The bards celebrate the occasion with a song that describes the royal children as having hands of gold, feet of silver, a "shining dawn" on their shoulders, a moonbeam on their chests, and "stars of heaven" on their foreheads.
Lastly, in all variants ("всехъ вариантахъ", in the original), the queen and one of her sons are cast in the sea in a barrel and wash ashore on an island.
[10] In a late 19th century article, Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne noted that the story was found "all over" Finland, but it was "especially common" in the eastern part of the country, namely, in Arkhangelsk and Olonets.
[14] In one of his tales, titled Tynnyrissä kaswanut Poika ("The boy who grew in a barrel"), summarized by W. Henry Jones and Lajos Kropf, the king overhears three daughters of a peasant woman boasting about their abilities, the third sister promising to bear three sets of triplets with the moon on their temples, the sun on the top of their heads, hands of gold, and feet of silver.
They reach an island; her son grows up at a fast rate and asks his mother to prepare nine cakes with her milk, so he can use them to rescue his brothers.
[15] In another tale, titled Saaressa eläjät and translated into German as Die auf der Insel Lebenden ("Living on an island"), the third sister promises to bear three sons in each pregnancy and marries the king.
The king marries another wife, the daughter of Syojatar, who tells him about wondrous things in a faraway place: three pigs, six stallions, and eight golden boys on a large stone.
[21] Folklorist William Forsell Kirby translated an Estonian version first collected by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,[22] with the name The Prince who rescued his brothers: a king with silver-coated legs and golden-coated arms marries a general's daughter with the same attributes.
[23] In a tale from the Lutsi Estonians collected by linguist Oskar Kallas with the name Kuningaemand ja ta kakstõistkümmend poega ("The Queen and her Twelve Sons"), a man remarries and, on orders of his new wife, takes his three daughters to the forest on the pretext of picking up berries, and abandons them there.
In this tale, a king meets three maidens on the road; the third promises to bear him 12 sons with the sun and the moon on the head, a star on their breast, hands of gold and feet of silver.
The king and the maiden marry; the children are replaced by animals as soon as they are born, and the mother and her last son are cast into the sea in a sack.
Later, after he rescues his brothers, he flies back to his father's court to spy on him and the other maidens, and learns of the sights: a cat that lives in oak and provides clothes for its owner; a cow with a lake between its horns; and a boar that sows his own fields and bakes his own bread.
[31] In a Karelian tale, "Девять золотых сыновей" ("Nine Golden Sons"), the third sister promises to give birth to "three times three" children, their arms of gold up to the elbow, the legs of silver up to the knees, a moon on the temples, a sun on the front and stars in their hair.
The king's son overhears them and decides to marry the youngest, and she bears the wonder children with hands of gold, legs of silver, sunlight in their hair, moonlight shining around it, the "celestial chariot" (Himmelswagen, or Ursa Major) on their shoulder, and stars in their underarms.
Both boys grow up in days, and capture a talking pike that tells them to cut it open to find magical objects inside its entrails.
[34] In a tale from Pudozh, collected in 1939 and published in 1982 with the title "Про кота-пахаря" ("About the Pakharya Cat"), three sisters promise great things if they marry Ivan, the merchant's son; the youngest sister, named Barbara (Varvara), promises to bear three sons with golden arms and a red sun on the front.
[35] In a Karelian tale collected in 1947 and published in 1963 with the title Yheksän kultaista poikua (Russian: Девять золотых сыновей, romanized: Devyat' zolotikh synovei, lit.
One day, they talk among themselves: the elder promises to prepare food for the whole army with just one grain of barley, the middle one that she can weave clothes for the army with only a thread of linen; and the youngest promises to bear three sons with hands of gold, legs of silver, a moon on their temples, pearls in their eyes, the Ursa Major constellation on their shoulders and "heavenly stars" on their backs.
They begin to live on an island, and the son asks his mother to sew 8 shirts and bake 8 koloboks with her breastmilk, for he intends to rescue his brothers.
[36] In a Karelian tale collected in 1937 and published in 1983 with the title Kolme sisäreštä (Russian: Три сестры, romanized: Tri sestry, lit.
[37] In a Russian-language tale from Vodlozero given the title "Чудесные дети" ("Wonderful Children"), a merchant has three daughters, who one day talk about their abilities: the elder boasts she can weave a shirt from a single thread of linen; the middle one that with a single grain she can bake 40 pies, and the youngest promises to bear 9 sons with arms of silver and legs of gold.
One day, while the three sisters are in the bath house, Ivan Tsarevich is spying on their conversation: the elder boasts she can weave three different dresses with one fiber; the middle one that she can cook three loaves of bread with the same dough, and the youngest promises to bear him three valiant sons ("bogatyrs", in the Russian translation), born with hair strands of gold and silver.
The third sister bears three sons with hair of gold and silver, whom Baba Yaga sends to the bathhouse to wash and release in the green oak grove, while she brings back three puppies to deceive Ivan Tsarevich.
Fooled by the witch, Ivan Tsarevich orders his wife to be cast in an iron barrel in the Onego lake, then marries Baba Yaga's daughter.
[43] Russian author Stepan V. Anikin [ru] published a tale from the Mordvin people titled "Двенадцать братьев" ("Twelve Brothers").
In one house, he overhears three sisters who are spinning and talking: they each talk about marrying the czar's son, but the elder promises to clothe an entire regiment with a single spool of thread; the middle one that she can bake a piece of bread so large to feed two regiments with a single bite, and the youngest promises to bear twelve sons, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, stars in their hair.
Vedyava mocks the fishermen's report, and tells of other miraculous sights: first, a boar-pig that plows fields with its paws and sows with its snout; second, a mare that foals with each step; third, a tree with silver bells that ring with the wind, and a singing bird perched on it; lastly, about eleven boys that live somewhere, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, and stars in their hair.
As for the last sight, the boy recognizes it is about his brothers and asks his mother to bake eleven loaves of bread for the road, then goes on a quest for them.
[44] Scholar S. S. Sabitov located a similar narrative in the "Catalogue of Tales of Magic from the Mari people", indexed as type 707, "Чудесные дети" ("Wonderful Children)": a girl promises to bear the king twelve bogatyrs; the king marries her and she bears her children, but a sorceress replaces them for puppies; the king issues an order to banish his wife and her children in a barrel and cast them in the sea; mother and son survive and wash on another land; the bogatyr son helps a swan princess and she helps him find wonders for his new home.
The old man's two wives try to dismiss the sailors' story by telling about even more extravagant sights: a bull with a sauna between its horns, and a birch tree with a cuckoo that produces silver when it sings.