He listed as his source Francis Hindes Groome's In Gypsy Tents, where the informant was John Roberts, a Welsh Roma.

He told the prince that he had to stay there the night, though many snakes and toads would crawl over him, and if he stirred, he would turn into one himself.

When he reached home, his apples were not as good as his brother's, and his father thought they were poisoned and told his headsman to cut his head off.

The bear brought him to some tents, where they made him welcome, and changed in a handsome young man, Jubal.

He did not break his leg over the handkerchief, and the princess knew he was the prince, so they married, and went back to her castle.

The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 551, "The Sons on a Quest for a Wonderful Remedy for their father" or "Water of Life".

This tale type concerns a king that is dying or going blind, and sends his three sons to find the only thing that can cure him.

[3][4] Jacobs noted the king with three sons was a common motif, and that the Sleeping Beauty-like character is found in Perrault.

[1] In several variants, the object that can cure the king (a magical water, an enchanted bird or wonderful fruits) belongs to a foreign princess or fairy maiden in a distant kingdom.

At the end of the tale, the fairy maiden or foreign princess travels with her army or navy to the prince's kingdom in order to find the man who stole her wonderful bird or magical water.

[8] The tale was eventually published in the journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, from the collection of John Sampson.

The princess visits Jack's father and his brothers to discover who took the bottle of black water from her.