Similar stories are attested in East Asian literature, specially Mongolian and Korean, wherein the boy is murdered, but is later reborn in the shape of a calf.
In the first catalogue of Chinese folktales (devised by Eberhard in 1937), Wolfram Eberhard abstracted a Chinese folktype he indexed as number 33, Der Verwandelte Knabe ("The Transformed Boy"): evil co-wives try to kill the man's youngest wife's child by feeding him to the cow; the cow gives birth to a calf; the calf escapes to another kingdom, marries a human princess and changes back to human form.
The author of the Jiangsu book noted that the tale seemed to hark back to a story of a concubine from the annals of the Song Dynasty.
Scholarship points that in a compilation of Buddhist teachings, titled Shijia rulai shidi xiuxing ji, there exists a story about a king whose third wife gives birth to a boy, and his jealous co-wives replace the baby with a skinned cat and even try to kill him, to no avail.
Finally, they give the baby to a cow that eats it, and lie to their husband that the third wife gave birth to a monster.
[8] Sinologist Wilt Idema states that the earliest appearance of the story is a Buddhist tract titled Foshuo xiaoshunzi xiuxing chengfo jing ("The sutra on how a filial and obedient son achieved Buddhahood by self-cultivation, preached by the Buddha"), dated to the 6th century.
They contain very similar plot structures: birth of hero by third wife or concubine, the attempts on the young prince by the other wives, his rebirth as a golden-horned and silver-hooved calf (with some difference between versions), his escape to another kingdom, his marriage to a human princess; his transformation to human and eventual return to his homeland.
[10][11] According to Wilt Idema, the tale is "popular" among the Han Chinese, Manchus, Mongols and Muslims, and the "majority" of its oral variants have been collected from Northern China.
The minister comes back home and the first two co-wives report their co-spouse lost the baby, so they bring her in to be beaten and scolded by him.
The minister decides to spare the calf and lets him go, and promises to buy a cow's heart in the market to give his wives.
[14] According to scholarship, the Buddhist tale[15] of the birth of the Golden Calf "became wide-spread in Korea",[8] with the earliest printed edition dating back to 1329 (during the reign of King Chungsuk of Goryeo).
Time passes, and, just before Pak returns, Che gives birth to a boy, which is taken by Chhye-bi and given to some servants to be killed.
A cow finds the broth and eats a piece of it, becoming pregnant and giving birth to a calf with golden fur.
Meanwhile, the golden-furred calf begins to draw the attention of Pak, which greatly distresses Chhye-bi, since the little animal is evidence of her wicked deed.
As for the golden calf, he flees and goes to the imperial city, where the emperor set up a suitor test: whoever wishes to marry his youngest daughter shall jump high and ring the gong.
At the end of the tale, the now human golden calf pays a visit to Pak, his own father, to tell him the truth.
[11] In addition, professor Charles R. Bawden stated that the theme of the calumniated wife appears in Mongolian tradition with the motif of the son's rebirth by a cow.
[25] This tale was also published in longer form with the title Jagar Büritü-yin Khagan, which Bawden understood to mean "Khan of All in India".
[26] In a tale from the Daur people titled The Golden-Backed, Silver-Chested Boy, a man named Jeardi Mergen has three wives.
One day, he is ready to go on a hunt, and asks each of his three wives what they will prepare him when he returns: the first promises to sew a marten skin coat with 72 buttons; the second that she will a pair of buck skin boots, and the third wife, pregnant, promises that their child will be a boy with golden back and silver chest.
Months later, the third wife gives birth to her son, but the two co-wives take the boy and put a baby in his place.
When Jeardi Mergen goes back home, he sees a puppy instead of a human son, and forces his third wife to work in the kitchen.
Some time later, the cow gives birth to a silver chest and golden backed calf, which Jeardi Mergen notices it reminds him of his unborn son.