Prince Lal Maluk (Sindhi: "شهزادو لال ملوڪ") is a Pakistani folktale from Sindh and published by Sindhologist Nabi Bakhsh Baloch.
The tale is a local form of the international cycle of the Animal as Bridegroom or The Search for the Lost Husband, in that a woman marries a man of supernatural origin (a snake or serpent), loses him and must regain him.
In a certain land, a woodcutter earns his living by selling wood and herding cattle, and is endlessly hounded by his nagging wife about their poor situation.
After the children come and go, he decides to check for himself if his wife is dead, and finds his house furnished with food, clothes and tools.
The couple make way to another city and Lal Maluk advises his fiancée to put on male attire, while he goes to buys provisions for the road.
Back to the princess, she senses something wrong happened to Lal Maluk and enters the city disguised as man.
The she-prince goes to buy a parrot in the market to keep her company in the palace, as suspicions of her true gender start to mount, due to the minister poisoning the king's ear with rumours.
The minister tries to unmask her gender by setting tests (choosing a flower, preferring sweet food to salted one, undressing to take a bath in the river, and patrolling the streets near the shops of women's wares), which she passes with the help of the parrot.
The palace tries to cover the fact by saying that Lal Maluk is on a hunt, and try to capture his snake shape, while the princesses mourn for the loss of their husband.
Later, Lal Maluk's first wife learns that on a certain night, in a certain day, some music begins to sound underneath a tree, and decides to see it for herself.
The princess does as Lal Maluk has asked: she waits for the 14th day, prepares the place for the coming of the retinue, and joins the others musicians in the presentation they make for the "spiritual guide" (who is described as a jinn in the text).
Reunited with his three co-wives, Lal Maluk misses his mother and plans to return with his fathers-in-law's armies to his home kingdom.
One day, the king asks his wife to see the necklace, and the queen goes to retrieve it, but finds a human baby in its place.
Years later, Prince Lal grows up a handsome youth, and decides to marry one as beautiful as himself, but rejects many prospective brides.
A princess named Hira, in another land, beautiful as he is, also rejects her suitors, and learns of Prince Lal, who is himself in a similar situation.
The fairy then walks Princess Hira to the place where the snake husband and his retinue gather, and they watch the scenes unfold before the monarch.
In this tale, a poor woodcutter forages for berries for his family and finds a large and shining one (a ruby), which he takes home.
The princess tries to deflect the question, but the hag presses the issue, mentioning that Prince Ruby keeps the girl at a distance at night.
Moved by her words, the princess's mind wanders to her husband's strange behaviour (eating separately, placing a naked sword between them at night).
The viziers notice that matters of the state are being neglected, and issue an edict for people to come tell her untold stories in exchange for a gold coin.
One time, an old man comes and tells the princess a story, which intrigues the princess so much he returns the following nights: the man himself had tried his luck in the North, and entered a dark forest; with nowhere to go, he climbed up a tree and slept there, when he saw some snakes appear and turn to men, prepare a fire and sweep the ground for the arrival of their master, a large cobra with a smaller golden snake on its head; the large cobras turn into an old king and a young prince; they watch some dancer girls perform, then leave at dawn; the young prince, in human form, utters some words to a princess about the consequences of her question.
The old man takes the princess to the location, they climb up a tree and see the events repeat: the snakes come and turn into men to prepare the arrival of their master; the girls perform until dawn, and the young prince, the last to leave, utters the same words to his lost love about the results of her curiosity.
The prince warns her of his grandfather, and advises her the only way to rescue him: she is to come to the ceremony the next evening, and serve milk to the snakes; his grandfather will thank her for the hospitality and ask her about a reward; she is to answer twice she is satisfied with what God gave her, and on the third time the snake king, infuriated, will ask her what she wants; she is then to take the opportunity to make him promise not to harm her, and say she wants the prince back.
[12] In a Kohistani tale collected from a Shina teller in Rawalpindi and translated as The Button Prince, a poor man goes to the forest to chop wood and a snake appears to him, begging to be hidden.
The Button Prince is restored to human form, kills the witch, and takes part in a wrestling competition against the local males.
After losing her husband, the princess who raised him goes to a crossroads and pays ashrafis for people to share stories, in hopes of locating the Button Prince.
On this occasion, the snake mother advises the Button Prince and his human wife how they can escape from their kingdom, and gives them objects to stop any further pursuit (in a "Magic Flight" sequence): soap to create precipices, combs to create forests, needles that turn into thorny bushes, ashes to toss into his brothers' eyes, dung cake for piles of dung, beads to distract the snakes and finally bread.
The pair escapes while the snake mother holds his brothers off, but they trail behind the couple, so the Button Prince throws behind the objects to stop the chase.