The king told his two oldest sons that the one who caught the bird would receive half his kingdom and be his heir.

The prince went in, but thought it was a great pity not to take the cage, but when he touched it, bells rang, waking everyone, and he was captured.

He was captured, and the Second King told him that if he had come with the word, he would have given him the horse, but now he would be spared only if he brought him Helen the Beautiful to be his wife.

The wolf agreed, the exchange was done, and Ivan returned to his own kingdom with Helen, the horse, and the Firebird.

[12][13] Charles Fillingham Coxwell [de] translated the tale as Prince John, the Fiery Bird and the Grey Wolf.

[14] The tale is classified - and gives its name - to the East Slavic type SUS 550, Russian: "Царевич и серый волк", romanized: Tsarevitch i seryy volk, lit.

[16] On the other hand, scholar Andreas Johns noted that the tale type ATU 550 was diffused through East Slavic tradition by printed lubok.

[17] Charles Fillingham Coxwell [de] suggested that the helpful gray wolf may have originated from an Eastern source.

[19] A second Russian variant with a similar name was collected, titled Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf.

[20] Austrian writer and journalist Johann Nepomuk Vogl [de] published in 1841 a variant titled Das Märchen vom Vogel Schar, dem Pferd mit der goldenen Mähne und vom grauen Wolf ("The Tale of the Bird Schar, the Golden-Maned Horse and the Gray Wolf"): a Tsar named Wislaw Undronovitch has three sons, Dmitri, Vasili and Ivan Tsarevich.

The tsar orders his sons to guard their garden from a nocturnal thief, but only Ivan discovers the culprit: a brilliant golden bird.

[24] In a Ukrainian tale collected by folklorist Petro Lintur [uk] from Khust with the title "Железный волк" (Ukrainian: "Залізний вовк"; English: "The Iron Wolf"), the king's prized pear tree is being attacked by some thief that steals the golden pears, and the three princes are put on guard duty; the elder two fall asleep and fail, while the youngest, Mishko, stays awake and discovers the culprit: a golden bird.

With the help of the titular Iron Wolf, Mishko begins a quest for the golden bird (that belongs to Tsar Poganin), a golden-maned horse and a golden-haired princess.

[27] English author Alan Garner adapted the tale as Grey Wolf, Prince Jack and the Firebird: the hero is renamed Prince Jack, who lives in the Stone Castle; the firebird lives in the Copper Kingdom, and the horse of the Golden Mane is found in the Iron Castle.