The old woman produces a box of expensive jewels as her dowry and the sultan's daughter becomes interested in marrying a rich donkey's head.
She begins to cry, but a young man wearing a robe of emeralds appears, embraces her and leads the women to a table filled with the finest dishes.
He explains that this secret can only stay between them, and that the sultan's daughter must lie to anyone of her family that her married life is a poor one, otherwise he will disappear.
When night comes, they seek shelter in a manor, where a richly dressed man cuts an apple in four pieces, offering each of them to a person: his father, his mother and to someone who is far away.
Both women see the man cutting the apple, but, when he begs the entryway to weep, it laughs and announces that his wife is there.
This type refers to a human girl marrying a supernatural husband in animal form; she betrays his secret and he disappears.
[4][5] However, scholar Heda Jason [de] described a similar narrative, present in the Jewish Oriental tale corpus and which she indexed as type AaTh 425*Q, "Marvelous Being Woos Princess".
[8][9] In the same vein, Swahn identified among the "motifs characteristic of subtype D" the bath-house, the inn, or places where the heroine goes to hear stories or news about her husband.
Marvelling at the sight, she follows the camel to a house, where he magically prepares the room and sets a table for a meal; then, three men appear to dine, and one of them cuts an apple in four, offering pieces to his companions and a fourth to a lost love; lastly, he commands the house and his companions to weep with him.
The woman's daughter sees the whole scene, and goes back to her mother, and both decide to go to the palace to tell the princess they may have found her husband.
[12] In a Jewish-Tunisian tale published by author Sonia Koskas with the title La tête d'âne ("The Donkey's Head"), a poor old woman, widow and childless, earns her living by begging for alms.
This goes on for some time, until the donkey's head asks the old woman to go to the sultan's palace and court his eldest daughter, princess Zoubeïda, on his behalf.
The donkey's head asks her to go a third time, and this time the sultan, advised by his viziers, in order to dissuade the woman, asks her to produce a hundred red camels and a hundred white she-camels, the male camels guided by beautiful white slaves and the she-camels guided by beautiful black female slaves, and for him to build a palace for the princess overnight.
The woman returns home and donkey's head tells her to fetch him a golden platter, a turban and a diamond pin.
The next morning, the woman grooms the donkey's head and places it on the golden platter, decorates it with the turban and the pin, and travels to the sultan's palace with the slave retinue and the camels.
The donkey's head announces its presence to the sultan, having produced the camels, slaves and palace as wedding gifts for the princess.
Meanwhile, the princess's sister, suffering for her elder's sorrow, goes for a walk near a foutain, and sees a camel washing dishes, then placing it a basket.
The camel lands near a mansion, enters it and commands the wind to sweep the place and the rain to wash the floor.
Finally, after she eats the last three pieces, a cry is heard in the distance, and her husband appears to her, having been saved from his curse.
[13] In a tale from a female teller from Tunis collected by Monia Hejaiej with the title The Donkey's Head, a poor old woman lives in poverty.
This event repeats itself many times until the old woman finds enough money to build herself a new home, and buy a cushion for the donkey's head.
One day, the donkey's head asks the woman to court the local sultan's daughter on his behalf, but she refuses to do so, fearing for her life.
She goes to the sultan's palace to make a bid for the princess's hand on behalf of the head, but she is beaten ip and expelled.
Some time later, the vizier's daughter wishes to discover the donkey's head's secret, and pays the princess a visit in her new home.
She reaches the same river and waits for the camel; after it appears, she trails behind it to the secret palace and sees the monarchs and her husband discussing about her.