[7][8] Commenting on a variant he collected, Ernst Meier claimed that the golden crosses on the woman's children were indicative of noble origin.
[9] Portuguese folklorist Teófilo Braga, in his annotations, commented that variants of the tale could be found in many Germanic sources published until then.
[10] The oldest German language variant is reported by scholarship to be the tale Der wahrredende Vogel ("The Truth-Speaking Bird"), published by author Justus Heinrich Saal in 1767.
[11][12] In Saal's story, three sisters talk about their marriage wishes, the youngest saying she wants to marry the king and bear him triplets, two boys and a girl, each with a star on the forehead.
[13] Folklorist Franz Xaver von Schönwerth collected in the 19th century a Bavarian variant titled Der redende Vogel, der singende Baum und die goldgelbe Quelle ("The Talking Bird, the Singing Tree, and the Sparkling Stream") or Die armen Königskinder, published in the 21st century.
The woman gives birth to "beautiful" children (two boys and a girl) in three consecutive pregnancies, who are taken by the queen mother and cast in the water in a box.
The prince's wife then gives birth to three children, each with an animal-shaped birthmark: a dog, a pig and a cat (the animals the evil queen will put in their place).
[17] German orientalist Ernst Heinrich Meier published a tale from Swabia, collected in Bühl with the title Der König Auffahrer des Meers.
When war erupts, the king has to fight the enemy army, and, in his absence, she gives birth to two boys and a girl, each with a golden cross on the back.
The children enter the forest and meet a witch, who directs them to a magic castle in the wood where a talking and wise blackbird lives in a cage.
[19] Germanist Johann Wilhelm Wolf [de] published a German variant with the title Die drei Königskinder, translated as The Three Royal Children.
When the queen learns of this, she disguises herself as a beggar woman and visits her grandchildren to tell them about a tree with golden fruits, a speaking bird and a springing water.
[21] Literary historian Heinrich Pröhle collected a variant in Oberharz with the title Springendes Wasser, sprechender Vogel, singender Baum ("Springing water, speaking bird and singing tree").
After the queen gives birth to triplets, two boys and a girl, each with a golden cross on the front, the sisters take them and cast them in the water.
The queen's sisters hire an old witch to lure the triplets into seeking the titular springing water, speaking bird and singing tree.
Back to the present, the prince keeps going on his quest and, during a ride, begins to feel tired, and decides to stop by a nearby farm.
Each of the girls enters and tells her dream to the prince; he dismisses the first two, and hears the youngest's story, which matches the prediction he heard in his childhood.
After her grandchildren are born, the queen falsifies a letter, replaces the babies for two puppies and casts them in the sea in a box, while she orders her daughter-in-law to be thrown in prison.
The innkeeper gives them a room to stay and later pays them a visit; he sees that the stones they took with them are worth much money, and the twins say they are looking for their parents.
Years later, they put up a notice to see if any parent lost any children named Karl and Berta, but only the fisherman who raised them appears.
Berta hugs her brother, and, after their joyful reunion, orders the construction of a garden to house the fish, the tree and the bird.
One day, the bird tells the twins are close to finding out the truth of the origin, and advises them to invite everyone to see the garden.
The witch visits the twins and convinces them to seek a luminous tree of the Sun (Sonnenbaum, in the original) that glows and shines.
[26][27] In another Austrian tale from Obermiemingen with the title Der Vogel Phönix, das Wasser des Lebens und die Wunderblume ("The Phoenix Bird, the Water of Life and the Wonder-Flower"), a knight loses his way in the forest and finds a poor man's farm to ask for shelter.
He takes her to his castle, but he has to go to war, and one of his sisters helps in the delivery of the royal children: a pair of twins, a boy and a girl with hair of gold.
[28][29] Germanist and folklorist Theodor Vernaleken [de] collected a variant with the title Der klingende Baum ("The Sounding Tree"),[30] from Buchelsdorf, in Austrian Silesia.
A bird advises her to get a little bit of the water from a fountain and sprinkle it on the stones, restoring her brothers and many others – among them, a young man, whom she later marries.
The boys grow up and leave their adoptive father's home for a town, where they find work and live with the burgmeister and his wife.
[34] Author Dietrich Jecklin collected a Swiss tale from Graubünden with the title Vom Vöglein, das die Wahrheit erzählt ("The little bird that told the truth").
[36][37] Some German variants were condensed and adapted into the Märchenfilm Die drei Königskinder (de) as an episode of film series Sechs auf eine Streich.