The next time, the queen finds another accomplice, who advises her to dig up a well, fill it with blades and spears, then covers it with a rug for the prince to sit on and fall to his death.
Failing both times, the queen consults with her accomplice, who advises her to feign illness by smearing her face with turmeric, place some breakable bread under her body to pretend it is the sound of her bones breaking, and ask for the flesh of the horse as remedy.
Suddenly, the horse begins to soar, and lets the queen fall from its back to her death, while the equine takes the div prince to another country.
[18] In the same vein, professor Mahomed-Nuri Osmanovich Osmanov [ru] noted that the motif of the princess throwing an item to choose her husband is "widespread" ("распространение", in the original) in tales from the Iranian peoples.
For example, Günter Dammann, in Enzyklopädie des Märchens, compared the motif to the Indian ritual of svayamvara, and reported evidence of a similar practice in Ancient Iran.
[21] French folklorist Emmanuel Cosquin noted that the suitor selection test was component of a larger narrative: the princess or bride-to-be chooses the hero, in lowly disguise, by throwing him an apple.
According to him, this motif would be comparable to the ancient Indian ritual of svayamvara, wherein the bride, in a public gathering, would choose a husband by giving him a garland of flowers.
[22] In addition, Swedish scholar Waldemar Liungman (1948), who argued for its remote antiquity, saw in the golden apple motif a mark of the princess's self-choice of husband, and traced a parallel between it and a narrative cited by Aristotle regarding the founding of Massalia (modern day Marseille).
[23] Similarly, in an ancient treatise written by historian Mirkhond, translated by linguist David Shea, it is reported that prince Gushtasp went to the land of "Room" during a suitor selection test held by princess Kitabun: as it was custom, a maiden of marriageable age was to walk through an assemblage of noble men with an orange and throw it to her husband-to-be.
[24][25][26] In regards to a similar tale from the Dungan people, according to Sinologist Boris L. Riftin [ru], the motif of a princess (or woman of high social standing) throwing a silken ball atop a high tower to choose her husband is reported in the ancient Chinese story of "Lu Meng-Zheng": the princess throws a silken ball to a passing youth named Meng-Zheng (a poor student), and the king expels his daughter to live with her husband in a cave.
[27] In addition, some scholars (e.g., Ting Nai-tung [zh], Wolfram Eberhard, Phra Indra Montri (Francis Giles) [th]) remarked that a similar wedding folk custom (a maiden throwing a ball from a balcony to her husband of choice)[28][29][30] was practiced among some Chinese minorities[31] and in South China.
[b] On its own, the merhorse is a fantastical equine imbued with human speech, the ability to fly and other magical powers, and acts as the hero's helper.
According to scholar Erika Taube [de], this motif occurs in tales from North Africa to East Asia, even among Persian- and Arabic-speaking peoples.
[49] Similarly, Hasan M. El-Shamy noted that the quest for the king's remedy appears as a subsidiary event "in the Arab-Berber culture area".
[50] In addition, Germanist Gunter Dammann, in Enzyklopädie des Märchens, noted that the motif of the quest for the remedy appeared "with relative frequency" in over half of the variants that start with the Subtype 2 opening (stepmother's persecution of hero and horse).
[51] According to German scholars Günther Damman and Kurt Ranke, another motif that appears in tale type ATU 314 is the hero branding his brothers-in-law during their hunt.
[54] According to Germanist Gunter Dammann, tale type 314 with the opening of hero and horse fleeing home extends from Western Himalaya and South Siberia, to Iran and the Arab-speaking countries in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Failing all that, the sorceress convinces the queen to feign illness, and she will advise from a hiding place that she needs the meat of the black foal as remedy.
Thinking the message came from a supernatural source, he decides to sacrifice his son's foal, and orders Muhammad's teacher to hold him at school.
The next day, Muhammad is being held at school, when he hears the foal's neigh, throws some ashes and salt on his teacher's face, and rushes back home.
Away from home, prince Muhammad kills a deer and skins it, then the foal gives some of its hair to him and tells him to find work nearby.
He seizes the opportunity to gallop away from his father's kingdom and reach a distant city, where he passes by the king's balcony and the youngest princess falls in love with him at first sight.
The prince takes off the cowherd disguise, summons his horse and joins the fray to turn the tide of battle in favour of his father-in-law.
[60] In a tale translated to German with the title Der Prinz und sein Zauberpferd ("The Prince and his Magic Horse"), a sultan loses his wife and remarries.
The king allows it, and the prince escapes with the horse in a quick motion over a wild river, and reaches another land, despite his father's soldier trying to stop him.
The prince agrees and they make their way to a city, passing by the princess's balcony, then reaching a humble house where he takes shelter and finds work as a cowherd.
The local king learns his youngest daughter has fallen in love with the stranger, and orders him to be brought to his presence: the lowly cowherd.
The brothers-in-law agree, and the prince rushes back to his lowly hut in time to put on the cowherd disguise and lament to his father-in-law he could not join the others in the hunt, while the other princesses' husbands gloat about their "success".
The king sees the brands on the sons-in-law's backs, who can only remain silent in their shame, then gifts his youngest daughter and her husband a large palace and names him his heir.
[61] The tale was originally collected by Aziza Bagum in 1973, in Rasulnagar, Pakistani Punjab, from an informant named Khawaja Saddique, a 50-year-old merchant.