Yasmin sees a nearby castle made of black stone, and has an idea: she asks for the slave-girl to drink a bit of the water, and drops her wedding ring in it.
Afraid of being found out, Baharam changes the needle into a broom, then into a piece of wood, and lastly into a spray of flowers to throw her off the human's scent, but to no avail.
[3] In his Catalogue of Persian Folktales, German scholar Ulrich Marzolph [de] classified the tale as his type AaTh 425B, Der Tierbräutigam: Die böse Zauberin ("The Animal Bridegroom: The Evil Sorceress").
Type 425B is considered by scholarship to correspond to the ancient Graeco-Roman myth of Cupid and Psyche, that is, the supernatural husband's mother forces the heroine, her daughter-in-law, to perform difficult and impossible tasks for her.
[6] According to Swahn's study on Animal as Bridegroom tales, a characteristic motif that occurs in the "Indo-Persian" area is the heroine using a ring to signal her arrival to her husband, when she finds his location.
[10] In an Iranian tale published by professor Mahomed-Nuri Osmanovich Osmanov [ru] with the title "Сабзкаба и Шакархава" ("Sabzkaba and Shakarkhava"), a poor woodcutter finds a snake near a sack of flour.
Later that night, they kill the wedding couple and escape in a Magic Flight sequence, as they are pursued by Sabzkaba's relatives, his uncle, his father and lastly his mother: they first turn into a broom (him) and a bundle of sticks (her), then into a garden (her) and a garden-keeper (him); thirdly, a mill (her) and a miller (him) and finally into a cypress tree (her) and a dragon coiled around it (him).
The man declares his intentions, and the king, advised by his vizier, asks the turtle suitor performs some tasks first: to provide seven camels loaded with gold and jewels.
[18][19] Russian Iranist Alexander Romaskevich [ru] collected in Shiraz, in the Sivandi language, a tale he translated as "Дочь дровосека и её жених-змей" ("The Daughter of the Woodcutter and her Serpent Husband").
Meanwhile, his wife, who has been following the eagle's shadow, reaches the castle of Shafi Guli Zard's aunt and cries a bit near a fountain, when she sees a servant fetching water.
His middle daughter is married to a person named Malik Ibrahim, who is the son of the king of demons and slept in dragon skin (" اژدها", "aždahâ", in the original) at night.
The old woman brings the water to Malik Ibrahim, who recognizes the ring as the one he gave to a girl in the city of Saba, and fears for her, since she may be eaten by the demons.
Shams-e-Qamar brings her inside as a servant, and his mother, a man-eating creature, forces difficult tasks on her: first, to eat a whole bowl; next, to clean the yard; thirdly, to wash a black piece white.
Later, the creature forces the princess to perform difficult tasks: first, to sweep the floor with her eyebrows; next, to fill jars with her tears; thirdly, to gather bird feathers - which she accomplishes with her husband's help.
The youth recognizes the ring and brings his wife inside, but warns her his family is made of demons and will devour her, so he turns her into a pin and places it around his neck.
During the wedding night, Sabzqaba changes his wife into a broom and places her in a corner, and secretly stashes a pack of needles and pins and a water bottle, and saddles two horses.
The girl and the man of the tree live together, but he warns her that she is not to tell anything to anyone, not even her mother, for she will have to search for him wearing fifty pairs of iron shoes in orders to find him again.
[30] In an Iranian tale from Sanjan Region with the title "سبزهقبا" (Transliteration: Sabzeh Ghaba; English: "Green Robe"), a man lives with his wife and daughter Bibihama ("بيبيهما"), who works with flower weaving.
Her husband, the Man in Green Robe, is set to be married to his cousin, and her mother-in-law forces her to do some chores for her, including bearing a letter to his aunt with a command to kill the princess.
Having failed the first time, the mother sends her again with another letter, and again the Man in Green Robe replaces the command with a simple request for a musical instrument ("the tambourine that sings and dances").
As his wedding ceremony approaches, the Man in Green Robe dispatches his human wife to the wilderness and instructs her to wait for him with ten candles on her fingers, while he deals with the false bride.
[32] In a variant from the Lezgin people titled "Сад-Эскендер" ("Sad-Eskender"), collected in Dagestan, a poor man lives with his three daughters, Gul-Khanum, Guzel-Khanum and Tavat-Khanum.
The man returns home and tells his daughters about it, the elder two cursing their father for a preposterous proposal, but the youngest, Tavat-Khanum, agrees to become the snake's wife.
After a long search, the maiden reaches a fountain, where two maidservants come to fetch water for their master, the Serpent King ("Zmey-khan"), who injured himself when he went to the "upper world".
He orders the servant to bring the maiden inside the castle, and tells his wife that his family (mother and aunt) are both azhdaha, evil draconic-like beings, and they have set him up with another bride.
Zmey-khan advises his human wife to compliment the thorns and dirty rivers on the way there, to give the correct food to a dog and a horse, take the yeast and flee as soon as possible.
The man questions the snake about his daughter's fate, and it answers it will come in three days, build a splendid palace in front of his house, where they shall celebrate the wedding.
The prince takes the girl inside and reveals his past: he is the son of bloodthirsty Wakhig; he wanted to go to the upper world to find a bride there, but his mother tried to dissuade him, since no one would marry a snake.
On the wedding night, the snake turns into a human youth, and asks Alima to keep the secret, otherwise she would be "punished" by a steel staff and would have to wear iron boots (mūza-yi āhanīn).
She also discovers her husband's whereabouts: he has returned to his family and has been living with his mother, an infidel (kāfira) giant (bārzangī) in a place called Chahār Bāgh ('four gardens').