The story shares motifs with other tales of the region, like Serbian Again, The Snake Bridegroom, and Hungarian The Serpent Prince: the heroine must search for her husband under a curse not to bear their child until he touches her again.
Worried about the reaction of the emperor when they see a pumpkin, the gourd son assuages their fears and becomes a man when night falls, so he can meet the princess.
Back to the princess, after grieving for some time, she puts an iron circle around her belly to endure the pains of the long pregnancy, then departs on her quest.
[4][5] 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.
[8] According to Romanian scholar Adolf Schullerus [ro], one of the "characteristic features" of most of the Romanian variants is that, after the burning of his animal skin, the husband wraps hoops around the heroine's body and curses her not to bear their children until he places his arm around her body; after the curse is lifted, the heroine gives birth to a golden-haired son.
[9] In addition, 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.
[10] Likewise, 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.
[15] 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".
Later, the princess burns the pumpkin husk in the fire and her husband curses her not to give birth until he places his hand on her body, but she can only find him beyond Câmpu-frumosŭ, in the "Mânăstirea dintr'unŭ osŭ".
Sfinta Duminecă also helps the princess to cross a fiery meadow, so she can reach the Mânăstirea dintr'unŭ osŭ, where she waits in front of the palace the golden objects.
At last, she reaches Sinta Duminica, who is grinding grains by a mill, and tells the princess her husband is living with a new spouse in a nearby village in the valley.
[20] Romanian folklorist Dumitru Stăncescu [ro] collected a variant titled Şarpele moşului ("The Old Man's Serpent") from informant Ion Georgescu.
[21] Writer and folklorist Cristea Sandu Timoc collected a Romanian variant from teller Lăpădat Maria and published it with the title Dinu Făt-Frumos.
[22] In a tale from Siebenbürgen, published by author Franz Obert [de] in German language magazine Das Ausland with the title Von der Schlange, die ein Weib gebar ("About the Snake that a Woman gave birth to"), a couple that have been together for 20 years long for a child.
The snakeskin is burnt, and her husband curses the princess not to give birth to their child until he places his hand on her again, then some iron rings involve her belly.
At the same court, the princess (the Emperor's daughter), who has been searching for her husband for 20 years, recognizes him and goes to his room at night, to plead for him to touch her belly so she can give birth to their son.
The princess takes the snakeskin and burns, but her husband curses her not to give birth to their child until he places his hand on her, and iron rings spring around her belly.
However, a large dragon's head ("unŭ capŭ de balaurŭ") appears to him and demands the emperor gives up his youngest daughter to "Uitatul".
Ginŭ Costanginŭ smells the burning and notices his snakeskin is not there, so he curses his wife not to give birth until he touches her belly again, then vanishes.
Mărgeluţa blames her mother and the priest, but, after two years, places an iron ring around her swollen belly, and begins to search for her husband.
Duminecă also tells the girl her husband is inside a house near the church, and she is to stay by the fountain with the golden objects to draw the attention of the maidservants.
The mistress of the house, however, takes the children and buries them in the garden, and the twins go through a cycle of reincarnations (trees, beds, lambs and humans again).
Some days later, the girl ends up telling her grandmother about the prince, and the old woman suggests that, instead of burning the featherskin (since the smell would alert him), she could give it to the pigs to eat.
The girl wakes up and decides to journey to the east, but the quest is not an easy one: she flees from some hungry wolves, is almost drowned and swallowed by a giant fish, is almost swept away by a whirlwind and wades through a large muddy pool.
On the third one, after she traded the golden apples for a night with him, the Fairy Prince wakes up and places his hand on his true wife's body, allowing her to give birth to their son, a three-year-old, golden-haired child.
Lastly, she reaches her destination where her husband is to be found: the land of the fairies, a kingdom where the water is blue, the fields are gold and the grass is green.
She uses the presents from her helpers to buy three nights in her husband's bed, wakes him and lets him touch the iron rings, so she can give birth to their son.
[32] Transylvanian linguist Heinrich von Wlislocki collected and published a tale from the Romani with the title Das Schlangenkind ("The Snake-Child").
Nine months later, the woman gives birth to a snake, and the couple decide to shelter it from the world at large by hiding it in a dark room in their house.
Twenty years pass, the snake son wishes to see the outside world, but his mother warns him against it since people might hurt or kill him.