The tale is connected to the cycle of Cupid and Psyche, and, more specifically, to the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index type ATU 425B, "The Son of the Witch" (Catalan: El desencantament del princep: les tasques de la bruixa).
[15] Catalan scholarship locates the motif of the box of musical instruments in Greek, Turkish and South Italian variants.
[16] According to Catalan philologist Caterina Valriu, the tale type was "rarely" found in continental Spain, but has "numerous" variants in the Balearic Islands.
Later, Fairy Mariana orders Na Juana to wash a pile of black wool white, for Bernat's upcoming wedding.
[24][25] The tale was also classified as type 425B, "El desencantament del príncep: les tasques de la bruixa".
Prince Joanell, who overheard everything due to his magic powers, explains everything to his beloved from his chambers: she is to walk towards the land where the days end, passing by a mountain, a large rock, an open field and seven rivers; she is to enter a forest and pluck a branch of rosemary; next she will meet a man to whom she is to give the rosemary; lastly, she will meet his grandmother and ask her for the ring.
Mariagna follows his instructions, traverses the natural landscapes and gives the rosemary to the man, who is baking bread at an oven and sweeping it with his arms.
For the last task, Joanell instructs Mariagna that the queen will ask the girl which rooster will crow in the morning, and she is to answer that is it the "ros" (the red one).
[31][32] In another Mallorcan variant with the title Es Negret ("The Little Black Man"), a poor widow lives with her daughter, named Na Catalineta.
The Negret appears to Na Catalineta and advises her to compliment a stream, then a hedge, a herd of toads and a herd of serpents, oil two large doors, enter the house and give a slice of bread to a cusseta (a little black dog), steal a key and take a capseta (a little box) of the xeremietes, then run all the way back.
The Negret appears again and locks the green bird inside the box, and tells the girl to hurry back to the Madones with the object, for the pair will ask her to identify which rooster will crow the next morning, so that they can find the best time for the wedding.
The Madones place the green bird on a stake, give it to Na Catalineta, and order her to spend the night in the hen house with a light source, where she is to identify the rooster.
Some time later, Na Catalineta trades places with N’Antonina, who holds the light until the last rooster, “En Rom”, crows.
[33] The tale was also classified as type 425B, "El desencantament del príncep: les tasques de la bruixa".
Joanet also warns Joana his aunts are terrible demonesses and the task is a trap to get rid of the human girl, then advises her how to proceed: pretend to drink from a stream filled with greenish water and slugs and compliment it by saying it contains fresh water; exchange the fodder between two animals (bones for a dog, grass for an ox); give a broom to a woman sweeping an oven; greet his aunt with the right words ("que bé vaja i que bé torn", in the original) and deliver the box with the letter.
The next evening, Queen Morgana tells Joana a Carnaval ball will be held in the castle, for her to choose her suitor among the crowd.
During the ball, the queen tries to convince Joana to find a rich suitor among the guests, but the girl points to a poor man among the crowd (prince Joanet) and chooses him.
In his system of Murcian folktales, type 425B, El pájaro ayudante ("The helpful bird"), the heroine leaves home to escape mistreatment from her step-family and finds employment in a castle.
There, the queen, based on false claims by the other servants, forces the heroine on difficult tasks, which she accomplishes with the help of a bird (that may be changed into a prince at the end of the story).
The little green bird advises her how to reach it: she will find an ox eating meat and a wolf eating hay, which she is to place for the right animal; then, she will find a woman cleaning an oven with a boja (a sort of stone), whom she is to give a stick to help her; lastly, she is to enter the castle only when a woman is sleeping with her eyes open, get the caja de los caudales, and escape.
One night, however, the Virgin Mary appears to María in her dreams and tells the girl she should ask for three roses a giant guards: a white one, a green one, and a yellow one.
In time, the other maidservants begin to gossip about María, jealous of her beauty, and lie to the queen the girl boasted she could wash, dry and iron all the clothes in the castle.
[40] Folklorist Sérgio Hernandez de Soto collected a tale from Zafra, Badajoz, with the title Los Tres Claveles ("The Three Carnations").
[44] In an Extremaduran tale titled El príncipe encantado ("The Enchanted Prince"), collected from an informant named Filomena Moreno Pozo, from Zalamea de la Serena, a traveller marries a merchant's daughter, who asks for three dresses as gifts: a white one, a "colorado", and a black one.
He falls in love with her, she gives out a scream and says she wants to see him again, but he tells she can meet him in the castle of the Lions ("castillo de los Leones").
María offers to get the ring, and follows the prince's instructions: she is to guide some soldiers to the sea, then enter the water on a horse, and raise her sword.
The knight instructs Rosa to escape by a castle backdoor into an alleyway, carrying a sack of straw, a bag of bones, a comb, a piece of bread and a satchel of tobacco.
[48] Galician ethnographer Lois Carré Alvarellos [gl] published a tale collected from Campamento, in San Xurxo de Iñás [es], with the title A Filla do Rei, which researcher Marisa Rey-Henningsen translated as The King's Daughter.
Later, the ram guides her to a house where she finds work for a mother and her daughter, who are secretly a pair of witches (Galician: meigas [gl]).
[50] According to scholars Johannes Bolte and Jiri Polívka, Spanish writer Agustín Durán, in his work Romancero General, reported a tale from his childhood: the hero is a Black man named "Gafitas de la Luz"; the heroine, his beloved one, is persecuted by his parents, who force her on tasks; in one of her tasks she is helped by the birds, which cry over the clothes to wash them and iron them with their beaks.