[10] Richard MacGillivray Dawkins also noted that in some variants, the suitors are "persons of great and magical potency", but appear to court the princesses under shaggy and ragged disguises.
[14] Professor Karel Horálek mentioned that tale type AaTh 552 ("specially in Slavic variants") shows the motif of the hero opening, against his wife's orders, a door or the dungeon and liberating a Giant or Ogre that kills him.
[15] W. R. Halliday attempted a reconstruction of the supposedly original form of the tale, dubbed "The Magic Brothers-in-law", which incorporates the marriage to animals or other creatures, and the fight against an adversary whose soul is located outside his body ("Ogre's life in an egg").
[21] Jeremiah Curtin collected an Irish variant titled The Weaver's Son and the Giant of the White Hill, where a poor family "sells" their daughters to three noblemen for "their price in gold/silver/copper".
[22][23] French historian Robert Darnton cites, in his book The Great Cat Massacre, a burlesque narrative of a peasant couple marrying their daughters off to a wolf, a fox, a hare and a pig.
[32] The Brothers Grimm collected, in the very first edition of their Kinder- und Hausmärchen (1812) the tale Die drei Schwestern ("The Three Sisters"), where the maidens are betrothed to a bear, an eagle and a generic fish due to their father's gambling.
[43] Apart from Basile's literary work, the tale is attested in Italian folktale compilations, with seven variants (AT 552 and AT 552A), according to a 20th-century inquiry,[44] Other variants were collected by 19th century folklorists: "The Fair Fiorita"[45] (La bella Fiorita), by Domenico Comparetti;[46] Lu re di li setti muntagni d'oru[47] and Li tri figghi obbidienti[48] by Giuseppe Pitrè; Von der schönen Cardia,[49] by Laura Gonzenbach; Lu Bbastunélle,[50] by Gennaro Finnamore; La bella del Mondo,[51] by Antonio de Nino; Die vier Königskinder,[52] by Hermann Knust.
[57] August Leskien collected a variant in Lithuania ("Von dem Königssohn, der auszog, um seine drei Schwestern zu suchen"), where the animals are a falcon, a griffin and an eagle.
Apart from the story about Koschei, the Deathless and Marya Morevna (both present in the same variant),[72] Russian folktale compilations attest similar tales about human maidens marrying either animals or personifications of nature (sun, wind, storm, etc.).
A. Erlenwein, which was translated by Angelo de Gubernatis in his Florilegio with the name Vaniúsha, where the sisters marry a bear, an iron-nosed bird ("uccello dal naso di ferro") and a pike ("luccio").
Three years later, the Tsarevich intends to court princess Marya Morevna, when, in his travels, he finds three old men, who reveal themselves as the whirlwinds and assume an avian form (the first a raven, the second an eagle and the third a falcon).
[87] In a Belarusian variant (summarized by Slavicist Karel Horálek), "Прекрасная девица Алена" ("Beautiful Girl Alena"),[88] one of the tsar's sons marries his sisters to the Thunder, the Frost and the Rain.
Years later, the ladies' brother visits them and gains three hairs from the bear, three feathers from the eagle and three fish scales as aid to defeat the magician who cursed the brothers-in-law into animal forms.
[94] Author Božena Němcová collected a Czech fairy tale, O Slunečníku, Měsíčníku a Větrníku, where the prince's sisters are married to the Sun, the Moon and the Wind.
[95][96] A retelling of Nemcova's version, titled O slunečníkovi, měsíčníkovi a větrníkovi, named the prince Silomil, who marries the unnamed warrior princess and frees a king with magical powers from his wife's dungeon.
[97] Czech writer Josef Košín z Radostova (cs) published the story of O medvědu, orlu a rybě ("About the bear, the eagle and the fish"): Prince Radoslav drowns in debt and is forced to relocate with his family to a cabin in the mountains.
[99] Author Bozena Nemcova also collected a very similar Slovenian variant of the Czech fairy tale, titled O Slunečníku, Měsíčníku, Větrníku, o krásné Ulianě a dvou tátošíkách.
[100][101] In another Slovenian tale, O třech zakletých knížatech ("About the three cursed princes"), the rich peasant loses his fortune in gambling and is forced to give his daughters to a bear, an eagle and a fish in order to gain some economic respite.
[111] In another tale, collected and published by Vuk Karadžić with the title Стојша и Младен ("Stojsa and Mladen), a pregnant queen sees her three older daughters carried away by a powerful whirlwind.
[114] Slavicist Karel Horálek also mentioned a variant from Serbia, titled "Атеш-Периша" ("Atesh-Perisha"), published in newspaper Босанска вила (sr) (Bosanska vila).
The wolf brother-in-law brings him to life this time and advises him to seek a job with the one hundred year-old witch that lives in the depths of Hell and gain her horse in order to defeat Pogány once and for all.
[120] In another Romanian tale, Omul cu trei feciori ("A Man with three sons"), the hero's brothers-in-law are a "ciorilor" (a crow), a "corbilor" (a raven) and a "vulturilor" (a vulture or eagle).
[140] In an Armenian variant collected by Frédéric Macler, Le Conte de L'Imberbe Mystérieux, the suitors are described as "demons" in the form of fox, a bear and a wolf.
[141] In a Canadian tale, The Boy and the Robbers' Magical Booty, the brothers-in-law are normal humans, but each one of them gives the hero a fish's scale, a feather and a piece of wool to summon animals to his aid in order to defeat the Giant of the Sea.
[145] The tale was titled The Magical Coat, Shoes, and Sword and the three brothers-in-law are a whale, a giant sheep and a gray tame duck, and they help him fight a magician that abducts the wives of the local townspeople and keeps them in his cave.
[146] In another version of this Micmac story, The Prince who went seeking his Sisters, the brothers-in-law approach the king in human form and only assume animal shapes when they are hunting.
[149] A version of the tale is attested in Brazilian folklore, collected by Sílvio Romero in Sergipe as O bicho Manjaléo[150] and translated as The Beast Slayer by writer Elsie Spicer Eells.
[154] The tale was translated into Russian by professor Mahomed-Nuri Osmanovich Osmanov [ru] with the title "Юсуф — шах пери и Малек-Ахмад" ("Yusuf, the Shah of the Peris and Malek-Ahmad").
[155] Ignacz Kúnos translated a version collected in Istanbul, titled Der Windteufel[156] or The Storm Fiend,[157] where an evil wind spirit carries away the hero's sisters, and later they are married to a lion, a tiger and the "Padishah of the Peris", the emerald anka.
[161] Anthropologist Elsie Clews Parsons collected in Cape Verde a variant The Three Brothers-in-Law: his life in the egg, where the hero is given a feather, a scale and a horn to summon the animals to his aid.