[14] Russian folklorist Lev Barag [ru] also noted two different formats to the tale type: the first one, "legs of gold up the knee, arms of silver up to the elbow", and the second one, "the singing tree and the talking bird".

[20] Such variants occur in Albania, as in the tales collected by J. G. Von Hahn in his Griechische und Albanische Märchen (Leipzig, 1864), in the village of Zagori in Epirus,[21] and by Auguste Dozon in Contes Albanais (Paris, 1881).

[28][29] In an extended version from a Breton source, called L'Oiseau de Vérité,[30] the youngest triplet, a king's son, listens to the helper (an old woman), who reveals herself to be a princess enchanted by her godmother.

[34] In the Armenian variant Théodore, le Danseur, the brother ventures on a quest for the belongings of the eponymous character and, at the conclusion of the tale, this fabled male dancer marries the sister.

[39] Late 19th-century and early 20th-century scholars (Joseph Jacobs, Teófilo Braga, Francis Hindes Groome) had noted that the story was widespread across Europe, the Middle East and India.

[40][41][42][43] Portuguese writer Braga noticed its prevalence in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and in Russian and Slavic sources,[44] while Groome listed its incidence in the Caucasus, Egypt, Syria and Brazil.

[46] There are also variants in Romance languages: a Spanish version called Los siete infantes, where there are seven children with stars on their foreheads,[47] and a Portuguese one, As cunhadas do rei (The King's sisters-in-law).

[49] Portuguese writer, lawyer and teacher Álvaro Rodrigues de Azevedo [pt] published a versified variant from the Madeira Archipelago with the title Los Encantamentos da Grande Fada Maria.

[56] Scottish folklorist John Francis Campbell mentioned the existence of "a Gaelic version" of the French tale Princesse Belle-Étoile, itself a literary variant of type ATU 707.

[58][59] One version was published in journal Béaloideas with the title An Triúr Páiste Agus A Dtrí Réalta: a king wants to marry a girl who can jump the highest; the youngest of three sisters fulfills the task and becomes queen.

When the foster mother is threatened to be killed on orders of the second queen, she gives the royal children three stars, a towel that grants unlimited food and a magical book that reveals the truth of their origin.

[76][77] 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.

Years later, after the children grow up, a mysterious old woman comes to the miller's house, compliments the three siblings and bids them seek the bubbling spring, the ringing birch tree and the speaking bird.

[97] In a variant collected from the Gagauz people by Russian ethographer Valentin A. Moshkov [ru], "Три сестры: дѣвушка обѣщавшая царевичу, если онъ возметъ ее замужъ принести сына съ солнцемъ во лбу, а дочь съ мѣсяцемь" ("Three Sisters: the youngest said that, if she were to marry the prince, she would give birth to a son with the sun on the forehead, and a girl with a moon"), the youngest sister gives birth to her promised wonder children, but an evil old witch casts them in the river.

[100] In a Gagauz tale titled "Девочка Гюн и мальчик Ай" ("Girl Sun and Boy Moon"), while their father is away grinding the grain, a shepherd's three daughters talks among themselves about marrying the son of the padishah: the elder promises to weave a carper large enough to cover the whole army, and there would still be space left; the middle that she can bake bread enough for the whole army, and there would still be some left; and the youngest promises to bear him twins, a boy with the moon on his forehead ("Ay") and a girl with the sun on the front ("Gyun").

[110][111] In a tale from the Nogais titled "Повелительница джиннов Сарыгыз" ("Sarygyz, the Sovereign of the Djinni"), the youngest of three princes rides in front of his brothers and stops to rest by a hill.

He begins to hear womanly voices coming from uphill, one promising to sew her husband a headband, the second that she can feed an entire nation with an egg, and the third that she will bear a golden-haired girl and a boy with silver eyebrows.

[114] In a tale from the Kabardian people titled "Чудесная гармошка" ("The Magical Garmon"), three brothers hunt in the forest at night and see a light in the distance coming from a cave.

Before their brother-in-law comes home, the elder sisters decide to humiliate their young by taking their nephew as soon as he is born and casting him in the water, then placing a puppy in the baby's cradle.

[126] In a tale from the Altai people, collected in 1935 and published in 1937 with the Russian title "Боролдой-Мерген" ("Boroldoy-Mergen"), an old man named Укючек ("Ukyuchek") and his wife Байпак ("Baypak") have three daughters.

One day, they receive news an evil creature named Almys is coming down from the Altai Mountains to devour the people, and they fear for their three daughters, so they send them to gather berries with bottomless sieves while they stay at home.

Then, Boroldoy-Mergen takes his horse Chubarka to another kingdom where he finds three supernatural maidens in the golden palace; later, he pays a visit to his sister's coffin, and the Almys sucks his blood, killing him.

[133] In a Senegalese tale, The child with a star on the forehead, originally collected in French by Lilyan Kesteloot and Bassirou Dieng with the title L'enfant qui avait une étoile sur le front,[134] the jealous co-wives replace the chief's son for a bottle, but the boy is rescued by a helpful old woman.

[141] In an East African tale translated into Russian as "Волшебный цветок" ("The Magic Flower"), a poor woman offers her beautiful daughter as the newest wife for the king.

An old fairy rescues and raises the children as their foster mother, and she helps them to obtain the treasures: the dancing apple, the singing water, and the bird of truth from the garden where a woman named Four Rose Blossoms lives.

Her two sisters, the elder named Matchikwewis, become jealous and enraged that they married lowly men and devise a plan: cast the children into the river and replace them for animals, causing the queen to be imprisoned by her husband.

[163] In another variant, first collected in 1930 by Arthur L. Campa in his thesis (El Pájaro Verde; English: "The Green Bird"), the quest is prompted by the siblings's foster mother, in order to ensure a life-long happiness for them.

[165] A variant was collected from Tepecano people in the state of Jalisco (Mexico) by J. Alden Mason (Spanish: Los niños coronados; English: "The crowned children") and also published in the Journal of American Folklore.

[166] A version from Mitla, Oaxaca, in Mexico (The Envious Sisters), was collected by Elsie Clews Parsons and published in the Journal of American Folklore: the siblings quest for "the crystalline water, the tree that sings, and the bird that talks".

The king leaves and the girl's sister, thinking her elder took her luck, takes the children as soon as they are born, locks them in a case and casts it in the sea, then places two cats near the queen.