Folklorist Lev Barag [ru] later republished it in German as Der Krebs als Zarensohn ("The Crab as Son-in-Law").
The czar laughs at the silly proposition and orders the poor man three tasks for his crawfish son: to build a bridge encrusted with gold and silver between the palace and the old couple's hut; to plant a tree along the road that yields golden and silver fruits, and to have a marching band with fine garments and a fine horse.
After seeing the results of his orders, such was their impossibility, the czar admits his prospective son-in-law must be someone magical and marries one of his daughters to the crab.
Her third sister-in-law advises her to reach the next town with a bazaar, open up shop and put the items on show, for a noblewoman will come to buy the objects, but she must refuse money and ask to sleep with her husband for three nights.
[11] According to Hans-Jörg Uther, the main feature of tale type ATU 425A is "bribing the false bride for three nights with the husband".
[12] In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought".
[13] In his work on Cupid and Psyche and other Animal as Bridegroom tales, Swedish scholar Jan-Öjvind Swahn [sv] located in Eastern Europe variants wherein the animal bridegroom is in the shape of a lobster, shrimp, crayfish and crab, in regards to his type B, which involves the heroine bribing the false bride for three nights with her husband with the gifts she gained from her helpers.
[17] Russian scholars A. P. Razumova and G. I Senkina stated that the crawfish ('rak', in the original) as the form of the enchanted husband is unique to the Pomor tradition, and nowhere else.
In the Pomor tales, the crawfish is captured by the old man in a net, fulfills the king's tasks and marries the princess, who betrays his trust either by revealing his secret or burning his shell.
The princess cries for her decision, but puts on the shoes and wanders through mountains and forests until she reaches a derelct house where a witch lives.
[28] Russian folklorist Aleksandr Nikiforov [ru] summarized a tale he collected from a teller named Maxim Vasilievich Semyonov.
[29] Razumova and Senkina reported another tale from a Karelian Pomor source, collected from a teller named Anna Semyonovna Nikitina.
[30] In a Ukrainian tale from Podolia published by Ukrainian literary critic Mikola Z. Levchenko [ru] as a variation ("ТЕЖ") of a tale titled "Зачарований королевич-рачок стає за приймака дідові і сватає королівну" ("The enchanted Prince-Crawfish cares for his grandfather and woos the Queen"), a fisherman catches a crawfish and brings it home for he and his wife to eat.
[31] In a Ukrainian tale titled "Рак-неборак і його вірна жінка" ("The Poor Crawfish and his Faithful Wife"), an old couple have three daughters.
Near the end of the time of the curse, the human youth tells his wife to wake him up at night when she hears three whistles by the window.
[32] In a Ukrainian tale collected by Ukrainian poet Ivan Manzhura [uk] with the title "Дід та рак"[33] and translated as "Дед и рак" ("Old Man and Crawfish"), an old man lives near the sea with his wife, and complains he has no children, and there are no fishes in the sea to catch.
The human crayfish then appears to her and complains that she should have waited until the end of the curse, but now she has to wear iron laces on her body which may one day come off if he returns.
After the wedding, the king asks his daughter how is life with the crawfish, and she answers her husband takes off his shell at night to become a man, and puts it back on in the morning.
[36] In a tale from the Terek Cossacks with the title "Рак-царевич" ("Crawfish Prince"), an old couple lives by the sea and lament the fact that they have no children.
One day, a letter is sent to the old man that the king shall marry his daughter, the princess, to anyone who can build overnight a palace on the other side of the river, with a silver bridge with golden nails and crystal trees alongside the path.
The next day, the king sees the palace built according to his wishes, and sends another letters: this time, he shall marry the princess to anyone who can erect a stone church with silver and golden domes.
[42] In a Komi tale collected by literary critic Kallistrat F. Zhakov [ru] with the title "Рак-Молодец" ("Crab - Fine Fellow"), an old fisherman and his wife suffer for they have no child, neither a son nor a daughter, so the wife asks the fisherman to bring them a child, either a son or a daughter.
The fisherman goes and tells the king his son wants to marry the princess; the king agrees, but sets the crab son three tasks (at separate times): to build overnight an iron bridge with copper railings; to erect a temple without foundations on the ground nor tied to the heavens, and lastly for him to dig out a lake in a meadow, fill it with fishes and plant a garden near the lake.
An old man lives inside, who tells her the crab was to soon lose his shell and become human, but he has moved to another kingdom and found himself another bride.
After passing the river of fire, Marfida arrives at a castle where she uses the items she gained to bribe the false bride for a night with her husband.
[43][44] In a tale sourced from the Nenets people with the title "Муж-налим и его жена марья-царевна" ("The Burbot and Princess Marya, His Wife"),[45] an old couple have no children.
After the old man sleeps, the fish crawls to the front porch, changes shape into a youth and summons a regiment of thirty soldiers to build the house.
The witch welcomes Marya, and explains her burbot-husband has been in this realm for the last ten years and married the daughter of the "fiery king".
The princess lives with Baba Yaga, and, after a week, the witch says there is a small hil near a garden where the fiery king's daughter will take a stroll with her handmaidens, and gives Marya a comb so she call trade it with the fiery king's daughter for a night with her husband, the now human burbot.
The burbot husband recognizes Marya, and assembles the crowd to ask for their verdict: if he should stay with a woman who braved dangers and risked her own life to find him, or the one who sold him for trinkets.