The cook, afraid of being caught, had the prince wish for a castle and a little girl as a companion; they lived there, but the cook grew afraid that the boy would wish for his father and reveal his crime, and told the girl, who had grown to a maiden, that she must murder the boy while he slept and cut out his heart and tongue.
The girl refused to murder someone so innocent, but the cook threatened to kill her the next day if she didn't obey.
German scholar Ulrich Marzolph [de] indicated that an ancestor of the tale type is the Dutch poem Esmoreit.
[3] Researcher Richard Dorson reported that the tale type can be found sporadically throughout 15 European countries, mainly in Finland.
[4] In addition, Canadian folklorist Carmen Roy stated that the type was "widespread" (tres répandu) across Germany, Scandinavia, Southeastern Europe, Turkey and in the "Indes".