wing passes by three forests, the first of silver, the second of gold and the third of diamond, and defeats a zmei in each one, gaining back the Sun, the Moon and the stars.

[25][26] In a Moldavian tale published by author and folklorist Grigore Botezatu [uk] with the title Dragan-The-Bold (Russian: "Драган-удалец"; English: "Brave Dragan"),[27] an old woman has three sons who grow up in days and develop the ability to fly.

[31][32] This narrative was previously classified by Hungarian scholar János Berze Nágy in his own classification system as BN 319*, which, in the international index of Aarne-Thompson-Uther, corresponded to types 328A* and 300A.

[35] In a Hungarian tale collected by Lájos Kálmány with the title Nap, Hold, Csillag kiszabadítása, the Sun, the Moon and the Star are being guarded by three multi-headed Sarkans (dragon-like creatures).

[36] In a tale collected by Arnold Ipolyi with the title A tátos, the king laments that he must surrender his daughter to a twelve-headed dragon, else it will devour the sun.

Kiss Miklos takes a lame horse and waits by the silver bridge for the coming of the twelve-headed dragon riding the milk-white, black-maned steed of the moon.

[39] According to Russian scholarship, similar stories are attested in the East Slavic tale corpus, under the classification 300A*, "Возвращение змееборцем похищенных змеем небесных светил" ("Returning the celestial lights stolen by a serpent").

[40] Russian scholar Lev Barag [ru], who updated this classification index in 1979, noted that the story of the recovery of the celestial lights led into East Slavic type SUS 300A, "Fight on Kalinov Bridge",[41] whose last episode is the killing of the witch with the aid of the smith.

[49] Similarly, according to folklorist Petro Lintur [uk], a "characteristic" element of East Slavic texts is the episode of the smiths Kusma and Demjan helping the hero defeat the dragon, tying the creature to a plough and making a trench with it.

[50] Jack V. Haney and Polish folklorist Julian Krzyzanowski suggested that the appearance of the story in the oral repertoire of other peoples derives from East Slavic influence (e.g., in Poland's case, from Russia).

[51][52][53] In a South Russian tale translated by William Ralston Shedden-Ralston as Ivan Popyalof, the titular hero, who lay in the ashes of the stove for 12 years, decides to battle a villainous zmey (called 'Snake', in the story) to rescue the Sun for the day to return to his land.

[56] In a Ukrainian tale translated as The brave lad that brought the Sun, the Moon and the stars back to the people, a couple (a landlord and lady) wishes to have a son, and the wife is advised by a sorceress to catch a magic fish in the sea.

[57] Author Ján Francisci-Rimavský published a Slavic tale titled Slncoví kuon ("The Sun's Horse"),[58] which was sourced as Hungarian-Slovenish by Albert Wratislaw.

On the way, the companion sees a fruit-bearing tree, a stream and a garden of flowers, but the Seer knows they are disguises for the Striga's three daughters, and strikes each one, drawing a pool of blood.

[64] In a tale from the Mordvin people titled "Ивашка Приметлев" ("Ivashka Primetlev"), in a kingdom, something steals the Sun, the Moon and the stars, casting the realm in darkness.

[65] Scholar S. S. Sabitov located a similar narrative in the "Catalogue of Tales of Magic from the Mari people", indexed as type 300A, "Бой на мосту" ("Fight on the Bridge"): the hero defeats the multiheaded snakes, then faces their sisters and their mother; at the end of the tale, he hides in the forge and destroys the snake mother with the help of the smiths.

[68] In the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, tale type ATU 300A* is titled Puisis iegūst ķēniņa meitu ("The Man gets the King's Daughter").

[69] Nijole Laurinkiene noted that in the Finnish Kalevala and the Karelian legends, the luminaries are stolen by a being related to darkness and death, like Louhi, ruler of the northernmost land of Pohjola.

[73] In a Finnish tale translated as Leppä Polkky and the Blue Cross, an old man named Jukka and his wife long to have a child, so they bring home an alder stump and place it the cradle to rock it.

A Lapland wizard explains to the king that a witch named Loviatar and her three serpent sons stole the Sun ("Aurinko"), the Moon ("Kuu") and the Dawn ("Päivänkoitto").

The trio journey back to their kingdom, but Leppä Polkky sees a hut in the middle of the forest and takes a look inside: it is Loviatar, conspiring with fellow witches her terrible revenge.

[74] Although the story seems to lack the first part (rescue of the celestial bodies), Estonian variants of type 300A, "Võitlus sillal", still follow the three heroes and the battle on the bridge against the "Evil One".