The story shares motifs with other tales of the region, like Serbian Again, The Snake Bridegroom, and Romanian Trandafiru and The Enchanted Pig: the heroine must search for her husband under a curse not to bear their child until he touches her again.
[7][8] In this tale type, the princess burns the husband's animal skin and she must seek him out, even paying a visit to the Sun, the Moon and the Wind and gaining their help.
[11] Others of this type include The Black Bull of Norroway, The Brown Bear of Norway, The Daughter of the Skies, East of the Sun and West of the Moon, The Tale of the Hoodie, The Sprig of Rosemary, and White-Bear-King-Valemon.
[13] In fact, when he developed his revision of Aarne-Thompson's system, Uther remarked that an "essential" trait of the tale type ATU 425A was the "wife's quest and gifts" and "nights bought".
[16] In Balkanic variants of the tale type, the supernatural husband curses his wife not to give birth to their child for a long period of time until she finds him again.
[17] In addition, according to Lithuanian professor Bronislava Kerbelyte [lt], similar tales from Hungary, Romania and Moldova contain the motif of the supernatural husband wrapping iron hoops around the heroine's belly so she cannot give birth to their child until he lays a hand on her again.
[20] In the same vein, researcher Donald Ward observed an erotic element "in almost every variant" of the tale type: the defloration of a virgin by a phallic-shaped monster.
[27] In a Hungarian tale published by author Gyorgy Gaal with the title Der Schlangenprinz ("The Snakeprince"), a childless royal couple wish to have a son.
For this betrayal, the snake prince curses his wife not to give birth to their child until he meets him again and ask for his forgiveness, the same moment the metal shoes will fall off her feet.
[28][29] In a tale published by György Gaal [hu] with the title A kigyó-királyfi ("The Serpent-Prince"), a childless royal couple longs to have a child of their own.
[30][31] In Hungarian variant A kigyóbör (Die Schlangenhaut or "The Snakeskin"), collected by László Merényi and translated by Elisabeth Rona-Sklárek, a poor woman prays to God for a son, even if it is a half-man, half-snake child.
Eighteen years pass, the snake son grows and talks to his mother that he want to marry the local king's daughter, she who is famed for her beauty.
Her husband puts his hand on her breast and she gives birth to their children: a pair of golden-haired twins, a boy and a girl, one with the sun, the other with a star on the front.
[32][33] Hungarian linguist Antal Hoger [hu] collected the tale A sárig kicsi kígyó ("A small snake from the mud"), a poor couple does not have any children.
The next morning, the now human snake son tries to find his snakeskin, and admonishes his wife for doing it; he pricks his hand on a pin, so that three drops of blood fall on his shirt, then embraces Mariska and places three iron rings around her body, cursing that she will only be released after he kisses her again, then vanishes.
The queen meets with the widow and asks the girls which each would do if they found him in an angry state: the elder six say they would shoo him away, but the youngest say she would caress and hold him until his anger subsided.
[37] In a Hungarian tale collected from a source in the Úz valley with the title Kígyóhéjú királyfi ("The Prince in Snakeskin"), a couple have no son, and suffer for this.
The snake's mother wishes to see her son's true form, and tells her daughter-in-law to feign illness and ask to be covered with the snakeskin to regain her health, all the while keeping some hidden embers to burn the disguise.
However, the snake son's second wife gives him some sleeping wine to drug him, and the girl fails to wake him, whom she calls "Snakeskin King Peter" ("Kígyóhéjú Király Péter", in the original) on the first two nights.
[39][40] In a tale titled Kégyókirályfi ("Snake Prince"), collected from a Székely informant named Fábián Ágostonné, a royal couple worries for not having a son.
The princess plants the wheat and makes bread with with, then begins her quest through plains and valleys, until she reaches a dense forest, where the Moon lives with his old mother, and is given a golden distaff.
The first princess, the snake-prince's true wife, offers the golden objects for three nights with the now human snake prince, and the witch accepts, but douses his drink with a sleeping powder so that he falls asleep, since she wants to marry him.
The snake son wakes up and admonishes his wife, and curses her to not give birth and for her ring to stick to her finger until she has found him in a black castle in the north.
[43] The tale was originally published by István Bano in magazine Kalangya [hu] with the title A kígyó-vőlegény ("The Snake Groom"), and sourced from Zenta.
The woman goes to talk to the man and asks for the eldest daughter as a bride for the snake son, whom the story calls Kígyófújta Szép János ("Snake-Blowing Beautiful Janos").
His mother orders her son to take the human girl there, and gives her a golden jug, which she is to place on a spread carpet and sell it for a night with her husband János.
[46] Antal Hoger collected the tale Az agárbőrös királyfi és felesége ("The Greyhound Prince and his Wife"), a woman has no sons and prays to God to have one, even if it is a hound.
The next day, the human hound prince bedecks his wife with ten golden rings on her fingers, a silver girdle around her belly, and a pair of silk footwear.
The morning after, as soon as the human frog wakes up and does not see the amphibian skin, he curses the girl not to give birth to any child for seven years, until he places three fingers on her and a golden circle around her.
The girl then arrives at the well of her husband, which the story names Király Dávid ("King David"), and asks for a bit of water, since she has not drunk anything in seven years.