[1] Mihai Eminescu urged him to write his first story, which was read at Junimea in two sessions and was published in the magazine Convorbiri Literare.

Only the youngest, Petru, obtains the answer: the emperor cries because he thinks that after he dies his son will not be able to protect their realm from enemies and that only the water from the fountain of the Fairy of the Dawn will be able to make both his eyes laugh again.

The flowers cry out to him to pick one of them, but the horse dissuades him because they are cursed and will summon the Welwa, a chimeric monster of the wood.

Lastly, the group passes by a third wood made entirely of gold, and the same warning applies: if any of the flowers are gathered, it will draw yet another Welwa to them.

[4] The tale was translated into German by Mite Kremnitz and Petre Ispirescu as Die Fee der Morgenröthe, in 1882.

He stated that, barring a few differences between versions, they all contained the same plot points: the Emperor's eyes, Petru's journey, the help from the holy sisters, the miraculous fountain, and the brothers' deception.

[9] According to scholar Adela Ileana Drăucean, the dragons guard the bridge between the kingdom, representing the obstacle the hero, Făt-Frumos, must cross to advance on his quest.