The Children with the Golden Locks (German: Die Kinder mit dem Goldschopf;[1] Russian: О златокудрых юноше и девушке, romanized: O zlatokudrykh yunoshe i devushke, lit.
The horse groom takes the three sisters to the king's court, who inquires them about their skills: the eldest claims she can weave a large carpet to accommodate the whole kingdom and then some; the middle one that she can cook a meal in an egg-shell for the whole kingdom, and the third sister promises to give birth to twin children, a boy and a girl with golden locks ("Goldschopf", in Dirr's text).
[4][5] Adolf Dirr [de] stated that the source of this tale was the publication "Thedo Razikašvili, Xalxuri zγaprebi, Kaxet'sa da P'šavši šekrebuli", published in Tiflis in 1909.
According to the Georgian folktale index, the children are born with golden hair and, years later, a "beautiful maiden" reveals the truth to the king.
For the next three years, the prince's wife gives birth to three golden-haired children in three consecutive pregnancies, which the elder sisters replace for puppies (the two boys) and a stone (the girl) and throw each of them in the water in a box.
The prince returns and, on finding no human children, orders his wife to be wrapped in animal's skin, tied to a door and spat on by the people.
The prince's sisters-in-law, fearing their deception will be discovered, go to the miller's house and convince the girl to send her brothers on quests: first, for a golden shirt she can wear to be even more beautiful.
He discovers the three girls and inquires about their skills: the eldest promises to weave a large carpet where the royal army would sit and there would still be space left; the middle sister that she can cook food for the while army in an egg shell; the youngest that she can bear twins, a boy and a girl with hair with a half of gold and a half of silver.
The king marries all three sisters; the elder two fail in their boasts, while the youngest bears the twins, who are cast in the water and saved by a miller.
The khan marries the youngest and she gives birth to the golden-haired twin, but her sisters place them in a box and cast them in the river.
When they are older, their aunts convince the female twin to ask her brother to build an iron tower deep within the dark forest.
[16] In another Ossetian tale, "Ӕрхуы мӕсыджы бадӕг бурчызг" or "Бронзовая девушка Медной башни" (French: "La fille blonde qui se tient dans la tour de cuivre", English: "The blond girl at the tower of copper"), a widowed man marries a woman that wants his three daughters to be abandoned in the woods.
One day, the prince finds the three sisters and inquires about their abilities: the elder says she can stitch many types of footwear with only a quarter of leather; the second that she can prepare a great meal with a handful of flour, and the last that she can bear twins, a boy with golden hair and a girl with silver tresses.
Next, the two aunts convince them to look for a fur coat ("pelisse") stamped with a sun on the plastron and a moon on the back, and that produces music and sings.
His servants find the three maidens, and the king ('aldar') inquires them about their skills: the elder sister boasts she can sew shirts for then men; the middle one that, with a single cup of araki, she can make ten man drink from it; and the youngest promises golden-haired twins, a boy and a girl.
In tale type 707, "Чудесные дети" ("Wonderful Children"), of the Adyghe Folktale Corpus, an old man abandons his three daughters in a hole in the forest, but the sisters are rescued by a khan and his retinue.
The khan inquires them about their abilities: the elder two describe domestic skills, like sewing and cooking, and the third sister promises to bear wonderful children.
Years later, the jealous aunts learn of their survival and send the twins on a quest for miraculous objects: for a golden bird, a magic mirror and for their owner, beautiful maiden Суисурет ("Suisuret").
[23] In a tale from the Ingush people, collected in 1963 with the title "Мальчик с солнцем во лбу и месяцем между лопаток" ("The Boy with the Sun in his Mouth and the Moon between his shoulders"),[24] a man remarries.
[25] In a tale from the Abaza people, collected from a 48-year-old teller with the title "Златоволосая и Среброволосый" ("Goldenhair and Silverhair"), an old man has three daughters.
[26] In a tale from the Balkars with the Balkar title "Бир кишини юц къызы" (Bir kiṡini üc qızı; Russian: "Три дочери одного человека"; German: Die drei Töchter eines Mannes, English: "Three Daughters of One Man"), a father loses his wife, but remarries a woman that mistreats his three daughters.
The next time, the aunts visit her to tell the girl about a magical fur coat: its lapels play the fiddle; its sleeves applaud to a rhythm, and its coattails dance.
One day, the twins' father, the khan, announces he will make a parade, and orders his two elder wives to prepare food and garments.
The man agrees, and the witch tells him their plan: he is to draw them to the forest with an excuse to pick apples, and let them fall into a hole, so they will never come out.
Some time later, the khan has to depart and leaves his wife in his sisters-in-law's care, and gives her a silver rein with bells on so she can warn him after the children are born.
The witch, her stepmother, takes notice of this, goes to the castle to muffle the bells and, when the twins are born, she replaces them for puppies and casts them in the river.
When the khan returns, he sees the puppies and orders his wife to be sewn in an ox hide and places in a crossroads for the people to spit and trample her.
Meanwhile, the twins are raised by the hermit woman in her hut, the boy becoming a skilled hunter that brings home animal furs for his sister.
The twins' jealous aunts go to the hermit woman's hut and forces her to cast a spell on the female twin, so she may desire impossible things: first, the wild black stallion; second, the milky lake where the golden duck swims with her ducklings; lastly, for a golden-haired maiden named Altynchech, who lives beyond the Mountains of Heaven.
The male twin rides the stallion he tamed to Altynchech's palace and shouts for her to come out, warned by the horse of her petrifying powers.