The tale was originally published by Polish author Kazimierz Władysław Wójcicki [pl], with the title Zaklęty w wronę ("Enchantment into a Raven").

However, should the princess agree to live in the one remaining room of the castle and sleep on the golden bed each night without making a sound, she might free him.

One of her visiting sisters attempts to sleep in the golden bed herself, yet is so terrified by the apparitions she screams; the youngest princess insists on being alone after this incident.

[7][8] Folklorist D. L. Ashliman classified the tale in the Aarne-Thompson Index (pre-2004) as type AaTh 425N, "The Bird Husband", in his 1987 study of folktales.

In this tale, the prince character is cursed to be a crow (kruk, in the original text) for seven years, and the heroine is told to help him break the enchantment.