View source for Swan maiden

{{Short description|Mythical female creature}}

[[File:Valkyries with swan skins.jpg|thumb|right|In the ''[[Völundarkviða]]'', [[Wayland Smith]] and his brothers marry [[valkyrie]]s who dress in swan skins.]]

The "'''swan maiden'''" ({{langx|de|Schwanjungfrau}}) is a tale classified as [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index|ATU]] 400, "The Swan Maiden" or "The Man on a Quest for His Lost Wife",{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}} in which a man makes a pact with, or marries, a supernatural female being who later departs.<ref name="dhuy2023" />{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}} The wife [[Shapeshifting|shapeshifts]] from human to bird form with the use of a [[feathered cloak]] (or otherwise turns into a beast by donning animal skin). The discussion is sometimes limited to cases in which the wife is specifically a swan,<ref name="jacobs1916"/><ref name="Horálek1974"/><ref name="GrenwoodEncy2008-swanmaiden"/> a goose, or at least some other kind of bird, as in ''[[Enzyklopädie des Märchens]]''.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}}{{sfnp|Armstrong|1959|p=55}}

The key to the transformation is usually a swan skin, or a garment with swan feathers attached.<ref>{{cite book |author-link=Cyril W. Beaumont |first=C. W. |last=Beaumont |title=The Ballet called Swan Lake |location=London |publisher=Beaumont |date=1952 |page=36}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Stuart-Glennie |first=John S. |chapter=Incidents of Swan-Maiden Marriage |editor=Richard M. Dorson |title=Peasant Customs and Savage Myths |volume=II |publisher=The University of Chicago Press |date=1968 |page=523 |quote=[In "The Swan-Maiden Marriage"] the maiden is represented as of a higher race than, or at least different race from, her suitor, and particularly as wearing clothes, and often, though not generally, a feather dress.}}</ref>

In the typical story a maiden is (usually bathing) in some body of water, a man furtively steals, hides, or burns her feather garment ([[Motif-Index of Folk-Literature|motif]] K 1335, D 361.1), which prevents her from flying away (or swimming away, etc.), forcing her to become his wife.{{sfnp|Thompson|1977|p=88}}{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}}{{Refn|Type II of three types, in A. T. Hatto (1961).{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=326}}}} She is often one of several maidens present (often celestial beings), and often it is the youngest who gets captured.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}} The bird wife eventually leaves this husband in many cases.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}}

The oldest narrative example of this type is [[Chinese language|Chinese]], recorded in the ''Sou shen ji'' ("[[In Search of the Supernatural]]", 4th century), etc.{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=344}}

There are many analogues around the world, notably the ''[[Völundarkviða]]''{{sfnp|Thompson|1977|loc=88, note 2}} and ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales]]'' KHM 193 "[[The Drummer (fairy tale)|The Drummer]]".{{sfnp|Thompson|1977|p=88}} There are also many parallels involving creatures other than swans.

== Scope of definition ==
{{further|#Folkloristics}}
The "swan maiden" here may more generally be rephrased as "[[bird]]-maiden",{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=343}} as its identity may be that of the swan, [[goose]] or [[Crane (bird)|crane]], as is usually the case {{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=328}} or a [[duck]] or [[heron]] (as in South American examples),{{sfnp|Berezkin|2010|p=33}} or [[doves]],{{sfnp|Berezkin|2010|p=35}} or [[vulture]]s, [[parrot]]s and such non-[[migratory birds]].{{Refn|name=berezkin-apud-dhuy|{{harvp|Berezkin|2010|p=34}}, (2013) ''apud'' {{harvp|d'Huy|2023|p=}}.<!--ref name="dhuy2023"/-->}}<ref>{{cite book |last=Yearsley |first=Macleod |title=The Folklore of Fairy-tale |location=London |publisher=Watts & Co. |date=1924 |page=168 |quote=The general idea of these [Swan Maiden] stories is that the hero observes some birds — swans, geese, ducks, doves, pigeons, etc. — who fly to a lake and, removing their feather dresses, become maidens of surpassing beauty. By taking possession of the dress of one of them the hero forces her to become his wife; but, after some length of time, she recovers her dress and flies away, usually never to return, but sometimes to be recovered by her husband.}}</ref> And since tale type ATU 400 is  "The Man on a Quest for His Lost Wife," it could involve a broad spectrum of supernatural creatures: also as [[stars]], celestial [[nymph]]s,{{Refn|name=berezkin-apud-dhuy}} or a [[fairy|fée]] of the lake.{{Refn|As in the example of an Occitan tale with many variants.<ref name="dhuy2023"/>}}

Russian folklorist [[Eleazar M. Meletinskii]] had studied the human-[[animal marriage]] tradition extensively, which in the past had been categorized under "swan maiden", but this would excessively broaden the scope of this topic.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}}

The swan maiden tales could also fall under the broader scope of "Magic Wife".<ref name="berezkin2010"/> The  "Magic Wife" motif in the broad sense is one of the most widely distributed motifs in the world, most probably being many millennia old,{{Refn|Berezkin (2010)<ref name="berezkin2010"/> and d'Huy which cites it.<ref name="dhuy2023" />}}{{Refn|Hatto admits narrative from China to be oldest, c. 300CE, but as a possible precursor suggests a story from the  ''[[Rigveda|Ṛg Veda]]''.{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=344}}}} and the best known [[supernatural]] [[wife]] figure in narratives.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Edmunds |first=Lowell |author-link=<!--Lowell Edmunds--> |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-3S7DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA51 |title=Stealing Helen: The Myth of the Abducted Wife in Comparative Perspective |date=2020-04-28 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-20233-4 |language=en}}</ref> This motif is one of the most interconnected and centrally referred to among all the other stories.{{Refn|d'Huy (2019)<ref name="dhuy2019"/> and d'Huy (2023)<ref name="dhuy2023"/>}}

(Cf. {{section link||Folkloristics}} for further details).

==Medieval legends==
[[File:Illustration at page 105 in Europa's Fairy Book.png|thumb|left|The hunter recognizes his bride amongst the parade of identical maidens. Illustration from Jacobs's ''Europa's Fairy Book'' by [[John D. Batten]]]]

===Germanic legend===
{{See also|Feather cloak}}
In [[Germanic mythology]], the character of the swan maiden is associated with "multiple [[Valkyrie]]s",<ref>[[Marija Gimbutas|Gimbutas, Marija]]; Miriam Robbins Dexter (1999). ''The Living Goddesses''. University of California Press. p. 194. {{ISBN|0-520-22915-0}}.</ref> a trait already observed by [[Jacob Grimm]] in his book ''[[Deutsche Mythologie]]'' (''Teutonic Mythology'').<ref name=":9">Grimm, Jacob (1880). ''[https://archive.org/details/teutonicmytholog01grim/page/426/mode/2up Teutonic Mythology]''. Vol. 1. James Steven Stallybrass (tr.). W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen. pp. 426-427.</ref> Like the international legend, their magic [[Feather cloak#Germanic|swan-shirt]] allows their avian transformation.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.3406/roman.1989.5588 |doi-access=free | title=Le Cygne et la Valkyrie. Dévaluation d'un mythe| year=1989| last1=Benoit| first1=Jérémie| journal=Romantisme| volume=19| issue=64| pages=69–84}}</ref>

In [[Germanic heroic legend]], the stories of [[Wayland the Smith]] describe him as falling in love with Swanhilde, a Swan Maiden, who is the daughter of a marriage between a mortal woman and a fairy king, who forbids his wife to ask about his origins; on her asking him he vanishes. Swanhilde and her sisters are however able to fly as swans. But wounded by a spear, Swanhilde falls to earth and is rescued by the master-craftsman Wieland, and marries him, putting aside her wings and her magic ring of power. Wieland's enemies, the Neidings, under Princess Bathilde, steal the ring, kidnap Swanhilde and destroy Wieland's home. When Wieland searches for Swanhilde, they entrap and cripple him. However he fashions wings for himself and escapes with Swanhilde as the house of the Neidings is destroyed.

Another tale concerns valkyrie [[Brynhild]].<ref>Cox, Marian Roalfe. ''An introduction to Folk-Lore''. London: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895. p. 120.</ref> In the ''[[Völsunga saga]]'', King Agnar withholds Brynhild's magical swan shirt, thus forcing her into his service as his enforcer.<ref>Chantepie de La Saussaye, P. D. ''The Religion of the Ancient Teutons''. Translated from the Dutch by Bert J. Vos. Boston; London: Ginn & Company. 1902. pp. 311–312.</ref>

A third tale with a valkyrie is the story of [[Kára]] and [[Helgi Haddingjaskati]], attested in the ''Kara-lied''.<ref>Hertz, Wilhelm. ''Gedichte''. Hoffman und Campe. 1859. pp. 190–201.</ref><ref>Leland, Charles Godfrey. ''Legends of the Birds''. New York: H. Holt & co. 1874. p. 6 (footnote nr 1).</ref> A similarly named character with a swanshift appears in ''[[Hrómundar saga Gripssonar]]'', where she helps her lover Helgi.<ref name=":10">Grimm, Jacob (1880). ''[https://archive.org/details/teutonicmytholog01grim/page/426/mode/2up Teutonic Mythology]''. Vol. 1. James Steven Stallybrass (tr.). W. Swan Sonnenschein & Allen. p. 427.</ref><ref name=":9"/>

===China===
The oldest attestation of the archetypal swan maiden narrative recorded anywhere in the world comes from China, dating to c. 300[?]{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=344}} or later.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}} The story is preserved in [[Guo Pu]]'s  ''Xuan zhong ji'' ({{lang|zh|玄中記}}, "Records from Inside the Mysterious")<ref>Or ''Hsüan-chung chi'' (c. 300?), blockquote paraphrase in English by {{harvp|Hatto|1961|p=331}}</ref> as well as [[Gan Bao]] (d. 336)'s　''Sou shen ji'' (''[[In Search of the Supernatural]]''{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=312a}} (cf. {{section link|Feather cloak|China}}).<ref name="fu2020"/> In the ''Sou shen ji'' version, a man from Xinyu town ({{lang|zh|新喩縣}}) in {{interlanguage link|Yuzhang County|zh|豫章郡|lt=Yuzhang Area}} (present-day [[Jiangxi]] Province) steals the [[feather cloak]]{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|It is noted that the term used here is  {{Transliteration|zh|maoyi}} {{lang|zh|毛衣}} literally "hair garment", even though the terminology {{Transliteration|zh|yuyi}} {{lang|zh|羽衣}} literally "feather garment" has preexisted in ancient writings such as the ''[[Shiji]]''.{{sfnp|Kimishima|1969|pp=144–145}}}} from among the 6 or 7 bird bird maidens he witnesses, and forces her to be his wife.{{Refn|Chinese text of ''Sou shen ji'', followed by Japanese vs. English translation by Kai.<ref name="kai2023"/>}}{{Refn|Fu blockquotes the ''Xuan zhong ji'' version, and then explains the textual difference in the ''Sou shen ji'' version.<ref name="fu2020"/>}} This "feather garment" tale type is considered a subtype of the broader swan maiden tale type, and has cognate tales distributed all over the world.{{sfnp|Kimishima|1969|p=411}}

In later periods, a story is found from among the ''[[Dunhuang manuscripts]]'' which veers close to the general Swan Maiden tale: a poor man named T'ien K'un-lun approaches a lake where three crane maidens are bathing.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Waley |first1=Arthur |title=An Early Chinese Swan-Maiden Story |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1 January 1959 |volume=22 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–5 |doi=10.2307/750555 |jstor=750555 |s2cid=195021062 }}</ref><ref>"T'ien K'un-lun" In: Waley, Arthur. ''Ballads And Stories From Tun Huang''. Ruskin House, George Allen & Unwin LTD.. 1960. pp. 149-155 and 258-260. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.531160/page/n261/mode/2up]</ref>

===Japan===
{{See also|Feather cloak#Japan|tennyo|}}
The swan maiden type narrative is found in medieval Japanese literature as well, specifically in the {{interlanguage link|Ōmi no kuni fudoki|ja|近江国風土記|lt=''Ōmi fudoki''}} where the heavenly woman (''[[Tennin|tennyo]]'') has her feather garment (''hagoromo'') taken away by a man and is forced to marry him. In different tale found in the {{interlanguage link|Tango no kuni fudoki|ja|丹後国風土記|lt=''Tango  fudoki''}}, the heavenly woman has her garment hidden away, and has no choice but to become an adoptive daughter of a childless couple.<ref name="kasahara2001"/><ref name="kokusai1948"/>

===In Irish Sagas===
Clearly the best known story of transformation into swans in Middle Irish narrative occurs in the ''[[Oidheadh chloinne Lir]]'' ("The Sorrows of the [[Children of Lir]]"), this work being counted among the "Three Sorrows of Storytelling".<ref name="mackillop2006"/>

There are other Irish medieval narratives that touch on woman-bird transformation, and there is also some lore regarding feather robes (cf. {{section link|Feather cloak|Celtic}}), but they don't coalesce together, viz.:

The swan is said to be the preferred form adopted by Celtic goddesses. Even in this form, their otherworldly nature is identifiable by a golden or silver chain hanging around their neck.<ref>Eason, Cassandra. ''Fabulous Creatures, Mythical Monsters, and Animal Power Symbols: A Handbook''. Greenwood Press. 2008. pp. 74-75. {{ISBN|978-02-75994-25-9}}.</ref>

In the [[Irish Mythological Cycle]] of stories, in the tale of ''[[Tochmarc Étaíne|The Wooing of Étaine]]'', a similar test involving the recognition of the wife among lookalikes happens to [[Eochu Airem]], when he has to find his beloved Étaine, who flew away in the shape of a swan.<ref>{{Cite book |jstor = j.ctt9qg995.11 |jstor-access=free |chapter = Etain's Two Husbands|last1 = Leavy|first1 = Barbara Fass|title = In Search of the Swan Maiden|year = 1994|pages = 277–302|publisher = NYU Press}}</ref>

A second Irish tale of a maiden [[Shapeshifting|changing]] into a swan is the story of hero [[Óengus]], who falls in love with [[Caer Ibormeith]], in a dream. When he finds her, Caer is in swan form, wearing a golden chain, and accompanied by 150 maidservants also in swan form, each pair bound with a silver chain.<ref>{{cite book |last=Key |first=Heather|title=Otherworld Women in Early Irish Literature |location=Amsterdam |publisher=Amsterdam University Press |date=2023 |page=130 |doi=10.1515/9789048555987|isbn=9789048555987 }}</ref>

In another tale, relating to the birth of hero [[Cú Chulainn]], a flock of birds, "joined in pairs by silver chains", appear and guide the Ulstermen to a house, where a woman was about to give birth. In one account, the birds were Cu Chulainn's mother, [[Deichtire]], and her maidens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ross |first1=Anne |title=Chain Symbolism in Pagan Celtic Religion |journal=Speculum |date=January 1959 |volume=34 |issue=1 |pages=39–59 |doi=10.2307/2847977 |jstor=2847977 |s2cid=162549147 }}</ref>

==Modern collected oral folklore==
Scholarship has remarked that the Swan Maiden appears "throughout the ancient Celtic lands".<ref name="monaghan">Monaghan, Patricia. ''The Encyclopedia of Celtic Myth and Folklore''. Facts on File. 2004. p. 434. {{ISBN|0-8160-4524-0}}</ref>

On the other hand, researcher [[Maria Tatar]] points out that the "Swan Maiden" tale is "widespread in [[Nordic countries|Nordic]] regions".<ref>Tatar, Maria. "Introduction". In: ''Beauty and the Beast: Classic Tales about Animal Brides and Grooms from around the World''. Edited by Maria Tatar. New York: Penguin Books. 2017. p. xviii.</ref>

Scholar Lotte Motz contrasted its presence in different geographical regions. According to her study, she appears as a fairy tale character in "more southern countries", whereas "in northern regions", she becomes a myth and "an element of faith".<ref name=Motz1986>{{cite journal |last1=Motz |first1=Lotte |author-link=Lotte Motz |title=New thoughts on Vǫlundarkviða |journal=Saga-Book |date=1986 |volume=22 |pages=50–68 |jstor=48612754 }}</ref>

===East Asia===
According to professor Alan Miller, the swan maiden tale is "one of the most popular of all Japanese folktales".<ref name=":7"/> Likewise, scholar Manabu Waida asserted the popularity of the tale "in Korea, Manchuria and China", as well as among "the Buryat, Ainu and Annamese".<ref name=":2"/>

===Chinese oral tales===
A tale from Southeastern China and near regions narrates the adventures of a prince who meets a [[Peacock Princess|Peacock Maiden]], in a tale attributed to the [[Tai people]].<ref>''Folk Tales from China''. Third series. Peking: Foreign Language Press. 1958. pp. 16–46.</ref><ref>Yuan, Haiwang. ''Princess Peacock: tales from the other peoples of China''. Westport, Conn.: Libraries Unlimited, 2008. pp. 158-160, 263.</ref> The tale is celebrated amongst the [[Dai people]] of China and was recorded as a poem and folk story, being known under several names, such as ''"Shaoshutun"'', ''"The Peacock Princess"'' or ''"Zhao Shutun and Lanwuluona"''.<ref>Wilcox, Emily. ''[[Revolutionary Bodies: Chinese Dance and the Socialist Legacy]]''. [[University of California Press]]. 2019. p. 277. {{ISBN|9780520971905}}.</ref><ref>Hua Mei. ''Chinese Clothing''. Cambridge University Press. 2011. p. 99. {{ISBN|978-0-521-18689-6}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.1080/14766825.2012.658809| title=The folkloric, the spectacular, and the institutionalized: Touristifying ethnic minority dances on China's southwest frontiers| year=2012| last1=Li| first1=Jing| s2cid=144959661| journal=Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change| volume=10| issue=1| pages=65–83}}</ref>

In a Chinese tale titled ''The Seven Snow-White Cranes'', a scholar is walking somewhere on a bright day, when seven cranes being to fly down to the ground near him. The man hides behind some bushes and sees the cranes alighting near a pond, then taking off their feather garments to become human maidens. As they play and frolic in the water, the scholar steals the garments of one of the crane maidens, who pick up their featherskins, turn back into cranes and fly away, save for one of them. The scholar appears to her and brings her home to be his wife. They have a son the next year, but the maiden still longs for the skies. One day, a maidservant takes all clothes inside the house and places them in the sun, along them the crane garments, which were hidden in a camphor chest. The crane maiden finds her garments and, with great joy, turns back into a crane and goes back to the heavens. Years pass, and their son grows up being mocked for not having a mother. He asks his scholar father where he can see his mother, and the man tells him to go to a certain hill and shout for a passing flock of seven cranes. The boy does as instructed and the crane maiden meets her son in human form. The boy asks for her to come back, which she cannot do, but, in return, gives him a magic gourd.<ref>{{cite book |title=Folk tales from China |last=Lim |first=Sian-tek |date=1944 |location=New York |publisher=J. Day Co. |pages=146–148}}</ref>

===Chinese minorities===
In a [[Chuan Miao]] tale, ''An Orphan Enjoyed Happiness and His Father-in-law Deceived Him, but His Sons Recovered Their Mother'', an orphan gathers wood in the forest and burns the dead trees to make way for a clearing. He also builds a well. One day, seven [[wild duck]]s light on the water. The orphan asks someone named "Ye Seo" about the ducks, who answers the youth they are his fortune and that he must secure a "spotted feather" from their wings. The next day, the youth hides near the well when the ducks arrive and plucks the spotted feather, which belongs to an old woman. He goes back to Ye Seo, who tells him he needs to get a white feather, not a spotted one, nor a black one. He fetches the correct feather this time and a young woman appears to become his wife. They marry and she gives birth to twin boys. For some time, both children cry every time their mother is at home, until one day she asks them the reason for their sadness. They explain that their human father is hiding their mother's feather somewhere in the house and wears it on his head when she is not at home. She finds the feather, puts it on her head and flies away from home. The boys' human father scolds them and sends them to seek their mother.<ref>Graham, David Crockett. ''The Tribal Songs and Tales of the Chu'an Miao''. Asian Folklore and Social Life Monographs. Volume 102. The Chinese Association For Folklore. 1978. pp. 278-279, 304.</ref>

The swan maiden appears in a tale from the [[Yao people]] of China.<ref name=":12">{{cite journal |last1=Bäcker |first1=Jörg |title=Ways of Female Initiative: Explaining Japanese Animal-Wives' Behaviour. On Fumihiko Kobayashi, Japanese Animal-Wife Tales |journal=Fabula |date=10 January 2017 |volume=58 |issue=3–4 |doi=10.1515/fabula-2017-0033 }}</ref>

In a tale from the [[Bodo-Kachari people|Kachari]], ''Sā-se phālāngī gotho-nī khorāng'' ("The story of the merchant lad"), an orphaned youth decides to earn his living in foreign lands. He buys goods and a boat, and hires some help. He and his crew arrive at another country, where an old couple lived with their pet swan. One day, the youth sees the swan transform into a maiden and becomes enamoured. He buys the swan from the old couple in hopes it will become a girl again, but no such luck. The youth pines away with longing and his mother is worried. A wise woman advises the mother and son to prepare a mixture of ashes and oil, procure a [[yak]]'s tail and to pretend to fall asleep at night. The swan takes off her animal clothing and, as a human, begins to "worship her country's gods". The youth awakes, takes the plumage and tosses it in the fire. The maiden faints, but the youth uses the mixture on her and fans her with the yak's tail. She awakes and marries the human, giving birth to many children.<ref>Endle, Sidney. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/50008/50008-h/50008-h.htm#app2 The Kacháris]''. London: Macmillan and Co. 1911. pp. 115-121.</ref>

===Central Asia===
=== Turkic peoples ===
Scholarship points that, in some Turkic peoples of Northern Asia, the swan appears as their ancestress (cf. {{section link||Swan maiden as ancestress}}).<ref name=Zoriktuev2020/> One example is Khubai-khatun (Хубай-хатун), who shows up in the Yakut ''olonkho'' of Art-toyon. Etymological connections between Khubai-khatun (previously ''Khubashi'') with Mongolic/Buryat ''Khoboshi'' have been noted, which would indicate "great antiquity" and possible cultural transmission between peoples.<ref name=Zoriktuev2020/>

Scholarship also lists Homay/Humai, the daughter of the King of the Birds, Samrau, in ''[[Ural-batyr]]'', the [[Bashkirs|Bashkir]] epic, as another swan maiden.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ф.г |first1=Хисамитдинова |title=Божества верхнего мира в мифологии башкир |journal=Oriental Studies |date=2014 |issue=4 |pages=146–154 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/bozhestva-verhnego-mira-v-mifologii-bashkir }}</ref> She appears in folklore as a divine being, daughter of heavenly deity Samrau, and assumes the shape of a bird with solar characteristics.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Георгиевич |first1=Котов Вячеслав |title=Женское божество Умай/Хумай: сравнительная характеристика |journal=Известия Алтайского государственного университета |date=2010 |issue=4–2 |pages=111–114 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/zhenskoe-bozhestvo-umay-humay-sravnitelnaya-harakteristika }}</ref>

The swan also appears in an ethnogenetic myth of the Yurmaty tribe as the companion of a human hunter.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nadrshina |first1=Fanuza A. |title=Bird cults in the legends and rites of the Bashkirs |date=2019 |doi=10.24411/2223-0564-2019-10110 |journal=The Problems of Oriental Studies |number=1/83 |issn=2223-0564}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Наилевич |first1=Исянгулов Шамиль |title=Древнетюркские корни юрматынцев (по генеалогическим легендам о лебеде) |journal=Проблемы востоковедения |date=2013 |volume=4 |issue=62 |pages=25–31 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/drevnetyurkskie-korni-yurmatyntsev-po-genealogicheskim-legendam-o-lebede }}</ref>

In a [[Tatar language|Tatar]] oral epic ''Kartaga Mergän'', there appears the character of ''The Swan-Women'', Tjektschäkäi, who develops an inimical relationship with hero Kartaga Mergän.<ref>Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic myth and legend''. pp. 146 and 274. ABC-CLIO. {{ISBN|978-1-57607-130-4}}.</ref><ref name=Manning1920>{{cite journal |last1=Manning |first1=Clarence Augustus |title=The Tauric Maiden and Allied Cults |journal=Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association |date=1920 |volume=51 |pages=40–55 |doi=10.2307/282870 |jstor=282870 }}</ref><ref>Frazer, James George, Sir. ''The Golden Bough: a Study In Comparative Religion''. Vol. II. London: Macmillan, 1890. pp. 323–324. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo1.ark:/13960/t6640976f&view=1up&seq=333]</ref>

=== Mongolic peoples ===
Among the Buryat, the swan maiden ancestress marries a human man and gives birth to eleven sons,<ref>Holmberg, Uno (1927). ''Finno-Ugric and Siberian''. The Mythology of All Races Vol. 4. Boston: Marshall Jones Company. 1927. p. 501.</ref> the founders of the future clans of the Khori: Galzuud, Khargana, Khuasai, Khubduud, Baganai, Sharait, Bodonguud, Gushad, Sagan, Khuudai, and Khalbin (cf. {{section link||Swan maiden as ancestress}}).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Nikolaeva |first1=Darima A. |title=Archaic Mythoritual Ideas About Women in Traditional Buryat Family and Daily Culture |journal=Anthropology & Archeology of Eurasia |date=December 2008 |volume=47 |issue=3 |pages=65–95 |doi=10.2753/AAE1061-1959470304 |s2cid=145009633 }}</ref> In this ancestor myth, the human hunter is called Hori Tumed (Хорь Тумэд); the flock of birds has nine swans, and the swan mother gives names to her 11 sons.<ref name="jalali.2018..77.018">{{cite journal |title=A Comparative Study of A Swan Maiden |journal=The Japanese Language and Literature Association of Daehan |date=February 2018 |issue=77 |pages=317–340 |doi=10.18631/jalali.2018..77.018 |last1=Leesangjoon |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Leeming |first1=David |title=The Oxford Companion to World Mythology |date=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-028888-4 |chapter=Khori Tumed |page=227 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iPrhBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Dashdondog |first=Zhambyn |editor=Anne Pellowski |title=Mongolian folktales |series=World Folklore Series |publisher=Libraries Unlimited |date=2009 |pages=45-46 (tale "The Khoridai") |isbn=978-1-59158-726-2}}</ref> This is considered to be a "popular genealogical myth", since the protagonist shows variations in his name: Horidai Mergen, Khori, Khorildoi, Khorodoi, Khoreldoi, Khoridoi.<ref name="Никитична Санждорж 2017">{{cite journal |last1=Никитична |first1=Николаева Наталья |last2=Санждорж |first2=Энхбадрах |title=Несказочная проза баргутов: сюжеты и мотивы |journal=Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики |date=2017 |issue=12-4 (78) |pages=42–45 |url=https://www.gramota.net/materials/2/2017/12-4/10.html }}</ref> The name of legendary swan ancestress of the Khorin is given as Hoboshi (Хобоши).<ref name=Zoriktuev2020>{{cite journal |last1=Zoriktuev |first1=B. R. |title=Nayan-Nava and the Ethnogenesis Problem of the Buryat Tribal Community of Khori |journal=Nauchnyi Dialog |date=30 May 2020 |issue=5 |pages=393–423 |doi=10.24224/2227-1295-2020-5-393-423 |s2cid=240944828 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In one version of an ancestor myth from the [[Transbaikal]] [[Buryats]], collected by [[Jeremiah Curtin]] in the 19th century, a hunter sees three swans alight near a lake to bathe. They take off their feathers to become young women, daughters of [[Esege Malan]]. While they are distracted, the human hunter hides the feathers of one of them, stranding her on Earth. They marry and have six children. One day, she prepares some [[tarasun]] for her husband, who, after drinking too much, is convinced by his wife to return her feathers. When she dons them, she once again becomes a swan and returns to the skies, but one of her daughters tries to stop her.<ref>Curtin, Jeremiah. ''[https://archive.org/details/journeyinsouther00curt/page/98/mode/2up A journey in Southern Siberia, the Mongols, their religion and their myths]''. Boston: Little, Brown. 1909. pp. 98-99</ref>

A version of the Khoridai tale with the swan maiden is also attested among the [[Barga Mongols]]. The hunter Khoridai marries a swan maiden and she and another wife give birth to 11 ancestors.<ref name="Никитична Санждорж 2017"/>

The hunter named Hori (and variations) most often appears as the husband of the swan maiden. However, other ethnogenic myths of the Buryats associate him as the swan maiden's ''son''. According to scholarship, four Buryat lines (Khongodor, Horidoy, Khangin, and Sharaid) trace their origins to a marriage between a human hunter and a swan woman named Khurmast-tenger (Хурмаст-тэнгэр), while the [[Zakamensk]] Buryats tell the story of three brothers, Hori, Shosholok, and Khongodor, born of a swan maiden.<ref name="Бадмаев 2010">{{cite journal |last1=Бадмаев |first1=Б. Б. |title=Генеалогический фольклор и литература: трансформация образов бурятских предков |journal=Мир науки, культуры, образования |volume=3 |year=2010 |pages=17–21 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/genealogicheskiy-folklor-i-literatura-transformatsiya-obrazov-buryatskih-predkov }}</ref>

Among the Khongodor, a genealogical myth tells that the young man Senkhele (Сэнхэлэ) marries the swan maiden (heavenly maiden, in other accounts) Khenkhele-khatan (Хэнхэлэ-хатан) and from their union 9 ancestors are born.<ref name="Бадмаев 2010"/><ref>Ангархаев, А. Л. «Небо и Земля». Исторический роман-мозаика. Том I. Улан-Удэ: Буряад үнэн, 2005. pp. 271-272.</ref> Similar stories are located among the Khongodor of Tunka, Alar and Zakamen.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Цыдыповна |first1=Малзурова Любовь |last2=Даша-Нимаевна |first2=Малзурова Сэсэгма |title=Бурятские повествования о тотемах |journal=Гуманитарный вектор. Серия: Педагогика, психология |date=2009 |issue=4 |pages=57–60 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/buryatskie-povestvovaniya-o-totemah }}</ref>

A similar myth about a swan ancestress is attested with the [[Oirats]], about a human hunter and his wife, the swan maiden, who represents the heavenly realm ([[Tengri]]).<ref name=":14"/><ref name=Birtalan2002/>

In another ethnogenetic myth of the Buryat, the human ancestor is a hunter named Barγutai. One day, he sees seven maidens bathing in a lake and steals the garments of one of them. Six of the maidens wear their garments, become swans and take to the skies again, while the youngest of them is left behind, without her clothing. The hunter finds and consoles her, and they both marry. Eleven children are born of this union. She eventually regains her clothing and returns to the skies.<ref name=Stuart1992>{{cite journal |last1=Stuart |first1=Kevin |title=Mongol Creation Stories: Man, Mongol Tribes, the Natural World, and Mongol Deities |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1992 |volume=51 |issue=2 |pages=323–334 |doi=10.2307/1178337 |jstor=1178337 }}</ref>

The swan maiden appears in a tale about the origin of the [[Daur people|Daghur people]].<ref name=":12"/> In this tale, titled ''The Fairies and the Hunters'', a mother lives with her two sons, Kurugure and Karegure. One day, when they are away on a hunt, she is visited by two "female celestials" who take off their feather clothing. Both women help the old mother in her chores and fly away. The old mother tells her sons the story. The next time the celestial women appear, the brothers burn their feather clothing and marry them.<ref>Kevin Stuart, Xuewei Li, Shelear. ''[http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp060_dagur_folklore.pdf China's Dagur Minority: Society, Shamanism, & Folklore]''. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. 1994. p. 80.</ref>

Further scholarship also locates similar tales of the swan ancestress among the Buryat populations. In the Sharayt clan's telling, nine swan maidens fly to Lake Khangai to bathe in the river, and the hunter's name is Sharayhai.<ref name="kams.2011..30.005"/> In other tellings, the swan maidens number thirteen, and the meeting with the hunter occurs by the river Kalenga, the river [[Lena (river)|Lena]],<ref>Dugarov S.B. "Хонгодор буриад болон Хорийн буриадын домог дахь хун шувуун эхийн тухай" [Motive of swans-progenitor in legends of Khongodors and Hori buryats]. In: Буриад судлал №5. pp. 141-142.</ref> by [[Lake Baikal]], or by [[Olkhon Island]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dashieva |first1=Nadezhda B. |title=Образ оленя-солнца и этноним бурятского племени Хори |journal=Oriental Studies |date=25 December 2020 |volume=13 |issue=4 |pages=941–950 |doi=10.22162/2619-0990-2020-50-4-941-950 |s2cid=243027767 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Irish folktale===
In a Scottish tale ({{langx|gd|Mac an Tuathanaich a Thàinig a Raineach|lit=The Farmer's son who came from Rannoch}}), the farmer's son sees three swan maidens bathing in water and hides their clothing, in exchange for the youngest of them (sisters, in all) to marry him.<ref>''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31158012575139&view=1up&seq=328&q1=%22Churraichd%20Ruaidh%22 Waifs and strays of Celtic tradition]''. Vol. III: Folk & hero tales from Argyllshire. London: David Nutt. 1889. pp. 286–289.</ref>

In the Irish fairy tale ''The Three Daughters of the King of the East and the Son of a King in Erin'', three swan maidens come to bathe in a lake (Loch Erne) and converse with a king's elder son, who was fishing at the lake. His evil stepmother convinces a young cowherd to stick a magic pin to the prince's clothes to make him fall asleep. The spell works twice, and in both occasions the swan maidens try to help the prince come to.<ref>Curtin, Jeremiah. ''[https://archive.org/details/mythsfolkloreofi00curtuoft/page/129/mode/1up Myths and folk-lore of Ireland]''. London: S. Low, Marson, Searle [and] Rivington. 1890. pp. 129–138.</ref> A similar narrative is the Irish tale ''The Nine-Legged Steed''.<ref>Larminie, William. ''[https://archive.org/details/westirishfolktal00larmuoft/page/219/mode/1up West Irish folk-tales and romances]''. London: E. Stock. 1893. pp. 219–231.</ref>

In another Irish tale, ''The House in the Lake'', a man named Enda helps Princess Mave, turned into a swan, to break the curse her evil stepmother cast upon her.<ref>Leamy, Edmund. ''The Golden Spears And Other Fairy Tales''. New York: D. FitzGerald, inc.. 1911. pp. 23–48. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=njp.32101074760412&view=1up&seq=43]</ref>

In another tale, goddess [[Áine]], metamorphosed into a swan, was bathing in the lake and was seen by a human duke, [[Gerald FitzGerald, 3rd Earl of Desmond#In legend|Gerald Fitzgerald]] (''Gearóid Iarla'') who felt a passionate yearning towards her. Aware of the only way to make her his wife, the duke seized Áine's fairy cloak. Once subdued and deprived of her magic cloak, she resigned to being the human's wife, and they had a son.<ref>Monaghan, Patricia. ''The Encyclopedia of Celtic Myth and Folklore''. Facts on File. 2004. pp. 11, 211, 434. {{ISBN|0-8160-4524-0}}</ref>

In a local legend in the barony of [[Inchiquin]], [[County Clare]], before the O'Briens took the lands of the ''Clann-Ifearnain'', the young chieftain O'Quin follows a stag to the shore of Loch Inchiquin and sees five swans near the water. The five swans take off their swan skins and become maidens. O'Quin steals the garments of one of them; the other turn back into swans and depart, leaving their companion to her fate. The captured swan maiden is wooed by the O'Quin man, until she concedes to marry him, on two conditions: their marriage must be kept a secret and that no man from Clann-Brian must be under their roof, lest she disappears and the man becomes the last of his clan. O'Quin and the swan maiden live seven happy years of marriage, with two children born to them, until a fateful day: O'Quin meets a member of the O'Brien clan and invites him to his castle. He entertains his guest and gambles against him all his worldly goods and possessions, and loses. Remembering his wife's prediction, O'Quin goes to her room and sees her back into swan form, with their two children metamorphosed into cygnets. The swan mother and her children fly away to the mists of the lake, and are seen no more - thus ending the O'Quin line.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=MacNamara |first1=Geo. U. |title=Inchiquin, County Clare. Part I |journal=The Journal of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland |date=1901 |volume=31 |issue=3 |pages=204–227 |jstor=25507143 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |title=The Castle and Lake of Inchiquin, County of Clare |journal=The Irish Penny Journal |date=1840 |volume=1 |issue=16 |pages=121–123 |doi=10.2307/30001130 |jstor=30001130 |author1=P }}</ref> At least 9 accounts of the legend exist: in three of them, the supernatural wife is explicitly a swan maiden.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Almqvist |first1=Bo |title=The Mélusine Legend in the Context of Irish Folk Tradition |journal=Béaloideas |date=1999 |volume=67 |pages=13–69 |doi=10.2307/20522532 |jstor=20522532 }}</ref> In other accounts, the O'Brien of the legend is identified with Tyge Ahood (or Tadhg an Chomhaid) O'Brien, Prince of Thomond. The number of swans may also vary between tellings: five, seven or a general "number" of them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Westropp |first1=Thos. J. |title=County Clare Folk-Tales and Myths, III. (With Plate VII.). |journal=Folklore |date=30 September 1913 |volume=24 |issue=3 |pages=365–381 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1913.9719578 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/1526106 }}</ref>

===Welsh tales===
Author [[Marie Trevelyan]] stated that the swan appears in Welsh tradition, sometimes "closely connected" to fairies. She also provided the summary of a tale from Whitmore Bay, [[Barry Island]], in [[Glamorgan]] that she claimed "was well known in the early part of the nineteenth century". In this story, a young farmer, working in a field near the sea, sees a swan alighting near a stone; the bird takes off its feathers, becomes a woman, bathes for a while, then returns as a bird to the skies. This goes on for some time, until the farmer decides to hide the swan feathers the next time the woman goes to bathe in the lake. It happens thus and the swan woman begs for her feathers back, but the farmer refuses. They eventually marry and he hides the featherskin in a locked oaken chest. One day, the man forgets to lock his chest; the swan woman gets her feathers back and flies away from their home as a swan. The farmer returns home just in time to see her departure, and dies of a broken heart.<ref>Trevelyan, Marie. ''[https://archive.org/details/afl2317.0001.001.umich.edu/page/298/mode/1up?q=%22swan%22 Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales]''. London: E. Stock, 1909. pp. 114, 297, 298-299.</ref>

In another tale provided by Marie Trevelyan, a man from [[Rhoose]] visits his friend in [[Cadoxton, Vale of Glamorgan|Cadoxton-juxta-Barry]], at Barry Island. "Back then" - as this tale goes - , Barry Island was only reachable at low tide. Both friends spend some time together and lose track of time, when the tide has risen high enough to block their return. Both decide to pass by Friar's Point. There, they see two swans alighting and becoming two women by taking off their swan skins. Both men decide to steal the women's skins. Both women beg for the skins and feathers back, but the men deny their request. The each swan woman marries a man. The wife of the man from Cadoxton is run over by a wagon and, when people come to pick her corpse, she becomes a swan and flies away. As for the other man, after seven years of marriage, the man throws away some rubbish in the farmyard, the swan wings among them. The wife finds them, puts them back and flies away as a swan.<ref>Trevelyan, Marie. ''[https://archive.org/details/afl2317.0001.001.umich.edu/page/298/mode/1up?q=%22swan%22 Folk-lore and folk-stories of Wales]''. London: E. Stock, 1909. p. 299.</ref>

===Western Continental Europe===
[[Flanders|Flemish]] fairy tale collections also contain two tales with the presence of the Swan Maiden: ''De Koning van Zevenbergen'' ("The King of Sevenmountains")<ref>de Cock, Alfons; de Mont, Pol. ''Dit zijn Vlaamsche wondersprookjes, het volk naverteld''. Gent: 1896. Tale nr. 11.</ref> and ''Het Zwanenmeisje van den glazen Berg'' ("The Swan Maiden from the Glass Mountain").<ref>de Meyere, Victor. ''De Vlaamsche vertelschat''. Vol. 2. 1927.</ref> [[Johannes Bolte]], in a book review of [[Charles Polydore de Mont|Pol de Mont]] and Alfons de Cock's publication, noted that their tale was parallel to Grimms' KHM 193, ''The Drummer''.<ref>Bolte, J. "Vlaamsche Wonder-Sprookjes". In: ''Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde''. Berlin: Verlag von A. Asher & Co. 1896. p. 224. [https://archive.org/details/zeitschriftfrv06verbuoft/page/222/mode/2up]</ref>

In an Iberian tale (''The Seven Pigeons''), a fisherman spots a black-haired girl combing her hair in the rocks. Upon the approach of two pigeons, she finishes her grooming activity and turns into a swan wearing a crown on her head. When the three birds land on a nearby ship, they regain their human forms of maidens.<ref>Sellers, Charles. ''[https://archive.org/details/talesfromlandsof00selluoft/page/132/mode/2up Tales from the lands of nuts and grapes (Spanish and Portuguese folklore)]''. London: Field. 1888. pp. 133–149.</ref>

In a Belgian fairy tale, reminiscent of the legend of the [[Knight of the Swan]], ''The Swan Maidens and the Silver Knight'', seven swans – actually seven princesses cursed into that form – plot to help the imprisoned princess Elsje with the help of the Silver Knight. Princess Elsje, of her own accord, wants to help the seven swan sisters regain her human form by knitting seven coats and staying silent all the while for the enchantment to work.<ref>Griffis, William Elliot. ''Belgian fairy tales''. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell company. [1919?] pp. 17–30.</ref>

===German märchen===
A version of the plot of the Swan Maiden (''Schwanenjungfrau'') happens in [[Swabia]]n tale ''The Three Swans'' (''Von drei Schwänen''): a widowed hunter, guided by an old man of the woods, secures the magical garment of the swan-maiden and marries her. Fifteen years pass, and his second wife finds her swan-coat and flies away. The hunter trails after her and reaches a castle, where his wife and her sisters live. The swan-maiden tells him that he must pass through arduous trials in the castle for three nights, to break the curse cast upon the women.<ref>Meier, Ernst. ''Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Schwaben''. Stuttgart. 1852. pp. 38–42.</ref> The motif of staying overnight in an enchanted castle echoes the tale of ''[[The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was|The Youth who wanted to learn what Fear was]]'' (ATU 326).

In the German tale collected by {{ill|Johann Wilhelm Wolf|de}} (German: ''Von der schönen Schwanenjungfer''; English: ''The tale of the beautiful swan maiden''), a hunter in France sights a swan in a lake who pleads not to shoot her. The swan also reveals she is a princess and, to break her curse, he must suffer dangerous trials in a castle.<ref>Wolf, Johann Wilhelm. ''Deutsche Hausmärchen''. Göttingen/Leipzig 1851. pp. 216–224.</ref>

In a tale collected in [[Wimpfen]], near the river [[Neckar]] (''Die drei Schwäne''), a youth was resting by the edge of a lake when he sighted three snow-white swans. He fell asleep, and when he woke up, noticed he was transported to a great palace. He then was greeted by three fairy women (implied to be the swans).<ref>Gottschalck, Friedrich. ''Die Sagen und Volksmährchen der Deutschen'' 1 [mehr nicht erschienen]. Halle 1814. pp. 201–211.</ref>

===Eastern Europe===
Czech author [[Bozena Nemcova]] published a tale titled ''Zlatý vrch'' ("The Golden Hill"),<ref>{{cite book |title=Czech fairy-tales: a selection of the most beautiful folk tales |date=2002 |location=Prague |publisher=Vitalis |pages=31–49}}</ref> wherein Libor, a poor youth, lives with his widowed mother in a house in the woods. He finds works under the tutelage of the royal gardener. One day, while resting near a pond, he notices some noise nearby. Spying out of the bushes, he sees three maidens bathing, the youngest the loveliest of them. They don their white robes and "floating veils", become swans and fly away. The next day, Libor hides the veil of the youngest, named Čekanka. The youth convinces her to become his wife and gives her veil for his mother to hide. One day, the swan maiden tricks Libor's mother to return her veil and tells Libor must venture to the Golden Hill if he ever wants her back. With the help of a crow and some stolen magical objects from giants, he reaches the Golden Hill, where Cekanka lives with her sisters and their witch mother. The witch sets three dangerous tasks for Libor, which he accomplishes with his beloved's help. The third is to identify Cekanka in a room with similarly dressed maidens. He succeeds. The pair decides to escape from Golden Hill, as the witch mother goes hot in pursuit. Transforming into different things, they elude their pursuer and return home.<ref>[[Božena Němcová|Němcová, Božena]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=P1AAAAAAcAAJ&dq=%22libor%22+cekanka&pg=PA105 Sebrané spisy]'': Narodní báchorky a pověsti. V Praze: Nákladem Antonina Augusty. 1863. pp. 102-121.</ref><ref>''Czech Fairy Tales''. Bozena Nemcova & Karel Jaromir Erben. Vitalis Verlag. 2019. pp. 31-49. {{ISBN|978-80-7253-276-6}}.</ref>

===Romanian folktale===
The character of the swan-maiden also appears in an [[etiological]] tale from [[Romania]] about the origin of the swan.<ref>Gaster, Moses. ''Rumanian bird and beast stories''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. 1915. pp. 246–255.</ref> In the same book, by professor [[Moses Gaster]], he translated a Romanian "[[Colinda|Christmas carol]]" with the same theme, and noted that the character "occurs very often" in Romania.<ref>Gaster, Moses. ''Rumanian bird and beast stories''. London: Sidgwick & Jackson. 1915. pp. 256–258 and note.</ref>

===Russian byliny and skazka ===
The character of the "White Swan" appears in Russian oral poetry and functions similarly to the [[Vila (fairy)|vila]] of South Slavic folklore. Scholarship suggests the term may refer to a foreign princess, most likely of Polish origin.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1017/CBO9780511710995.010 |chapter=Poetry Relating to Scriptural Subjects and to the Saints of the Greek Church. The Stikhi (2) |title=The Growth of Literature |year=2010 |last1=Chadwick |first1=H. Munro |last2=Chadwick |first2=Nora K. |pages=193–206 |isbn=9780511710995 }}</ref>

Another occurrence of the motif exists in Russian folktale ''Sweet Mikáilo Ivánovich the Rover'': Mikailo Ivanovich goes hunting and, when he sets his aim on a white swan, it pleads for its life. Then, the swan transforms into a lovely maiden, Princess Márya, whom Mikail falls in love with.<ref>Hapgood, Isabel Florence. ''The Epic Songs of Russia''. London: C. Scribner's sons. 1886. pp. 214–231.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.3406/slave.1925.7342 |doi-access=free | title=Les bylines de Michajlo Potyk et les légendes indo-européennes de l'ambroisie| year=1925| last1=Dumézil| first1=Georges| journal=Revue des Études Slaves| volume=5| issue=3| pages=205–237}}</ref>

In a Russian ''[[bylina]]'' or heroic poem, a character named ''White Swan'' (''Byelaya Lebed'''), whose real name may be Avdotya or Marya, appears as the traitorous love interest of the hero.<ref name=Manning1920/>

In a tale featuring heroic bogatyr [[Alyosha Popovich]], ''Danilo the Luckless'', the titular Danilo the Luckless, a nobleman, meets a "Granny" (an old and wise woman), who points him to the blue ocean. When the water swells, a creature named Chudo-Yudo shall appear, and Danilo must seize it and use it to summon the beautiful Swan Maiden.<ref>''Politicizing Magic: An Anthology of Russian and Soviet Fairy Tales''. Ed. by MARINA BALINA, HELENA GOSCILO, and MARK LIPOVETSKY. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press. 2005. pp. 79–84. {{ISBN|978-0-8101-2032-7}}</ref>

In a [[Kalmyk people|Kalmyk]] tale, ''Tsarkin Khan and the Archer'', an Archer steals the robe of a "golden-crowned" swan maiden when she was in human form and marries her. Later, the titular Tsarkin Khan wants to marry the Archer's swan maiden wife and plans to get rid of him by setting dangerous tasks.<ref>''A Mountain of Gems: Fairy Tales of the Peoples of the Soviet Land''. Translated by Irina Zheleznova. Raduga Publishers. 1983. pp. 161–183.</ref>

===Swedish fairy tale===
In a [[Sweden|Swedish]] fairy tale, ''The Swan-Maiden'', the king announces a great hunting contest. A young hunter sights a swan swimming in a lake and aims at it, but the swan pleads not to shoot it. The swan transforms into a maiden and explains she is enchanted into that form, but the hunter may help her to break the spell.<ref>''Fifty-two fairy tales: wonder stories, legends, visions and fables: from German, Italian, Spanish, Swedish, Oriental, classical, ancient and modern sources''. Edited by Alfred H. Miles. London: Hutchinson & Co. [1892] pp. 109–115.</ref>

In another Swedish fairy tale collected from [[Blekinge]], ''The Swan Maiden'', a young hunter sees three swans nearing a [[Sound (geography)|sound]] and taking off their animal skins. They reveal themselves to be three lovely maidens and he falls in love with one of them. He returns home and tells his mother he intends to marry one of them. She advises him to hide the maiden's feather garment. He does that the next day and wins a wife for himself. Seven years later, now settled into domestic life, the hunter tells the truth to the swan maiden and returns her feather garment. She changes back into a swan and flies off. The human husband dies a year later.<ref>Hofberg, Herman. ''Swedish Fairy Tales''. Translated by W. H. Myers. Chicago, Belford-Clarke Company, 1890. pp. 35-38.</ref><ref name=":10"/>

===Finnish folktale===
The usual plot involves a magical bird-maiden that descends from heavens to bathe in a lake. However, there are variants where the maiden and/or her sisters are princesses under a [[Shapeshifting|curse]], such as in Finnish story ''Vaino and the Swan Princess''.<ref>"Vaino and the Swan Princess". In: Bowman, James Cloyd and Bianco, Margery. ''Tales from a Finnish tupa''. Chicago: A. Whitman & Co. 1964 (1936). pp. 34–41.</ref>

===Native American folktale===
A Native American tale has the character of the Red Swan, a bird of reddened plumage. The bird attracts the attention of a young warrior, who goes on a quest to find her.<ref>Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. ''The Indian fairy book, from the original legends''. New York, Frederick A. Stokes company. 1916. pp. 42–71.</ref>

== Swan maiden motif tales in broader scope ==

===Helper===
[[Image:Colum-KOIS(Holt1916)-Pogany-illustr-p014-Fedelma&swanskin.jpg|thumb|right|The King of Ireland's oldest son returns the swanskin to [[Fedelm]]a, the Enchanter's Daughter. Illustration by [[Willy Pogány]] for Padraic Colum's ''[[The King of Ireland's Son]]'' (1916).]]

Another type of tale that involves the swan maiden is type ATU 313, "The Magic Flight" (cf. [[feather cloak]]), where the character helps the hero against an antagonist.{{sfnp|Armstrong|1959|p=57}}<ref name="GrenwoodEncy2008-swanmaiden"/> It can be the maiden's mistress, e. g., a witch, as in a tale published by illustrator [[Howard Pyle]] in ''The Wonder Clock'',<ref>Pyle, Howard; Pyle, Katharine. ''The Wonder Clock: Or, Four & Twenty Marvellous Tales, Being One for Each Hour of the Day''. New York: Printed by Harper & Brothers. 1915 (1887). pp. 231–240.</ref> or the maiden's father, e. g., the character of ''Morskoi Tsar'' in Russian fairy tales.<ref name=":1">Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/22373/22373-h/22373-h.htm#Page_129 Russian folk-tales]''. London: Smith, Elder, & co.. 1873. pp. 129–130.</ref><ref>Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''[https://archive.org/details/songsrussianpeo00ralsgoog/page/n170/mode/1up The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life]''. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. p. 148.</ref> In this second format, the hero of the tale spies on the bird (swan) maidens bathing and hides the garment (featherskin) of the youngest one, for her to help him reach the kingdom of the villain of the tale (usually the swan-maiden's father).<ref>Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''[https://archive.org/details/songsrussianpeo00ralsgoog/page/n201/mode/1up The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life]''. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. pp. 179–180.</ref><ref name=Christiansen1927>{{cite journal |last1=Christiansen |first1=Reidar Th. |title=A Gaelic Fairytale in Norway |journal=Béaloideas |date=1927 |volume=1 |issue=2 |pages=107–114 |doi=10.2307/20521447 |jstor=20521447 }}</ref>

In the Scottish story titled "The Tale of the Son of the King of Ireland and the Daughter of the King of the Red Cap" ({{langx|gd|Sgeulachd air Mac Righ Éirionn agus Nighean Rígh a' Churraichd Ruaidh}}), the prince of Ireland falls in love with the White Swan of the Smooth Neck, also called Sunshine, the young daughter of the King of the Red Cap, as he saw her coming to bathe in a lake.<ref>''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.31158012575139&view=1up&seq=187&q1=%22Churraichd%20Ruaidh%22 Waifs and strays of Celtic tradition]''. Vol. III. London: David Nutt. 1889. pp. 145–157 (English translation); 167–186 (Gaelic text).</ref>

In a [[Flanders|Flemish]] fairy tale, ''Het zwanenmeisje van den glazen berg'' ("The Swan Maiden of the Glass Mountain"), a young hunter fetches the swan garment of a bathing maiden, who asks for it in return. When she wears it, she tells the hunter to find her in the Glass Mountain. After he succeeds in climbing the mountain, the youth recognizes his beloved swan maiden and asks her mother for her daughter's hand in marriage. The mother assures the human he will be able to marry her daughter, after doing three difficult chores.<ref>de Meyere, Victor. ''De Vlaamsche vertelselschat''. Deel 2. 1ste druk. 1927. pp. 195–199.</ref>

In an [[Evenk people|Evenk]] tale titled ''The Grateful Eagle'', the hero is promised to an old man after he helped the hero's father close a magical casket. Years later, the hero finds three swan maidens bathing in the river and fetches the robe of one of them. She insists the boy returns it and tells him to pay a visit to her village, where the old man also lives. Soon after arriving, he goes to the old man's house and is attended by "a pretty maid", later revealed to be the old man's granddaughter.<ref>''The Northern Light: Fairy Tales of the People of the North''. Retold in English by Irina Zheleznova. Progress Publishers. 1976. pp. 168–180.</ref>

===Simple bird transformation===
{{See also|Shapeshifting}}

Some may consider it a class of tales any story involving a bird-maiden as a single element. This is has been cursorily named a Type I "swan maiden" tale type by Hatto.{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|p=326}}

19th century folkloristic publications mentioned a tale about ''Grace's Well'', a well whose caretaker's carelessness led her to be turned into a swan by the fairies. The well was reported to be near Glasfryn lake, somewhere in [[Wales]].<ref>"Grace's Well". In: Thomas, William Jenkyn. ''The Welsh Fairy Book''. [1908]</ref><ref>Rhys, John. ''Celtic folklore: Welsh and Manx''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1901. pp. 370 and 375.</ref>

===Alternate openings===
Romanian folklorist Marcu Beza drew attention to two other introductory episodes: (1) seven white birds steal the [[golden apple]]s from a tree in the king's garden (an episode similar to German ''[[The Golden Bird]]''), or, alternatively, they come and trample the fields; (2) the hero receives a key and, against his master's wishes, opens a forbidden chamber, where the bird maidens are bathing.<ref name=Beza1925>{{cite journal |last1=Beza |first1=M. |title=The Sacred Marriage in Roumanian Folklore |journal=The Slavonic Review |date=1925 |volume=4 |issue=11 |pages=321–333 |jstor=4201965 }}</ref>

Researcher Barbara Fass Leavy noted a variation of the first opening episode - described above -, which occurs in Scandinavian tales: a man's third or only son stands guard on his father's fields at night to discover what has been trampling his father's fields, and sees three maidens dancing in a meadow.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Leavy |first1=Barbara Fass |chapter=The Animal Bride |pages=196–244 |jstor=j.ctt9qg995.9 |title=In Search of the Swan Maiden |date=1994 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-5268-5 }}</ref>

As for the second episode, it may be known as "The Forbidden Chamber", in [[Folkloristics|folkloristic]] works.<ref>Yearsley, Macleod. ''The Folklore of Fairy-tale''. London: Watts & Co., 1924. pp. 136, 168-169.</ref> [[Edwin Sidney Hartland]] indicated the occurrence of the second opening episode in tales from Arabic folklore.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartland |first1=E. Sidney |title=The Forbidden Chamber |journal=The Folk-Lore Journal |date=January 1885 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=193–242 |doi=10.1080/17442524.1885.10602782 |jstor=1252693 }}</ref>

===Alternative endings===
In some versions, although the children may grieve her, she does not take them with her.<ref name="hartland1888">{{cite journal |last1=Hartland |first1=E. Sidney |author-link=Edwin Sidney Hartland |title=The Physicians of Myddfai |journal=The Archaeological Review |date=1888 |volume=1 |issue=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrNCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA24 |pages=24–32 |jstor=24707779 }} (Cont. {{URL|1=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrNCAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA109|2=p. 109}}</ref>

===Male versions===
The fairytale "[[The Six Swans]]" could be considered a male version of the swan maiden, where the swan skin isn't stolen but a curse, similar to The Swan Princess. An evil step-mother cursed her 6 stepsons with swan skin shirts that transform them into swans, which can only be cured by six nettle shirts made by their younger sister. Similar tales of a parent or a step-parent cursing their (step)children are the [[Irish mythology|Irish legend]] of ''[[The Fate of the Children of Lir|The Children of Lir]]'', and ''[[The Wild Swans]]'', a literary fairy tale by Danish author [[Hans Christian Andersen]].

An inversion of the story (humans turning into swans) can be found in the ''[[Knight of the Swan#Dolopathos|Dolopathos]]'': a hunter sights a (magical) maiden bathing in a lake and, after a few years, she gives birth to septuplets (six boys and a girl), born with gold chains around their necks. After being expelled by their grandmother, the children bathe in a lake in their swan forms, and return to human form thanks to their magical chains.

Another story of a male swan is ''Prince Swan'' (''Prinz Schwan''), an obscure tale collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]] in the very first edition of their ''[[Kinder- und Hausmärchen]]'' (1812), but removed from subsequent editions.<ref>{{Cite book|jstor=j.ctt6wq18v.66|chapter=Prince Swan|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|last3=Zipes|first3=Jack|last4=Dezsö|first4=Andrea|title=The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm|year=2014|pages=194–197|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=9780691160597}}</ref>

[[Czech language|Czech]] author [[Božena Němcová]] included in the first volume of her collection ''National Tales and Legends'', published in 1845, a tale she titled ''The Swan'' (''O Labuti''), about a prince who's turned into a swan by a witch because his evil stepmother wanted to get rid of him.<ref>{{cite book|last=Němcová|first=Božena|author-link=Božena Němcová|date=1845|title=Národní Báchorky a Powěsti|language=cs|volume=1|location=Prague|publisher=Jaroslav Pospíšil}} Tale no. 4</ref>

Brazilian tale ''Os três cisnes'' ("The Three Swans"), collected by Lindolfo Gomes, tells the story of a princess who marries an enchanted prince. After his wife breaks a taboo (he could never see himself in a mirror), he turns into a swan, which prompts his wife on a quest for his whereabouts, with the help of an old woodcutter.<ref>{{cite book|last=Gomes|first=Lindolfo|date=1953|orig-date=1931|title=Contos Populares Brasileiros|language=pt|location=Brasil, São Paulo|publisher=Edições Melhoramentos|pages=149–154}}</ref>

==Literary fairy tales (''Kunstmärchen'') and other works==
The Swan maiden story is believed to have been the basis for the ballet ''[[Swan Lake]]'', in which a young princess, Odette and her maidens are under the spell of an evil sorcerer, Von Rothbart, transforming them into swans by day. By night, they regain their human forms and can only be rescued if a young man swears eternal love and faithfulness to the Princess. When Prince Siegfried swears his love for Odette, the spell can be broken, but Siegfried is tricked into declaring his love for Von Rothbart's daughter, Odile, disguised by magic as Odette, and all seems lost. But the spell is finally broken when Siegfried and Odette drown themselves in a lake of tears, uniting them in death for all eternity. While the ballet's revival of 1895 depicted the swan-maidens as mortal women cursed to turn into swans, the original libretto of 1877 depicted them as true swan-maidens: fairies who could transform into swans at will.<ref>Wiley 1991, p. 321</ref> Several animated films based on the ballet, including ''[[The Swan Princess]]'' and ''[[Barbie of Swan Lake]]'' depict the lead heroines as being under a spell and both are eventually rescued by their Princes.

[[Image:Boris Zvorykin - Skazka o tsare Saltane 07.jpg|thumb|The Swan Princess rides upon the waves of [[Buyan]]. Illustration by [[Boris Zvorykin]].]]

The magical swan also appears in [[Russian literature|Russian poem]] [[The Tale of Tsar Saltan]] (1831), by [[Alexander Pushkin]]. The son of the titular Tsar Saltan, Prince Gvidon and his mother are cast in the sea in a barrel and wash ashore in a mystical island. There, the princeling grows up in days and becomes a fine hunter. Prince Gvidon and his mother begin to settle in the island thanks to the help of a magical swan called Princess Swan, and in the end of the tale she transforms into a princess and marries Prince Gvidon.<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.3406/slave.1937.7637 |doi-access=free | title=Le Tsar Saltan| year=1937| last1=Mazon| first1=André| journal=Revue des Études Slaves| volume=17|issue=1 | pages=5–17}}</ref>

A variant of the swan maiden narrative is present in the work of [[Johann Karl August Musäus]],<ref>Musäus, Johann Karl August. ''Contes De Musaeus''. Tome I. Paris: Moutardier. 1826. p. xiii.</ref><ref>Musäus, Johann Karl August. ''Contes De Musaeus''. Tome V. Paris: Moutardier. 1826. pp. 127–216.</ref> a predecessor to the Brothers Grimm's endeavor in the early 1800s. The third volume of his ''[[Volksmärchen der Deutschen]]'' (1784) contains the story of ''Der geraubte Schleier'' ("The Stolen Veil").<ref name="Blamires">{{cite book|first=David|last=Blamires|title=Telling Tales: The Impact of Germany on English Children's Books 1780–1918|chapter=Musäus and the Beginnings of the Fairytale|series=OBP collection |url=https://books.openedition.org/obp/603|year=2009|pages=51–61 |publisher=Open Book Publishers |isbn=9781906924119 }}</ref> Musäus's tale was translated into English as ''The Stealing of the Veil, or Tale À La Montgolfier'' (1791)<ref>''Popular Tales of the Germans: Translated from the German. In Two Volumes''. Vol. I. London: John Murray. 1791. pp. 162–264. [https://books.google.com/books?id=zREUAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22The+Stealing+of+the+Veil%22&pg=PA162]</ref> and into French as ''Voile envolé'', in ''Contes de Museäus'' (1826).<ref>{{cite book|title=Contes de Musaeus |translator=David Ludwig Bourguet|year=1826|publisher=Moutardier|location=Paris}} containing "La Chronique des trois Soeurs", "Richilde", "Les Écuyers de Roland", "Libussa", "La Nymphe de la Fontaine", "Le Trésor du Hartz", "Légendes de Rubezahl", "La Veuve", "L'Enlèvement (Anecdote)", "La Poule aux OEfs d'or", "L'Amour muet", "Le Démon-Amour", "Mélechsala" and "Le Voile enlevé".</ref> In a short summary: an old hermit, who lives near a lake of pristine water, rescues a young Swabian soldier; during a calm evening, the hermit reminisces about an episode of his adventurous youth when he met in [[Greece]] a swan-maiden, descended from [[Leda (mythology)|Leda]] and [[Zeus]] themselves – in the setting of the story, the Greco-Roman deities were "genies" and "fairies". The hermit explains the secret of their magical garment and how to trap one of the ladies. History repeats itself as the young soldier sets his sights on a trio of swan maidens who descend from heavens to bathe in the lake.

[[Image:Swan princess crying by John Bauer 1908.jpg|thumb|left|Swan princess crying. Art by [[John Bauer (illustrator)|John Bauer]] (1908) for [[Helena Nyblom]]'s tale ''Svanhammen''.]]

[[Swedish people|Swedish]] writer [[Helena Nyblom]] explored the theme of a swan maiden who loses her feathery cloak in ''Svanhammen'' (''The Swan Suit''), published in 1908, in ''Bland tomtar och troll'' (''[[Among Gnomes and Trolls]]''), an annual anthology of literary fairy tales and stories.

In a literary work by Adrienne Roucolle, ''The Kingdom of the Good Fairies'', in the chapter ''The Enchanted Swan'', princess Lilian is turned into a swan by evil Fairy Hemlock.<ref>Roucolle, Adrienne. ''The Kingdom of the Good Fairies: Fairy Tales''. Cincinnati: The Editor Publishing Company. 1898. pp. 101–120.</ref>

Irish novelist and author [[Padraic Colum]] reworked a series of Irish legends in his book ''[[The King of Ireland's Son]]'', among them the tale of the swan maiden as a wizard's daughter. In this book, the oldest son of the King of Ireland loses a wager against his father's enemy and should find him in a year and a day's time. He is advised by a talking eagle to spy on three swans that will descend on a lake. They are the daughters of the Enchanter of the Black Back-Lands, the wizard the prince is looking for. The prince is instructed to hide the swanskin of the swan with a green ribbon, who is Fedelma, the Enchanter's youngest daughter.<ref>Colum, Padraic. ''The King of Ireland's Son''. New York: H. Holt and Company, 1916. pp. 5–59. [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044004359204&view=1up&seq=21]</ref>

== Folkloristics ==
One might call the "swan maiden" type tale an amalgam of motifs.{{sfnp|Hatto|1961|pp=344, 349}} Established American and Western [[folkloristics]] does not formally recognize "Swan Maidens" as such, to be a single [[Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index|Aarne-Thompson]] tale type. Thus one must speak of tales that exhibit [[Stith Thompson]] motif index "D361.1. Swan Maiden",{{sfnp|Thompson|1977|p=90}} or "B652. Marriage to bird in human form" and other related ones,<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Motif-Index_of_Folk-Literature/Volume_1/B/600 |title=Motif-Index of Folk-Literature, Volume 1}}</ref> which may be classed AT 400,<ref name="Horálek1974"/> 313,<ref>{{Cite book | jstor=j.ctt2tv86j.21| chapter=The Irish-American Tale Tradition| year=2007| title=Cinderella in America| pages=376–386| publisher=University Press of Mississippi| isbn=9781578069583}}</ref> or 465A.{{sfnp|Thompson|1977|p=88}} Compounded by the fact that these tale types have "no fewer than ten other motifs" assigned to them, the AT system becomes a cumbersome tool for keeping track of parallels for this motif.{{sfnp|Miller|1987a|p=55}} Seeking an alternate scheme, one investigator has developed a system of five Swan Maiden paradigms, four of them groupable as a Grimm tale cognate ([[Kinder- und Hausmärchen|KHM]] 193, 92, 93, and 113) and the remainder classed as the "AT 400" paradigm.{{sfnp|Miller|1987a|p=55}} Bolte and Polívka's ''Anmerkungen'' to Grimm's Tale KHM 193{{sfnp|Bolte|Polívka|2014|loc=''Anmerkungen von KHM'', vol. 3, pp. 406–417}} has a comprehensive list of the most starkly-resembling cognates of Swan Maiden tales.{{sfnp|Miller|1987a|p=57}}

=== Magic wife as etiological tale ===
{{main|Human-animal marriage}}
{{interlanguage link|Julien d'Huy|fr}}'s study narrows the focus on "magic wife" type indigenous tales to those of cosmological of [[etiological]] nature (esp. origins of man, or a race of people), on the assumption that these tales are less prone to contamination by Western storytelling.<ref name="dhuy2023" />

According to D'Huy, myths are adapted with the elements found in the local context of each [[culture]], frequently undergoing subtle changes, while preserving most of the original structure or [[Mytheme|main prototypical elements]]. Thus, all the versions where the sky-maiden is a migratory bird are mostly found in northernmost regions, whereas more to the South, the women of the tale are more commonly non-migratory birds, and may also be stars or celestial nymphs. Also in the southernmost regions, differently from the North ones, the sky-maiden stories generally have anthropogonic or ethiological value, explaining the origin of humans, cultures, gods, celestial phenomena.<ref name="dhuy2023" />
[[File:Geographical distribution of Sky-maiden or Bird-maiden motif (including Swan maiden variant) (ATU 400).png|thumb|360x360px|Distribution of the "magic wife" motif the white square with black dot indicates where the sky-maiden appears as migratory birds (swans, geese, ducks, cranes or herons); the black circle with white dot, where she appears as a dove; the dark blue full circle, where the sky-maiden is either a non-migratory bird, star or sky nymph.{{sfnp|Berezkin|2010|p=34}}]]
The areal study of the Swan Maiden myth first began in 1894, with [[Hyacinthe de Charencey]].<ref name="dhuy2023" /> The proposal of its origins in [[India]] by [[Theodor Benfey]] and the Finnish school has been discredited a long time ago.<ref name="hatto1961" />

{{interlanguage link|Yuri Evgenievich Berezkin|ru|Берёзкин, Юрий Евгеньевич}} points out that, among the hundreds of other categories of motifs, the bird-maiden motif belongs to a core group (ATU 400):<ref name="dhuy2023" />
{{blockquote|"The different types, or set of types, therefore seem linked by a very small number of intermediate stories. These stories therefore seem more important than others in the economy of narration, probably acting for storytellers as a mental intermediary or a “highway interchange” between distinct groups of story-types. The cultural success and the area of diffusion of the tale-types do not seem to explain the centrality of the stories, but they all share the property of being probably extremely old, as if the flesh of our folklore had grown on a bone frame much older than that."}}

=== Swan maiden as ancestress ===
{{See also|#Mongolic peoples|#Turkic peoples}}

According to scholarship, "an ancient belief in bird-human transformation is manifest in Eurasian mythology".<ref name=":13">{{cite book|last1=Fiedel|first1=Stuart J.|chapter=Quacks in the Ice: Waterfowl, Paleoindians, and the Discovery of America|pages=1–14|jstor=j.ctt1djmct7.5|title=Foragers of the Terminal Pleistocene in North America|date=2007|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|doi=10.2307/j.ctt1djmct7.5|isbn=978-0-8032-4802-1}}</ref> For instance, the mythical character of the swan maiden is found "in the whole of northern Eurasia, from Scandinavia to Manchuria". As such, "a great number of populations" in these regions claim her as their [[Totem#Anthropological perspectives|totemic ancestress]],<ref name=Birtalan2002>{{cite journal |last1=Birtalan |first1=Ágnes |title=An Oirat Ethnogenetic Myth in Written and Oral Traditions |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |date=September 2002 |volume=55 |issue=1–3 |pages=69–88 |doi=10.1556/AOrient.55.2002.1-3.6 |jstor=23658339 |url=http://real.mtak.hu/46962/1/aorient.55.2002.1-3.6.pdf }}</ref><ref name="Uray-Kohalmy & Schmitz 1998">{{cite journal |last1=Uray-Kohalmy |first1=Kathe |last2=Schmitz |first2=Andrea |title=Die Erzahlung von Edige. Gehalt, Genese und Wirkung einer heroischen Tradition |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1998 |volume=57 |issue=2 |pages=384 |doi=10.2307/1178773 |jstor=1178773 }}</ref><ref name=Motz1986/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Love and Women in Early Chinese Fiction |first=Daniel |last=Hsieh |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press |date=2009 |page=124 |isbn=9789882378841 |quote=As for its meaning [of the swan-maiden narrative], ... others have stressed the totemic aspects with the swan-maiden in her animal incarnation being the founder of clans ...}}</ref> such as the peoples and tribes of [[Siberia]]<ref>{{Cite journal | jstor=23659044| title=Baba Tükli and the Swan Girl. Legitimising Elements in the Turkic Epic Edige| last1=Kara| first1=Dávid Somfai| journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae| year=2010| volume=63| issue=2| pages=117–132| doi=10.1556/AOrient.63.2010.2.1}}</ref> and Central Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Birtalan |first1=Ágnes |title=The representation of the Mongolian shaman deity Dayan Deerh in invocations and in a Buddhist scroll painting |journal=Études mongoles et sibériennes, centrasiatiques et tibétaines |date=1 December 2011 |volume=42 |issue=42 |doi=10.4000/emscat.1800 |doi-access=free }}</ref> This narrative is attested in ethnogenetic myths of the [[Buryat people|Buryat]],{{sfnp|Miller|1987a|p=74}} [[Chukotko-Kamchatkan]], [[Na-Dené]], [[Bashkirs|Bashkir]], and [[Amerindian language|Amerindian]] peoples.<ref name="Routledge 2019">{{cite book |last1=Kalik |first1=Judith |last2=Uchitel |first2=Alexander |title=Slavic Gods and Heroes |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-351-02868-4 |quote=The appearance of Slavic totemic animals (raven, swan, and eagle) and even of some mythological motifs (the Swan Maiden) among non-Indo-European peoples, such as the Turkic Bashkirs, the Mongolian Buryats, the Chukotko-Kamchatkan peoples of Northeast Asia, and even among the Native American Na-Dené and Amerind peoples of the northwestern coast, shows that Slavic totemic mythology goes back to a pre-Indo-European Nostratic or even Boreal past. |pages=130–131 }}</ref> Further study suggests that this form of totemic mythology goes back to a pre-Indo-European [[Nostratic]] or even [[Borean languages|Boreal]] past.<ref name ="Routledge 2019"/>

Professor Hazel Wigglesworth, who worked with the many languages of the [[Philippines archipelago]], stated that the character of the mortal male is sometimes named ''Itung'' or ''Beletamey'', and he represents a cultural hero or ancestor of the [[Manobo]] people.<ref name=":3">{{cite journal |last1=Wrigglesworth |first1=Hazel J. |title=Manobo storytelling as approximation to drama |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=1984 |volume=12 |issue=3 |pages=221–256 |jstor=29791831 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |id={{INIST|12229013}} |last1=Wrigglesworth |first1=Hazel J |title=Rhetorical Devices Distinguishing the Genre of Folktale (Fiction) from that of Oral History (Fact) in Ilianen Manobo Narrative Discourse |journal=Philippine Journal of Linguistics Manila |date=1980 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=45–80 |url=https://www.sil.org/resources/archives/25888 }}</ref>

English folklorist [[Edwin Sidney Hartland]] mentioned a tale about a divine ancestress of the Bantik people (of the Celebes Island, modern [[Sulawesi]]) who comes down to Earth with her seven companions to bathe in a lake. A human male sees them coming to earth and steals the clothing of one of the maidens, thus forcing her to marry him.<ref name="hartland1888"/>

19th-century missionary [[John Batchelor (missionary)|John Batchelor]] collected an etiological tale from the [[Ainu people]], about the swan maiden. According to this story, the swan - originally created as an angel - is turned into a human woman. She descends to Earth to save an Ainu boy in Takai Sara of the Nikap district. Once he grows up, they marry and father numerous children. She reveals she is a swan, sent to him to "repopulate the Ainu race".<ref>Batchelor, John (1901). ''The Ainu and their folk-lore''. London: Religious Tract Society. pp. 449-451.</ref>

According to scholarship, "in Kazakh and Siberian variants" of the heroic tale of Edige, his mother is described as a Swan Maiden.<ref name="Uray-Kohalmy & Schmitz 1998"/><ref>{{cite book |title=Islamization and native religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tükles and conversion to Islam in historical and epic tradition |last=DeWeese |first=Devin A. |author-link=Devin Deweese |date=1994 |location=University Park, Pa. |publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press |page=503 |series=Hermeneutics: Studies in the History of Religions}}</ref> Edige ([[Edigu]]) is known as the historical founder of the [[Nogai Horde]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hopkin |first1=David |title=Review of Legends of the Caucasus |journal=The English Historical Review |date=2013 |volume=128 |issue=535 |pages=1598–1600 |doi=10.1093/ehr/cet271 |jstor=24473937 }}</ref>

A line of Russian and Mongolian scholarship suggests that the cult of the swan ancestress developed in the [[Altai Mountains]] region (or in [[Altai-Sayan region]]),<ref name="kams.2011..30.005">{{cite journal |title=About some aspects of the ethnic history of the Buryat tribes of Hondogor and Hori |journal=Mongolian Studies |date=February 2011 |issue=30 |pages=119–148 |doi=10.17292/kams.2011..30.005 |last1=Б.Р.Зориктуев }}</ref> which would explain the common features of the ethnogenetic myths of peoples inhabiting the area, e.g., Turkic and Mongolic peoples.<ref name=":14">{{cite journal |last1=Dashieva |first1=N. B. |title=Genealogical Myth of the Buryats of the Hori Tribe: Calendar and Ritual |journal=Nauchnyi Dialog |date=27 March 2021 |issue=3 |pages=363–379 |doi=10.24224/2227-1295-2021-3-363-379 |s2cid=233661022 |doi-access=free }}</ref> For instance, Buryat professor T. B. Tsydendambaev ([[:ru:Цыдендамбаев, Цыбикжап Бобоевич|ru]]) supposed that the [[Mongolic languages|Mongol-speaking]] Khorin replaced their canine totem for a swan totem of Turkic origin during the 1st millennium AD.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Раднаевич |first1=Зориктуев Булат |title=К истории племенной группы хори |journal=Вестник Калмыцкого университета |date=2019 |volume=3 |issue=43 |pages=13–19 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/k-istorii-plemennoy-gruppy-hori }}</ref>

According to {{ill|Käthe Uray-Kőhalmi|ru|Ураи-Кёхальми, Каталин}}, a trio of celestial sisters, identified as daughters of Heaven itself or of a celestial deity, appear as helpers and wives of male heroes, who marry them and beget clans and dynasties. This motif appears in both the [[Epic poem|epos]] and mythologies of the [[Mongol mythology|Mongolic]] and [[Manchu-Tungus]] people, where they assume the guise of a water bird, like swans, [[Crane (bird)|crane]]s and [[Geese|wild geese]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Uray-Kőhalmi |first1=Käthe |title=Mythologie und Religiöse Einflüsse in den Mongolischen und Tibetischen Geser-Epos-Versionen |journal=Acta Orientalia Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae |date=2008 |volume=61 |issue=4 |pages=431–465 |doi=10.1556/AOrient.61.2008.4.2 |jstor=23659455 }}</ref>

=== Swan maiden in shamanism ===
According to scholarship, "an ancient belief in bird-human transformation is manifest ... in shamanic practices".<ref name=":13"/> Edward A. Armstrong and Alan Miller noted that swans appear in [[Siberian shamanism]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Armstrong |first1=Edward A. |title=The Symbolism of the Swan and the Goose |journal=Folklore |date=1944 |volume=55 |issue=2 |pages=54–58 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1944.9717717 |jstor=1256902 }}</ref> which, according to Miller, contains stories about male shamans being born of a human father and a divine wife in bird form.<ref name=":7">{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Alan L. |title=Myth and Gender in Japanese Shamanism: The 'Itako' of Tohoku |journal=History of Religions |date=1993 |volume=32 |issue=4 |pages=343–367 |doi=10.1086/463346 |jstor=1062826 |s2cid=162209767 }}</ref>{{efn|According to [[Joseph Campbell]], "tales ... of the swan maiden [were] told wherever shamanism has flourished".<ref>Campbell, Joseph. ''The Masks of God 1: Primitive Mythology''. New York: Viking Press, 1969. p. 258.</ref>}}

In the same vein, scholar [[Manabu Waida]] transcribed a tale collected in Trans-Baikal Mongolia among the Buryat, wherein the human hunter marries one of three swan maidens, daughters of [[Esege Malan]]. In another account, the children born of this union become great shaman and shamanesses.<ref name=":2">{{cite journal |last1=Waida |first1=Manabu |title=The symbolism of 'ascent' in Japanese religious tradition |journal=Religion |date=September 1976 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=140–149 |doi=10.1016/0048-721X(76)90023-3 }}</ref> A similar story occurs in the [[Ryukyu Islands]], wherein the swan maiden, stranded on Earth, gives birth to a son that becomes a ''toki'' and two daughters that become a ''[[Noro (priestess)|noro]]'' and a ''yuta''.<ref name=":2"/>

Researcher Rosanna Budelli also argues for "shamanic reminiscences" in the ''Arabian Nights'' tale of ''Hasan of Basrah'' (and analogues ''Mazin of Khorassan'' and ''Jansah''), for example, the "ornitomorphic costume" of the bird-maidens that appear in the story.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Budelli |first1=Rosanna |title=Shamanic Reminiscences and Archaic Myths in the Story of the Goldsmith Ḥasan al-Baṣrī (Alf layla wa-layla) |journal=Eurasian Studies |date=14 November 2019 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=123–157 |doi=10.1163/24685623-12340067 |s2cid=214019215 }}</ref>

===Celtic and Nordic migratory legend===
{{see also|Migratory Legends}}
[[Patricia Monaghan]] stated the swan maiden was an "Irish, Scottish and a continental Celtic folkloric figure",<ref name="monaghan"/> appearing, for instance, in [[Armorica]].<ref>Persigout, Jean-Paul. ''Dictionnaire de Mythologie Celte''. Dieux et Héros. Éditions du Rocher. 1996. p. 123. {{ISBN|2 268 00968 8}}.</ref>

British folklorist [[Katharine Mary Briggs]], while acknowledging the universality of the tale, suggested the character seemed more prevalent in the Celtic fairy tale tradition of the British Islands.<ref name=":11">Briggs, Katharine M. ''An Encyclopedia of Fairies: Hobglobins, Brownies, Bogies and Other Supernatural Creatures''. New York: Pantheon Books. 1976. pp. 202–204. {{ISBN|0-394-40918-3}}.</ref> She claimed in the introduction to fellow British folklore collector and writer [[Ruth Tongue]]'s book that "variants [of the Swan Maiden tale] are common in [[Wales]]".<ref>Tongue, Ruth L. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=AdiBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22swan+maiden%22 Forgotten Folk Tales of the English Counties]''. Routledge & K. Paul. 1970. p. xv. {{ISBN|9780710068330}}.</ref>

In the same vein, William Bernard McCarthy reported that in Irish tradition the tale type ATU 400 ("Swan Maiden") is frequently merged with ATU 313 ("The Master Maid", "The Magical Flight", "The Devil's Daughter", cf. {{section link||Helper}}).<ref>McCarthy, William Bernard. ''Cinderella in America: a book of folk and fairy tales''. The University Press of Mississippi. 2007. p. 386. {{ISBN|978-1-57806-959-0}}.</ref> In that regard, Norwegian folklorist [[Reidar Thoralf Christiansen]] suggested that the presence of the Swan maiden character in tale type ATU 313 "could be explained by the circumstance that in both cycles a woman with supernatural powers plays a leading part".<ref name=Christiansen1927/>

In addition, Celticist [[Tom Peete Cross]] concluded that the swan maiden "figured in [[Celtic literature]] before the twelfth century", although, in this tradition, she was often confused for similar supernatural women, i.e., the Celtic fairy-princess, the forth-putting ''fée'' and the water-fée.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cross |first1=Tom Peete |title=The Celtic Elements in the Lays of 'Lanval' and 'Graelent' |journal=Modern Philology |date=1915 |volume=12 |issue=10 |pages=585–644 |doi=10.1086/386982 |jstor=432976 |s2cid=162292496 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Bo Almqvist]] considers that there was a time in the past that it was ubiquitous the belief that "certain zoomorphic or semi-zoomorphic beings – whether expressly stated to be enchanted humans or not – are able to remove their animal coats and take human shape". In an analysis by Almqvist of the 1919 thesis of Helge Holmström on the Swan Maiden motif, he says that: "the Swan Maiden Legend is but one of a whole complex of migratory legends relating to marriages to supernatural or supernaturally transformed female beings", and that one other such group includes that of aquatic beings, such as [[mermaids]]; there are similarities between sky-maiden and sea-maiden stories.<ref>{{Cite book|last=James|first=Ronald M.|url=https://www.academia.edu/31865439|title=Cornish Studies|year=2015|editor-last=Tregidga|editor-first=Garry|series=Third Series|volume=1|chapter=Curses, Vengeance, and Fishtails: The Cornish Mermaid in Perspective}}</ref>

==Antiquity and origin==
[[Arthur Thomas Hatto|A. T. Hatto]] connects the origin of the bird-maiden motif with the migration and mating of migratory aquatic-related bird (swans included), and local [[totemic]] and [[shamanistic]] conceptions, such as the possible notions of foreign women (with the analogy of the migratory birds) being related to [[Magic (supernatural)|sorcery]]; the husband undertaking labours and challenges in his search journey; or an analogy for the [[soul flight]].<ref name="hatto1961" />

{{interlanguage link|Yuri Evgenievich Berezkin|ru|Берёзкин, Юрий Евгеньевич|lt=Berezkin}} affirms that this motif might have appeared first in Asia, diffusing to the [[New World]], and that a novel ecotype later arrived at [[North Eurasia]] and again was brought to North America, {{c.|5000 BC}}. Julien d’Huy identified the presence of the bird-maiden story also in six [[Language isolate|linguistically isolated]] groups: the [[Ainus]], the [[Basques]], the [[Burusho people|Burusho]], the [[Koreans]], the [[Cofán people|Cofán]], the [[Haida people|Haida]], the [[Tlingit]] and the [[Natchez people|Natchez]]. Based on the cladistics of the mythemes, he obtained statistical evidence that agrees with the proposal of Berezkin that the motif arrived in the Americas in two different times. He thus reconstructed the protomyth (with more than 75% chance) as appearing first in [[East Asia]] following this structure:<ref name="dhuy2023" />
{{blockquote|"The hero, a young man, a good hunter, surprises women bathing in a lake. They have retained their appearance as immortals or supernatural creatures. They undress and their bodies or clothes are covered with feathers. The hero seizes the clothes or the plumage of the most beautiful woman, but does not hide them. The naked woman asks the hero to give her back her outfit. She promises [in exchange] to marry him. They first live in the hero's world. One day, the woman puts on her old plumage and, after living on earth, returns to heaven. The man tries to find her. He performs several difficult and dangerous tasks, and his quest ends happily, with a reunion with his wife. However, at the end of the story, the hero lives alone or returns home alone."}}
The researcher also points out that, among the hundreds of other categories of motifs, the bird-maiden motif belongs to a core group (ATU 400):<ref name="dhuy2023" />

===Ancient Indian literature===
It has been suggested the romance of [[apsara]] [[Urvasi]] and king [[Pururavas]], of ancient Sanskrit literature, may be one of the oldest forms (or origin) of the Swan-Maiden tale.<ref name=":4">{{cite journal |last1=Smith |first1=S. Percy |title=Aryan and Polynesian Points of Contact. The Story of Te Niniko |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=1910 |volume=19 |issue=2(74) |pages=84–88 |jstor=20700902 }}</ref><ref name=":5">Tuzin, Donald F. ''The Cassowary's Revenge: The life and death of masculinity in a New Guinea society''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1997. pp. 71–72.</ref><ref>{{ill|Horálek, Karel|cs|Karel Horálek}}. "Folk Poetry: History And Typology". In: ''Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences''. Current Trends in Linguistics Vol. 12, Part 2. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter Mouton, 2019 [1974]. pp. 749-750. {{doi|10.1515/9783110821659-004}}</ref>

The antiquity of the swan-maiden tale was suggested in the 19th century by Reverend [[Sabine Baring-Gould]], postulating an origin of the motif before the separation of the [[Proto-Indo-European]] language, and, due to the presence of the tale in diverse and distant traditions (such as Samoyedic and Native Americans), there was a possibility that the tale may be even older.<ref>Baring-Gould, Sabine. ''The book of were-wolves: Being an Account of a Terrible Superstition''. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1865. pp. 178–177.</ref> Another theory was supported by [[Charles Henry Tawney]], in his translation of [[Somadeva]]'s ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'': he suggests the source of the motif to be old [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] literature; the tale then migrated to Middle East, and from there as an intermediate point, spread to Europe.<ref>Tawney, Charles Henry. ''The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's Katha sarit sagara (or Ocean of streams of story)''. Book 8. London, Priv. print. for subscribers only by C.J. Sawyer. 1924–1928. Appendix I. p. 234.</ref>

===Geography and migratory patterns===
A line of scholarship suggests that the dispersal of the swan maiden tale is related to the migratory patterns of swan and similar birds. Jörg Bäcker contrasts between northern and southern areas where tales appear: swans and cranes in Hungary, Siberia, China, Korea, and Japan; wild geese among the [[Paleosiberian languages|Paleoasian]] and Eskimo (Inuit) peoples and across Northwestern North America; [[Peri]]s in form of doves in Iran.{{sfnp|Bäcker|2012|p=314}}

[[Arthur Thomas Hatto|Arthur T. Hatto]] recognized a mythic look in the character and the narrative, but argued for a location in sub-arctic Eurasia and America, in relation to the migration of swans, cranes, geese and similar waterfowl.<ref name="hatto1961"/> Similarly, [[Edward Allworthy Armstrong]] recognized the "ancient lineage" of the tale, and supposed an origin in a "northerly climate", north of the Eurasian mountain ranges, where swans are common.{{sfnp|Armstrong|1959|pp=57, 58}}

[[Lotte Motz]], in turn, remarked that the story of the swan maiden was "current in the primitive setting of north-Eurasian peoples, where water birds are of importance". That is, she argues, in areas of "archaic economic systems", the swan maiden appears in the folklore of peoples "in which water birds contribute to the economic
well-being of the community", which could be affected by the migratory patterns of these birds.<ref name=Motz1986/>

Analysing [[Yakuts|Yakut]] tales about a bird maiden, ethnographer {{ill|S. Ivanovich Nikolaev|sah|Николаев Семен Иванович (Сомоҕотто)}}, in a 1982 article, argued that the motif of the bird maidens taking off their birdskins resembled the act of [[Moulting#In birds|moulting]]. According to him, birds losing their wings while also moulting would seem to happen in the Far North, which would indicate the origin of the tale in a Northern location.<ref>Николаев, С.И. "Птицечеловек в хороводных танцах аборигенов Якутии". In: Полярная звезда N. 4 1982. pp. 123-126. Republished in: [https://www.academia.edu/37673758/%D0%A1%D0%BE%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%82%D1%82%D0%BE._%D0%A1%D0%B1%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%BA_%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B9._%D0%A0%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BB%D0%BB._%D0%95.%D0%9F._%D0%90%D0%BD%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2_%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%B2._%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4._%D0%92.%D0%9D._%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0_%D0%92.%D0%93._%D0%A1%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BF%D0%B8%D0%BD._%D0%A1%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82._%D0%92.%D0%9D._%D0%A1%D0%B0%D1%84%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0._%D0%AF%D0%BA%D1%83%D1%82%D1%81%D0%BA_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%B0%D1%81_2012._864_%D1%81 Сомоготто. Сборник статей]. Редколл.: Е.П. Антонов (отв. ред.), В.Н. Сафонова, В.Г. Скрипин. Сост. В.Н. Сафонова. Якутск: Алаас, 2012. pp. 159-165.</ref>

E. A. Armstrong also reported that "several" variants of [[Southern Europe]]an tradition have the dove-maiden in place of the swan.{{sfnp|Armstrong|1959|p=60}} In this regard, scholarship notes that the common pigeon ([[rock dove]])'s original geographic range seemed restricted to Asia Minor, India, North Africa, and the Southern European countries, like Greece and Italy,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kleyner |first1=Svetlana |title=From Yellow to Blue — or Not? |journal=Studia Celto-Slavica |date=2015 |volume=7 |pages=47–52 |doi=10.54586/WTLO2251 |s2cid=244145471 |doi-access=free }}</ref> while the domesticated dove originated "from North Africa and Near East".<ref>Batisti, Roberto. "Birds of a feather?: Latin columba ‘pigeon, dove’ and Greek κόλυμβος ‘grebe’" Indogermanische Forschungen, vol. 126, no. 1, 2021, p. 210. https://doi.org/10.1515/if-2021-010</ref>

===Phylogenetic studies===
Each of them using different methods, i.e. observation of the distribution area of the Swan Maiden type or use of phylogenetic or [[Cladistic Model|cladistic]] methods to reconstruct the evolution of the tale, [[Gudmund Hatt]], {{ill|Yuri Evgenievich Berezkin|ru|Берёзкин, Юрий Евгеньевич|lt=Yuri Berezkin}} and Julien d'Huy independently showed that this [[Oral tradition|folktale]] would have appeared during the Paleolithic period, in the Pacific Asia, before spreading in two successive waves in America. In addition, Berezkin and d'Huy showed that there was no mention of migratory birds in the early versions of this tale (this [[Motif (folkloristics)|motif]] seems to appear very late).<ref>Hatt, Gudmund (1949). ''[http://publ.royalacademy.dk/books/248/1508?lang=da Asiatic influences in American folklore]''. København: I kommission hos ejnar Munksgaard, pp. 94-96, 107</ref><ref name="berezkin2010"/><ref>{{cite journal |last1=D'Huy |first1=Julien |author-link=:fr:Julien d'Huy |title=Le motif de la femme-oiseau (T111.2.) et ses origines paléolithiques |journal=Mythologie française |date=December 2016 |issue=265 |pages=4–11 |url=https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-02280063/ }}</ref>

According to d'Huy, such a motif would also have existed in European [[prehistory]] and would have a buffalo maiden as a heroine. Indeed, this author finds the motif with four-legged animals in North America and Europe, in an area coinciding with the area of [[Haplogroup X (mtDNA)|haplogroup X]].<ref>{{cite journal |id={{INIST|24070996}} |last1=d'Huy |first1=Julien |author-link=:fr:Julien d'Huy |title=Le motif de la femme-bison Essai d'interprétation d'un mythe préhistorique (1re partie) |trans-title=The motive of the buffalo-woman. Try of interpretation of a prehistoric myth (Part I) |language=fr |journal=Mythologie française |date=2011a |issue=242 |pages=44–55 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |id={{INIST|25722198}} |last1=d'Huy |first1=Julien |author-link=:fr:Julien d'Huy |title=Le motif de la femme-bison Essai d'interprétation d'un mythe préhistorique (2e partie) |trans-title=The motive for the buffalo-woman. Interpretation of a prehistoric myth (part II) |language=fr |journal=Mythologie française |date=2011b |issue=243 |pages=23–41 }}</ref>

===Role of the Swan Maiden===
The swan maiden has been noted to belong to a different race than that of the human husband.<ref>{{cite book |last=Yearsley |first=Macleod |title=The Folklore of Fairy-tale |location=London |publisher=Watts & Co. |date=1924 |page=185 |quote=Throughout the types of the Swan-maiden cycle there runs the one central idea of a mortal marrying a supernatural maiden whom he is unable to retain.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Swahn |first=Jan Öjvind |author-link=:sv:Jan-Öjvind Swahn |title=The Tale of Cupid and Psyche |location=Lund |publisher=C.W.K. Gleerup |date=1955 |page=17 |quote=[In] Type 400, "''The Man in Quest of his Lost Wife''", where the female partner represents the supernatural, the male the human being, a type which is best known as "''The Tale of the Swan Maiden''".}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Stuart-Glennie|first=John S.|chapter=Incidents of Swan-Maiden Marriage |editor=Richard M. Dorson|title=Peasant Customs and Savage Myths|volume=II|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|date=1968 |page=523}}</ref> According to Alan Miller and Amira El-Zein, the swan maiden is connected both to air (or "sky world") and to water.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Miller|first1=Alan L.|title=The Woman Who Married a Horse: Five Ways of Looking at a Chinese Folktale|journal=Asian Folklore Studies|date=1995|volume=54|issue=2|pages=275–305|doi=10.2307/1178945|jstor=1178945}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=El-Zein|first1=Amira|title=Islam, Arabs, and the Intelligent World of the Jinn|date=2009|publisher=Syracuse University Press|id={{Project MUSE|12956|type=book}}|isbn=978-0-8156-5070-6|page=116}}</ref> In this regard, in many tales, the swan maiden and her sisters are daughters of a celestial deity, a king of spirits or come from the skies.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shah|first=Idries|author-link=Idries Shah|date=1979|title=World Tales|location=New York|publisher=Harcourt Brace Jovanovich|page=236}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Love and Women in Early Chinese Fiction |first=Daniel |last=Hsieh |publisher=The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press |date=2009 |page=124 |isbn=9789882378841 |quote=As for its meaning [of the swan-maiden narrative], ... others have stressed ... the marriage of swan-maiden and human as representing the meeting of heavenly and earthly forces.}}</ref>

The swan maidens embody desirable traits like luck and prosperity.<ref>Bäcker, Jörg. "Schwanjungfrau". In: ''[[Enzyklopädie des Märchens]]'' Band 12: Schinden, Schinder – Sublimierung. Edited by Rudolf Wilhelm Brednich; Hermann Bausinger; Wolfgang Brückner; Daniel Drascek; Helge Gerndt; Ines Köhler-Zülch; Lutz Röhrich; Klaus Roth. De Gruyter, 2016 [2007]. p. 312. {{ISBN|978-3-11-019936-9}}.</ref> In this regard, according to researcher Serinity Young, she also represents an image of the feminine divine that the male character tries to capture, since she brings prosperity and can lift the latter to "higher states of being, including immortality".<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Young|first1=Serinity|date=2021|title=Gender and Sexuality: Reading Females, Males and Other in Asian Folktales|journal=A Cultural History of Fairy Tales in Antiquity|volume=1 – Antiquity (500 BCE to 800 CE)|location=London|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Academic]]|pages=61–62}}</ref>

==Animal wife motif==
{{main|Human-animal marriage}}

===Distribution and variants===
[[File:Illustration at page 98 in Europa's Fairy Book.png|thumb|right|The swan maiden's child finds her mother's hidden featherskin. Illustration from Jacobs's ''Europa's Fairy Book'' by [[John D. Batten]]]]

The motif of the wife of supernatural origin (in most cases, a swan maiden) shows universal appeal, being present in the oral and folkloric traditions of every continent.<ref>Frobenius, Leo. ''Das Zeitalter des Sonnengottes''. G. Reimer. 1904. pp. 304–333.</ref><ref>de Charencey, Comte H. "le Folklore dans les Deux Mondes". In: ''Actes de la Societé Philologique'' Tome XXIII. Anées 1893 & 1894. Paris: Librarie C Klincksieck. pp. 308–331.</ref> The [[swan]] is the typical species, but they can transform into "[[geese]], ducks, [[spoonbills]], or [[aquatic birds]] of some other species".<ref name=":1"/> Other animals include "peahens, hornbills, wild chickens, parakeets and cassowaries".<ref name=":8">{{cite journal |last1=Lindell |first1=Kristina |author-link=<!--Kristina Lindell --> |last2=Backer |first2=Jorg |author2-link=<!--Jörg Bäcker--> |title=Marchen aus der Mandschurei |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1996 |volume=55 |issue=1 |pages=162 |doi=10.2307/1178869 |jstor=1178869 }}</ref>

[[Aarne-Thompson-Uther|ATU]] 402 ("The Animal Bride") group of folktales are found across the world, though the animals vary.<ref>Cox, Marian Roalfe. ''An introduction to Folk-Lore''. London: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895. pp. 120–121.</ref> The Italian fairy tale "[[Italian Folktales|The Dove Girl]]" features a dove. There are the [[Orkney|Orcadian]] and [[Shetland]] [[selkies]], that alternate between seal and human shape. A Croatian tale features a she-wolf.<ref>Wratislaw, Albert Henry. ''Sixty folk-tales from exclusively Slavonic sources''. London: E. Stock. 1887. pp. 290–291.</ref> The wolf also appears in the folklore of Estonia and Finland as the "animal bride", under the tale type ATU 409, {{ill|"The Girl as Wolf"|et|Naine libahundiks}}.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Metsvahi |first1=Merili |title=The Woman as Wolf (AT 409): Some Interpretations of a Very Estonian Folk Tale |journal=Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |date=2013 |volume=VII |issue=2 |pages=65–92 |url=https://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/153 }}</ref><ref>Thompson, Stith. ''The Folktale''. University of California Press. 1977. p. 96. {{ISBN|0-520-03537-2}}.</ref>

In Africa, the same motif is shown through buffalo maidens.<ref>"The Hunter and the Fairy Buffalo". In: Tremearne, Mary; Treamearne, Arthur John Newman. ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924028086472/page/n67/mode/2up Fables and fairy tales for little folk; or, Uncle Remus in Hausaland (first series)]''. Cambridge, W. Heffer and sons ltd.. 1910. pp. 56–72.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Herskovits |first1=Melville Jean |last2=Herskovits |first2=Frances Shapiro |chapter=Revealing secret identity: Why animals no longer change into women |pages=235–236 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ulawqAVjRU8C&pg=PA235 |title=Dahomean Narrative: A Cross-cultural Analysis |date=1998 |publisher=Northwestern University Press |isbn=978-0-8101-1650-4 }}</ref>{{efn|The swan maiden has also been compared to the "[[Donkey]]-Girl" or "Donkey-Maiden" of [[Hausa people|Hausa]] folklore, in Africa.<ref>Tremearne, Arthur John Newman. ''[https://archive.org/details/hausasuperstitio00tremuoft/page/16/mode/2up Hausa superstitions and customs: an introduction to the folk-lore and the folk]''. London: Bale. 1913. p. 16.</ref><ref>Tremearne, A. J. N. ''[https://wellcomecollection.org/works/a3bg72n9/items?canvas=394 The tailed head-hunters of Nigeria: an account of an official's seven years' experiences in the Northern Nigerian pagan belt, and a description of the manners, habits, and customs of some of its native tribes]''. London: Seeley, Service & Co., 1912. pp. 320-321.</ref>}} In addition, according to American folklorist [[William Bascom]], in similar narratives among the [[Yoruba people|Yoruba]] and the [[Fon people|Fon]] the animal wife is an [[African buffalo]], a [[gazelle]], a [[Deer|hind]], sometimes a [[duiker]] or [[antelope]].<ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Story of a Hunter and his Antelope Wife |title=West African Folk Tales |first=Hugh |last=Vernon-Jackson |publisher=Courier Corporation |date=2012 |pages=1–4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Bascom |first1=William W. |title=Ifa Divination: Communication between Gods and Men in West Africa |date=1991 |publisher=Indiana University Press |id={{Project MUSE|3976|type=book}} |isbn=978-0-253-11465-5 |pages=133–134 }}</ref>

In East Asia, it is also known featuring maidens who transform into various bird species.

Russian professor [[Valdemar Bogoras]] collected a tale from a [[Yukaghir]] woman in [[Kolyma]], in which three [[Tungusic peoples|Tungus]] sisters change into "female geese" to pick berries. On one occasion, the character of "One-Side" hides the skin of the youngest, who cannot return to goose form. She eventually consents to marry "One-Side".<ref>Bogoraz, Valdimïr Germanovich. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044041729161&view=1up&seq=44&skin=2021 Tales of Yukaghir, Lamut, and Russanized natives of eastern Siberia]''. New York: The Trustees. 1918. pp. 38–40.</ref>

In a tale attributed to the Toraja people of Indonesia, a woman gives birth to seven crabs that she throws in the water. As time passes, the seven crabs find a place to live and take their disguises to assume human form. In one occasion, seven males steal the crab disguises of the seven crab maidens and marry them.<ref>Dixon, Roland B. ''The Mythology Of All Races''. Vol. IX – Oceanic. Boston, MA: Marshall Jones Company. 1916. p. 206.</ref> A second one is close to the Swan maiden narrative, only with [[parakeet]]s instead of swans; the hero is called Magoenggoelota and the maiden Kapapitoe.<ref>Dixon, Roland B. ''The Mythology Of All Races''. Vol. IX – Oceanic. Boston, MA: Marshall Jones Company. 1916. pp. 206–207.</ref>

====Europe====
In a 13th-century romance about ''Friedrich von Schwaben'' (English: "Friedrich of Suabia"),<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria and Bohemia''. S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1889. p. 357.</ref> the knight Friedrich hides the clothing of Princess Angelburge, who came to bathe in a lake in dove form.<ref>Götzinger, E. ''Reallexicon der Deutschen Altertümer''. Leipzig: 1885. pp. 1082–1083.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jellinek |first1=M. H. |title=Zum Friedrich von Schwaben |journal=Zeitschrift für deutsches Altertum und deutsche Literatur |date=1919 |volume=57 |issue=1/2 |pages=133–136 |jstor=20657046 }}</ref>

=====Western Europe=====
In a tale from [[Brittany]], collected by [[François-Marie Luzel]] with the title ''Pipi Menou et Les Femmes Volants'' ("Pipi Menou and the Flying Women"), Pipi Menou, a shepherd boy, sees three large white birds descending near a ''étang'' (a pond). When the birds approach the pond, they transform into nude maidens and begins to play in the water. Pipi Menou sees the whole scene from the hilltop and tells his mother, who explains they are the daughters of a powerful magician who lives elsewhere, in a castle filled with jewels and precious stones. The next day, he steals the clothing of one of them, but she convinces him to give it back. He goes to the castle, the flying maiden recognizes him and they both escape with jewels in their pouches.<ref>Luzel, François-Marie. ''[https://archive.org/details/contespopulaires02luzeuoft/page/348/mode/2up Contes populaires de Basse-Bretagne]''. Tome II. Paris: Maisonneuve. 1887. pp. 349–354.</ref>

=====Southern Europe=====
Portuguese writer [[Theophilo Braga]] collected a Portuguese tale named ''O Príncipe que foi correr a sua Ventura'' ("[[The Prince Who Wanted to See the World]]"), in which a prince loses his bet against a stranger, a king in disguise, and must become the stranger's servant. The prince is informed by a beggar woman with child that in a garden there is tank, where three doves come to bathe. He should take the feathery robe of the last one and withhold it until the maiden gives him three objects.<ref>{{cite wikisource|last=Braga|first=Teófilo|wslanguage=pt|title=Contos Tradicionaes do Povo Portuguez|chapter=O principe que foi correr sua ventura|volume=I|year=c. 1883|pages=70–74}}</ref>

A tale from [[Tirol]] tells of prince Eligio and the Dove-Maidens, which bathe in a lake.<ref>Busk, Rachel Harriette. ''Household stories from the land of Hofer; or, Popular myths of Tirol''. Oxford University. 1871. pp. 356–385. [https://archive.org/details/householdstorie00buskgoog/page/n373/mode/2up]</ref>

In another tale, from Tirol, collected by Christian Schneller (German: ''Die drei Tauben''; Italian: ''Le tre colombe''; English: "The Three Doves"), a youth loses his soul in a gamble to a wizard. A saint helps him and gives the information about three doves that perch themselves on a bridge and change themselves to human form. The youth steals the clothing of the youngest, daughter of the wizard, and promises to take him to her father. She wants to help the hero in order to convert herself to Christianity and abandon her pagan magic.<ref>Schneller, Christian. ''Märchen und Sagen aus Wälschtirol''. Innsbruck: Wagner. 1867. pp. 71–79.</ref>

======Spain======
In a [[Basques|Basque]] tale collected by [[Wentworth Webster]] (''The Lady Pigeon and her Comb''), the destitute hero is instructed by a "Tartaro" to collect the pigeon garment of the middle maiden, instead of the youngest.<ref>Webster, Wentworth. ''Basque legends''. London: Griffith and Farran. 1879. pp. 120–130.</ref>

In the [[Andalusia]]n variant, ''El Marqués del Sol'' ("The Marquis of the Sun"), a player loses his bet against the Marqués and must wear out seven pairs of iron shoes. In his wanderings, he pays the debt of a dead man and his soul, in gratitude, informs him that three white doves, the daughters of the Marqués in avian form, will come to bathe in a lake.<ref>Machado y Alvarez, Antonio. ''[https://archive.org/details/folkloreespaol01mach/page/186/mode/2up Folk-lore español: Biblioteca de las tradiciones populares españolas]''. Tomo I. Junio-Agosto 1883. Sevilla: Francisco Alvarez v ca.. 1883. pp. 187–195.</ref>

In a variant collected by folklorist [[Aurelio Macedonio Espinosa Sr.]] in [[Granada]], a gambling prince loses a bet against a dove (the Devil, in disguise), who says he should find him in "Castillo de Siete Rayos de Sol" ("The Castle of Seven Sunrays"). A helping hermit guides him to a place where the three devil's daughters, in the form of doves, come to bathe. The prince should steal the garments of the youngest, named ''Siete Rayos de Sol'', who betrays her father and helps the human prince.<ref>Samper, José Manuel de Prada. "[https://www.academia.edu/8665915/El_mito_de_Jas%C3%B3n_y_Medea_y_el_Folklore El mito de Jasón y Medea y el folklore]". In: ''Medeas: versiones de un mito desde Grecia hasta hoy''. Volumen I. Aurora López López (aut.), Andrés Pociña Pérez (aut.). 2002. pp. 15-16. {{ISBN|84-338-2911-4}}.</ref>

In an [[Asturias|Asturian]] tale collected by {{ill|Aurelio del Llano|es}}, the youngest of three brothers works with a giant, who forbids him to open a certain door. He does and sees three dove maidens alighting near the water, becoming woman and bathing. The youth tells the giant about this event, and his employer suggests he steals the feather of the one he set his sights on. He takes the feather of one of the dove maidens, marries her and gives her feather to his mother to keep. Hispanist Ralph Steele Boggs classified it as type 400*B (a number not added to the revision of the international index, at the time).<ref>Boggs, Ralph Steele. ''[https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Index_of_Spanish_Folktales Index of Spanish folktales, classified according to Antti Aarne's "Types of the folktale"]''. Chicago: University of Chicago. 1930. pp. 53-54.</ref>

=====Northern Europe=====
In the Danish tale ''[[The White Dove (Danish fairy tale)|The White Dove]]'', the youngest prince, unborn at the time, is "sold" by his elder brothers in exchange for a witch's help in dissipating a sea storm. Years later, the witch upholds her end of the bargain and takes the prince under her tutelage. As part of his everyday chores, the witch sets him with difficult tasks, which he accomplishes with the help of a princess, enchanted by the witch to become a dove.<ref>"Der weisse Taube" In: Grundtvig, Svend. ''Dänische Volksmärchen''. Leipzig: Joh. Barth. 1878. pp. 45–58.</ref><ref>Grundtvig, Sven. ''Danish fairy tales''. Translated from the Danish of Svendt Grundtvig by J. Grant Cramer. Boston: The four seas company. 1919. pp. 100–108.</ref>

=====Central Europe=====
A compilation of Central European (Austrian and [[Bohemia]]n) folktales lists four variants of the Swan Maiden narrative: "The Three White Doves";<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria and Bohemia''. S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1889. pp. 262–273.</ref> "The Maiden on the Crystal Mountain";<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria and Bohemia''. S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1889. pp. 274–279.</ref> "How Hans finds his Wife",<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria and Bohemia''. S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1889. pp. 280–286.</ref> and "The Drummer".<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''In the Land of Marvels: Folk-tales from Austria and Bohemia''. S. Sonnenschein & Co. 1889. pp. 287–293.</ref> Theodor Vernaleken, in the German version of the compilation, narrated in his notes two other variants, one from St. Pölten and other from Moldautein (modern day [[Týn nad Vltavou]], in the [[Czech Republic]]).<ref>Vernaleken, Theodor. ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen dem Volke treu nacherzählt''. 3. Auflage. Wien/Leipzig: 1896 (Nachdruck Hildesheim: Olms, 1980). pp. 295–296.</ref>

=====Eastern Europe=====
In Slavic fairy tale ''[[King Kojata]]'' or ''Prince Unexpected'', the twelve royal daughters of King Kostei take off their geese disguises to bathe in the lake, but the prince hides the clothing of the youngest.<ref>Wratislaw, Albert Henry. ''Sixty folk-tales from exclusively Slavonic sources''. London: E. Stock. 1889. pp. 108–120.</ref><ref>Leger, Louis Paul Marie. ''Recueil de contes populaires slaves, traduits sur les textes originaux''. Paris: E. Leroux. 1882. pp. 75–94.</ref>

In Czech tale ''The Three Doves'', the hero hides the three golden feathers of the dove maiden to keep her in her human state. Later on, when she disappears, he embarks on an epic quest to find her.<ref>Baudis, Josef. ''Czech folk tales''. London: Allen & Unwin. [1917] pp. 71–97.</ref>

In a [[Serbia]]n tale collected by [[Vuk Karadzic]] and translated as ''Die Prinz und die drei Schwäne'' ("The Prince and the Three Swans"), a prince loses his way during a hunt and meets an old man who lives in a hut. He works for the old man, and has to watch over a lake. On the second day of his job, three swans alight near the lake, take off their birdskins to become human maidens and bathe. The next day, the prince steals their swan skins and hurries back to the old man's hut. The three swans beg for their birdskins back; the old man returns only two of them and withholds the youngest's skin. He marries the prince to the swan girl and they return to his father's kingdom. Once there, one day, the swan wife asks her mother-in-law for her garments back; she puts it on and flies away to the Glass Mountain. The prince goes back to the old man, who is the king of the winds, and is directed to the Glass Mountain. The climbs it and meets an old woman in a hut. Inside the hut, he must identify his wife from a group of 300 similarly dressed swan women. Later, he is forced to do chores for the old woman, which he does with his wife's help.<ref>Jagic, V; Köhler, R. "Aus dem südslavischen Märchenschatz". In: ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015069551805&view=1up&seq=60&skin=2021 Archiv Für Slavische Philologie]''. Fünfter Band. Berlin: Weidmann, 1881. pp. 44–45.</ref>

======Russia======
In the Russian fairy tale ''[[The Sea Tsar and Vasilisa the Wise]]'', or ''Vassilissa the Cunning, and The Tsar of the Sea'',<ref>Curtin, Jeremiah. ''Myths and Folk-tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars''. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1890. pp. 249–270.</ref> Ivan, the merchant's son, was informed by an old hag (possibly [[Baba Yaga]], in some versions<ref>"The Samovar's Story" In: Harrison, Burton, Mrs. ''Folk and fairy tales''. London: Ward and Downey. 1885. pp. 17–30.</ref>) about the daughters of the [[Sea Tsar]] who come to bathe in a lake in the form of [[dove]]s. In another translation, ''The King of the Sea and Melania, the Clever'',<ref>Hodgetts, Edith M. S. ''Tales and Legends from the Land of the Tzar: Collection of Russian Stories''. Griffith Farran & Co. 1891. pp. 291–308.</ref> and ''The Water King and Vasilissa the Wise'',<ref>Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. Russian folk-tales. London: Smith, Elder, & co.. 1873. pp. 130–141.</ref> there are twelve maidens in the form of [[spoonbill]]s. In another transcription of the same tale, the maidens are pigeons.<ref>Ralston, William Ralston Shedden. ''The songs of the Russian people, as illustrative of Slavonic mythology and Russian social life''. London: Ellis & Green. 1872. p. 179.</ref>

In another Russian variant, "Мужик и Настасья Адовна" ("The Man and Nastasya Adovna"), collected by {{ill|Ivan Khudyakov|ru|Худяков, Иван Александрович}}, a creature jumps out of a well and tells a man to give him the thing he does not know he has at home (his newly born son). Years later, his son learns about his father's dealing and decides to travel to "Hell" ("Аду" or "Adu", in Russian). He visits three old women who give him directions to reach "Hell". The third old woman also informs him that in a lake, thirty-three maidens, the daughters of "Adu", come to bathe, and he should steal the clothing of Nastasya Adovna.<ref>Худяков, Иван Александрович. "[https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D1%83%D0%B6%D0%B8%D0%BA_%D0%B8_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%90%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0_(%D0%A5%D1%83%D0%B4%D1%8F%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2) Великорусскія сказки]". Вып. 1. М.: Издание К. Солдатенкова и Н. Щепкина, 1860. pp. 60—65.</ref>

In a tale from [[Perm Krai]] with the title "Иванушка и его невеста" ("Ivanushka and his Wife"), Ivanushka loses his way from his grandfather in the forest, but eventually finds a hut. He takes shelter with an old man for the night, and, the next day, the old man gives directions, but Ivanushka disregards them and finds a lake where maidens are bathing. The maidens leave the water, turn into ducks and depart. Ivanushka goes back the old man and he advises him to steal the duck maiden's garments. Ivanushka does that and takes the girl for wife. She eventually retrieves her duck garments, bids Ivanushka to find her in a land beyond 30 realms, then flies away.<ref>"Русские народные сказки Пермского края" [Russian Folktales from Perm Krai]. Сост. А. В. Черных. Пермское кн. изд-во, 2004. pp. 83-86, 246. {{ISBN|5-93683-024-1}}.</ref>

======Ukraine======
In a "Cossack" ([[Ukraine|Ukrainian]]) tale, ''The Story of Ivan and the Daughter of the Sun'', the peasant Ivan obtains a wife in the form of a dove maiden whose robe he stole when she was bathing. Some time later, a nobleman lusts after Ivan's dove maiden wife and plans to get rid of the peasant.<ref>Bain, R. Nisbet. ''Cossack fairy tales and folk tales''. London: G.G. Harrap & Co.. 1916. pp. 183–187.</ref>

In another [[Ukraine|Ukrainian]] variant that begins as tale type ATU 402, "The Animal Bride", akin to Russian ''[[The Frog Princess]]'', the human prince marries the frog maiden Maria and both are invited to the tsar's grand ball. Maria takes off her frog skin and enters the ballroom as human, while her husband hurries back home and burns her frog skin. When she comes home, she reveals the prince her cursed state would soon be over, says he needs to find Baba Yaga in a remote kingdom, and vanishes from sight in the form of a cuckoo. He meets Baba Yaga and she points to a lake where 30 swans will alight, his wife among them. He hides Maria's feather garment, they meet again and Maria tells him to follow her into the undersea kingdom to meet her father, the Sea Tsar. The tale ends like tale type ATU 313, with the three tasks.<ref>Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 179–181. {{ISBN|9781576070635}}.</ref>

======Hungary======
A Hungarian tale ("Fisher Joe") tells about an orphan who catches a magical fish that reveals itself as a lovely maiden.<ref>Jones, W. Henry; Kropf, Lajos L.; Kriza, János. ''The folk-tales of the Magyars''. London: Pub. for the Folk-lore society by E. Stock. 1889. pp. 13–22.</ref> A second [[Hungarians|Magyar]] tale, "Fairy Elizabeth", is close to the general swan maiden story, only dealing with pigeon-maidens instead.<ref>Jones, W. Henry; Kropf, Lajos L.; Kriza, János. ''The folk-tales of the Magyars''. London: Pub. for the Folk-lore society by E. Stock. 1889. pp. 95–110.</ref> In a third tale, ''Az örökbefogadott testvérek'' ("The adoptive brothers"), the main protagonist, Miklós, dreams that the Queen of the Fairies and her handmaidens come to his side in the form of swans and transform into beautiful women.<ref>László Merényi. Dunamelléki eredeti népmesék (1. kötet). Vol. I. Pest: Kiadja Heckenast Gusztáv. 1863. pp. 38–70.</ref>

In the Hungarian tale ''Ráró Rózsa'', the king promises his only son to a devil-like character that rescues him from danger. Eighteen years pass, and it is time for the prince to fulfill his father's promise. The youth bides his time in a stream and awaits the arrival of three black [[Crane (bird)|cranes]], the devil's three daughters in disguise, to fetch the garments of the youngest.<ref>László Merényi. ''Dunamelléki eredeti népmesék'' (2. kötet). Vol. II. Pest: Kjada Heckenast Gusztáv. 1864. pp. 49–72.</ref>

In another tale, ''Tündér Ilona és Argyilus'' ("Fairy [[Ilona]] and Argyilus"), Prince Argyilus ([[:hu:Árgírus|hu]]) is tasked by his father, the king, with discovering what has been stealing the precious apples from his prized apple tree. One night, the prince sees thirteen black ravens flying to the tree. As soon as he captures the thirteenth one, it transforms into the beautiful golden-haired Fairy Ilona.<ref>Arnold Ipolyi. ''Ipolyi Arnold népmesegyüjteménye (Népköltési gyüjtemény 13. kötet)''. Budapest: Az Athenaeum Részvénytársualt Tulajdona. 1914. pp. 91–99.</ref> A variant of the event also happens in ''Tündér Ilona és a királyfi'' ("Fairy Ilona and the Prince").<ref>Arnold Ipolyi. ''Ipolyi Arnold népmesegyüjteménye (Népköltési gyüjtemény 13. kötet)''. Budapest: Az Athenaeum Részvénytársualt Tulajdona. 1914. pp. 100–104.</ref>

In the tale ''A zöldszakállú király'' ("The Green-Bearded King"), the king is forced to surrender his son to the devil king after it spares the man's life. Years later, the prince comes across a lake where seven wild ducks with golden plumage left their skins on the shores to bathe in the form of maidens.<ref>János Berze Nagy. ''Népmesék Heves- és Jász-Nagykun-Szolnok-megyébol (Népköltési gyüjtemény 9. kötet)''. Budapest: Az Athenaeum Részvény-Társulat Tulajdona. 1907. pp. 159–167.</ref>

In the tale ''A tizenhárom hattyú'' ("The Thirteen Swans"), collected by Hungarian journalist [[Elek Benedek]], after his sister was kidnapped, Miklós finds work as a cowherd. On one occasion, when he leads the cows to graze, he sees thirteen swans flying about an apple tree. The swans, then, change their shapes into twelve beautiful maidens and the Queen of the Fairies.<ref>Benedek Elek. ''Magyar mese- és mondavilág''. 2. kötet. Budapest: Téka Könyvkiadó. 1989 [ca. 1894–1896]. pp. 168–176 (tale nr. 44).</ref>

=====Albania=====
In an Albanian-Romani tale, ''O Zylkanôni thai e Lačí Devlék'i'' ("The Satellite and the Maiden of Heaven"), an unmarried youth goes on a journey to find work. Some time later, he enters a dark world. There, he meets by the spring three [[partridge]]s that take off their animal skins to bathe. The youth hides the garment of one of them, who begs him to give it back. She wears it again and asks him to find her where the sun rises in that dark world.<ref>"[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000105045292&view=1up&seq=197&skin=2021 Albanian Romani by Start E. Mann]". In: ''Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society'' series 3, vol. 12, 1933. pp. 147-152.</ref>

=====Caucasus Region=====
In an Azerbaijani variant, a prince travels to an island where birds of cooper, silver and gold wings bathe, and marries the golden-winged maiden.<ref>Hoogasian-Villa, Susie. ''[[100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance]]''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1966. p. 471.</ref>

In an Armenian variant collected from an Armenian-American source (''The Country of the Beautiful Gardens''), a prince, after his father's death, decided to stay silent. A neighbouring king, who wants to marry him to his daughter, places him in his garden. There, he sees three colorful birds bathing in a pool, and they reveal themselves as beautiful maidens.<ref>Hoogasian-Villa, Susie. ''100 Armenian Tales and Their Folkloristic Relevance''. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. 1966. pp. 180–189.</ref>

=====Latvia=====
According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, tale type ATU 400 is titled ''Vīrs meklē zudušo sievu'' ("Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife"). In the Latvian tale type, the protagonist finds the bird maidens (swans, ducks, doves) alighting near a lake to bathe, and steals the youngest's wings.<ref>Arājs, Kārlis; Medne, A. ''Latviešu pasaku tipu rādītājs''. Zinātne, 1977. p. 60.</ref>

In a [[Latvia]]n folktale, a female named [[Laima]] (possibly the Latvian goddess of fate) loses her feathered wings by burning. She no longer becomes a swan and marries a human prince. They live together in the human world and even have a child, but she wants to become 
a swan again. So her husband throws feathers at her, she regains her bird form and takes to the skies, visiting her mortal family from time to time.<ref>Dexter, Miriam Robbins. ''Whence the goddesses: a source book''. The Athene Series. New York and London: [[Teachers College Press]], Teachers College, Columbia University. 1990. p. 55. {{ISBN|0-8077-6234-2}}.</ref>

=====Lithuania=====
In another Lithuanian variant published by Fr. Richter in the journal ''Zeitschrift für Volkskunde'' with the title ''Die Schwanfrau'' ("The Swan Woman"), a count's son, on a hunt, sights three swans, who talk among themselves that whoever is listening to them may help them break their curse. The count's son comes out of a bush and agrees to help them: by fighting a giant and breaking the spell a magician cast on them.<ref>Richter, Fr. "[https://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Die_Schwanfrau Lithauische Märchen I]". In: ''Zeitschrift für Volkskunde'', 1. Jahrgang, 1888. pp. 89–90.</ref>

====Northern Eurasia====
In a tale from the [[Samoyed people]] of Northern Eurasia, an old woman informs a youth of seven maidens who are bathing in a lake in a dark forest.<ref>Castrén, Matthias Alexander. ''Ethnologische Vorlesungen über die altaischen Völker''. Kaiserlichen Akad. Wissen. 1857. pp. 172–176.</ref> English folklorist [[Edwin Sidney Hartland]] cited a variant where the seven maidens arrive at the lake in their reindeer chariot.{{sfnp|Hartland|1888|p=25}} Whatever their origin, scientist [[Fridtjof Nansen]] reported that, in these tales, the girls lived "in the air or in the sky".<ref>Nansen, Fridtjof. ''[https://archive.org/details/eskimolife00nansgoog/page/n348/mode/1up Eskimo Life, translated by William Archer]''. 2nd edition. London and New York: Longmans, Green, and Company, 1894. p. 298.</ref>

Philosopher [[John Fiske (philosopher)|John Fiske]] cited a Siberian tale wherein a Samoyed man steals the feather skin of one of seven swan maidens. In return, he wants her help in enacting his revenge on seven robbers who killed his mother.<ref>Fiske, John (1842-1901). ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.32044020315362&view=1up&seq=178&skin=2021&q1=%22swan%20maiden%22 Myths And Myth-makers: Old Tales And Superstitions Interpreted by Comparative Mythology]''. Boston: James R. Osgood, 1877. pp. 163-164.</ref> In another version of this tale, still sourced from the Samoyed and translated by {{ill|Charles Fillingham Coxwell|de|Charles Fillingham Coxwell}}, the seven man have kidnapped the sister from a Samoyed man, and the protagonist steals the garments of a woman from the sky to ensure her help.<ref>Coxwell, C. F. ''[https://archive.org/details/siberian-and-other-folk-tales/page/502/mode/1up Siberian And Other Folk Tales]''. London: The C. W. Daniel Company, 1925. pp. 502-506.</ref>

In a tale attributed to the [[Tungusic peoples|Tungus]] of [[Siberia]], titled ''Ivan the Mare's Son'' ([[Russian language|Russian]]: "Иван Кобыльников сын")<ref>Сказка Е. М. Кокорина. Русская сказка. Избранные мастера: В 2 т. Ред. и коммент. М. К. Азадовского. [М.; Л.]: Academia, 1932. Т. I. pp. 224—236. http://feb-web.ru/feb/skazki/texts/im1/im1-224-.htm</ref><ref>Русские народные сказки Сибири о богатырях. Edited by: Руфина Матвеева [Rufina Matveyeva]. Новосибирск: Наука (Сибирское отделение), 1979. pp. 119-128.</ref> - related to both ''[[Fehérlófia (Hungarian folk tale)|Fehérlófia]]'' and ''[[Jean de l'Ours]]'' -, a mare gives birth to a human son, Ivan. When he grows up, he meets two companions also named Ivan: Ivan the Sun's Son and Ivan the Moon's Son. The three decide to live together in a hut made of wooden poles and animal skins. For two nights, after they hunt in the forest, they come home and see the place in perfect order. On the third night, Ivan, the Mare's Son, decides to stay awake and discovers that three [[heron]]s descending to the ground and taking off their feathers and wings to become maidens. Ivan, the Mare's Son, hides their bird garments until they reveal themselves. Marfida, the heron maiden, and her sisters marry the three Ivans and the three couples live together. The rest of the story follows tale type ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses": descent into underworld by hero, rescue of maidens, betrayal by companions and return to the upper world on eagle.<ref>Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eD5AkdM83iIC&dq=%22ivan+the+mare%27s+son%22&pg=PA129 Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend]''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 128–130. {{ISBN|9781576070635}}.</ref>

In a [[Mongolia]]n tale, ''Manihuar'' (Манихуар), a prince on a hunt sees three swans take off their golden crowns and become women. As they bathe in a nearby lake, he takes the golden crown of one of them, so she can't turn back into her bird form. He marries this swan maiden, named Manihuar. When the prince is away, his other wives threaten her, and Manihuar, fearing for her life, convinces her mother-in-law to return her golden crown. She turns back into a swan and flies back to her celestial realm. Her husband goes on a quest to bring her back.<ref name="jalali.2018..77.018"/>

Scholar Kira van Deusen collected a tale from an old [[Ulch people|Ul'chi]] storyteller named Anna Alexeevna Kavda (Grandma Nyura). In her tale, titled ''The Swan Girls'', two orphan brothers live together. The older, Natalka, hunts game for them, while the youngest stays at home. One day, seven swans (''kilaa'' in the [[Ulch language]]) land near their house and turn into seven human women. They enter the brothers' house, do the chores, sew clothes for the younger sibling and leave. He tells Natalka the story and they decide to capture two of the maidens as spouses for them.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Van Deusen |first1=Kira |title=Flying Tiger: Women Shamans and Storytellers of the Amur |series= McGill-Queen's Indigenous and Northern Studies |publisher=McGill-Queen's University Press |date=2 February 2001 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt80b35.13 }}</ref>

=====Yakut people=====
In an ''[[olonkho]]'' (epic narrative of the [[Yakuts|Yakut]] or Sakha people) titled ''Yuchyugey Yudyugyuyen, Kusagan Hodzhugur'', obtained from ''Olonhohut'' ('storyteller', 'narrator') Darya Tomskaya-Chayka, from [[Verkhoyansk]], Yuchugey Yudyugyuyen, the elder of two brothers, goes hunting in the [[taiga]]. Suddenly, he sees 7 [[Siberian crane]]s coming to play with his young brother Kusagan Hodzhugur, distracting him from his chores. The maidens possibly belong to the [[Aiy]] people, good spirits of the Upper World in Yakut mythology.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Николаевна |first1=Данилова Анна |title=ЖЕНСКИЕ ОБРАЗЫ В ОЛОНХО Д. А. ТОМСКОЙ 'ЮЧЮГЭЙ ЮДЮГЮЙЭН, КУСАГАН ХОДЖУГУР' |journal=Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики |date=2014 |issue=2–1 |pages=82–84 |url=https://www.gramota.net/materials/2/2014/2-1/20.html }}</ref> When they come a third time, the elder brother, Yuchugey, disguises himself as a woodchip or a flea and hides the bird skin of one of the crane maidens. They marry. One day, she fools her brother-in-law, regains her magical crane garment and returns to the Upper World. Hero Yuchugey embarks on a quest to find her, receiving help from a wise old man. Eventually, he reaches the Upper world and finds his wife and a son in a [[yurt]]. Yuchugey burns his wife's feathers; she dies, but is revived, and they return to the world of humans.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Illarionov V. |first1=V. |last2=Illarionova T. |first2=V. |last3=Dmitrieva O. |first3=N. |title=Creativity of the Storyteller D.A. Tomskaya in the Context of the Verkhoyansk Epic Tradition |date=2019 |journal=World of Nature, Culture, Education |number=6/79 |issn=1991-5497 |doi=10.24411/1991-5497-2019-10226 |doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 }}</ref><ref name=":18">{{cite journal |last1=Savvinova |first1=Gulnara Egorovna |title=Special Features in Expressing the 'Homeland' Concept in the Yakut Heroic Epic Olonkho |journal=Journal of History Culture and Art Research |date=31 December 2018 |volume=7 |issue=5 |pages=168 |doi=10.7596/taksad.v7i5.1910 |doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 |s2cid=135276649 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=":17">Danilova, A.; Kuzmina, A; Orosina, N. "[https://www.diu.edu/documents/gialens/Vol11-2/GIALens-11-2.pdf Darya Tomskaya's Olonkho “Yuchyugey Yudyugyuyen, Kusagan Hodzhugur”: Tradition, Plot Features, Images]". In: ''GIALens'' 2017 Volume 11, No. 2. pp. 25-26.</ref> This narrative sequence was recognized as very similar to a folk tale.<ref name=":18"/><ref name=":17"/>

Russian ethnographer {{ill|Ivan Khudyakov|ru|Худяков, Иван Александрович}} collected a Yakut tale titled "Хороший Юджиян", published in 1890. Its plot is very similar to the olonkho: two brothers live together, one hunts and the other stays home. The one who stays home is visited by seven Siberia cranes who change shape into maidens, clean their house, and depart as cranes. The first brother captures and marries one them by hiding her crane skin, and they have a child. One day, the second brother gives back the plumage to his sister-in-law, the maiden becomes a crane again and flies away. The first brother jumps on his horse and follows his wife to her celestial realm. Once there, he is advised to creep into her hut and play with his child on their cradle to draw the mother's attention. The crane maiden enters the hut to rock her baby, and her husband appears.<ref>Худяков, Иван Александрович. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uf40AQAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%A5%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%88%D1%96%D0%B9+%D0%AE%D0%B4%D0%B6%D1%96%D1%8F%D0%BD%D1%8C%22 Верхоянский сборник: якутскія сказки, пѣсни, загадки и пословицы, а также русскія сказки и пѣсни, записанныя в Верхоянском округѣ]. Записки Вост.-Сиб. отд. Русского Географического общества по этнографии. Т. 1. Вып. 3. Иркутск, 1890. pp. 74-80.</ref>

Variants of the Yakut tale "Үчүгэй Үɵдүйээн" (Russian: "Хороший Юджиян") were collected in the northern part of the [[Sakha Republic|Republic of Sakha]] and show great resemblance among them.<ref>Павлова Н.В. "Помощники героя в якутской волшебной сказке «Үчүгэй Үɵдүйээн» («Хороший Юджиян») Д.К. Сивцева – Суорун Омоллоона". In: [http://kigiran.com/sites/default/files/materialy_dzhangar_i_epicheskie_tradicii_1.pdf «Джангар» и эпические традиции тюрко-монгольских народов: проблемы сохранения и исследования. Материалы III Международной научной конференции, посвященной 75-летию Калмыцкого института гуманитарных исследований РАН (г. Элиста, 15–16 сентября 2016 г.)]. Элиста: КИГИ РАН, 2016. p. 206. {{ISBN|978-5-906881-02-1}}.</ref> According to Russian scholarship, Yakut professor Dmitry Kononovich (D. K.) Sivtsev-Suorun Omolloon based himself on the international classification put forth by [[Antti Aarne]] in 1910 and later expanded by other folklorists, and classified these Yakut narratives as type 400C, "Муж возвращает убежавшую жену" ("Man goes after his runaway wife"): the bird maiden (a [[stork]] or Siberian crane maiden) wears its featherskin and escapes; man goes after her in the sky; she dies, but he resurrects her.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Слепцова |first1=Н. В. |title=ЯКУТСКИЕ СКАЗКИ В ТВОРЧЕСКОМ НАСЛЕДИИ Д.К. СИВЦЕВА-СУОРУН ОМОЛООНА: ИСТОРИЯ ИЗДАНИЙ, ВОПРОСЫ КЛАССИФИКАЦИИ |journal=Мир Науки, Культуры, Образования |date=2021 |volume=4 |issue=89 |pages=396–398 |doi=10.24412/1991-5497-2021-489-396-398 }}</ref>

====West Asia====
[[Image:The book of wonder voyages - page 173 inset.png|thumb|The swans take flight from the ornate pavilion, leaving their sister behind. Illustration from ''Hassan of Bassorah'' by [[John D. Batten|John Batten]].]]

The tale of the swan maiden also appears in the Arab collection of folktales ''[[The Arabian Nights]]'',<ref name="jacobs1916"/> in "The Story of Janshah",<ref>Marzolph, Ulrich; van Leewen, Richard. ''The Arabian Nights Encyclopedia''. Vol. I. California: ABC-Clio. 2004. pp. 238–241. {{ISBN|1-85109-640-X}} (e-book)</ref> a tale inserted in the narrative of ''The Queen of the Serpents''. In a second tale, the story of Hasan of Basrah (Hassan of Bassorah),<ref>Jacobs, Joseph. ''[https://archive.org/details/bookofwondervoya00jacoiala/page/127/mode/1up The book of wonder voyages]''. New York and London: G. P. Putnam's sons. 1919. pp. 127–185.</ref><ref>Clouston, W. A. ''Popular tales and fictions: their migrations and transformations''. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood. 1887. p. 186.</ref> the titular character arrives at an oasis and sees the bird maidens (birds of paradise) undressing their plumages to play in the water.<ref>Wallace, Alfred Russell. "The birds of paradise in the Arabian Nights". In: ''Independent Review'' 2. 1904. 379–391, pp. 561–571.</ref> Both tales are considered to contain the international tale of the Swan Maiden.<ref>{{cite book |last1=El-Zein |first1=Amira |chapter=Love Between Humans and Jinn |pages=103–120 |jstor=j.ctt1j5d836.10 |title=Islam, Arabs, and Intelligent World of the Jinn |date=2009 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5070-6 }}</ref>

In another Middle Eastern tale, a king's son finds work with a giant in another region and receives a set of keys to the giant's abode, being told not to open a specific door. He disobeys his master and opens the door; he soon sees three pigeon maidens take off their garments to bathe in a basin.<ref>Prym, E./Socin, A. ''Syrische Sagen und Märchen aus dem Volksmunde''. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprechts Verlag, 1881. pp. 115–117.</ref>

In a [[Metawileh]] tale reported in the ''[[Palestine Exploration Fund#Palestine Exploration Quarterly|Palestine Exploration Quarterly]]'', Shâtir Hassan, son of a merchant, pursues a bird-girl named Bedr et Temâm (translating as 'full moon'), daughter of the King of the Jân. The report described the tale as a version of the "Swan maiden" tale.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conder |first1=C. R. |title=Report on Answers to the 'Questions' |journal=Palestine Exploration Quarterly |date=July 1889 |volume=21 |issue=3 |pages=120–133 |doi=10.1179/peq.1889.21.3.120 }}</ref>

====South Asia====
A story from South Asia also narrates the motif of the swan maiden or bird-princess: ''Story of Prince Bairâm and the Fairy Bride'', when the titular prince hides the clothing of Ghûlab Bânu, the dove-maiden.<ref>Swynnerton, Charles. ''[https://archive.org/details/indiannightsente00swynuoft/page/342/mode/1up Indian nights' entertainment; or, Folk-tales from the Upper Indus]''. London: Stock. 1892. pp. 342–347.</ref><ref>Swynnerton, Charles. ''Romantic Tales From The Panjab With Indian Nights’ Entertainment''. London: Archibald Constable and Co.. 1908. pp. 464–469.</ref>

====Central Asia====
In a [[Tuvan people|Tuvan]] tale, ''Ösküs-ool and the Daughter of Kurbustu-Khan'', poor orphan boy Ösküs-ool seeks employment with powerful khans. He is tasked with harvesting their fields before the sun sets, of before the moon sets. Nearly finishing both chores, the boy pleads to the moon and the sun to not set for a little longer, but time passes. The respective khans think they never finished the job, berate and whip him. Some time later, while living on his own, the daughter of Khurbustu-khan comes from the upper world in the form of a swan. The boy hides her clothing and she marries him, now that she is stranded on Earth. Some time later, an evil Karaty-khan demands that the youth produces a palace of glass and an invincible army of iron men for him - feats that he accomplishes thanks to his wife's advice and with help from his wife's relatives.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deusen |first1=Kira Van |title=Singing Story, Healing Drum: Shamans and Storytellers of Turkic Siberia |date=2004 |publisher=McGill-Queen's Press |isbn=978-0-7735-2617-4 |pages=62–75 }}</ref>

====Africa====
According to scholar [[Denise Paulme]], in African tales, the animal spouse (a [[African buffalo|buffalo]] or an [[antelope]]) marries a human male already married to a previous human wife. The man hides the skin of the supernatural spouse and she asks him never to reveal her true name. When the husband betrays the supernatural wife's trust, the animal wife takes her skin back and returns to the wilderness with her children.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Paulme |first1=Denise |title=Morphologie du conte africain. |journal=Cahiers d'études africaines |date=1972 |volume=12 |issue=45 |pages=131–163 |doi=10.3406/cea.1972.2775 |url=http://www.persee.fr/docAsPDF/cea_0008-0055_1972_num_12_45_2775.pdf }}</ref>

Variants collected in [[Cape Verde]] by [[Elsie Clews Parsons]] (under the title ''White-Flower'') show the hero plucking the feather from the duck maiden to travel to her father's house.<ref>Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews; and Hispanic Society of America. ''Folk-lore From the Cape Verde Islands''. Vol. I. Cambridge, Mass.: and New York, American folk-lore society, 1923. pp. 142–160.</ref>

In a [[Kabylia]]n tale collected by ethnologist [[Leo Frobenius]] with the title ''Die Taubenfrauen'' ("The Dove Maidens"): a young hunter journeys and meets two women who invite him to live with them as their brother. One day, two doves land near their house and become maidens. They turn the man to stone, turn back to doves and fly away. The next time they land, the hunter's adopted sisters hide the dove garments and golden jewellery of one of the dove maidens, in return for changing their brother back. The dove maiden does. The sisters give the garments to the hunter. The dove maiden marries the hunter and bears him a son. Some time later, he wants to visit his mother in his home village. He takes his dove wife and son. The hunter gives his mother the dove wife's belongings and explains she must never let her leave the house and to hide the garments and jewellery. One day, the dove maiden goes out for a bit and a harvester becomes entranced by her beauty. The man tells the dove wife she must marry him. The dove wife begs her mother-in-law to give her belongings so she may escape. After getting the garments, she turns into a dove, takes her son and flies over to the village of Wuak-Wuak. The hunter returns home and goes after her. He fools three people fighting over magical objects, steals them and teleports to Wuak-Wuak. There, he finds his wife and son, but his dove wife explains the whole village only has females and if they see him, her sisters will devour him.<ref>Frobenius, Leo. ''Atlantis: Volksmärchen und Volksdichtungen Afrikas''. Band II: Volksmärchen der Kabylen, Band 2: Das Ungeheuerliche. Jena: Diederichs. 1922. pp. 171-176.</ref>

====Oceania and Pacific Ocean====
The character of the swan maiden (and her variants) is spread among the many traditions of [[Oceania]] and the [[Pacific Ocean]], such as in Micronesia.<ref>{{cite conference |last1=Winduo |first1=Steven Edmund |title=Reconstituting Indigenous Oceanic Folktales |conference=University of Hawaii Manoa International Symposium; Folktales and Fairy Tales: Translation, Colonialism, and Cinema |location=Honolulu |date=September 2010 |hdl=10125/16460 }}</ref> In this region, the bird maiden may be replaced for a sea creature, such as a fish,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sellmann |first1=James |title=Correlative Thinking in Pacific Island (Micronesian) Cultural Philosophies |journal=Pacific Asia Inquiry: Multidisciplinary Perspectives |date=Fall 2020 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=154–175 |url=https://www.uog.edu/_resources/files/schools-and-colleges/college-of-liberal-arts-and-social-sciences/pai/v11/17_pai11_sellmann.pdf }}</ref> a [[porpoise]],<ref>{{cite book |first=Roslyn |last=Poignant |author-link=Roslyn Poignant |title=Oceanic Mythology: The Myths of Polynesia, Micronesia, Melanesia, Australia |location=London |publisher=Paul Hamlyn |date=1967 |page=82}}</ref> a dolphin (in [[Yap]] and [[Kei Islands]]), or a [[whale]] (in [[Puluwat]] and [[Satawal]]).<ref>[[William A. Lessa|Lessa, William Armand]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9qnhAAAAMAAJ&q=%22swan+maiden%22+dolphins Tales from Ulithi Atoll: A Comparative Study in Oceanic Folklore]''. Volume 13. University of California Press, 1961. p. 142. {{ISBN|9780598435002}}.</ref>

There have been collected at least thirty-three variants from [[Papua New Guinea]], published in local newspaper ''[[Wantok Niuspepa]]'', in a section about traditional tales.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mitchell |first1=Roger E. |title=Review of One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights: Folktales from Wantok Newspaper |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=2004 |volume=63 |issue=1 |pages=154–156 |id={{ProQuest|224529772}} |jstor=30030325 }}</ref> Sometimes the swan garment is replaced by a [[cassowary]] skin or a [[bird-of-paradise]].<ref>Slone, Thomas H. (translator, editor). ''One Thousand One Papua New Guinean Nights: Folktales from Wantok Newspaper''. Volume 2: Tales from 1986–1997. Oakland, CA 94611-2058: Masalai Press, 2001. pp. 853–854, 943–942 and 1051. {{ISBN|0-9714127-1-5}}.</ref> For instance, the tale of ''The Cassowary Wife'' was stated by anthropologist [[Margaret Mead]] to be the local version of the Swan maiden.<ref>Mead, Margaret. ''The Mountain Arapesh''. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers. 2002 [1938]. pp. 264–265.{{ISBN|0-7658-0985-0}}.</ref>

American anthropologist [[Donald Tuzin]] collected and published a tale from the Ilahita [[Arapesh languages|Arapesh]]: long ago, there was only one man. One day, he walks about and hears sounds coming from a nearby pond. He sees a group of cassowaries come to the water, taking off their animal skins and becoming human women. The man hides the clothing of the leader of the cassowaries, named Nambweapa'w, in a short bamboo tube. The cassowary women play and bathe in the pond until afternoon, when they leave, gather their animal skins and turn back into cassowaries, except for their leader. The man takes Nambweapa'w to his house and marries her. They have many children, both male and female. Their youngest child, a boy, cries a lot, so his father takes out the cassowary skin to frighten the boy into silence. The next day, the little boy shows his mother the cassowary skin, she puts it back and runs back to the forest, abandoning her human family. The tale continues with the adventures of the cassowary woman's sons, as an origin myth of the Arapesh.<ref>Tuzin, Donald. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=eSBE6wLO1A8C&q=%22cassowaries%22 The Voice of the Tambaran: Truth and Illusion in Ilahita Arapesh Religion]''. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1980. pp. 1-8. {{ISBN|9780520039643}}.</ref><ref>Tuzin, Donald. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pk4JeBynumIC&q=%22swan+maiden%22 The Cassowary's Revenge: The life and death of masculinity in a New Guinea society]''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1997. pp. 68-95. {{ISBN|9780226819518}}.</ref>

Professor Sir [[James George Frazer]] mentioned a tale of the [[Pelew Islands]] (Palau), in the Pacific, about a man who married a [[shapeshifting]] maiden by hiding her fish tail. They had a daughter, and, in one occasion, happened to find her fish tail and returned to the ocean soon after.<ref name=":0">Frazer, James George; Apollodorus of Athens ''The Libraries''. Vol. II. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. 1921. pp. 385–387.</ref>

In a tale from [[Kairiru language|Kairiru]] Island with the title ''Stori Bilong Taim Bipo: The Dolphin Woman'', a group of women are cutting bushes to make a garden. Suddenly, heavy rain begins to pour down and the women go back to their village. Once they are gone, a school of dolphins appear, take off their dolphin "bodies" and become human women to finish the work on the garden, then return to the sea as dolphins. Some time later, a man goes to the garden to wait for the rain, and sees the dolphins come out of the water and become women. He hides the dolphin skin of one of them; after the others are gone, the man takes the dolphin woman home and marries her. She bears him two children. One day, she is ready to return to the sea and tries to get her sons to go with her by changing them into dolphins with salt water.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sabok |first1=Andrew Kalang |title=The Dolphin Woman |journal=Journal of the Papua & New Guinea Society |volume=2 |issue=1 |year=1968 |pages=61–62 }}</ref> In another version, the man is named Mutabau. This second tale was reported by Michael French Smith, told by a man named Valentine Wamuk, a descendant of Mutabau.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Michael French |title=A Faraway, Familiar Place: An Anthropologist Returns to Papua New Guinea |date=2014 |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |isbn=978-0-8248-5344-0 |page=26 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yvHGDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA26 |jstor=j.ctt6wqgjj }}</ref>

In a tale from [[Losap]], [[Chuuk State|Chuuk]], with the title ''The Island of the Dolphin Girls'', a chief's son named Anoun Farrang from the Lugenfanu clan is sailing on a canoe with other men, when their canoe is approached by a pod of dolphins (who are really girls in delphine skin). One of the dolphins hits Anoun with her tail and he falls overboard, forgotten by his fellow men. With his magic powers, he is oriented to dive underwater, until he reaches a small island with a pool in its middle. Anoun hides behind a bush and sees a pod of dolphins coming to shore, jumping into the pool, taking off their skins and becoming girls. While they play and splash water, Anoun takes the dolphin skin from one of them. The girls take back the skins, change into dolphins and go back to the sea, leaving only a girl on the island. Anoun comes to her and gives back her dolphin skin. The girl's pod comes back and smells Anoun's human scent, and, convinced by their friend, agrees to let the boy live with them. Some time later, Anoun begins to miss his human home, and the pod swims with him back to the surface.<ref>Flood, Bo; Strong, Beret E.; Flood, William; Connie J. Adams. ''Pacific Island legends: tales from Micronesia, Melanesia, Polynesia, and Australia''. Honolulu, Hawaiʻi: Bess Press, 1999. pp. 59-63.</ref>

====Americas====
=====Indigenous peoples=====
In a tale of the Musquakie people, some male youths bathe and play in the water while some beautiful girls approach them. One of the male youths gets one of the girls and the others, frightened, turn into black-headed ducks and fly away.<ref>Owen, Mary Alicia. ''Folk-Lore of the Musquakie Indians of North America and Catalogue of Musquakie Beadwork and other Objects in the Collection of the Folk-Lore Society''. London: David Nutt. 1904. pp. 90–91.</ref>

Some tales from the [[Algonquins]] also tell of a young, unmarried hunter who approaches a lake where otherworldly women come to bathe to acquire the supernatural spouse.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Charencey |first1=Hyacinthe |title=Le folklore dans les deux mondes. |date=1894 |publisher=Klincksieck |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k370042d |pages=308–310 }}</ref><ref>Leland, Charles Godfrey. ''[https://archive.org/details/algonquinleg00lelarich/page/140/mode/2up The Algonquin legends of New England; or, Myths and folk lore of the Micmac, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot tribes]''. Boston; New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company. 1884. pp. 141–151.</ref>

In a tale of the [[Cochiti, New Mexico#Cochiti pueblo and Cochiti people|Cochiti people]], a [[coyote]] (possibly the [[Coyote (mythology)|Coyote]] of legend) helps a youth in getting a wife: one of three pigeon girls who bathe in a lake.<ref>Benedict, Ruth. ''Tales of the Cochiti Indians''. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off.. 1931. pp. 170–176.</ref> In a variant, the coyote leads the youth to three dove maidens.<ref>Benedict, Ruth. ''Tales of the Cochiti Indians''. Washington: U.S. Govt. Print. Off.. 1931. p. 246.</ref>

In a tale from the [[Tewa]], collected by [[Elsie Clews Parsons]], the youth Powitsire hunts a deer, which suggests the boy find a wife and reveals that three duck girls come to bathe in a nearby lake.<ref>Parsons, Elsie Worthington Clews. ''Tewa Tales''. New York: American Folk-lore Society. 1926. pp. 5 and 119–123.</ref> In a second Tewa story (a retelling, in fact), the son of the cacique wishes to travel to the Land of Parrots to obtain a parrot. His mission is successful and he returns home with a "Parrot Girl" that helps him on the homeward journey. When he arrives at his parents house, the Parrot Girl becomes a beautiful human girl and marries him.<ref>James, Ahlee. ''Tewa Firelight Tales''. New York [etc.]: Longmans, Green and co., 1927. pp. 138–149.</ref>

Charles Frederick Hartt claimed that a tale from the "Paitúna" contains a version where the bird maiden is a parrot. She is found by a human male and becomes the mother of a new tribe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hartt |first1=Ch. Fred |title=Notes on the Lingoa Geral or Modern Tupi of the Amazonas |journal=Transactions of the American Philological Association |date=1872 |volume=3 |pages=58–76 |doi=10.2307/310258 |jstor=310258 |hdl=2027/coo.31924021091800 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Researchers Darwin Hanna and Mamie Henry collected a [[Nlaka'pamux]] tale from teller [[Annie York]] which they translated as ''The Country Divided''. In this tale, a couple lives in [[Quilchena]] with their child. After the father dies, the widowed mother raises her son and teaches him everything a father would. When he is old enough, his mother tells him that he has to travel a great distance if he is to finds a mate. One day, while he is resting, he hears a song and goes to look for its source. He then finds a group of women flying down to a clearing, taking off their clothes and wings, praying for a bit then entering a nearby body of water to swim. Soon after, the women put on the wings and clothes again and fly to the sky. The next day, the youth surprises the women just as they are taking flight and grabs the youngest woman's clothes. The youth covers her with a deerskin and brings her home to his mother to live with him as his wife.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hanna |first1=Darwin |first2=Mamie |last2=Henry |title=Our Tellings: Interior Salish Stories of the Nlhaʼkapmx People |place=Vancouver |publisher=UBC Press |date=1995 |pages=94–99 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7W7pi6HmurcC&q=%22the+country+divided%22 |isbn=0-7748-0525-0}}</ref>

Folklorist [[Lewis Spence]] registered a tale from the Canaris Indians from the province of Canaribamba, in Quito. In this tale, titled ''The Bird Bride'', two brothers survive a flood and take shelter atop a mountain named Huacaquan, until the water recedes. They return to the lands and build a house for themselves. They leave the house by gathering herbs, and they return home, they find that their food has been prepared for them. The pair decide to spy on whoever is cooking them their food. The next time this happens, two birds, one "Aqua" and the other "Torito" (which Spence calls "quacamayo birds") alight near the house and become maidens. The elder brothers spies on them, but lets them escape. Ten days later, the younger brothers takes his chances on the bird-maidens, closing the door on the younger maiden to trap her in the house. The maiden lives with the brothers and gives birth to six sons and daughters, the ancestors of the Canaris.<ref>Spence, Lewis. ''[https://archive.org/details/mythsofmexicoper01spen/page/318/mode/1up Myths of Mexico and Peru]''. New York: T. Y. Crowell company, 1913. pp. 318-319.</ref>

======Eskimo: The Goose Wife======
{{See also|The Goose Wife (Inuit)}}

======Pacific Northwest======
{{See also|The Goose Wife (Inuit)#Pacific Northwest}}

======South America: The Vulture Wife======
German ethnologue {{ill|John Bierhorst|de|John Bierhorst}} locates the story of the ''Vulture Wife'' in [[Guyana]] and northern South America, among the Warrao, Arawak, Camaracoto, Taulipang, [[Macushi|Makushi]], Carib, and the Caliña of [[Suriname]].<ref>Bierhorst, John. ''The mythology of South America''. New York: William Morrow, 1988. pp. 18, 20, 67 (map).</ref>

In a tale from Guyana, ''The man with a vulture wife'', a young hunter comes across a large house where people were playing sports and dancing to music. In reality, they were vultures that shed their skins to decorate the place. The youth becomes entranced by one of the maidens and captures her. Their marriage is not a happy one, and the tale ends on a darker note.<ref>Roth, Walter E. ''The Animism and Folklore of the Guiana Indians''. The Caribbean Press. 2011 [1915]. pp. 164–167. {{ISBN|978-1-907493-24-9}}</ref> A similar tale is attested from the [[Warao people]], in Venezuela.<ref>Olsen, Dale A. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3bUPBAAAQBAJ&dq=%22warao%22+vulture&pg=PA76 World Flutelore: Folktales, Myths, and Other Stories of Magical Flute Power]''. University of Illinois Press, 2013. p. 76. {{ISBN|9780252095146}}.</ref>

Dutch cartographer [[Claudius de Goeje]] transcribed a tale from the [[Arawak]], about a [[medicine man]] named ''Makanahoro''. In this tale, Makanahoro disguised himself as a carrion deer to attract vultures. He manages to capture a female [[king vulture]] who has taken off her vulture plumage and makes her his wife. Some time later, Makanahoro goes with his wife to visit her family in the sky, but his in-laws try to test his mettle by forcing him on some tasks. Makanahoro accomplished the tasks (which vary according to the account) with the help of animals.<ref name="de Goeje 1942">{{cite journal |last1=Goeje |first1=C.H. de |title=De Inwijding tot Medicijnman bij de Arawakken (Guyana) in Tekst en Mythe |trans-title=The Initiation as a Medicine Man among the Arawaks (Guyana) in Text and Myth |language=de |journal=Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde |date=1942 |volume=101 |issue=1 |pages=211–276 |doi=10.1163/22134379-90001253 |jstor=20770550 |s2cid=162079537 }}</ref><ref name="bicVAAAAIAAJ">Goeje, Claudius H. de. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=bicVAAAAIAAJ&dq=%22vulture+wife%22&pg=PA96 Philosophy, initiation and myths of the Indians of Guiana and adjacent countries]''. Leiden: Brill, 1943. p. 96.</ref> De Goeje reported similar tales from nearby indigenous populations: the [[Kalina people|Kaliñas]], the [[Macushi|Macusis]], the Warau (Warao), the [[Pemon|Taulipangs]], the [[Tembé|Tembes]] and the [[Chané]]-[[Ava Guarani people|Chriguanos]].<ref name="de Goeje 1942"/><ref name="bicVAAAAIAAJ"/>

Explorer [[Everard im Thurn]] provided another account from Guiana: an Indian man marries a female [[king vulture]] and - as it is an Arawak custom - goes to live with his wife's family. After some time in the sky-realm, he longs to visit his human family back on Earth, which enrages the vulture people. The vulture in-laws drop the hunter on top of an [[Astrocaryum|awarra-palm]], a plant known for its thorny appearance, and there he stays for some time, until some spiders take pity on him and weave a web for him to climb down the tree. Some birds take the man back to the sky realm and wage war on the vultures.<ref>Thurn, Everard in. ''[https://archive.org/details/amongindiansgui00thurgoog/page/n419/mode/1up Among the Indians of Guiana]''. London: Keegan, Paul, Trench and Co., 1883. pp. 381-382.</ref> In a more detailed version, the vulture father-in-law is named Anuanima and he is identified as the ruler of this race that lives in the sky.<ref>Potter, Murray Anthony. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=iau.31858048138014&view=1up&seq=39&skin=2021&q1=%22swan%20maiden%22 Sorab & Rustem: the Epic Theme of a Combat Between Father & Son, a Study of Its Genesis & Use In Literature & Popular Tradition]''. London: Nutt, 1902. pp. 21-22.</ref>

German ethnologist [[Theodor Koch-Grunberg]] collected a version of the Vulture Wife from the Taulipangs (also known as Taurepang, a subgroup of the [[Pemon people]]). In this story, which he titled ''Der Besuch im Himmel'' ("A Visit to Heaven"), after a war between rival tribes Kuyalakog and Palawiyang, only a man named Maitchaule (in another translation, Maitxaule) survives. He has dreams about a beautiful woman, and captures the daughter of the vulture king. He brings her home and orders her to become a woman. Maitchaule goes to hunt, fish and harvest vegetables and fruit. While he is away, the vulture becomes a woman and does the chores, but as the man comes home, she turns back into a vulture. One day, Maitchaule discovers her human form and convinces her to live with him as if they are husband and wife. Time passes, and the vulture wife wants to visit her vulture family. The vulture wife comes back with two brothers and takes her human husband to visit his father-in-law, the vulture-king called Kasanapodole. The vulture-king is introduced to his son-in-law and orders him on difficult tasks: first, the human is to dry out the Kapöpiakupö Lake in two days; second, to build a house on a rock; thirdly, to build a bench with two heads. While in Heaven, Maitchaule is helped by small animals in his tasks.<ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Koch-Grünberg |editor-first=Theodor |title=Indianermärchen aus Südamerika |trans-title= Indigenous Tales from South America |location=Jena |publisher=Eugen Diederichs |date=1927 |pages=109–122 (text), 320 (source) |language=DE}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Gift of Birds: Featherworking of Native South American Peoples |first1=Ruben E. |last1=Reina |first2=Kenneth M. |last2=Kensinger |publisher=UPenn Museum of Archaeology |date=1991 |pages=104 |isbn=9780924171123}}</ref>

Koch-Grunberg published a version from the Tembé people which he titled ''Die Tochter des Königsgeiers'' ("The King Vulture's Daughter"): some king vultures take off their feathers to bathe in a lake. A human man builds a hunting lodge and waits for the vulture women to return the next day. When the vulture women return, the man hides the vulture feathers from a woman and takes her as his wife. They have a son. Some time later, the vulture wife wants to visit her family, and fashions makeshift wings for her human husband and human son with Janiparana leaves. With one of her feathers, she turns the leaves into vulture feathers and the three fly to the skies. They pass by the house of the Sun and the house of the Moon and reach the King Vulture's house. Later, the King Vulture orders his son-in-law to carve a large canoe in one day; then, the next day, to block a river and bring him the Trahira fish (which are alligators); and lastly to raze a forest to the ground.<ref>Koch-Grünberg, Theodor (Hg.). ''Indianermärchen aus Südamerika''. Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1927. pp. 180-186, 326.</ref>

John Bierhorst summarized a tale from the Camaracoto, in Guyana: the protagonist is a culture hero named Maichak. He uses a rotten meat bait to draw the vultures in hopes of making contact with their chief, but he attracts the vulture chief's daughter, who becomes a woman. The vulture woman takes Maichak to the vulture realm, and their chief agrees to have the human as his son-in-law, as long as he fulfills three tasks: to catch all fishes in a lake, to build a house on a ledge, and to carve a shaman's bench. With the help of animals, Maichak fulfills the tasks.<ref>Bierhorst, John. ''The mythology of South America''. New York: William Morrow, 1988. pp. 71-72.</ref>

[[Walter Roth]] published a tale from the Warao, from Guyana, which he titled "The Man with a Vulture Wife", the middle of three brothers, who is a good hunter, finds a gathering of people in a house the forest. These people are dancing and playing the ''makuari'' in their instruments, but in reality they are vultures who have taken off their feathers. The next day, the hunter returns to that same spot, intent on getting one of the women as his wife. He sneaks behind one girl and grabs her, as the people, the house and everything disappears. The girl agrees to be the man's wife, so long as he does not thrash her. They live together, and, strangely, the girl does not eat the meat as soon as it brought home, waiting until the next day to eat it. However, the man beats her in three different occasions, despite his previous promise. The girl lends her vulture feathers to her husband to visit his father-in-law. Some time later, the man's wife notices that her daughter-in-law is strange, and the man keeps beating his wife. Fed up with her human husband's behaviour, she turns back into a vulture and flies back to the vulture realm. The human husband tries to catch her in mid flight, to no avail, and misses his wife, so much so he returns to the spot in the forest where the house once stood.<ref>Roth, Walter. "[https://archive.org/details/annreptburamethn08powell/page/206/mode/1up An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians]". In: ''30th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: 1908-1909''. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915. pp. 206-208.</ref>

Roth also published other two Guyanese tales. In the first, from the Arawak, titled ''How the Birds Obtained their Distinctive Markings'', the man marries a vulture wife and visits his father-in-law in the vulture realm. He spends some time there, but after a while, begins to miss his earthly home, and wishes to return to visit his mother.<ref>Roth, Walter. "[https://archive.org/details/annreptburamethn08powell/page/212/mode/1up An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians]". In: ''30th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: 1908-1909''. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915. p. 212.</ref> In another, titled ''The Medicine-Man and the [[Carrion crow|Carrion Crows]]'', the protagonist is a medicine man named Makanauro, who captures a vulture woman in human form and marries her.<ref>Roth, Walter. "[https://archive.org/details/annreptburamethn08powell/page/343/mode/1up An Inquiry into the Animism and Folk-Lore of the Guiana Indians]". In: ''30th Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology: 1908-1909''. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1915. pp. 343-345.</ref>

American anthropologist [[Charles Wagley]] collected a tale from the [[Tenetehara people]] which he titled ''The man who married the vulture''. In this tale, a Tenetehara man brings home a female king vulture (''[[Gypagus papa]]'') and raises it. Time passes, and the man sighs over the lack of a wife, and wishes the bird could become one. He leaves to the garden and returns at night, and sees a meal prepared for him. This situation many times, and he discovers that the vulture take off the feather garments, become a woman and cook his food. He enters the house and hides the vulture's feather garment. The (now human) vulture explains she wanted to be kind good to him now that she is grown. They marry. Later, he wishes to pay a visit to her relatives, but she warns him against it, since her father, the vulture king, is a dangerous creature. He insists and she takes him to the vulture realm. Once there, the vulture king orders his human son-in-law to perform tasks for him: to build a canoe in one day (done by woodpeckers); to clear a garden in one day (again done by the woodpeckers), and to start a fire in the middle of the clearing. In the third task, a spider protects the human until the fire burns. Then, the Tenetehara man asks for the help of the hawks against his father-in-law.<ref>Wagley, Charles. ''The Tenetehara Indians of Brazil; a culture in transition''. New York: AMS Press, 1969. pp. 150-151.</ref>

=====Latin America=====
In two [[Argentina|Argentinian]] variants, ''Las tres palomas hijas del diablo'' ("The three pigeon daughters of the devil") and ''Blanca Flor'', the prince is a gambler who bets and loses against a devil antagonist. To find the devil's house, a donor tells him he should steal the garments of the three daughters of the devil, who come to bathe in the form of doves.<ref>Vidal de Battini, Berta Elena. ''Cuentos y leyendas populares de la Argentina''. Tomo IV. Buenos Aires, Ediciones Culturales Argentinas. 1980. pp. 230–236 and 264–277. [http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra-visor/cuentos-y-leyendas-populares-de-la-argentina-tomo-iv--0/html/01335b46-82b2-11df-acc7-002185ce6064_38.html#I_24_]</ref>

======Mexico======
In a Mexican tale, ''Blanca Flor'' ("White Flower"), youth Juan loves to gamble and wins the devil's favor to grant him unbeatable luck for the period of five years. When the date is due, the youth must find the devil "in the Plains of Berlín at the ''[[Hacienda]]'' of Qui-quiri-qui". He goes on a pilgrimage and asks three hermits (the king of fishes, the king of animals of the earth and the king of birds of the air) its location. The eagle, answering its sire's question, knows where it is. The eagle carries Juan to the Plains of Berlín and informs him that three doves, the devil's three daughters, will come to bathe.<ref>Dobie, James Frank. ''Puro Mexicano''. Austin: Texas folk-lore society, 1935. pp. 61–66.</ref>

In a tale collected by John Bierhorst from a [[Yucatec Maya language|Yucatec Maya]]n source, with the title ''The Bird Bride'', something is destroying his father's fields, and he tasks his three sons to guard it. A little toad appears to all three brothers and begs for some food, but only the youngest agrees to share his. The little toad and the youth discover the culprit: a bird - an enchanted maiden - comes to eat in the cornfield. The toad disenchants the maiden and she marries the youth.<ref>Elswit, Sharon Barcan. ''The Latin American Story Finder: A Guide to 470 Tales from Mexico, Central America and South America, Listing Subjects and Sources''. McFarland, 2015. p. 203. {{ISBN|9781476622293}}.</ref>

======Brazil======
In a tale collected by [[Sílvio Romero]] in Rio de Janeiro (''Cova da Linda Flôr''), a king gambles with another monarch. He loses everything and consults with a hermit on how to proceed. The hermit advises to kill a special kind of bird from which a piece of paper will drop with instructions: three princesses, daughters of the monarch, in the form of ducks bathe in a lake, and the king should take the duck skin of the youngest (whose name is Cova da Linda Flôr).<ref>Romero, Sílvio. ''Contos populares do Brazil''. Livraria de Francisco Alves e Cia. 1907. pp. 146–154.</ref>

[[Marco Haurélio]], contemporary writer and folklorist, collected two versions in Brazil wherein the hero steals the bird-maiden's clothes: ''Guime e Guimar'' (Guime e Guimar), published in the book ''Contos Folclóricas Brasileiros'' (Brazilian Folk Tales), in which the princess is enchanted in a paw,<ref>Haurélio, Marco. ''Contos Folclóricos Brasileiros''. Paulus, 2010, pp 40-45.</ref> and ''Guimar e Guimarim'' (Guimar and Guimarim), published in the book ''Vozes da Tradição'' (Voices of Tradition),<ref>Haurélio, Marco. ''Vozes da Tradição''. IMEPH, 2019, pp. 36-42.</ref> both classified under type 313A in the [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index]] (The Girl as Helper in the Hero's Flight).

===Non-bird maidens===
{{main|Human–animal marriage}}
Despite the near universality of the tale of the swan maiden (or maiden who transforms into any other kind of bird), there are tales where the human male still holds the maiden's garments, but the narrative does not mention whether she transforms or not.

In a tale titled ''The Iron Eagle'', a young hunter reaches the sandy shores on the edge of a forest. He then sees three maidens arriving in a flash of light to take a bath "in the golden sunrise". The hunter steals their clothing, unaware that one of the maidens is "The Daughter of the Sun". In exchange for her garment back, she will grant one out of four wishes.<ref>''The true annals of fairy-land: the reign of King Herla''. Edited by William Canton; illustrated by Charles Robinson. London: J.M. Dent & Co. [1900] pp. 181–187.</ref>

====Western Europe====
The tale of the swan maiden is believed to be attested in ''[[Lady Featherflight]]'', a tale obtained from an English storyteller (an old aunt).<ref name=Newell1893>{{cite journal |last1=Newell |first1=W. W. |title=Lady Featherflight. An English Folk-Tale |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=January 1893 |volume=6 |issue=20 |pages=54–62 |doi=10.2307/534281 |jstor=534281 }}</ref> Lady Featherflight helps the hero against her [[giant]] father and both escape (ATU 313 ''The Magical Flight'').

[[Emmanuel Cosquin]] collected a French tale titled ''Chatte Blanche'' (English: "White Cat"), where the hero Jean is informed that "Plume Verte", "Plume Jaune" and "Plume Noir" come to bathe in the lake in the Black Forest, and is tasked with getting the robes of "Plume Verte".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Cosquin |first1=Emmanuel |title=Contes populaires lorrains recueillis dans un village du Barrois à Montiers-sur-Saulx (Meuse) (Suite) |journal=Romania |date=1878 |volume=7 |issue=28 |pages=527–592 |doi=10.3406/roma.1878.6428 }}</ref>

On his comments on English fairy tale ''Lady Featherflight'',<ref>Johnson, Clifton. ''The Oak-tree Fairy Book: Favorite Fairy Tales''. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1905. pp. 63–82.</ref> W. W. Newell commented that in the French counterpart of the story, ''La Plume Verte'' (English: "The Green Feather"), the name is an indication of her status as bird-maiden.<ref name=Newell1893/> However, it has been noted that, as it happened in both versions, the swan maiden's feathery cloak was replaced by the garment, yet a reminiscence of it is retained in their names.<ref>{{Citation | author1=Morain, Genelle Grant | author2=American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, New York, NY | author3=ERIC Clearinghouse on Teaching and Teacher Education | title=French Culture: The Folklore Facet. ERIC Focus Reports on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, Number 9 | publication-date=1969 | publisher=Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse | url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/151498196 | page=3 | access-date=2 August 2020}}</ref>

A similar occurrence appear in a fairy tale from [[Brittany]], ''La Demoiselle en Blanc'' ("The Lady in White"), collected by [[Paul Sébillot]]: the young man sees three human maidens bathing, and nearby there are three dresses, a white one, a gray one and a blue one.<ref>Sébillot, Paul. ''Contes populaires de la Haute-Bretagne''. Premier série. Paris: G. Charpentier. 1880. pp. 197–205.</ref> It has been noted that the tale contains a nearly identical episode of the maidens bathing, instead of the bird-maidens.<ref>MacInnes, Donald, and Alfred Trübner Nutt. ''Folk And Hero Tales''. Waifs and Strays of Celtic Tradition. Argyllshire Series – Vol. II. London: Publications of the Folk-lore society. 1890. p. 437. [https://archive.org/details/folkherotales00maciuoft/page/436/mode/2up]</ref>

In another Brittany tale, collected by François-Marie Luzel, ''Barbauvert, ou Le Prince qui Joua la Tête et la Perdit'' ("Green Beard, or The Prince that gambled his head and lost it"), prince Charles, son of the king of France, gambles and loses a bet against Barbauvert. The man asks the prince to find his castle. Charles meets a hermit that tells him that three maidens will come in three golden chairs and will descend near a lake. One of them is Koantic, the youngest daughter of the Green Beard and who will help the prince with her father's tasks.<ref>Luzel, François-Marie. ''[https://archive.org/details/contespopulaires02luzeuoft/page/354/mode/2up Contes populaires de Basse-Bretagne]''. Tome II. Paris: Maisonneuve. 1887. pp. 355–369.</ref>

In Irish tale ''Yellow Lily'', the son of the king of Erin gambles his head against the cruel Giant of Loch Lein, and must travel to the giant's castle after losing the bet. During his travels, he meets an old woman in a hut who informs him that the three daughters of the giant, Blue Lily, White Lily, and Yellow Lily, will come to bathe in a near lake, and that he should steal the garments of the youngest, Yellow Lily.<ref>Williams, Wilbur Herschel. ''[https://archive.org/details/fairytalesfromfo00willrich/page/n15/mode/2up Fairy Tales From Folk Lore]''. New York: Moffat, Yard & Company, 1908. pp. 1–40.</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Foucher |first1=Laure Claire |chapter=Yellow Lily |pages=123–159 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hl9NAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA123 |title=Stories to Read Or Tell from Fairy Tales and Folklore |date=1917 |publisher=Moffat, Yard }}</ref>

In another Irish tale ''The King's Son in Erin and the King of Green Island'', collected by Jeremiah Curtin and later published by Séamus Ó Duilearga, the son of the king of Erin loses to a small grey man and he orders him to find his castle in Green Island within a year and a day. After a long journey, an eagle directs him to the three daughters of the king of Green Island and steals the bracelet of the youngest of them. He returns it to her, they fall in love and she agrees to help him in her father's tasks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Duilearga |first1=Séamus Ó |title=Supplement: Irish Folk-Tales |journal=Béaloideas |date=1942 |volume=12 |issue=1/2 |pages=ii–166 |doi=10.2307/20522051 |jstor=20522051 }}</ref>

====Northern Europe====
In a [[Norway|Norwegian]] variant, a stranger named "the ninth Momorius" helps the hero and he has to find his house as payment. The hero meets one of the sons of Momorius, and he directs him to his youngest sister, who lives by a lake. When he arrives, the hero steals the clothes of Momorius's daughter and asks her help. Norwegian folklorist [[Reidar Thoralf Christiansen]] recognized that the stealing of the sister's clothes was "clearly a much worn down use of the Swan-maiden incident".<ref name=Christiansen1927/>

====Southern Europe====
In a [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]]n tale, ''Brancafrol'', a gambling youth bets and loses his soul, and receives a deadline to surrender his soul to the winner. After giving alms to an old lady, she informs him of three magical maidens bathing in the sea: two Moorish women, and a Christian woman, who have set their dresses on the shore (the Moorish women's green ones and the Christian woman's white one).<ref>Carre Alvarelllos, Lois. ''Contos Populares da Galiza''. Porto: Museu de Etnografia de Porto. 1968. pp. 43–49.</ref>

[[Francisco Maspons y Labrós]] collected a Catalan variant titled ''Lo castell del Sol'' ("The Castle of the Sun"), where a young count bets and loses his wealth and must find his way to "The Castle of the Sun". Not knowing of its location, he is helped by an old lady and her sons, who tell of a lake where three maidens come to bathe. When escaping from her family, the count calls his wife "''Rosa florida''".<ref>Maspons y Labrós, Francisco. ''Lo Rondallayre: Cuentos Populars Catalans''. Barcelona: Llibreria de Don Alvar Verdaguer. 1871. pp. 45–50.</ref>

====Central Europe====
In an Austrian (Tirol) tale collected by Joseph and Ignaz Zingerle, ''Der gläserne Berg'' ("The Glass Mountain"), a forester's son, while hiding in the bushes, sees three maidens bathing, and fetches their cloaks. Later, the maidens arrive at his house and ask for their garments back. He returns to two of the maidens, retaining the youngest's and marrying her. The couple live quite happily until, one day, the husband forgets to lock the cabinet where he hid her cloak garment, and she finds it. The maiden writes him a note saying that, if he loves her, he should seek her in "The Glass Mountain".<ref>Zingerle, Ignaz Vinc. und Josef. ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen aus Tirol''. Innsbruck: Schwick, 1911. pp. 205–215.</ref>

In a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] tale from Unterengadin, ''Der Glasberg oder Das Glasschloss'' ("The Glass Mountain or the Glass Castle"), a youth and his widowed mother live in a house in the wood. One day, he is cutting some wood, when he sees ten flying maidens alighting near a lake and taking off their wings to bathe. The youth is astonished by such a sight. The next day, he watches the scene and convinces himself the maidens are real, intending to take one of them, the youngest, as his wife. The third time, he digs a hole and hides in it to steal the maiden's wings as soon as she descends. He is successful and the maiden is presented to his mother as his wife. He hides the clothing in a locked compartment and gives the key to his mother, but one day she forgets to lock it. So the maiden regains her wings and tells the old woman that her son should find her "in the Glass Mountain". The youth, now inconsolable, goes on a quest to get her back. He visits the abode of the Moon, the Sun and the Wind and obtains their help. He finally reaches the Glass Mountain and meets his mother-in-law, who asks him to perform three tasks, the last of which is to recognize his wife from her nine identical sisters. He is also successful. Soon after, the pair escapes from the Glass Mountain (ATU 313, "The Magic Flight") and returns home.<ref>Brunold-Bigler, Ursula (Hrsg.); Widmer, Kuno (Ubersetzer). ''Die drei Hunde: Rätoromanische Märchen aus dem Engadin - Oberhalbstein - Schams''. Desertina, 2004. Tale nr. 33. {{ISBN|3856372997}}.</ref>

====Eastern Europe====
In a Polish tale by A. J. Glinski, ''O nahajce wykonajce, butachsamoskokach, czapce niewidce, i ogórze miedzianej''<ref>Gliński, Antoni Józef. ''Bajarz polski: Baśni, powieści i gawędy ludowe''. Tom IV. Wilno: 1881. pp. 75–88. [https://books.google.com/books?id=uCwuAAAAYAAJ]</ref> ("The Princess of The Brazen Mountain"),<ref>"Von der Peitsche, die jeden Auftrag erfüllt, von den Stiefeln, die allein springe, von der Zaubermütze und vom Kupferberg". In: Glinski, Antoni Józef, and Amélie Speyer Linz. ''Polnische Volks-märchen: Nach Der Original-sammlung Von Gliński''. Leipzig: K. Scholtze. 1877. pp. 64–75.</ref> the hero is a prince who steals the pair of wings of the titular princess and proposes to her. On their wedding day, she is given back the wings and flies back to the Brazen Mountain.<ref>''Polish Fairy Tales''. Translated from A. J. Glinski by Maude Ashurst Biggs. New York: John Lane Company. 1920. pp. 69–78.</ref>

In a tale collected by [[Francis Hindes Groome]] (''The Witch'') from a Polish-Gypsy source, the prince dreams of a place where lovely maidens were bathing. He decides to travel the world to find this place. He does so and hides the wings of the youngest maiden. After his wife escapes, he follows her to her family's home, and must work for her sorcerous mother.<ref>Groome, Francis Hindes. ''Gypsy folk-tales''. London: Hurst and Blackett. 1899. pp. 188–197</ref>

In Russian folktale ''Yelena The Wise'', the titular princess and her maid, both possessing wings, were made prisoners by a six-headed serpent, until they were accidentally released by Ivan, the soldier. Ivan informs the six-headed serpent of her escape and the monster says the princess is cunning. Hot on her trail, he uses a flying carpet to reach a beautiful garden with a pond. Soon after, Yelena and her maid arrive and take off their wings to bathe.<ref>Curtin, Jeremiah. ''Myths and Folk-tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars''. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company. 1890. pp. 218–227.</ref>

In a [[Wallachia]]n tale collected by Arthur and Albert Schott, ''Der verstoßene Sohn'', a youth shoots a raven, which falls in the snow. The striking image makes the boy long for a bride "of white skin, red cheeks and hair black as a raven's feathers". An old man tells him of such beauty: three "Waldjungfrauen" ("forest-maidens") will come to bathe in the lake, and he must secure the crown of one of them. He fails twice, but succeeds in his third attempt. The youth and the forest maiden live together for many years, she bears him two sons, but, during a village celebration, she asks for her crown back. When she puts on her head, she begins to ascend in flight with their two children and asks her husband to come find them.<ref>Schott, Arthur; Schott, Albert. ''Walachische Märchen''. Stuttgart and Tübingen: J. C. Cotta'scher Verlag. 1845. pp. 199–203. Their source was a " herrn Draguesku", a Wallachian from Orawitza (p. 82).</ref>

In a Ukrainian tale from [[Bukovina]] with the title "Жінка, що мала крила" ("The Woman Who Had Wings"), a youth named Petryk lives with his father and hunts in the woods. One day, he stops to rest by a meadow, and sees three winged maidens descend from the skies, take off their wings to dance in the meadow, and flying back to the skies. Petryk talks to his father that he fell in love with the winged maiden. His father advises him to go to the meadow early, dig out a hole to hide in, and wait for the maidens to come; when they doff their wings, Petryk is to steal the pair that belongs to the youngest of them - the one that Petryk fell in love with. Petryk follows his father's advice and fetches her wings, while her companions fly away to the skies. Petryk takes her wings home and locks them up in a chest. The winged maiden marries Petryk and gives birth to a son. Some time later, during a wedding celebration in the village, the winged maiden dances and impresses the crowd, and says she can dance even better if she has her wings. The guests accost Petryk and asks him to bring his wife's wings. He relents and gives his wife the wings; she puts them on, performs a dance and grabs her son to fly away from the village. Petryk begins to search for his wife and son. After wearing out some pairs of shoes, he finds three brothers quarreling over their father's inheritance, an invisible cap, a pair of boots and a banyak. He uses the boots to reach his wife's hut in a distant forest, and meets his son Mykhailo just outside his mother's hut.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=7DcKAQAAIAAJ&q=%22%D0%96%D1%96%D0%BD%D0%BA%D0%B0,+%D1%89%D0%BE+%D0%BC%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B0+%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%22 Казки Буковини]". Карпати, 1973. pp. 185-188.</ref>

====Greece====
Von Hahn also collected similar stories from [[Ioannina]] and [[Zagori]], and called the swan maiden-like character "Elfin".<ref>Hahn, Johann Georg von. ''Griechische und Albanesische Märchen'' 1–2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller. 1918 [1864]. pp. 336–337.</ref>

====Asia====
In a tale collected from a [[Daur people|Dagur]] source, in China, a man tells his three sons of a dream he had: a white horse that appeared, circled the sun and vanished into the sea. His sons decide to find this horse. The youngest succeeds in capturing the horse, but it says it will feel lonely away from its home, so the horse decides to bring one of his sisters with him. The youth and the horse await at the beach for the arrival of ten fairies, who take off their clothes to play in the sea. Soon enough, the youth seizes the clothing of the youngest.<ref>"Three Brothers". In: Kevin Stuart, Xuewei Li, Shelear. ''[http://www.sino-platonic.org/complete/spp060_dagur_folklore.pdf China's Dagur Minority: Society, Shamanism, & Folklore]''. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies. 1994. pp. 119–120.</ref>

In a tale collected in the [[Konkani language]], ''The Bird Princess and the Boy'', a king with seven sons asks them a question: who are they most afraid of? The older six boys answer: "the king", which pleases him. When the youngest says he most fears God, the king whips him eight times and abandons him in the forest. The boy wanders about and reaches an old lady's cottage. He works as a goatherd and is warned about not going beyond the garden. He disobeys and sees a lake where two princesses are bathing, their dresses that allow them to fly cast off nearby. He steals the dress of one of them but the maiden regains it. On the second day, he manages to steal the clothing of the second one and hide beneath the house floor. A king dies and three elephants carry the crown to the boy. He marries the flying princess. When the old lady dies, the princess finds the magical clothing and flies back to her kingdom. On his way there, the boy rescues frogs, mongooses and flies, whose help he uses to fulfill three tasks before winning back his wife.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Davidson |first1=Sarah |last2=Phelps |first2=Eleanor |title=Folk Tales from New Goa, India |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=January 1937 |volume=50 |issue=195 |pages=1–51 |doi=10.2307/535980 |jstor=535980 }}</ref>

In a tale from the [[Jibbali language]] of [[Oman]], translated as ''A Man and His Jinn Wife'', a man has a plantation of date palms that bear fruit, but someone has stealing them. He consults with a medicine man who advises him hide among the bushes and wait for three "girl ghosts" that will come, doff their clothes and take a dip in the well, so he should steal their clothes and choose the one he likes best. The man follows his advice, and on that same night, three girls come to the plantation. He steals the garments of one of them. The trio asks for them back; he returns two of them and withholds the third one, making the third girl his wife. He later goes back to his mother's home and asks her to hide his wife's clothes. One day, while the man is away, there is a celebration in the village, and the girl asks her mother-in-law for the garments back so she can dance with the women, but she refuses. The local ruler orders her to fetch the garments, which she does; the girl puts them on and flies away. As her son returns home, the woman tries to fool her son into believing his wife died, but relents and tells him the truth. The man consults with the medicine man again, who tells him to prepare three she-camels (white, red and black), and feed them for three years. The man also marries his three sisters to three jinn brothers-in-law, then begins his journey towards the sunrise in search of his wife. He passes by the houses of his three brothers-in-law and gains from each of them a tuft of hair for him to burn and summon them in case he needs any help. Finally, he reaches his wife's village in the land of the jinn and meets her. She is surprised to see him there, and bids him return, otherwise her family will kill him, but he insists on staying, so she hids her human husband. The jinn girl tricks her father into making a vow to protect him, and she introduces each other. The man declares he will only leave the land of jinn with his wife, and his father-in-law orders him on three tasks: to drink up a whole lagoon, carry up a mountain a goblet of oil and not spill any drop, and lastly eat up three camels. The man burns the tufts of hair from his brothers-in-law, who come to his aid and fulfill the tasks for him. At last, the man returns home with his jinn wife.<ref>{{cite book |last=Rubin |first=Aaron D. |title=The Jibbali (Shaḥri) Language of Oman |chapter=Johnstone's Jibbali Texts |location=Leiden, The Netherlands |publisher=Brill |date=2014 |pages=462–469 |doi=10.1163/9789004262850_016|isbn=9789004262850 }}</ref>

====Africa====
In an Algerian tale, ''La Djnoun et le Taleb'', the ''taleb'' Ahmed ben Abdallah arrives at the edge of a lake and sees a beautiful ''Djnoun'' bathing in the water. He soon notices the "dove-skin" of the maiden and hides it. They marry and raise a family with several children. One day, one of their children finds their mother's magical garment and delivers it to her.<ref>Certeux, A. and Carnoy, Henry. ''[https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k5789267j/f92.item.texteImage.zoom L'Algérie traditionnelle]''. Tome I. Paris: Maisonneuve et Leclerc. 1884. pp. 87–89.</ref>

====America====
=====North America=====
In a tale collected from the [[Sahaptin]], a boy becomes poor. Later, he plays cards with a Black storekeeper. The boy wins the Black man's store and livestock. He then bets himself: if he loses, he becomes the boy's servant. The Black man wins back the store and the livestock, ''and'' the boy as his servant, but the Black man dismisses him and tells the boy to go to a place across the river. An old woman stops him from crossing the river and tries to help the boy by "ask[ing] different things": the dishes, the spoons, the cat, the rooster and the geese. The woman translates what the geese informed: the boy must seek some bathing maidens and he must secure the "blue-green garters" of the last bathing girl.<ref>Jacobs, Melville. ''Northwest Sahaptin Texts''. Vol. I. New York: Columbia University press, 1934. pp. 263–268.</ref>

J. Alden Mason collected a tale from the [[Uintah tribe|Uintah]] [[Ute people|Utes]] from [[Whiterocks, Utah]], with the title ''Nṍwintc's adventure with the Bird-Girls and their people''. In this tale, a man named Nṍwintc wanders in the wilderness and tries to hunt a deer, but the animal pleads for its life and tells the hunter about a nearby lake where two women are bathing. Nṍwintc goes to verify the deer's story and finds two women "that looked something like birds", one yellow, the other green, and steals their garments. Both women want their garments back, and Nṍwintc gives them back. They play and frolic for the night, then go to sleep, but, since the women pretend to be asleep, they sneak off in the dead of night. The next morning, Nṍwintc goes after them; on the way, he meets some boys who give him eagle-feathers and a veil that grants invisibility. Nṍwintc meets the green girl and her family first, who wants to get rid of him and impose trials on Nṍwintc. The human hunter prevails, marries the green girl and they have a daughter. Nṍwintc, however, wants to visit the yellow girl, and meets her family, and a similar event happens to him. Nṍwintc also marries the yellow girl and they have two sons. Eventually, both families meet.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mason |first1=J. Alden |title=Myths of the Uintah Utes |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=July 1910 |volume=23 |issue=89 |pages=299–363 |doi=10.2307/534545 |jstor=534545 }}</ref>

Anthropologist [[Robert H. Lowie]] collected a tale from the [[Shoshone]] with the title ''The Supernatural Wife'': a human hunter (Ute) tries to kill a deer, but the animal pleads for its life and directs the hunter to a lake where two women are bathing, one with a red dress, and the other with a white dress. The human hunter meets the maiden in white garments, and she gives him a ring. They lie together for the night and the next morning, the couple finds themselves in a nice house. A white man sees the house and the woman and reports to the town governor, who conspires with the white man to kill the Ute and take his house and his wife. The governor, then, imposes impossible tasks on the Ute hunter: to get the blood of a soldier, the ''yaɣa'pwa'tu'' (tears of the birds), and to bathe in boiling water. With his wife's help, he triumphs over the governor. However, one day, the woman asks her Ute husband not to call her "Piñon-cones-on-the-ground-woman", but the man forgets and calls her that. She disappears the next morning and he goes after her. On the road, he steals three objects from two girls and a boy: a club, a woman's leggings, and a hat - all sent by his wife. He finds his wife in her mother's house and his mother-in-law forces him on some chores. The woman, however, convinces her Ute husband to escape from the house.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lowie |first1=Robert H. |title=Shoshonean Tales |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=January 1924 |volume=37 |pages=143–144 |issue=1 |doi=10.2307/535228 |jstor=535228 }}</ref>

=====Central America=====
In a Jamaican tale, ''Jack and the Devil Errant'', protagonist Jack loses a bet against the titular Devil Errant and is ordered to find him in three months. An old man helps him by informing that the Devil Errant's three daughters will come to bathe in a lake, but he should only steal the clothing of the youngest.<ref>Beckwith, Martha Warren; Roberts, Helen Heffron. ''Jamaica Anansi stories''. New York: American Folk-Lore Society. 1924. pp. 135–139.</ref>

In another Jamaican tale, with a heavy etiological bent and possibly starring legendary trickster hero [[Anansi]], the protagonist, a young man, wins against a "headman" (an African king) and the youth's nurse warns him that the king may be planning some trap. The nurse, then, advises the youth that he should take "the river-road" and reach a stream where the king's youngest daughter will be bathing. He steals the clothing twice: the first time, the youth lies that a thief was nearby; the second time, that a gust of wind blew them away.<ref>Lewis, Matthew Gregory. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3PAMAAAAIAAJ Journal of a West-India Proprietor: Kept During a Residence in the Island of Jamaica]''. London: John Murray. 1834. pp. 301–307.</ref>

A tale was collected in 1997, from a 65-year-old Belizean storyteller, Ms. Violet Wade, that focuses on the backstory of the maiden's father. In this story, ''Green Seal'', an orphaned prince becomes a king, rescues a princess and marries her. Years later, they have three daughters (one of which Green Seal), to whom the king, a wizard, teaches magic. The three maidens fly to a river to bathe and a poor boy, Jack, steals Green Seal's clothes. They agree to marry, but first Jack must perform tasks for her father.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Thomas |first1=Chad Ryan |title=Digression and Insertion in a Belizean Folktale |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=2000 |volume=113 |issue=448 |pages=185–194 |doi=10.2307/541288 |jstor=541288 }}</ref>

==The celestial maiden or heavenly bride==
A second format of the supernatural wife motif pertains to tales where the maiden isn't a shapeshifting animal, but instead a creature or inhabitant of Heaven, a Celestial Realm, or hails from the place where the gods live.{{efn|"The origin of the "Swan-maiden" is closely connected with the "heavenly nymph", but it is not exactly the same (...)"<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Uri |first1=S. P. |title=Some remarks on Partonopeus de Blois |journal=Neophilologus |date=1 December 1953 |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=83–98 |doi=10.1007/BF01514403 |s2cid=162341812 }}</ref>}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Porée-Maspero |first=Eveline |title=Étude sur les rites agraires des Cambodgiens |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |date=1962 |page=657 |doi=10.1515/9783111535142 |isbn= 978-3-11-153514-2|language=fr |quote=Dans les contes du Cambodge, de Siam et de Birmanie, la fille céleste est encore proche de la femme-oiseau: elle laisse ses ailes au bord de l'étang où elle vient se baigne. |trans-quote=In tales from Cambodia, Siam and Burma, the celestial maiden is even closer to the bird-woman: she leaves her wings at the margin of the lake where she has come to bathe.}}</ref> Western works commonly translate these characters as "fairies" or "nymphs".

Japanese folklorist [[Seki Keigo]] names this story ''"The Wife from the Upper World",'' in his index of "Types of Japanese Folktales".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Seki |first1=Keigo |title=Types of Japanese Folktales |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1966 |volume=25 |page=79 |doi=10.2307/1177478|jstor=1177478 }}</ref> Similarly, scholar [[Kunio Yanagita]] titled it ''The Wife from the Sky World''.<ref>Yanagita, Kunio; Translated by Fanny Hagin Meyer (1986). ''Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale''. Indiana University Press. p. 25. {{ISBN|0-253-36812-X}}.</ref> Professor Alan L. Miller calls it ''"The Divine Wife"'', which can also refer to the Swan Maiden tales.{{sfnp|Miller|1987a}} East Asian scholarship also names this group of tales as ''The Legend of the Winged Robe'' (or ''Tale of the Feathered Cloak'') and ''Celestial Wife''.<ref name="jalali.2018..77.018"/>

===Distribution===
Korean scholarship supposes that the bird wife and the animal transformation were replaced by a human-looking supernatural woman with a pair of wings or a magical garment in regions that lacked contact with swans, for instance, India, Southeast Asia, Korea, and Japan.<ref name="jalali.2018..77.018"/>

===India and South Asia===
According to scholarship, the motif of the celestial bride whose clothes are stolen by a mortal warrior is popular in Indian literary and oral tradition.<ref name="Brakel-Papenhuyzen 2006"/>

The motif of the swan maiden is also associated with the [[Apsaras]], of [[Hinduism]], who descend from Heaven or a Celestial Realm to bathe in an earthly lake.<ref>Tuttle, Hudson; Tuttle, Emma Rood. Stories From Beyond the Borderlands. Berlin Heights, Ohio: The Tuttle Publishing Company. 1910. pp. 175–176.</ref><ref>Cox, Marian Roalfe. ''An introduction to Folk-Lore''. London: Charles Scribner's Sons. 1895. pp. 120–122.</ref> One example is the ancient tale of [[apsara]] [[Urvasi]] and king [[Pururavas]].<ref name=":4"/><ref name=":5"/> In another tale, cited by folklorist [[Edwin Sidney Hartland|Hartland]], five asparas, "celestial dancers", are transported by an enchanted car to take a bath in the forest.{{sfnp|Hartland|1888|p=25}}

A folk song collected from the state of [[Chhattisgarh]], ''The Ballad of flower-maid Bakaoli'', contains the episode where a male (Lakhiya) is informed by a ''sadhu'' about the seven daughters of Indra Rajá (one of which is Bakaoli) who bathe in a lake.<ref>Elwin, Verrier. ''Folk Songs Of Chhattisgarh''. Oxford University Press. 1946. pp. 316–337.</ref>

A tale of [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]] origin tells the story of Prince Jagatalapratapa, who has an encounter with the daughter of [[Indra]] and her maids in a grove in forest.<ref>S. M. Natesa Sastri. ''The Dravidian Nights Entertainments: Being a Translation of Madanakamarajankadai''. Madras: Excelsion Press. 1886. pp. 84–91, 106–107 and 115–119. [https://archive.org/details/dravidiannights00sastgoog/page/n129/mode/2up]</ref> A second story of ''The Dravidian Nights Entertainment'', by Natesa Sastri, shows the episode of the prince stealing clothes from a celestial maiden, as part of the prince's search for a special flower.<ref>S. M. Natesa Sastri. ''The Dravidian Nights Entertainments: Being a Translation of Madanakamarajankadai''. Madras: Excelsion Press. 1886. pp. 146–151. [https://archive.org/details/dravidiannights00sastgoog/page/n129/mode/2up]</ref>

A story obtained from [[Santal]] sources (''Toria the Goatherd and the Daughter of the Sun'') tells of goatherd Toria. After the Daughters of the Sun descend to earth on a spider's thread, the maidens invite Toria to join them in their leisure in water. The goatherd, then, convinces the girls to see who can stay underwater for so long. While they are distracted, Toria hides the clothing of one of them – the one he found most lovely – and flees home with it.<ref>Archæological Survey of India., Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. ''Indian antiquary''. Vol. 4. 1875. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. pp. 10–12.</ref><ref name="hartland1888"/>

In a Bengali tale, from Dinajpur (''The Finding of the Dream''), prince Siva Das receives a premonitory dream about a maiden. Some time later, he is informed by a sage that, on a night of full moon, five nymphs descend from the sky to play in a pond, and one of them is the maiden he saw in a dream, named Tillottama.<ref>Archæological Survey of India., Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. ''Indian antiquary''. Vol. 4. 1875. Bombay: Popular Prakashan. pp. 54–59.</ref>

In a tale from the [[Karbi people]], ''Harata Kunwar'', the youngest of seven brothers, flees for his life from home, after his brothers and father threaten to take his life, and takes refuge with an old lady. After doing his chores, he plans to take a bath in the river, but was told not to go upstream. He does so and sees the six daughters of the King of the Great Palace descending from the heavens and undressing to bathe and frolic in the water.<ref>Stack, Edward; Lyall, Charles James, Sir. ''The Mikirs; from the papers of the late Edward Stack''. London, D. Nutt. 1908. pp. 55–70 (English translation); 113–150 (original text).</ref>{{efn|Its collectors supposed this story originated from an Indian source, since the hero's name reminded them of ''Sarat-Kumar''.<ref>Stack, Edward; Lyall, Charles James, Sir. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/files/48706/48706-h/48706-h.htm#ch5.3 The Mikirs; from the papers of the late Edward Stack]''. London, D. Nutt. 1908. p. 45.</ref>}}

Author Mark Thornhill published a tale titled ''The Perfumer's Daughter'' and sourced from India. In this tale, the prince's wife asks for her ring and flies off to unknown parts. Burdened with grief, the prince wanders the world until he finds an old ascetic master. The ascetic tells the prince that, on the full moon night, his wife and her handmaidens will descend from the heavens to bathe in the lake, and the youth must acquire his wife's shawl.<ref>Thornhill, Mark. ''[https://archive.org/details/indianfairytales00thoriala/page/n18/mode/1up Indian fairy tales]''. London: Hatchards. [1888] pp. 15–66.</ref>

The Indian folktale collection ''[[Kathasaritsagara]]'' contains at least two similar tales involving Apsaras: the tale of Marubhúti who, instructed by a hermit, steals the clothing of one of some heavenly nymphs who came to bathe in the river, and the hermit becomes the mortal husband of the [[Vidyadhara]].<ref>Tawney, C. H. ''The Katha Sarit Sagara''. Vol. 2. 1880. pp. 452–453.</ref> In a second story, deity [[Bhairava]] commands Thinthákarála to steal the garments of the Apsaras that were bathing in "the [[holy pool]] of [[Mahakala|Mahákála]]". After the deed is done, the Apsaras protest and beg for their garments to be returned, but the youth sets a condition: he will return them in exchange for the youngest Apsara, Kalávatí, daughter of Alambushá, to become his wife.<ref>Tawney, C. H. ''The Katha Sarit Sagara''. Vol. 2. 1880. pp. 576–577.</ref>

In another Indian tale, ''The Wood-seller and the Seven Fairies'', the wood-seller takes a moment to rest in the forest, and soon sees seven fairies bathing a well. He soon steals their garments and asks for their help in order to impress a visiting queen he wishes to marry.<ref>Venkataswami M. N. ''Heeramma And Venkataswami Or Folktales From India''. Madras: Diocesan Press. 1923. pp. 130–133. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.84372/page/n163/mode/2up]</ref>

===Southeast Asia===
Professor Margaret Kartomi stated that "countless versions" of the tale of the human male who marries one of seven heavenly females (or angels) after stealing her clothing appear in "[[Maritime Southeast Asia|insular]] and [[mainland Southeast Asia]]".<ref name=Kartomi1998>{{cite journal |last1=Kartomi |first1=Margaret J. |title=The Music-Culture of South-Coast West Sumatra: Backwater of the Minangkabau "Heartland" or Home of the Sacred Mermaid and the Earth Goddess? |journal=Asian Music |date=1998 |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=133–181 |doi=10.2307/834265 |jstor=834265 }}</ref>

====Mainland====
In a tale from [[Laos]], ''The Faithful Husband'', Chow Soo Tome, a lord, sees seven winged nymphs bathing. They notice his presence and flee, except one. They marry and his mother hides her wings, so she cannot fly back. The head ''chow'' sends Soo Tome to war and the nymph, out of sorrow, asks her mother-in-law for her wings back. She dons her wings and flies back to her father's kingdom of Chom Kow Kilat. Chow Soo Tome discovers his wife fled and goes on a quest to win her back.<ref>Fleeson, Katherine Neville. ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924023510195/page/n63/mode/2up Laos folk-lore of Farther India]''. New York; Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Co. 1899. pp. 51–57.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.2307/533073 |doi-access=free |jstor = 533073 |jstor-access=free |title = Laos Folk-Lore of Farther India|year = 1899|last1 = Newell|first1 = W. W.|last2 = Fleeson|first2 = Katherine Neville|journal = The Journal of American Folklore|volume = 12|issue = 47|page = 303|hdl = 2027/coo1.ark:/13960/t3514k97g |hdl-access=free}}</ref>

In a Vietnamese tale, a woodcutter finds the spring where the fairies (''Nàng tiên'') come to bathe. He hides the clothes of the youngest fairy and marries her. The youth hides the garment in the rice shed, but his wife finds it and goes back to the upper world. However, she leaves her child with her comb, as a memento.<ref>Cosquin, Emmanuel. ''Contes populaires de Lorraine comparés avec les contes des autres provinces de France et des pays étrangers, et précedés d'un essai sur l'origine et la propagation des contes populaires européens''. Tome II. Deuxiéme Tirage. Paris: Vieweg. 1887. pp. 361–362.</ref><ref>Landes, A. ''[https://archive.org/details/contesetlgende00landuoft/page/122/mode/2up?q=bucheron Contes et légendes annamites]''. Saigon: Imprimerie Coloniale. 1886. pp. 122–126.</ref>

Anthropologist [[Mrs. Leslie Milne]] collected a tale from the [[Shan people]] which she titled ''The Fairy and the Hunter''. In this tale, due to a village chief failing to give offering to the gods, the spirits convene and seek the crocodile, the ruler of the water bodies, for a decision. The crocodile agrees to punish the villagers by drying the bodies of water. After three years, the village chief consults with a soothsayer, who sends a wise man to kill the crocodile. The wise man goes to the animal and shoots an arrow at one of his eyes. The next time, the crocodile sees a hunter nearby and pleads for help, in exchange for anything the human wishes for. The hunter agrees to the proposal and kills the wise man. Later, seven fairies come from their celestial abode in the "silver mountain in heaven" to bathe in the lake. The crocodile agrees to help the hunter and gives him a rope of precious stones he uses on the seven maidens the next time they fly down to earth. Trapped in the rope, the girls plead for release, and the hunter lets them go, but says he wants the youngest of them as his wife.<ref>Milne, Leslie. ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924023077252/page/n391/mode/1up The Shans at Home]''. London: John Murray, 1910. pp. 226-229.</ref>

====Maritime====
According to linguist [[Sidney Herbert Ray]], the [[Sanskrit]] word ''vidyādhari'' was borrowed into the [[Malayo-Polynesian languages]] of the region. Thus, it appears as ''bidadari'' in [[Malay language|Malay]] and [[Makassar language|Makassar]] and as ''widadari'' in [[Javanese language|Javanese]], both denoting a nymph or fairy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ray |first1=Sidney H. |title=Polynesian philology: a reply to Mr. Edward Tregear |journal=The Journal of the Polynesian Society |date=1914 |volume=23 |issue=3(91) |pages=154–158 |jstor=20701076 }}</ref> Similarly, James George Frazer noted that this was a "common story", told in Indonesia and in the Malay-Polynesian region.<ref>{{cite book |title=Aftermath: A Supplement to The Golden Bough |first=James George |last=Frazer |publisher=Cambridge University Press |date=2013 |orig-year=1935 |page=337 |quote=A common story told all over Indonesia, if not over the whole Malay-Polynesian region, is that seven or nine heavenly women descended to earth every night to bathe in the form of birds, throwing off their wings and plunging into the water as girls. Once upon a time they were observed by a man, who took away the wings of the youngest. When the others were finished bathing, they donned their wings again and flew back to heaven. But the youngest, deprived of her wings, remained helplessly behind as a girl. She was taken by the man who had stolen her wings, and became his wife.}}</ref>

=====Malaysia=====
In the [[Classical Malay literature|story]] (''[[hikayat]]'') of ''[[Hikayat Inderaputera]]'', prince Inderaputera (Indraputra) travels the world in other to find a cure for a king's childlessness. He obtains information from a peri that Princess Gemala Ratna Suri and her seven nymph attendants will come in seven days to bathe in the lake, and he should steal the flying jackets of the maidens to advance in his quest.<ref>{{cite thesis |last1=Mulyadi |first1=Sri Wulan Rujiati |title=Hikayat Indraputra: A Malay romance |date=1980 |doi=10.25501/SOAS.00028834 |pages=65–70 }}</ref><ref>Annabel Teh Gallop, [http://britishlibrary.typepad.co.uk/asian-and-african/2015/03/soother-of-sorrows-or-seducer-of-morals-the-malay-hikayat-inderaputera.html Soother of sorrows or seducer of morals? The Malay Hikayat Inderaputera], [[British Library]], 10 March 2015.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Winstedt |first1=R. O. |title=Hikayat Indraputra |journal=Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |date=1922 |issue=85 |pages=46–53 |jstor=41561393 }}</ref>

In another Malay ''hikayat'', Prince Malim Deman has a vision in a dream about a holy man pointing to a place upstream where he can find a wife. There he will find seven heavely maidens who descended to the mortal realm to play in the pond of the fairy woman Ninek Kebayan. The prince meets Ninek Kebayan, who helps him steal the clothing of the most beautiful of the heavenly maidens, Puteri Bongsu (Poeteri Boengsoe), and make her his wife.<ref name="Brakel-Papenhuyzen 2006"/> In another version, provided by a "respected ancestor" named Bujang XI, protagonist Malin Deman marries Dewa Indurjati. Otherwise, the tale shows the same ending, with the celestial maiden regaining her clothes and returning to the skies.<ref name=Kartomi1998/>

A similar plot can be found in another hikayat, named ''[[Hikayat Malim Dewa]]'' (or ''Malém Diwa''), where prince Malim Dewa marries the heavenly nymph (princess) Poetroë Boengthoe, whose magical garments he stole to prevent her return to the celestial abode.<ref name="Brakel-Papenhuyzen 2006"/><ref>{{cite book |last=Hurgronje |first=Christiaan Snouck |author-link=Christiaan Snouck Hurgronje |title=The Achehnese |volume=II |location=Leiden |publisher=Brill |date=1906 |pages=125–128 |url=https://archive.org/details/achehnese02hurg/page/125/mode/1up}}</ref>

=====Philippines=====
======Overview======
The narrative of the swan maiden or heavenly wife was noted to be found "all across the Philippines",<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Poulton |first1=Cody |last2=Wrigglesworth |first2=Hazel J. |title=The Maiden of Many Nations: The Skymaiden Who Married a Man from Earth |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |date=1994 |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=368 |doi=10.2307/1178661 |jstor=1178661 }}</ref> being told in the following ethnic groups, according to professors Hazel Wrigglesworth and [[Richard Dorson]]: [[Tinguian]], [[Amganad Ifugao]], [[Keley-i Kallahan language|Kallahan Keley-i]], [[Casiguran Dumagat language|Casiguran Dumagat]], [[Mamanwa]], [[Binukid]], Ata of Davao, [[Dibabawon language|Dibabawon]], Sindangan Subanon, Siocon Subanon, Ilianen Manobo, Livunganen Manobo, Sarangani Manobo, [[Maguindanao people|Maguindanao]], and [[Tausūg people|Tausug]].<ref>Dorson, Richard M. ''Folktales told around the world''. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press. 1978. p. 260. {{ISBN|0-226-15874-8}}.</ref>

======Regional tales======
In the tale ''Kimod and the Swan Maiden'' ("Pitong Maylog"), from the [[Mansaka]] ([[Philippines]]), Kimod, a young hunter, captures the garments of one bathing maiden and marries her. Some time later, the maiden discovers its hiding place: inside her husband's blowgun. She wears it again and rejoins her sisters in the skyworld. Kimod, then, goes on a quest to bring her back.<ref>Lopez, Mellie Leandicho. ''A Handbook of Philippine Folklore''. Diliman, Quezon City: The University of The Philippine Press. 2006. p. 159. {{ISBN|978-971-542-514-8}}</ref><ref>[[Damiana Eugenio|Eugenio, Damiana L.]] ''Philippine Folk Literature: An Anthology''. Second Edition. Diliman, Quezon City: The University of The Philippine Press. 2007. pp. 286–291. {{ISBN|978-971-542-536-0}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.2307/1177878|jstor = 1177878|title = A Treasure of Mandaya and Mansaka Folk Literature|year = 1981|last1 = Heinze|first1 = Ruth-Inge|last2 = Fuentes|first2 = Vilma May A.|last3 = de la Cruz|first3 = Edito T.|journal = Asian Folklore Studies|volume = 40|issue = 2|page = 272}}</ref> According to Herminia Q. Meñez, versions are reported to have been found in other groups in [[Mindanao]] and northern [[Luzon]].<ref>Meñez, Herminia Q. "[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc1.32106020385255&view=1up&seq=119&skin=2021&q1=%22swan%20maiden%22 Book reviews: The Fairy of Masara, Kimod and the Swan Maiden, and the Monkey and the Crocodile by Vilma May A. Fuentes]". In: ''Pilipinas: A Journal of Philippine Studies'' n. 7, Fall 1986. p. 109.</ref>

Other variants from Filipino folklore include:<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.2307/1178506|jstor = 1178506|title = Philippine Folktales: An Introduction|year = 1985|last1 = Eugenio|first1 = Damiana L.|journal = Asian Folklore Studies|volume = 44|issue = 2|pages = 155–177}}</ref> ''The Seven Young Sky Women'';<ref>Dorson, Richard M. ''Folktales told around the world''. Chicago; London: University of Chicago Press. 1978. pp. 259–266. {{ISBN|0-226-15874-8}}.</ref> ''Magbolotó'', a tale from the [[Visayan]].<ref>"Visayan Folk-Tales". In: American Folklore Society. ''Journal of American Folklore''. Volume XX. Washington [etc.]: American Folklore Society. 1907. pp. 95–98.</ref> A version of the tale was also found in the oral narratives of the [[Agta people]] of the Philippines (''How Juan got his Wife from Above'').<ref>Headland, Thomas N. 1991. How Juan Got His Wife From Above [Analysis of an Agta Folktale]. In: ''The Maiden of Many Nations: The Skymaiden Who Married a Man from Earth''. Hazel J. Wrigglesworth, ed. pp. 211–215. Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines. (Co-author with Pompoek Aduanan).</ref>

=====Indonesia=====
======Overview======
The heavenly maidens are also known in Indonesia as ''Bathing Beauties'' or ''The Seven Nymphs'', tales wherein a male character spies on seven celestial maidens (Apsaras) bathing in an earthly lake.<ref>Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyani. "The Bathing Beauties in Indonesian Stories: A Preliminary Research". In: ''[http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/3976/1/UNTUK%20BAPAK%20GURU.pdf Untuk Bapak Guru. Persembahan para murid untuk memperingati usia genap 80 tahun Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers]''. Jakarta: Proyek Penelitian Purbakala Jakarta, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986. pp. 241-242.</ref>{{efn|As remarked by Indonesian scholarship, the number of nymphs or heavenvly maidens vary according to region: three, five, eight, nine, ten, twelve, even 39 or 41.<ref>Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyani. "The Bathing Beauties in Indonesian Stories: A Preliminary Research". In: ''[http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/3976/1/UNTUK%20BAPAK%20GURU.pdf Untuk Bapak Guru. Persembahan para murid untuk memperingati usia genap 80 tahun Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers]''. Jakarta: Proyek Penelitian Purbakala Jakarta, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986. pp. 246-247.</ref>}} Indonesian scholarship states that the tale is "widespread in almost all parts of Indonesia": [[North Sumatra]], [[Maluku (province)|Maluku]], [[Bengkulu|Bengkulen]], [[East Kalimantan]], [[Madura]], [[West Sulawesi]], [[Java]] and [[Bali]].<ref>Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyani. "The Bathing Beauties in Indonesian Stories: A Preliminary Research". In: ''[http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/3976/1/UNTUK%20BAPAK%20GURU.pdf Untuk Bapak Guru. Persembahan para murid untuk memperingati usia genap 80 tahun Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers]''. Jakarta: Proyek Penelitian Purbakala Jakarta, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986. pp. 242-244.</ref> In that regard, professor [[James Danandjaja]] acknowledged this wide diffusion, but emphasized the existence of the story "among the ethnic groups that were influenced by [[Hinduism in Indonesia|Hindu]]-[[Buddhism in Indonesia|Buddhist]] and [[Han Chinese|Han (Chinese)]] cultures".<ref name=Danandjaja1995>{{cite journal |last1=Danandjaja |first1=James |title=A Comparative Study of Japanese and Indonesian Folklores |journal=東南アジア研究 |date=1995 |volume=33 |issue=3 |pages=484–496 |doi=10.20495/tak.33.3_484 }}</ref>

======Regional tales======
One famous version from Indonesian history is titled {{ill|''Jaka Tarub and Seven Apsaras''|id|Legenda Jaka Tarub}}, from the island of [[Java]],<ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.18502/kss.v1i3.766 |doi-access=free |title = Female Liberation in Javanese Legend "Jaka Tarub"|year = 2017|last1 = Fariha|first1 = Inayatul|last2 = Choiron|first2 = Nabhan F.|journal = LSCAC Conference Proceedings |volume = 1|issue = 3|page = 438}}</ref><ref name="Brakel-Papenhuyzen 2006">{{cite journal |last1=Brakel-Papenhuyzen |first1=Clara |title=Jaka Tarub, a Javanese culture hero? |journal=Indonesia and the Malay World |date=March 2006 |volume=34 |issue=98 |pages=75–90 |doi=10.1080/13639810600652352 |s2cid=162133630 }}</ref> starring legendary Javanese hero [[Folklore of Indonesia|Jaka Tarub]],<ref>"The Legendary Jaka Tarub". In: Terada, Alice M. ''The Magical Crocodile and Other Folktales from Indonesia''. A Kolowalu Book. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press. 1994. pp. 68–71. {{ISBN|0-8248-1654-4}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 20770499|title = On the Javanese Kris|last1 = Rassers|first1 = W. H.|journal = Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde van Nederlandsch-Indië|year = 1940|volume = 99|issue = 4|pages = 501–582|doi = 10.1163/22134379-90001300 |doi-access=free }}</ref> who marries the heavenly nymph (''[[Bidadari]]'') Dewi Nawang Wulan.<ref>{{Cite book |doi = 10.2991/assehr.k.200204.004 |doi-access=free |chapter = Female Deities (Bidadari) in Indonesian Folklore: A Feminist Literary Critical Perspective|title = Proceedings of the International Conference on Educational Research and Innovation (ICERI 2019)|year = 2020|last1 = Swatikasari|first1 = Esti|last2 = Liliani|first2 = Else|last3 = Wiyatmi|isbn = 978-94-6252-902-1}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |doi = 10.4000/archipel.1691 |doi-access=free |title = The Maiden in the Forest: Reflections on Some Southeast Asian Tales|year = 2020|last1 = Wessing|first1 = Robert|journal = Archipel|volume=99 |issue = 99|pages = 75–105}}</ref><ref>[[David Adams Leeming|Leeming, David Adams]]. ''A Dictionary of Asian Mythology''. Oxford University Press. 2001. pp. 89-90. {{ISBN|0-19-512052-3}}.</ref> This story is said to be popular on this island,<ref>Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyani. "The Bathing Beauties in Indonesian Stories: A Preliminary Research". In: ''[http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/3976/1/UNTUK%20BAPAK%20GURU.pdf Untuk Bapak Guru. Persembahan para murid untuk memperingati usia genap 80 tahun Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers]''. Jakarta: Proyek Penelitian Purbakala Jakarta, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986. pp. 243-244.</ref> especially in [[East Java|East]] and [[Central Java]].<ref name=Danandjaja1995/>

Similar tales were collected from [[North Sulawesi]] and [[Minahasa Peninsula]] (formerly known as ''Celebes Islands''). One is the tale of Kasimbaha and Utahagi:<ref>Hickson, Sydney John. ''A naturalist in north Celebes: a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited''. London: J. Murray. 1889. pp. 264–265. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924090283775/page/n305/mode/2up]</ref> Kasimbaha fetches the garments of Utahagi, a "heavenly nymph" who was bathing in a lake, and, later, after his wife returns to her celestial abode, he climbs a special tree to ascend to the heavens and find her again.<ref>Fiske, John. ''Myths and myth-makers: old tales and superstitions interpreted by comparative mythology''. Boston: Hougton, Mifflin. 1896. pp. 162–164.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 23029093|title = Die lettischen Sonnenmythen. (Fortsetzung)|last1 = Mannhardt|first1 = W.|journal = Zeitschrift für Ethnologie|year = 1875|volume = 7|pages = 209–244 |jstor-access=free}}</ref><ref>"Utahagi". In: Frobenius, Leo. ''Childhood of man''. London, Seeley & Company limited. 1909. pp. 312–315.</ref> 
A second tale is interesting in that it differs: instead of bathing in a lake, the heavenly maidens descend to Earth and steal the yams of a human farmer named Walasindouw.<ref>Hickson, Sydney John. ''A naturalist in north Celebes: a narrative of travels in Minahassa, the Sangir and Talaut Islands, with notices of the fauna, flora and ethnology of the districts visited''. London: J. Murray. 1889. pp. 265–266. [https://archive.org/details/cu31924090283775/page/n305/mode/2up]</ref>

In [[Bengkulu]], in the island of [[Sumatra]], the legend of ''Malin Deman'' is quite close to the motif of the "Celestial Wife": hero Malin Deman steals the wings and the clothes of the youngest of "Seven Angels" who have come to the terrestrial plane to bathe. They soon marry and have a child, but, years later, she returns to her celestial realm.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kartomi |first1=Margaret |chapter=The Minangkabau South Coast: Home of the Mermaid and the Earth Goddess |pages=42–73 |jstor=10.5406/j.ctt1xcprn.14 |title=Musical Journeys in Sumatra |date=2012 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-03671-2 }}</ref> Another Sumatran tale is the story of Lidah Pahit and Puyang Bidodari (Putri Bungsu).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Kartomi |first1=Margaret |chapter=South Sumatra: 'The Realm of Many Rivers' |pages=145–185 |jstor=10.5406/j.ctt1xcprn.19 |title=Musical Journeys in Sumatra |date=2012 |publisher=University of Illinois Press |isbn=978-0-252-03671-2 }}</ref>

Amongst the [[Karo people (Indonesia)|Karo people]] of Indonesia, the tale of hero Si Mandupa tells of his marriage with one of seven ''anak dibata'' ("children of divinity") by stealing her clothing. Some time later, her husband gives back her clothes and she flies back to heaven, which prompts an arduous quest to bring her back home.<ref name="Brakel-Papenhuyzen 2006"/>

In a [[Madura]] tale, {{ill|''Aryo Menak''|id|Aryo Menak}}, the titular hero marries one of seven "angels", named Tunjung Wulan. One day, the angel wife tells her husband not to visit her in the kitchen whenever she is cooking. He breaks this prohibition and she departs back to her sisters.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Harits |first1=Imron Wakhid |title=Comparative Children Literature: Aesthetic and Didactic Context |journal=E-Pedagogium |date=1 April 2017 |volume=17 |issue=2 |pages=15–24 |doi=10.5507/epd.2017.021 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

In a tale from the [[Aceh]] region, {{ill|''Malim Dewa''|id|Malem Diwa}}, published by M. J. Melalatoa and translated by Krishna, orphaned youth Malim Dewa ventures through a thick forest near the [[Peusangan River|Pesangan river]], in search of a golden-bodied maiden he saw in a dream. He dreams of seven golden-bodied maidens bathing and frolicking in a river nearby, then he wakes. He soon meets an old lady named Inen Keben, who reveals that the seven maidens bathe in Atu Pepangiren on Mondays and Thursdays, and tells him if she secures her garment, she shall remain on earth. The plan works and the maiden, named Putri Bensu, is taken by Inen as another companion. Malim and Putri Bensu meet in person, marry and have a son, named Amat Banta. One day, the child plays with the ashes in Inen's hut and Putri Bensu discovers her stolen garment. She dons it again and leaves the hut with the child back to the skies.<ref>''Indonesian Folk Tales''. Jakarta: PN Balai Pustaka. 1981. pp. 68-78.</ref>

In a tale from [[South Kalimantan]], ''Telaga Bidadari'', a man named Awang Sukma becomes a ''datu'' (a title of rulership). One day, when playing on his flute, he notices a noise nearby and goes to investigate. He sees seven angels or nymphs bathing in a lake (Sungai Raya or Bidadari Lake). He falls in love with the youngest and steals her garment. When it is time to depart, six of the women wear their clothes, but not the youngest, Putri Bungsu. They leave her there, but she is found by Awang Sukma. They marry and have a daughter named Kumalasari. Their happiness is short-lived when Putri Bungsu finds her stolen garment in the garden and flies back to the heavens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lantowa |first1=Jafar |title=Comparison Of The Structure Of South Kalimantan Folklore "Telaga Bidadari" And Makassar Folklore 'Taman Bidadari' |journal=Proceedings of the Proceedings of the First International Seminar on Languare, Literature, Culture and Education, ISLLCE, 15–16 November 2019, Kendari, Indonesia |date=2020 |doi=10.4108/eai.15-11-2019.2296213 |isbn=978-1-63190-253-6 |s2cid=219617158 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hidayati |first1=Niswatin Nurul |title=Women Portrayal in Indonesian Folklores: A Semiotic Study |journal=An-Nas |date=21 April 2019 |volume=3 |issue=1 |pages=66–81 |doi=10.36840/an-nas.v3i1.177 |s2cid=198831615 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

A similar story is reported to act as a foundational myth of the historical kingdoms of [[North Maluku]]: a man named Jafar Sadek arrives from Arabia to the coast of Tarnore. There, he sees seven bathing maidens (heavenly maidens), and falls in love with the youngest, named Nur Safa. He steals her winged robe and strands her on Earth. He hides her clothing, marries her and she bears him three sons and four daughters. One day, Nur Safa finds her garments and flies back to the skies, leaving her family behind. Jafar Sadek learns of her disappearance and is taken by an eagle to the Sky Realm. There, he meets his father-in-law and is put to a test: he must identify Nur Safa amid a parade of identical maidens.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Probojo |first1=Lany |title=Between Modernity and Tradition: 'Local Islam' in Tidore, North Maluku, the Ongoing Struggle of the State and the Traditional Elites |journal=Antropologi Indonesia |date=21 July 2014 |issue=63 |doi=10.7454/ai.v0i63.3399 |s2cid=164565468 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Song |first1=Seung-Won |title=A heavenly nymph married to an Arab sayyid: Stranger-kingship and diarchic divisions of authority as reflected in foundation myths and rituals in North Maluku, Indonesia |journal=Indonesia and the Malay World |date=2 January 2020 |volume=48 |issue=140 |pages=116–135 |doi=10.1080/13639811.2020.1675279 |s2cid=211668653 }}</ref>

A story from the [[Bugis people]] attests the descent of seven celestial nymphs to bathe in an earthly lake, and a man that steals the garments of the youngest to make her his wife.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pelras |first1=Christian |title=La mer et la forêt, lieux de quête, d'exil et d'errances. Quelques aspects de l'univers légendaire bugis (Célèbes, Indonésie ) |journal=Le Monde alpin et rhodanien. Revue régionale d'ethnologie |date=1982 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=313–321 |doi=10.3406/mar.1982.1167 }}</ref>

In a foundational myth of the [[Pantar]] island, a man is abandoned in an island, but is saved by a bird-woman whose robe of feathers he steals and hides, making him his wife. They have seven children, five sons and two daughters, and he tries to discover the genealogy of his celestial wife by a violent ruse. The bird-wife feels insulted, finds her robe of feathers, hidden inside a bamboo stick, and flies away to the skies, leaving her children with their father. The myth then continues with the division of the island between his sons.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Lemoine |first=Annie |title=Histoires de Pantar |journal=L'Homme |volume=9 |issue=4 |date=1969 |pages=5–23 [6–7] |jstor=25131449 |lang=FR}} Accessed 8 July 2025.</ref>

Other tales are attested in the many traditions of the archipelago:<ref>{{Cite journal | doi=10.21659/rupkatha.v8n3.26 |doi-access=free | title=A Comparative Study of Indonesian Fairy Tales Structure| year=2016| last1=Yanti| first1=Prima Gusti| last2=Zabadi| first2=Fairul| journal=Rupkatha Journal on Interdisciplinary Studies in Humanities| volume=8| issue=3| pages=252–261}}</ref><ref name=Danandjaja1995/> from the Island of [[Halmahera]], the episode of "stealing maiden's clothing while in a bath" occurs as part of the quest of the youngest of seven brothers for a remedy for his father;<ref>Dixon, Roland B. ''The Mythology Of All Races''. Vol. IX – Oceanic. Boston, MA: Marshall Jones Company. 1916. pp. 207–208.</ref> from the Island of [[Bali]], the story of Rajapala and vidyadhari Ken Sulasih, parents of hero Durma;<ref>Sarkar, Himansu Bhusan. ''Indian Influences on the Literature Of Java And Bali''. Calcutta: Calcutta Oriental Press. 1934. pp. 340–341.</ref> the heroic poem Ajar Pikatan, narrating the quest for celestial maiden Suprabha;<ref>Sarkar, Himansu Bhusan. ''Indian Influences On The Literature Of Java And Bali''. Calcutta: Calcutta Oriental Press. 1934. pp. 342–343.</ref> ''The Legend of Pasir Kujang'', from [[West Java]];<ref name=Danandjaja1995/> ''Raja Omas'' and ''Mahligai Keloyang''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hidayat |first1=Ryan |last2=Rahman |first2=Fauzi |last3=Wirawati |first3=Denik |last4=Purnama |first4=Muhammad Sega Sufia |title=Male superiority and famale resistance in Indonesian fairytales themed Seven Nymphs |journal=Bahastra |date=30 April 2021 |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=84 |doi=10.26555/bahastra.v41i1.19941 |s2cid=236557761 |url=http://journal.uad.ac.id/index.php/BAHASTRA/article/view/19941 }}</ref>

===East Asia===
East Asian folkloric traditions also attest the occurrence of similar tales about celestial maidens.

A tale from [[Ryukyu Kingdom|Lew Chew]] was related ca. the beginning of the 19th century by Envoy Li Ting-yuan: a farmer, Ming-Ling-Tzu, who owns a pristine fountain of the purest water, sights a maiden fair bathing in the water source and possibly soiling it. He notices the maiden's garments, of a "ruddy sunset colour", draped nearby in a pine tree. He gets her garments and does not return it to her. The man marries the maiden, they live together for ten years and have a son and a daughter. One day, when her husband is away, the mysterious maiden climbs a tree and ascends to the sky, leaving her human family forever.<ref>Dennys, Nicholas Belfield. ''Folk-lore of China, and its affinities with that of the Aryan Semitic races''. London: Trübner. 1876. pp. 140–141.</ref>

====China====
===== Overview =====
Scholar [[James H. Grayson]] dates the appearance of the tale in Chinese sources to some time after the second century B.C.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Myths and legends from Korea: an annotated compendium of ancient and modern materials |last=Grayson |first=James Huntley |date=2001 |location=Richmond, Surrey |publisher=[[Curzon Press]] |page=371}}</ref>

In the first catalogue of Chinese folktales (devised in 1937), [[Wolfram Eberhard]] abstracted a Chinese folktype indexed as number 34, ''Schwanenjungfrau'' ("The Swan Maiden"): a poor human youth is directed to the place where supernatural women bathe by a cow or a deer; the women may be Swan Maidens, a celestial weaver, one of the [[Pleiades]], one of the "9 Celestial Maidens", or a fairy; he steals the garments of one of them and makes her his wife; she finds the garments and flies back to Heaven; the youth goes after her, and meets her in the Heavenly realm; the Heavenly king decrees that the couple shall meet only once a year.<ref>{{cite book |last=Eberhard |first=Wolfram |title=Typen Chinesischer Volksmärchen |series=FF Communications |volume=120 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Academia Scientiarum Fennica |date=1937 |pages=55–57}}</ref> Based on some of the variants available then, Eberhard dated the story to the 5th century, although the tale seems much older, with references to it in the ''[[Huainanzi]]'' (2nd century BC).<ref>{{cite book |last=Eberhard |first=Wolfram |title=Typen Chinesischer Volksmärchen |series=FF Communications |volume=120 |location=Helsinki |publisher=Academia Scientiarum Fennica |date=1937 |pages=58–59}}</ref>

===== Regional tales =====
Another related tale is the Chinese myth of [[the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl]],<ref>{{ill|Ting Nai-tung|zh|丁乃通|lt=Ting, Nai-tung}} (1978). ''A Type Index of Chinese Folktales in the Oral Tradition and Major Works of Non-religious Classical Literature''. (FF Communications, no. 223) Helsinki, Academia Scientiarum Fennica, p. 65.</ref><ref>Haase, Donald. ''The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales: A-F''. Greenwood Publishing Group. 2007. p. 198.</ref> in which one of seven fairy sisters is taken as a wife by a cowherd who hid the seven sisters' robes; she becomes his wife because he sees her naked, and not so much due to his taking her robe.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Alan L. |title=Of Weavers and Birds: Structure and Symbol in Japanese Myth and Folktale |journal=History of Religions |date=February 1987 |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=309–327 |doi=10.1086/463082 |jstor=1062378 |s2cid=161301399 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Alan L. |title='Ame No Miso-Ori Me' (The Heavenly Weaving Maiden): The Cosmic Weaver in Early Shinto Myth and Ritual |journal=History of Religions |date=1984 |volume=24 |issue=1 |pages=27–48 |doi=10.1086/462972 |id={{INIST|12242141}} {{ProQuest|1297294637}} |jstor=1062345 |s2cid=161905939 }}</ref> In some versions of the story, the Cowherd character has a brother and a sister-in-law, and a buffalo guides the youth to the place where the heavenly maidens are bathing (either the Weaver Maiden alone, or a group of maidens).<ref>Idema, Wilt L. ''Filial Piety and Its Divine Rewards: The Legend of Dong Yong and Weaving Maiden, with Related Texts''. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett, 2009. pp. 89-92. {{ISBN|978-1-60384-135-1}}.</ref>

A similar story is the tale of ''[[Tian Xian Pei]]'',<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Stenberg |first1=Josh |title=The Metamorphosis of Tianxian Pei: Local Opera Under the Revolution (1946–1956) by Wilt L. Idema |journal=Asian Theatre Journal |date=2016 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=504–506 |doi=10.1353/atj.2016.0054 |s2cid=163873635 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iovene |first1=Paola |title=The Metamorphosis of Tianxian pei: Local Opera under the Revolution (1949-1956) |journal= CHINOPERL |date=3 July 2017 |volume=36 |issue=2 |pages=134–139 |doi=10.1080/01937774.2017.1403188 |s2cid=85503957 }}</ref> also known as "The Fairy Couple"; "The Marriage of the Fairy Princess" or "Dong Yong, the Filial Son".<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shang |first1=Biwu |title=Unnatural narratology and Zhiguai tales of the six dynasties in China |journal=Neohelicon |date=June 2018 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=179–190 |doi=10.1007/s11059-018-0421-5 |s2cid=149230296 }}</ref> According to professor Wilt Idema, there is a sequel to the story of Dong Yong, where his son, Dong Zhong, discovers his mother is the heavenly fairy who will come down to earth to bathe in the [[Anavatapta]] Pond. He is instructed to steal his mother's magical robe.<ref>Idema, Wilt L. ''Filial Piety and Its Divine Rewards: The Legend of Dong Yong and Weaving Maiden, with Related Texts''. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett, 2009. pp. xviii-xix, 1-7. {{ISBN|978-1-60384-135-1}}.</ref>

[[Chinese literature]] attests an untitled version in ''[[Soushen Ji]]'', as the fifteenth tale in Volume 14.<ref>Gan Bao. ''In Search of the Supernatural: The Written Record''. Translated into English by Kenneth J. DeWoskin and James Irving Crump. Stanford University Press, 1996. {{ISBN|0-8047-2506-3}}</ref><ref>Hsieh, Daniel. ''Love and Women in Early Chinese Fiction''. The Chinese University Press. 2008. p. 124. {{ISBN|978-962-996-305-7}}.</ref>

====Japan====
=====Overview=====
According to professor Hiroko Ikeda's ''Index of Japanese Folktales'', the international type 400 is equally classified as type 400, "The Man on a Quest for his Lost Celestial Wife (''Hagoromo'', ''Tennin Nyoobo'')": a man is directed to a lake where seven celestial maidens are bathing, either by a deer or as answer to his prayers; he steals the magical robe of one of the maidens and makes her his wife in the terrestrial world; later, she regains the garments and flies back to the celestial realm; the hunter follows his wife's instructions to find her again and goes to the celestial realm, where he has to perform tasks for his father-in-law, which he does with his wife's help (tale type 313).<ref>{{cite book |first=Hiroko |last=Ikeda |title=A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature |series=Folklore Fellows Communications |volume=184 |publisher=Suomalainen tiedeakatemia |date=1971 |page=78 |quote=... the motifs of Types 313, 328, 400, and 554 seem to have been old and closely interrelated. The Swan Maiden story (Type 400) in Japan very often has this Type 313 as its sequel, so that the two are treated together under Type 400.}}</ref> At the end of the tale, the man is warned against eating a melon, but cuts one open and its water gushes forth torrentially, separating man and wife, who can only meet again on July 7.<ref name="Hiroko Ikeda 1971. p. 96">Hiroko Ikeda. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=EPgZAAAAIAAJ&q=%22tennin+nyoobo%22 A Type and Motif Index of Japanese Folk-Literature]''. Folklore Fellows Communications Vol. 209. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia. 1971. p. 96.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |first=Hiroko |last=Ikeda |chapter=Type Indexing the Folk Narrative |title=Directions in Pacific Traditional Literature. Essays in Honor of Katharine Luomala |date=1976 |editor1=Adrienne L. Kaeppler |editor2=H. Arlo Nimmo |location=Honolulu |publisher=[[Bishop Museum Press]] |pages=346–347 |isbn=0910240205}}</ref> According to Ikeda, sixty variants are registered in Japan, and the narrative is connected to ponds and lakes.<ref name="Ikeda 1976 347">{{Cite book |first=Hiroko |last=Ikeda |chapter=Type Indexing the Folk Narrative |title=Directions in Pacific Traditional Literature. Essays in Honor of Katharine Luomala |date=1976 |editor1=Adrienne L. Kaeppler |editor2=H. Arlo Nimmo |location=Honolulu |publisher=[[Bishop Museum Press]] |page=347 |isbn=0910240205}}</ref>

In the [[Japanese mythology|Japanese legend]] of [[Hagoromo (Japanese culture)|Hagoromo]], it is a heavenly spirit, or [[Tennin]], that comes to earth and has her robe stolen by a human hunter.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Iwao |first1=Seiichi |last2=Sakamato |first2=Tarō |last3=Hōgetsu |first3=Keigo |last4=Yoshikawa |first4=Itsuji |last5=Akiyama |first5=Terukazu |last6=Iyanaga |first6=Teizō |last7=Iyanaga |first7=Shôkichi |last8=Matsubara |first8=Hideichi |last9=Kanazawa |first9=Shizue |title=Hagoromo densetsu |journal=Dictionnaire Historique du Japon |date=1981 |volume=7 |issue=1 |pages=9–10 |url=https://www.persee.fr/doc/dhjap_0000-0000_1981_dic_7_1_890_t2_0009_0000_4 }}</ref><ref name = "Blacker">Blacker, Carmen. "The Shinza or God-seat in the Daijosai: Throne, Bed or Incubation Couch?". In: ''Carmen Blacker: Scholar of Japanese Religion, Myth and Folklore: Writings and Reflections''. Edited by Hugh Cortazzi, 283-300. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2022. p. 281 (footnote nr. 10). https://doi.org/10.1515/9781898823575-021</ref> Some tales even cross over with the legend of the ''[[Tanabata]]''.<ref>Takagi Masafumi. "[http://id.nii.ac.jp/1109/00003021/ &#91;シリーズ/比較民話&#93;(二)天人女房/白鳥処女]" [Series: Comparative Studies of the Folktale (2) Tennin Nyoobo/The Swan Maiden]. In: ''The Seijo Bungei: the Seijo University arts and literature quarterly'' 223 (2013-06). pp. 35-55. (In Japanese)</ref><ref>Yanagita, Kunio; Translated by Fanny Hagin Meyer (1986). ''Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale''. Indiana University Press. pp. 25-27. {{ISBN|0-253-36812-X}}.</ref>

The oldest register of the tale is present in the ''[[Fudoki]]'', an ancient book on provincial and oral accounts, dated to the 8th century.<ref name="Ikeda 1976 347"/><ref name=":3"/> Professor Hazel Wigglesworth wrote that there were 46 versions of the tale collected in Japanese oral sources.<ref name=":3"/> Ikeda, on the other hand, reported 59 versions found across Japan,<ref name="Hiroko Ikeda 1971. p. 96"/> while Japanologist [[Carmen Blacker]] asserted its wide diffusion "from Aomori to Kyūshū".<ref name = "Blacker"/>

Comparative scholarship on the Japanese variants points that at the beginning of the story, the human male goes near a lake for a variety of reasons (a prayer to the gods for a wife; a vision sent in a dream; a grateful animal points him the way). Over the course of the story, the human partner reaches the celestial realm where his wife and her family live. Once there, he is forced to perform tasks before they reunite. At the end of the narrative, the husband breaks a taboo (he should not eat a certain melon/gourd, but he does and is washed away) and he and his celestial wife are separated, only to reunite again during the [[Tanabata|night of July 7]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Noh |first1=Young keun |title=A Trial Research for Classification and Comparative Study of Folktales -Focused on Swan-Maiden Type- |journal=온지논총 |date=2010 |issue=24 |pages=73–108 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART001417569 |language=KO }}</ref>

=====Regional tales=====
James Danandjaja related the Japanese tale of ''Amafuri Otome'' ("The Woman who came from the Sky"), as a similar tale of the unmarried mortal man, named Mikeran, who withholds the [[kimono]] from a bathing lady in exchange for her becoming his wife. He also compared it to the Swan Maiden and to the myth of ''The Cowherd and the Weaver''.<ref name=Danandjaja1995/> As the tale continues, Mikeran fashions a thousand straw sandals to reach the sky world and find his wife. When he meets his parents-in-law, the father-in-law forces him to perform some tasks, and tricks the human with cutting a thousand watermelons in one day. The human's sky wife knows it is a trap, but he does it anyway and is washed away by a flood created from the [[watermelon]]s. Thus, they can only meet on the night of the ''Tanabata'' festival.<ref name=Danandjaja1995/>

Tales collected from [[Ōmi Province]] (''Ika no Woumi'') and [[Suruga Province]] (''Miho Matsubara'') are close to the human husband/swan spouse narrative, whereas in a story from [[Tango Province]] (''Taniha no Kori'') it is an elderly couple who strand the celestial maiden on Earth and she becomes their adopted daughter to keep them company.<ref>{{cite journal |id={{Gale|A251191571}} |last1=Palmer |first1=Edwina |title='Slit belly swamp': a Japanese myth of the origin of the Pleiades? |journal=Asian Ethnology |date=22 September 2010 |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=311–332 }}</ref> In addition, versions collected from Omi Province also show that the celestial maiden or divine fairy character became entwined locally with Shinto deity [[Sugawara no Michizane]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Si Jun |last2=Jang |first2=Kyung Nam |last3=Hwang |first3=Min Ho |title=The review on the formation and transformation Swan Maiden Tales in Omi Region |journal=비교일본학 |date=2016 |volume=36 |pages=181–200 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002119004 |language=ja }}</ref>

A heavenly maiden with a ''hagoromo'' (a robe or garment) has also been proclaimed as ancestress of the Kirihata family. In this ancestor myth, the forefather is named Tayu Kirihata, who marries a celestial maiden.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Sugawara Michijane and Kikuishihime Appearing on Swan Maiden Tales in Omi Area |journal=Journal of Japanese Language and Literature |date=August 2016 |volume=98 |issue=2 |pages=69–95 |doi=10.17003/jllak.2016.98.2.69 |last1=Lee Si-Jun |doi-access=free }}</ref>

===Northeast Asia===
The Northeast Asia region (more specifically, [[Manchuria]]) also records the tale of the swan maiden, but in the form of the "Heavenly Maiden". In a published tale, the heavenly maiden descends to earth to bathe in a lake, marries a human man and becomes "the primeval ancestress of the [[Manchu people|Manchu]]".<ref name=":8"/>

In one version of the origin of the [[Dörbet Oirat|Dörbed]], a hunter climbs up Nidu Mountain, where a lake is located. When he approaches the body of water, he sees four "goddesses" playing in the water. He returns home to fetch a net, and climbs the mountain again. Lying in wait to spring a trap, he uses the net to capture one of the goddess while the other escaped back to the heavens. The goddess and the human marry, but later they must part, and she returns to her heavenly realm. Once there, she realizes she is pregnant, and descends to earth to give birth to her child, a boy. She sets a cradle for him on the tree branches and a bird to look after the child. Now finished, she flies back to the heavens.<ref name=Stuart1992/>

===Melanesia===
In a tale from the island of [[Efate]], the "people of the sky" descend to earth to fish during the night, drop their white wings (''inlailaita'' or "thin sails") on the shore, and leave before dawn. One day, a man witnesses their coming and, after they land, hides a pair of wings in the stem of a banana plant. After the sky-people finish their activities, they depart to the skies, except one woman, who was the owner of the pair of wings. She and the man marry and have two boys, ''Maka Tafaki'' and ''Karisi Bum''. The human/sky girl relationship turns sour. Later, she regains the wings and returns to the skies. Their tale continues as the brothers reach the sky land years later and visit their grandmother. The tale also serves to explain the introduction of several types of [[Yam (vegetable)|yams]] among human populations.<ref>Mackenzie, Donald A. ''[https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/myths-melanesia-and-indonesia Myths from Melanesia and Indonesia]''. The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd., London. [1930] pp. 123-128.</ref>

In a tale from [[New Hebrides]], a man named [[Tagaro]] spies on winged women, named either ''Banewonowono'' ("web skin", possibly referring to [[bat]]-like wings), or ''Vinmara'' ("dove skin"), who descend to bathe in a lake. The man takes the wings of one of them. One day, when gathering yams, Tagaro's brothers scold her and she cries, her tears washing away the soil that covered the hiding place of her wings. She puts them on and returns to the skies.<ref>Codrington, Robert Henry. ''[https://archive.org/details/b21936171/page/174/mode/2up?q=tagaro The Melanesians: studies in their anthropology and folk-lore]''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1891. p. 172.</ref><ref>Gray, Louis H. ''[https://archive.org/details/mythologyallrac07maccgoog/page/n211/mode/2up The Mythology of all Races]''. Vol. IX. Oceania. Boston: Marshall Jones Company. 1916. pp. 138–139.</ref><ref>Mackenzie, Donald A. ''[https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/myths-melanesia-and-indonesia Myths from Melanesia and Indonesia]''. The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd., London. [1930] pp. 128-129.</ref>

In a similar story, collected from [[Maewo Island]] (Aurora Island), in [[Vanuatu]], with the title ''The Winged Wife'', the hero's name is Qat. In this version of the story, the maiden from the sky has "bird-like" wings. After she is stranded on Earth, Qat's mother scolds her, she cries and finds her hidden pair of wings. She returns to the sky realm and her husband, Qat, goes after her.<ref>Codrington, Robert Henry. ''[https://archive.org/details/b21936171/page/399/mode/1upThe Melanesians: studies in their anthropology and folk-lore]''. Oxford: Clarendon Press. 1891. pp. 397–398.</ref><ref>Mackenzie, Donald A. ''[https://indianculture.gov.in/ebooks/myths-melanesia-and-indonesia Myths from Melanesia and Indonesia]''. The Gresham Publishing Company Ltd., London. [1930] pp. 128, 129.</ref>

In a tale from [[New Guinea]], originally collected by Jan de Vries and translated into Hungarian with the title ''A tíz égi asszony'' ("The Ten Celestial Women"), an old woman lived near a coral reef in [[Tidore]], where ten women from heaven come to bathe. One day, a shipwrecked sailor is rescued by the old woman and told about the ten beautiful women that come to bathe. The man decides to spy on them. He decides to marry the youngest, so he hides her wings before she flies back to the skies (as the old woman advised) and gets her as his wife. She bears him two sons. While he away fishing for his family, the celestial wife finds her stolen pair of wings and returns to the skies. The human asks the bird to help him reach the Sky Realm. There, he has to identify his true wife from a queue of identical sky women, which he does. The man, then, is given an empty bamboo cane, filled with many types of cereal grains, and he must find the barley grains - a task he accomplishes with the use of feathers. At last, he and his wife return to Earth, and their four sons become rajahs of [[Sultanate of Jailolo#Origins|Djilolo]], [[Sultanate of Bacan#Early history|Bahtjan]], [[Sultanate of Ternate#Pre-colonial period|Ternate]], and [[Sultanate of Tidore#Origins|Tidore]].<ref>[[Gyula Ortutay|Ortutay Gyula]]; Bodrogi Tibor; [[Karig Sára]]. ''A bőbeszédű teknősbéka: AUSZTRÁLIAI, ÓCEÁNIAI, INDONÉZIAI, KAMBODZSAI, BURMAI, KASMÍRI, INDIAI NÉPEK MESÉI''. Budapest: Móra Ferenc Ifjúsági Könyvkiadó, 1968. pp. 80-83.</ref>

===Africa===
====Southeast Africa====
The narrative of the Sky-Maiden was collected in song form from the [[Ndau people]], titled ''Legend and Song of the Sky-Maiden'': the daughter of a powerful chief who lived in the sky and her attendants go down to Earth to bathe, and it becomes a dare amongst the royal princes to see who can fetch her plume/feather – the symbol of her otherwordliness. The victor is a poor man who, as a subversion of the common narrative, gets to live with his sky-wife in her abode.<ref>Burlin, Natalie Curtis. ''Songs and tales from the dark continent, recorded from the singing and the sayings of C. Kamba Simango ... and Madikane Cele''. New York; Boston: G. Schirmer. 1920. pp. 51–53. [https://archive.org/details/songsandtalesfr00elgoog/page/n90/mode/2up]</ref> A version of the tale in narrative form was given as ''The Sky-People'' (''Vasagole'') by [[Franz Boas]] and C. Kamba Simango in the ''[[Journal of American Folk-Lore]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Boas |first1=Franz |last2=Simango |first2=C. Kamba |title=Tales and Proverbs of the Vandau of Portuguese South Africa |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=1922 |volume=35 |issue=136 |pages=151–204 |doi=10.2307/535015 |jstor=535015 }}</ref>

In ''Tshinyama's Heavenly Maidens'', two winged maidens descend from the heavens to an earthly watering hole – an event witnessed by a mortal man.<ref>Aardema, Verna. ''Behind the back of the mountain; Black folktales from southern Africa''. New York: Dial Press. 1973. pp. 19–25.</ref>

====Madagascar====
In a [[Malagasy language|Malagasy]] tale, obtained from Vàkin-Ankarãtra (''The way in which Adrianòro obtained a wife from Heaven''), the hero Adrianoro is informed that three maidens bathe in a lake, and tries to set a snare (trap) for them by [[shapeshifting]] into fruits or seeds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Sibree |first1=James |title=The Oratory, Songs, Legends, and Folk-Tales of the Malagasy [Continued] |journal=The Folk-Lore Journal |date=1883 |volume=1 |issue=7 |pages=201–211 |doi=10.1080/17442524.1883.10602659 |jstor=1252662 }}</ref>

====East Africa====
Researcher E. Dora Earthy reported tales from the Lenge people about the "maidens from heaven": they marry mortal men and, depending on the tale, either escape back to Heaven or decide to remain with them.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Earthy |first1=E. Dora |title=An analysis of folktales of the lenge, Portuguese East Africa |journal=Ethnos |date=January 1953 |volume=18 |issue=1–2 |pages=73–85 |doi=10.1080/00141844.1953.9980763 }}</ref>
===North America===
In a [[Yuchi]] tale, ''A Hunter Who Captured a Woman from the Sky'', collected in 1931, a man was hunting when he saw something descending from heavens carrying people with it, some pretty women among them. He captured and married one of the women.<ref>Grantham, Bill. ''Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians''
[electronic resource]. 2002. pp. 189–191. [http://florida.theorangegrove.org/og/file/6fca81bf-c150-3000-2ecc-069ea91a2aa6/1/CreationMythsofCreekIndians.pdf]</ref>

In a [[Muscogee|Creek]] tale from Alabama, ''The Celestial Skiff'', recorded in 1929, a group of people descend from the sky in a canoe. At one time, a man manages to capture one woman of that group and has many children with her. Years later, the woman tries to climb onto the canoe to return to the sky.<ref>Grantham, Bill. ''Creation Myths and Legends of the Creek Indians''
[electronic resource]. 2002. pp. 191–193. [http://florida.theorangegrove.org/og/file/6fca81bf-c150-3000-2ecc-069ea91a2aa6/1/CreationMythsofCreekIndians.pdf]</ref>

==The Star Wife or Star Women==
A third occurrence of the supernatural spouse from above is the Star Women or, in the words of E. Hartland, "The Star's Daughter".<ref>Yearsley, Macleod. ''The Folklore of Fairy-tale''. London: Watts & Co., 1924. pp. 178-179.</ref> Scholars see a possible relation of this character with the Swan Maiden legend.<ref>Lankford, George E. ''Reachable stars: patterns in the ethnoastronomy of eastern North America''. The University of Alabama Press. 2007. pp. 196–200. {{ISBN|978-0-8173-1568-9}}.</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lauder |first=Adam |title=Rita Letendre's Astral Abstractions |journal=The American Indian Quarterly |volume=46 |issue=1 |date=2022 |page=108 |doi=10.1353/aiq.2022.0004|s2cid=250269285 }}.</ref>

===Native American===
====Overview====
The motif of the Star Maiden can be found in Native American folklore and mythology,<ref>Lankford, George E. ''Reachable stars: patterns in the ethnoastronomy of eastern North America''. The University of Alabama Press. 2007. pp. 182–196. {{ISBN|978-0-8173-1568-9}}.</ref> as the character of the Star Wife:<ref>{{Cite journal |jstor = 4317945|last1 = Schorer|first1 = C. E.|title = Indian Tales of C. C. Trowbridge: "The Star Woman"|journal = Midwest Folklore|year = 1962|volume = 12|issue = 1|pages = 17–24}}</ref> she usually descends from heaven in a basket along with her sisters to play in a prairie or to bathe in a lake, and a mortal male, entranced by her figure, plans to make her his own. It is later discovered that she is a maiden from the stars or a star herself who came down to Earth.<ref>"The Celestial Sisters". In: Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe; Mathews, Cornelius. ''The Indian fairy book: from the original legends''. New York, Allen Brothers. 1869. pp. 7–15. [https://archive.org/details/indianfairybook00mclegoog/page/n16/mode/2up]</ref><ref>"The Celestial Sisters: a [[Shawnee]] tale". In: Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. ''Algic Researches: Comprising Inquiries Respecting the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians. First Series. Indian Tales And Legends''. New-York: Harper, 1839. pp. 67–73.</ref><ref>"The Star Maiden". In: Manning-Sanders, Ruth. ''Red Indian Folk And Fairy Tales''. New York: Roy Publishers, 1962 [1960?]. pp. 15–23.</ref>

According to Anthony Wonderley, despite the "very close similarity" between both tales, ethnologue John Bierhorst calls this North American tale the "Sky Maidens": a group of maidens descend from the heavens in a basket to dance of play ball.<ref name="Wonderley 2009 Iroquois Star Lore">{{cite book |last1=Wonderley |first1=Anthony |chapter=Iroquois Star Lore: What Does It Mean? |pages=1–13 |jstor=j.ctt1j5d789.6 |title=At the Font of the Marvelous: Exploring Oral Narrative and Mythic Imagery of the Iroquois and Their Neighbors |date=2009 |publisher=Syracuse University Press |isbn=978-0-8156-5137-6 }}</ref> Wonderley locates the tale in the Southeast, among the Shawnee, the Pawnee and possibly among the Iroquois (since the Iroquois tale was written down after 1900).<ref name="Wonderley 2009 Iroquois Star Lore"/>

====Regional variants====
In a [[Sioux]] legend, the human hunter marries the Star Wife and fathers a son. Mother and child escape to the Star-realm, but begin to miss the human father. Her father suggests they bring him there to reunite the family, and they do so.<ref>Nixon-Roulet, Mary F. ''[https://archive.org/details/indianfolktales00nixo/page/20/mode/2up Indian Folk Tales]''. New York, Cincinnati, etc.: American book company. [ca. 1911] pp. 21–27.</ref>

In a third variation, an inversion occurs: the hunter is taken in a basket to the Star-country in order to live with his Star Wife. However, he begins to miss his human mother. So, with the aid of a pair of red swan's wings for him and his wife, they return to the human world.<ref>Kennedy, Howard Angus. ''[https://archive.org/details/newworldfairyboo00kenn/page/174/mode/2up The new world fairy book]''. London: Dent. 1904. pp. 174–186.</ref>

In a tale attributed to the [[Wyandot people]], seven Star Sisters (the Pleiades) descend to Earth in a basket. One day, a human hunter captures the youngest by her girdle while their sisters escape in the basket. The maiden promises to become the hunter's wife, but before that he must accompany her to the sky ("the Sun's lodge").<ref>Olcott, Frances Jenkins; Richardson, Frederick. ''The red Indian fairy book for the children's own reading and for story-tellers''. Boston; New York: Houghton Mifflin Co.. 1917. pp. 285–287.</ref>

Author Macleod Yearsley provided the summary of a similar [[Algonquin people|Algonquin]] tale: a hunter sees twelve maidens descend from the sky in a basket. When he tries to approach them, the basket is pulled back to the sky. The next day, the hunter assumes animal shape (a mouse) to create a false sense of safety for the sky girls. The basket descends and the hunter captures one of the maidens. He marries her and they have a son. Some years into their marriage, the sky maiden weaves a new basket, takes her son with her, and uses the magic song to elevate herself and her son back to her sky realm. The hunter goes after them.<ref>Yearsley, Macleod. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002220419&view=1up&seq=196&skin=2021 The Folklore of Fairy-tale]''. London: Watts & Co., 1924. pp. 178-179.</ref> In other versions of the same tale, the protagonist is named Waupee, the White Hawk, and the story has been variously sourced: a version titled ''The Daughters of the Star'', from Canada,<ref>Bemister, Margaret. ''Thirty Indian Legends of Canada''. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. 1976 [1917]. pp. 47–50.</ref> or from the [[Ojibwe]]s;<ref>Monckton, Elizabeth. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89098873490&view=1up&seq=69&skin=2021&q1=%22star%20maidens%22 The White Canoe: And Other Legends of the Ojibways]''. New York: Broadway Pub. Co, 1904. pp. 33-53.</ref> ''The White Hawk'', from the [[Shawnee]];<ref>Cowles, J. Darrow (1924). ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89071512867&view=1up&seq=73&skin=2021&q1=%22star%20maidens%22 Indian nature myths]''. Chicago: A. Flanagan. pp. 65-73.</ref> ''The Star-Maiden'', from the [[Chippewa]];<ref>Spence, Lewis. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=loc.ark:/13960/t9571j39x&view=1up&seq=188&skin=2021&q1=%22star%20maidens%22 The Myths of the North American Indians]''. New York: T. Y. Crowell company, 1914. pp. 152-156.</ref> ''Waupee White Hawk and His Family'', from [[Ohio]].<ref>Katz, Michael Jay. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=K24jTOfk_MgC&dq=%22WAUPEE%22+WHITE+HAWK&pg=PA131 Buckeye Legends: Folktales and Lore from Ohio]''. University of Michigan Press, 1994. pp. 131-140 (Tale nr. 18). {{ISBN|9780472065585}}.</ref>

===Peru===
In a Peruvian tale collected by ethnologue {{interlanguage link|John Bierhorst|de|John Bierhorst}} with the title ''The Boy who Rose to the Sky'', a youth is sent to guard his family's potato plantation from whoever is stealing their yield. At night, three stars descend from the sky in form of glowing maidens. The youth captures one of them as the others escape, and makes her his wife. After some time, the star maiden flees from her human husband and returns to her sky realm. Still on Earth, the human husband decides to follow her and convinces a condor to take him there, by feeding the bird with two llamas on the way to the heavens. The llama meat is not enough to feed the condor, and the youth slices a bit of his leg to feed his transport on the last part of the journey. He meets his star wife once again, but has to return to earth after his wife expels him.<ref>Elswit, Sharon Barcan. ''The Latin American Story Finder: A Guide to 470 Tales from Mexico, Central America and South America, Listing Subjects and Sources''. McFarland, 2015. p. 29. {{ISBN|9781476622293}}.</ref>

===Philippines===
Philippine academic [[E. Arsenio Manuel]], among others, stated that the character of the "Star Maiden" is prevalent in Filipino folklore.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9BrfLWdeISoC&dq=%22siblaw+taraw%22&pg=PA1226 Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife]''. Vol. 2. Edited by Jonathan H. X. Lee, Kathleen M. Nadeau. ABC-CLIO, 2011. p. 1226. {{ISBN|9780313350665}}.</ref><ref name=Pia2006>{{cite journal |last1=Pia |first1=Arboleda |title=Siblaw Taraw and Other Stories: Ifiallig Orature and Worldview |journal=大阪外国語大学論集 |date=28 March 2006 |volume=33 |pages=41–57 |hdl=11094/79978 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

In a tale collected from the "Nabaloi" ([[Ibaloi people]], an indigenous ethnic group in the [[Philippines]]), ''The star wives'', the stars themselves descend from heaven and bathe in a lake in Batan. The local males hide the stars' clothing, which allow the stars to fly, and marry them. Eventually the men grow old, but the stars retain their youth, regain their clothing and return to the skies.<ref>Moss, C. R. ''Nabaloi Tales''. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology. Vol. 17, No. 5. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. 1924. pp. 258–261.</ref>

In another tale, collected by [[Fay-Cooper Cole]] from the Tinguian ([[Itneg people]]), in the Philippines, the star maiden Gaygayoma descends from the sky with other stars in a sugar-cane field to eat the produce. The plantation belong to a human named Aponitolau, who had a mortal wife, Aponibolinayen. One night, he goes to the fields to check on the bamboo fence and sees many stars, "dazzling lights" falling from the sky, and one that "looked like a flame of fire" who left her garment near the fence. The human farmer Aponitolau frightens the many stars, which return to the skies, and sits on the maiden's garment. She introduces herself as the daughter of Bagbagak and Sinag, two celestial beings, and reveals she wishes to take him as her husband.<ref>Cole, Fay-Cooper. ''[https://archive.org/details/traditionsofting141cole/page/14/mode/2up Traditions of the Tinguian; a study in Philippine folklore]''. Chicago: 1915. pp. 107-112.</ref><ref>"The Story of Gaygayoma who Lives up Above". In: [[Mabel Cook Cole|Cole, Mabel Cook]]. ''Philippine Folk Tales''. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & co. 1916. pp. 37–43.</ref>

In a tale collected from the [[Bontoc people|Bontoc Igorot]] with the title ''The Stars'', the stars descend to eat a sugar-cane plantation that belongs to a human farmer. The human captures the star maiden and marries her. After bearing him five sons, she spends her time sewing back her wings to wear them and return to the sky.<ref>Seidenadel, Carl Wilhelm. ''[https://archive.org/details/rosettaproject_bnc_morsyn-1/page/548/mode/1up The first grammar of the language spoken by the Bontoc Igorot, with a vocabulary and texts, mythology, folklore, historical episodes, songs]''. Chicago: The Open court publishing company. 1909. pp. 548–551.</ref>

In a tale collected from a Bontok woman from Tukukan village and published with the title ''Tokfefe, the Star Wife'', some stars descend to bathe in a terrestrial lake; a man steals the wings of one of them and marries her; she later discovers the hiding place of her wings (her husband's granary shed), retrieves them and flies back to the sky.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Manuel |first1=E. Arsenio |title=Philippine oral traditions: Theory and practice |journal=Philippine Quarterly of Culture and Society |date=1980 |volume=8 |issue=1 |pages=7–27 |jstor=29791664 }}</ref>

In a tale from the Ifialig of [[Barlig]], titled ''Siblaw Taraw'' ("The Star Maiden"), a bachelor climbs up a mountain to reach the enchanted lake of Siblaw. That night, he sees some celestial maidens coming down from the heavens to bathe in the water, after they take off their garments and wings. The next night, the human hides the wings of one of them and strands her on Earth, while her companions returns to the skies. He marries the star girl, now named Taraw ('Star') and she bears a little girl. One day, when her daughter is 15 years old, Taraw finds her lost wings and, saying goodbye to her daughter, departs back to the skies.<ref>''[https://books.google.com/books?id=9BrfLWdeISoC&dq=%22siblaw+taraw%22&pg=PA1226 Encyclopedia of Asian American Folklore and Folklife]''. Vol. 2. Edited by Jonathan H. X. Lee, Kathleen M. Nadeau. ABC-CLIO, 2011. pp. 1226-1227. {{ISBN|9780313350665}}.</ref><ref name=Pia2006/>

==Other supernatural women==
===Europe===
====Balkans: Vilas and Samovilas====
Similar characters to the Swan Maiden are attested in Greek and Balkanic traditions. These figures are known in [[South Slavic languages|South Slavic areas]] (namely, [[Slovenian language|Slovenian]], [[Slovak language|Slovak]], [[Serbian language|Serbian]] and [[Croatian language|Croatian]]) as ''[[Vila (fairy)|víla]]'', in [[Bulgarian language|Bulgarian]] as ''samodiva'' and in [[Macedonian language|Macedonian]] as ''samovila'' - all of them described as beautiful, otherworldly maidens who dance in groups in the forests.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Conrad |first1=Joseph L. |title=Female Spirits Among the South Slavs |journal=Folklorica |date=17 January 2010 |volume=5 |issue=2 |doi=10.17161/folklorica.v5i2.3652 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Plotnikova |first1=Anna |title=Slovak folk tradition in ethnolinguistic studies of the Carpathian-Balkan area |journal=Human Affairs |date=1 April 2013 |volume=23 |issue=2 |pages=295–301 |doi=10.2478/s13374-013-0127-3 |s2cid=144525045 }}</ref><ref name="Левкиевская 2011">{{cite journal |last1=Левкиевская |first1=Е. Е. |title=Словенская мифология на пограничье традиций |journal=Slovenica |date=2011 |issue=I |pages=165–175 |url=https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/slovenskaya-mifologiya-na-pogranichie-traditsiy }}</ref> In South Slavic folklore, these female beings can be forced to marry mortal men if they are able to secure a maiden's clothes, wings or accessories, which grants their magical powers. After the marriage, the fairy maiden either regains or discovers the stolen belonging, wears it and departs, leaving her human family behind.<ref name="Левкиевская 2011"/>

Romanian folklorist Marcu Beza noted that a story about a shepherd stealing a fairy maiden's clothes, marrying her and she later asking for them back "spread all over the Balkans", barring minor differences: the shepherd is described as a skilled flute player, and the garments are replaced by a kerchief, a veil, or a scarf.<ref name=Beza1925/>

Commenting on a South Slavic tale collected by [[Friedrich Salomo Krauss]], [[Walter Puchner]] noted the motif of the theft of the Vila (Neraida, in Greece)'s clothes occurred all over the [[Balkans]].<ref name="Krauss, Friedrich Salomo 2002. p. 611">Krauss, Friedrich Salomo; ''Volkserzählungen der Südslaven: Märchen und Sagen, Schwänke, Schnurren und erbauliche Geschichten''. Burt, Raymond I. and Puchner, Walter (eds). Böhlau Verlag Wien. 2002. p. 611. {{ISBN|9783205994572}}.</ref>

Scholarship draws attention to the fact that the Balkanic vilas are associated with the colour white, either in her clothes or in her physical appearance.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Miller |first1=Dean |title=Supernatural Beings and 'Song and Dance': Celtic and Slavic Exemplars |journal=Studia Celto-Slavica |date=2012 |volume=6 |pages=101–112 |doi=10.54586/VOJO4470 |s2cid=244144332 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Раденковић |first1=Љубинко |title=Српска народна култура између Истока и Запада |date=2014 |publisher=Београд |isbn=978-86-7179-086-4 |page=23 |hdl=21.15107/rcub_dais_4011 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> Likewise, British classicist [[H. J. Rose]] compared the Vila, who wears white garments, to the Greek ''neraidas'': they are described as ''ἁσπροφὀραις'' ("bearing white clothes"), an inversion of the usual naked depiction of Greek nymphs of old.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Rose |first1=H. J. |title=Presidential Address: Things New and Old |journal=Folklore |date=1934 |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=8–28 |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1934.9718529 |jstor=1255758 }}</ref>

Scholars on the cultural history of the Balkan region have argued that these fairy- or nymph-like characters (Vilas, Samovilas, Samodivas, and Nereids) "in many respects" mirror similar figures of [[Greek mythology|Graeco]]-[[Thracian mythology|Thracian]] origin,<ref>Antonijević, Dragoslav. "[https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/11778 A Contribution to the Study of the Folklore Ritual Substratum in the Balkans]". In: ''Balcanica: annuaire de l'Institut des études balkaniques'', 1983, 13-14 (1982-1983), pp. 416-417.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hrobat |first1=Katja |title=Use of oral tradition in archaeology: The case of Ajdovščina above Rodik, Slovenia |journal=European Journal of Archaeology |date=2007 |volume=10 |issue=1 |pages=31–56 |doi=10.1177/1461957108091481 |s2cid=162477122 }}</ref> and possibly originate from the belief in female nature spirits.<ref name="Левкиевская 2011"/>{{efn|[[Éva Pócs]] treats them as remnants of ancient fairy cults of Southern Europe.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.1057/978-1-137-58520-2_11 |chapter=Small Gods, Small Demons: Remnants of an Archaic Fairy Cult in Central and South-Eastern Europe |title=Fairies, Demons, and Nature Spirits |year=2018 |last1=Pócs |first1=Éva |pages=255–276 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan UK |location=London |isbn=978-1-137-58519-6 }}</ref>}}

=====Bulgaria=====
The counterpart to the Swan Maiden in the Bulgarian tale corpus is the [[Samodiva (folklore)|Samodiva]]: ambivalent (both helpful and malevolent) ethereal maidens of great beauty, who appear in mountains and forests near water courses.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Dukova |first1=Ute |title=Das Bild des Drachen im bulgarischen Märchen |journal=Fabula |date=January 1970 |volume=11 |issue=Jahresband |pages=209–252 |doi=10.1515/fabl.1970.11.1.209 |s2cid=161960018 }}</ref> Their robes or wings can be stolen by humans to entrap them in the mortal realm.<ref>Алещенко, Е. И. (2015). "Болгарские сказки о самовилах как отражение фольклорной картины мира" [Bulgarian fairy tales about samovilas as the reflection of the folklore world picture]. In: Известия Волгоградского государственного педагогического университета, (3 (98)), 178, 182. URL: https://cyberleninka.ru/article/n/bolgarskie-skazki-o-samovilah-kak-otrazhenie-folklornoy-kartiny-mira (дата обращения: 19.12.2021).</ref> As such, the international type ATU 400, "The Man on a Quest for the Lost Wife", is known in the Bulgarian Folktale Catalogue, organized by Liliana Daskalova, as "Самодива-Невяста" ("The Samodiva Bride").<ref>Даскалова-Перковска, Лиляна et al. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=_TPgAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%A1%D0%B0%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B4%D0%B8%D0%B2%D0%B0-%D0%9D%D0%B5%D0%B2%D1%8F%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%22+400 Български фолклорни приказки: каталог]". Университетско издателство "Св. Климент Охридски", 1994. pp. 137-138. {{ISBN|9789540701561}}.</ref><ref name="Krauss, Friedrich Salomo 2002. p. 611"/>

In a Bulgarian folk song, ''The Samodiva married against her will'', three girls, not related to each other, doff their magical garments to bathe, but are seen by a shepherd that takes their clothing. Each girl separately try to plead and convince the youth to return the clothing. He does so – but only to the first two; the third maiden he chose to wed after she revealed she was an only child. After the wedding, the village insists she dances for the amusement of everyone else, but the samodiva says she cannot dance without her garment. Once her husband delivers her the clothing, she flies away.<ref>Garnett, Lucy Mary Jane. ''The women of Turkey and their folk-lore: The Christian Women''. London: David Nutt,. 1890. pp. 352–355. [https://archive.org/details/39020024827720-thewomenofturke/page/n439/mode/2up]</ref>

=====North Macedonia=====
Romanian author [[Marcu Beza]] reported a version of the tale "among the [[Vlach people|Vlach]]" of (then) Macedonia. In this story, a shepherd named Gógu plays his pipe, as a gathering of nymphs or fairies appear to dance to the song near a pool or a fountain. The ethereal maidens either take off their rings, counting them one by one, or their garments. In the version with the garments, the shepherd steals the maiden's garments and forces her to marry him. Some time after the wedding, during a celebration in the village, the maiden asks for her raiment back. She puts it on and vanishes back to the skies.<ref name=Beza1925/> He also stated that this version is parallel to a Romanian tale titled ''Ion Buzdugan'', collected by fellow folklorist I. C. Fundescu.<ref name=Beza1925/>

In another Macedonian tale, ''The Shepherd and the Three Vilas'' (''Ovčar i tri vile''), a poor shepher takes his sheep to graze in the woods and spies on three maidens bathing. For three days, he spies, and on the third day, he steals their garments to convince one of them to marry him. The maidens reveals they are vilas, magical spirits of great power, and it will do him no good to marry one. Still, he insists on marrying one of them, and chooses the youngest. The young vila's sisters regain their garments and fly away, leaving the other maiden to her fate. She marries the young shepherd. One year later, during a celebration on the village, the local women invite the vila to dance with them the [[Kolo (dance)|kolo]]. Since vila can only dance with their complete outfits, the vila wife asks his husband for it back. After the dance, the vila wife begins to ascend to the skies, but begs her husband to search for her in the village of Kuškundaljevo.<ref>Mihailovich, Vasa D. ''Tales From the Heart of the Balkans''. Greenwood Press. 2001. pp. 114-121. {{ISBN|1-56308-870-3}}.</ref> This tale was previously published by linguist [[August Leskien]] in [[German language|German]] with the title ''Der Hirt und die drei Samovilen'' ("The Shepherd and the three Samovilas"), and sourced as from Bulgaria.<ref>Leskien, August. ''Balkanmärchen''. Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1915, pp. 61-67.</ref> In regards to the location "Kuškundaleo", Leskien supposed the name was of [[Turkish language|Turkish]] origin, but his colleague professor Stumme presumed that the name was a compound term in [[Slavic languages|Slavic]], meaning "The Bird Catcher Village".<ref>Leskien, August. ''Balkanmärchen''. Jena: Eugen Diederichs, 1915, p. 323.</ref>

=====Romania=====
I. C. Fundescu collected a Romanian variant titled ''Ion Buzduganu'': youth Ion works as a goatherd and walks into the forest one day. There, he sees three maidens bathing in a pool of crystalline water. He steals the garments of the first two maidens, who begs him to give it back. He gets the clothes of the third and youngest and makes her his wife. During a celebration in the village, the maiden asks for her garments back, so the people can see her dance. When she puts it, she says to her husband Ion he must seek her out, then disappears. Ion, now, has to go on a quest to win her back.<ref>Fundescu, I. C. ''[https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hxcnvt&view=1up&seq=101&skin=2021&q1=%22fata%20din%20dafin%22 Basme, orații, păcălituri și ghicitori]''. Bucuresci: Librari Editori Socec și Compania. 1875. pp. 97-104.</ref>

=====Eastern Europe=====
In ''The Youth and the Vila'', the youngest son, who is considered a fool by his two elder brothers, manages to pluck the golden hairs of a [[Samodiva (mythology)|vila]] who has been eating the silver pears of his father's garden.<ref>Houghton, Louise Seymour. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45214/pg45214-images.html#ch15.4 The Russian grandmother's wonder tales]''. New York: C. Scribner's sons. 1906. pp. 190–195.</ref> In a second tale, ''The Vila in the Golden Castle'', a father asks his three sons to guard his flower garden at night, because swans have been eating the flowers (in reality, the vilas were). The youth plucks the hairs of one of the vilas, and she lives with him for a week, before she departs to the Golden Castle. The youth goes after her and, after reaching the Golden Castle, has to work for her old Vila mother before he marries her daughter. The tale ends with the youth and the vila escaping from the old Vila by throwing a magical object behind them (a comb that becomes a river).<ref>Houghton, Louise Seymour. ''[https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45214/pg45214-images.html#ch16.1 The Russian grandmother's wonder tales]''. New York: C. Scribner's sons. 1906. pp. 196–202.</ref>

==== Ukraine: Povitrulya ====
In a Ukrainian tale collected by folklorist {{ill|Petro Lintur|uk|Лінтур Петро Васильович}} from [[Khust]] with the title "Жена-поветруля" ([[Ukrainian language|Ukrainian]]: "Жона-повітруля"; English: "The Povetrulya Wife"), a minister's son named Joseph likes to hunt in the forest, and is pretty good at it. One night, he gets lost in the dark forest. He wanders off for a long time until he reaches a lake where twelve [[povitrulya]]s are bathing, their clothes strewn on the shore. The hunter hides the clothing of one of them. When they come out of the lake, eleven povitrulyas grab their clothes and fly off, leaving their twelfth member at the human's mercy. Joseph makes his way through the forest until he goes back to his father's house, the povitrulya just behind him. Joseph enters the house, locks the maiden's garments in a chest, and then takes the key himself. He marries the povitrulya and they have a son. Five years pass. One day, he leaves the key at home and goes with his parents to church. When he comes back, neither his wife nor his son is in the house. He goes to check on the chest, and sees it open, the garments nowhere to be seen. He then begins a quest for his wife: with the guidance of three wolves, he reaches two huts, one where his mother-in-law lives with the eleven povitrulyas, and another where his wife is. Joseph knocks on the old woman's hut, who angrily berates him and sets him tests: first, he is to identify his true wife from parade of povitrulyas; next, he is to build a spinning house on duck feet and legs for his mother-in-law, with a crystal bridge connecting the house to her old hut. After he fulfills the tasks, his povitrulya wife tells him they will escape that night with their son. She uses a magic ring to undo the house and the bridge and flees with her human husband in a Magical Flight sequence: he turns into a lake, she into a goose and their son into a gosling. Her mother comes to the lake and tries to trick her daughter and grandson, but the povitrulya remains steadfast and the old woman flies back home. Soon after, they change back and Joseph leaves his wife and son on the outskirts of the village, while he goes to gather the people. The man, however, forgets his povitrulya wife and, sometime later, is set to be married to another woman. The povitrulya maiden manages to go to the wedding and recalls his memory.<ref>"Сказки Верховины". Ужгород: Закарпатское областное книжно-газетное издательство, 1963. pp. 329-333.</ref>

In a [[Ukrainian Carpathians|Transcarpathian Ukrainian]] tale titled "Сопілкар Марко і повітруля" ("Piper Marko and the Povitrulya"), Marko is a poor widow's son and earns his living grazing the local herds. One day, when he was young, he takes the herd to graze in the forest and begins to play his pipe. An old man appears before him, and soon after twelve maidens (povitrulyas) come to dance. The old man tells Marko he can make one of the girls his wife if he takes one of the girls' clothes, but, once they take off their clothes after the dance, they become invisible, so Marko must choose the one he fancies the most. The next day, Marko follows the old man's advice: he hides the clothes of one of the povitrulyas, while the others fly away. He then takes the maiden to his mother's house, where he hides the maiden's garments under a pile of firewood, marries her and they have a son. One day, Marko goes on a hunt and leaves his povitrulya wife under his mother's care. After he leaves, the povitrulya freshens herself before her mother-in-law. The old widow admires her beauty, and the povitrulya, cunningly, tells her that she will look even more beautiful with her garments. Marko's mother finds and returns her garments; the povitrulya puts it, grabs her son, tells her mother-in-law to let Marko follow her to the Glass Mountain, and vanishes. Marko returns from the hunt and learns of his wife's disappearance, so he takes his wife's artisanal eggs with him and begins a quest. However, he does not know where the Glass Mountain lies, so he plays his pipe and the same old man appears to him. Marko explains his dilemma, and the old man gives him a pair of boots and a cap of invisibility. He uses it to reach the Glass Mountain and meets his son just outside his mother's hut. He gives his son the eggs as proof of his presence, and the povitrulya maiden welcomes him. However, the povitrulya's mother appears before him and orders him on some tasks: to circle the hut three times with her spindle and not let it burn, and to build her a twelve-store palace overnight. The povitrulya maiden gives Marko her ring, which he uses to accomplish both tasks. Sometime later, the povitrulya tells Marko they will escape; Marko lets them fly ahead of him while he uses the magic boots to return home.<ref>"Дванадцять братів. Закарпатські казки" [Twelve Brothers: Transcarpatian Tales]. Uzhorod: Карпати, 1972. pp. 145-147.</ref>

In another Transcarpathian Ukrainian tale titled "Йосиф-забудько" ("Iosif-Zabudko"), a minister has a son named Iosif that is so forgetful. One day, he asks his father to be allowed to hunt some game in the woods, and his father sends a person to chaperone him. However, Iosif gets lost in the woods and his father thinks he disappeared. The youth wander deep into the forest and finds twelve povitrulyas swimming in a lake, their clothes strew about by the shore. Iosif steals the garments of one of them; eleven of the maidens rush for their clothes and fly away, save for their companion, who remains with the human youth. Iosif goes back home with the garments and locks them in a chest; the povitrulya marries him, giving birth to a son three years later. One day, he goes fishing, but forgets to lock the chest; the povitrulya puts back her garments and flies away. Iosif returns and, not seeing his wife, decides to search for her. He meets three wolf brothers from a wolf pack, and the third wolf carries him to a mountain with a house atop it. Outside the house, he sees a boy - who is his son - and asks him where the mother is. The little boy says the povitrulyas live in the house and goes inside when an old woman appears. The old woman says Iosif has to identify his wife among the povitrulyas, otherwise, he will lose his head. Iosif is advised by his povitrulya wife and passes the test. Next, the old woman orders him to build a larger house for her and a bridge. Again, Iosif is helped by his wife, who gives him a magic ring with a bug encrusted on it to fulfil the task. The old woman is satisfied with the results and lives in her new house. Sometime later, the povitrulya wife convinces Iosif to take their son and run back to his homeland, and make the large house crumble by fiddling with the ring. The trio escape and the old woman chases after them, but they shapeshift into objects to trick her: Iosif becomes a fisherman, their son a bush, and she a goose. The old woman tries to draw the goose to her by giving her a magic egg, but the goose hides the egg under her wings and her mother relents. Later, Iosif asks his family to stay in the forest for a while, because he will come back with an entourage, but the povitrulya says he will forget them as soon as he takes three steps back into his house. It happens as she described: Iosif forgets about his wife, and is set to be married to a local girl. The povitrulya learns of this and cracks a nut to produce a dress. She dances in front of the second bride, who becomes so impressed she wants to buy her dress. The povitrulya agrees to trade it for a night with Iosif. She cannot make him remember and the wedding proceeds as planned. As a last resort, she cracks open the egg her mother threw at her and found a golden dress. She crashes the wedding in the golden dress and dances with Iosif, asking him if he can remarry when he already has a family. Iosif finally recognizes the povitrulya as his wife and goes back to her.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=qoOBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%99%D0%9E%D0%A1%D0%98%D0%A4-%D0%97%D0%90%D0%91%D0%A3%D0%94%D0%AC%D0%9A%D0%9E%22 Дванадцять братів. Закарпатські казки]" [Twelve Brothers: Transcarpatian Tales]. Uzhorod: Карпати, 1972. pp. 142-145.</ref>

===Middle East and Caucasus: The Peri===
It has been noted by Western writers that the character of the [[Peri]] (or Pari) of Persian and Islamic mythology, as a supernatural wife, shares similar traits with the swan maiden, in that the human male hides the Pari's wings and marries her. After some time, the Pari woman regains her wings and leaves her mortal husband.<ref>''Polish Fairy Tales''. Translated from A. J. Glinski by Maude Ashurst Biggs. New York: John Lane Company. 1920. p. 96.</ref><ref>[[Boria Sax|Sax, Boria]]. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=r1OeQM1RxpEC&q=%22peri%22&pg=PA65 The Serpent and the Swan: The Animal Bride in Folklore and Literature]''. Univ. of Tennessee Press, 1998. pp. 65, 226. {{ISBN|9780939923687}}.</ref> Scholar Ulrich Marzolph ([[:fa:اولریش مارزلف|fa]]) indicates an Indo-Persian origin for the character, who was later integrated into the Arab fairy tale tradition.<ref>{{cite book |doi=10.4324/9781315108407-4 |chapter=The Middle Eastern World's Contribution to Fairy-Tale History |title=The Fairy Tale World |year=2019 |last1=Marzolph |first1=Ulrich |pages=45–57 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY: Routledge, 2019. &#124; Series: The routledge worlds |isbn=9781315108407 |s2cid=167180357 }}</ref> The peri appears in [[Asia Minor]], [[Central Asia]], and was brought by the Turkic expansion to the Balkans, specifically to [[Bulgaria]] and [[North Macedonia|(then) Macedonia]].<ref>Radenković, Ljubinko. "South Slavic Folk Demonology Between East and West". In: ''[https://dais.sanu.ac.rs/handle/123456789/4011 Српска народна култура између Истока и Запада]'' [Serbian Folk Culture between East and West]. Belgrade:  Балканолошки институт Српске академије наука и уметности, 2014. p. 22. {{ISBN|978-86-7179-086-4}}. (in Serbian)</ref>

According to Turkologist [[Ignác Kúnos]], the peris in Turkish tales fly through the air with their cloud-like garments of a green colour, but also in the shape of doves. They also number forty, seven or three, and serve a Peri-king that can be a human person they stole from the human realm. Like vestals, Kúnos wrote, the peris belong to the spiritual realm until love sprouts in their hearts, and they must join with their mortal lovers, being abandoned by their sisters to their own devices. Also, the first meeting between humans and peris occurs during the latter's bathtime.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kúnos |first=Ignác |title=Osmanische Volksmärchen I. (Schluss) |journal=Ungarische Revue |volume=8 |date=1888 |page=337 |url=https://real-j.mtak.hu/6999/ |language=DE}}</ref>

====Armenia====
In the Armenian folktale ''Kush-Pari'' or ''The Bird-Peri'', a prince seeks the titular Kush-Pari, a ''Houri-Pari'' or "Fairy-Bird" ("a nymph of paradise in the shape of a bird", "a golden human-headed bird ... radiant as the sun"), as a present to the king he serves. After being captured, the Kush-Pari reveals to the king she transforms into a maiden after undonning her feather cloak and proposes she becomes his queen after his servant rescues her maid and brings back the fiery mares. Kush-Pari intends to use the fiery mares' milk for a special ritual: the king dies, but the prince survives, who she marries. At the end of the story, her new husband tells his wife that his father is blinded, but she reveals she was the cause for his blindness.<ref>Downing, Charles. ''Armenian Folk-tales and Fables''. London: Oxford University Press. 1972. pp. 28–39. {{ISBN|0-19-274117-9}}.</ref><ref>Surmelian, Leon. ''Apples of Immortality: Folktales of Armenia''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1968. pp. 97-106.</ref><ref>Dixon-Kennedy, Mike (1998). ''Encyclopedia of Russian and Slavic Myth and Legend''. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. pp. 160–161. {{ISBN|9781576070635}}.</ref> Author [[Leon Surmelian]] noted that this ''Houri-Pari'' was a "fiery creature", a maiden of great beauty.<ref>Surmelian, Leon. ''Apples of Immortality: Folktales of Armenia''. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press. 1968. p. 308.</ref>

====Iran====
In a Persian story, ''The Merchant's Son and the Peries'', the [[peri]]s of lore take off their garments and assume human form to bathe in the water, until a young man gets their clothes to force one of them to be his wife. The peris try to convince him not to, as they are "creatures of fire" and he, a human, is "made of water and clay".<ref>'Ināyat Āllāh; Scott, Jonathan. ''[https://archive.org/details/bahardanushorga00llgoog/page/n218/mode/2up Bahar-danush; or, Garden of knowledge. An oriental romance]''. Tome II. Shrewsbury, Printed by J. and W. Eddowes. 1799. pp. 213–224.</ref>

In the tale ''Prince Yousef of the Fairies and King Ahmad'' or its [[Russian language|Russian]] translation by professor {{ill|Mahomed-Nuri Osmanovich Osmanov|ru|Османов, Магомед-Нури Османович}}, "Юсуф — шах пери и Малек-Ахмад" ("Yusuf, the [[Shah]] of the [[Peri]]s and Malek-Ahmad"), a prince named Malek-Ahmad marries his sisters to three animals (a lion, a wolf and an eagle), and leaves home. He takes shelter with a [[Div (mythology)|Div]]-family. The Div-matriarch gives Malek-Ahmad a set of keys and forbids him to open two doors. He does anyway: behind the first door, he releases a prisoner named Yusuf, the Shah of the Peris, who flies back to [[Mount Qaf]]; behind the second, he finds a garden where three doves become maidens by taking off their clothes. Malek-Ahmad hides the clothing of the youngest dove-maiden (identified as a "Peri" in the story), while her sisters depart. Malek-Ahmad marries the dove-maiden and she bears two sons. Some time later, they reach a village where he celebrates his wedding with the peri. However, his peri-wife notices that some ''luti'' intend to kill him and his sons and kidnap her, so she convinces him to return her belongings. The peri-wife puts on the garments, begs her husband to come find her on Mount Qaf and flies away with her children. After a long journey, he reaches Mount Qaf, where he finds his peri wife, his sons and her brother Yusuf, the Shah of the Peris.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Khadish |first1=Pegah |title=The Morphology of Persian Fairy Tales |journal=Fabula |date=November 2009 |volume=50 |issue=3–4 |pages=283–292 |doi=10.1515/FABL.2009.023 |s2cid=162077992 }}</ref><ref>Персидские народные сказки. Сост. М.-Н. О. Османов, предисл. Д. С. Комиссарова. М., Главная редакция восточной литературы издательства «Наука», 1987. pp. 243-250.</ref>

==Popular culture==
===Literature===
Russian [[Romantic movement|Romantic]] writer [[Vasily Zhukovsky]] developed the theme of the bird maiden in his poem {{ill|"Сказка о царе Берендее"|ru|Сказка о царе Берендее}} ("The Tale of Tsar Berendey"), published in 1833. The tale tells the epic story of mythical Tsar Berendey who is forced to promise his son, [[Ivan Tsarevich]], to evil sorcerer [[Koschei]]. Years later, Ivan Tsarevich reaches the shores of a lake and sees thirty grey ducks diving in the lake. In fact, they are the daughters of Koschei, and one of them is Marya Tsarevna.<ref>[https://ru.wikisource.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D0%BA%D0%B0%D0%B7%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%BE_%D1%86%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5_%D0%91%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%B5_(%D0%96%D1%83%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9) Сказка о царе Берендее] by Vasily Zhukovsky, at Russian Wikisource</ref>

Victorian novelist and translator [[William Morris]] wrote his poetic ''ouvre'' ''[[The Earthly Paradise]]'', in which there is a narration by a bard of the romance between a human and a swan maiden, comprising an episode of the poem ''The Land East of the Sun and West of the Moon''.<ref>Morris, William. ''[https://archive.org/details/cu31924013527902/page/n211/mode/2up The earthly paradise, a poem]''. London, Reeves and Turner. 1890. pp. 198–228.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Silver |first1=Carole |title='East of the Sun and West of the Moon': Victorians and Fairy Brides |journal=Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature |date=1987 |volume=6 |issue=2 |pages=283–298 |doi=10.2307/464273 |jstor=464273 }}</ref><ref>Silver, Carole G. ''Strange and Secret Peoples: Fairies and Victorian Consciousness''. Oxford University Press. 1999. pp. 108–109.</ref>

Pop culture appearances include modern novels of the fantasy genre such as ''[[Three Hearts and Three Lions]]'' and the "[[List of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter characters#Swanmanes|swanmanes]]" in the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series (such as [[Lycanthrope characters of Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter#Kaspar Gunderson|Kaspar Gunderson]]). They are also called swan mays or [[swanmay]]s in fantasy fiction and ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''. In the [[Mercedes Lackey]] book ''[[Fortune's Fool (book)|Fortune's Fool]]'', one swan maiden (named Yulya) from a flock of six is kidnapped by a [[Genie|Jinn]].

===Film and animation===
The animal bride theme is explored in an animated film called ''[[The Red Turtle]]'' (2016).

Princess Pari Banu from the 1926 German [[silhouette animation]] film ''[[The Adventures of Prince Achmed]]'' appears very similar to a swan maiden, having a peacock skin that transforms her and her handmaids, though she is referred to as a fairy or genie, in the original [[List of One Thousand and One Nights characters#Ahmed|1001 Nights]].

<!--Modern appearances of the swan maiden include television such as ''[[Astro Boy]]'' [[List of Astroboy episodes|Episode 5]].
Which Astro Boy series?-->

An episode of children's television programming ''[[Super Why!]]'' adapted the tale of the Swan Maiden.

''[[Inuyasha the Movie: The Castle Beyond the Looking Glass]]'' features the celestial robe/hagoromo coveted by a beautiful woman who claims to be an immortal heavenly being named Kaguya, who is based on the Princess of the Moon in ''[[The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter]]''.

===Comics===
The manga series ''[[Ceres, Celestial Legend]]'' (''Ayashi no Ceres'') by [[Yuu Watase|Yu Watase]] is a story about an angel whose magic source is stolen as she bathes and she becomes wife to the man who stole it. The story follows one of her descendants, sixteen-year-old Aya Mikage, now carrying the angel's vengeful spirit who has been reborn inside her. The Progenitor of the Mikage family and Ceres' human husband and the one who had stolen and hidden her celestial robe (hagoromo), thus stranding her on Earth, has been reborn within Aki Mikage, Aya's twin brother.

The ''[[manhwa]]'' ''[[Faeries' Landing]]'' translates the Korean folktale of ''The Fairy and the Woodcutter'' to a modern setting.

===Video games===
The theme is also explored in modern fantasy video game ''[[Heroine's Quest]]''.

The eleventh installment of [[hidden object game]] series [[Blue Tea Games#Dark Parables series|''Dark Parables'']] (''The Swan Princess and the Dire Tree''), published by [[Eipix Entertainment|Eipix]] mixes the motif of the swan maidens and the medieval tale of The Knight of the Swan. The sixteenth installment, ''Portrait of the Stained Princess'', introduces the Knight of Swan himself, enchanted to never reveal his true name to his beloved.

In the video game [[Loom (video game)|''LOOM'']] by Lucasfilm, the main character belongs to a tribe of spellcrafters (the weavers) able to switch between human and swan form. The spell to become a swan is achieved later in the game.

==See also==
* [[Selkie]] (Seal maidens)
* [[Prince as bird]] (the bird is a prince and woos the maiden)
* [[Jorinde and Joringel]] (the maiden is transformed into a bird by the witch)
* [[The Love for Three Oranges (fairy tale)]] (the love interest is turned into a bird by the false bride)
* [[The Nine Peahens and the Golden Apples]]
* [[The White Duck]] (a witch curses the queen into a duck form)
* [[The Raven (Brothers Grimm)]] (a princess changed into a raven)
* [[Melusine]] (a mermaid wife)
* [[Undine]] (a mermaid wife)
* [[Knight of the Swan]] (alternatively named Helias or [[Lohengrin]])
* [[Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What]]
* [[Manohara]], a [[Kinnara|Kinnari]] who falls in love with Prince Sudhana
* [[Tennin]]
* [[The Heavenly Maiden and the Woodcutter]]

==Footnotes==
{{notelist|}}

==References==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=
<ref name="berezkin2010">{{harvp|Berezkin|2010}}{{page needed|date=April 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="dhuy2019">{{Cite journal |last=d'Huy |first=Julien |author-link=:fr:Julien d'Huy |date=2019 |title=Folk-Tale Networks: A Statistical Approach to Combinations of Tale Types |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/334291555 |journal=Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics |volume=13 |issue=1}}</ref>

<ref name="dhuy2023">{{Cite journal |last=d'Huy |first=Julien |author-link=:fr:Julien d'Huy |date=2023-04-10 |title=Compte de faits: ou comment les statistiques peuvent venir en aide à la mythologie comparée |url=https://journals.openedition.org/rlr/5479 |journal=Revue des langues romanes |language=fr |volume=1 |issue=1 |doi=10.4000/rlr.5479 |issn=0223-3711}}</ref>

<ref name="fu2020">{{cite book|last=Fu |first=Xiuyan |author-link=<!--Xiuyan Fu--> |others=Translated by Weisheng Tang |title=Chinese Narratologies |publisher=Springer Nature |date=2020 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=B8H4DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA236 |page=236 |isbn=<!--981157507X, -->9789811575075}}</ref>

<ref name="GrenwoodEncy2008-swanmaiden">{{cite book |chapter=Swan Maiden |first=Dáithí |last=Ó hÓgáin |author-link=Dáithí Ó hÓgáin |title=The Greenwood Encyclopedia of Folktales and Fairy Tales |volume=3: Q-Z |editor=Donald Haase |publisher=Greenwood Press |date=2008 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/the-greenwood-encyclopedia-of-folktales-and-fairy-tales/page/934/mode/2up |pages=934–935 |isbn=9780313334429}}</ref>

<ref name="hatto1961">{{harvp|Hatto|1961}}{{page needed|date=April 2025}}</ref>

<ref name="Horálek1974">{{cite book |last=Horálek |first=Karel |author-link=:cs:Karel Horálek |chapter=Folk Poetry: History And Typology |editor=Arthur S. Abramson |title=Linguistics and Adjacent Arts and Sciences: Part 2 |pages=741–808 [749] |location=Berlin, Boston |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |date=1974 |doi=10.1515/9783110821659-004 |isbn=978-3-11-082165-9 |quote=... fairy-tale type AT 400 (The Man on the Quest for His Lost Wife), the basis of which is usually considered to be the introductory part that contains the Swan Maiden motive. The hero wins as his wife a swan maiden by taking possession of her clothing of feathers which she has left on the bank of a lake. He keeps  the clothing of feathers hidden, but after some time his wife finds them and flies away.}}</ref>

<ref name="jacobs1916">{{cite book |last=Jacobs |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Jacobs |year=1916 |title=European Folk and Fairy Tales |publisher=G.P.&nbsp;Putnam's sons |location=New York, NY / London, UK |page=241 |quote=The essence of the story is the capture of a bride by a young man who seizes her garment and thus gets her ''in manu'', as the Roman lawyers say. She bears him children, but, on recovering her garment, flies away and is no more heard of. |url=https://archive.org/details/europeanfolkfair00jaco/page/241/mode/1up }}</ref>

<ref name="kai2023">{{cite journal|last=Kai|first=Yūichi |author-link=<!--甲斐雄一--> |title=Kanbun kundoku no torēningu to fushigi na setsuwa no kōsatsu (Nihon bungaku senkō) |script-title=ja:漢文訓読のトレーニングと不思議な説話の考察 (日本文学専攻)|trans-title=Kanbun Kundoku Training and Fantastical Folktales (Japanese Literature Course)  |journal=Meiji University Asian Studies: Online Journal of the School of Arts and Letters |volume=5 |date=2023 |url=https://www.isc.meiji.ac.jp/~asian_studies/vol5/pdf/2023_05_09_Kai.pdf|at=p. 12 (Chinese text); pp. 14–15 (Japanese and English)<!--9–16-->}}</ref>

<ref name="kasahara2001">{{cite book|last=Kasahara |first=Kazuo |author-link=:ja:笠原一男 |others=Translated by Paul McCarthy; Gaynor Sekimori |title=A History of Japanese Religion |publisher=Kosei Publishing Company |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GfUQAQAAIAAJ&q=Tango |page=147 |isbn=<!--4333019176, -->9784333019175}}</ref>

<ref name="kokusai1948">{{cite book|author=Kokusai Bunka Shinkōkai |author-link=Japan Foundation<!--国際文化振興会 precursor of 国際交流基金--> |title=Introduction to Classic Japanese Literature |edition=2 |publisher=Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai |year=1948 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WJAPAAAAYAAJ&q=%22Tango+fudoki |page=155}}</ref>

<ref name="mackillop2006">{{cite book|last=MacKillop |first=James |author-link=James MacKillop (author) |chapter=Swan children of Lir |title=Myths and Legends of the Celts |publisher=Penguin UK |year=2006 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HI5yXNhbebYC&pg=PT134 |page= |isbn=<!--0141941391, -->9780141941394}}</ref>
}}

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* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Bäcker |first=Jörg |author-link=<!--Jörg Bäcker--> |entry=Schwanjungfrau |editor1-last=Brednich|editor1-first=Rudolf Wilhelm |editor1-link=<!--Rudolf Wilhelm Brednich--> |editor2-last=Bausinger |editor2-first=Hermann |editor2-link=Hermann Bausinger |editor3-last=Brückner |editor3-first=Wolfgang |editor3-link=:de:Wolfgang Brückner |editor4-last=Drascek |editor4-first=Daniel |editor4-link=:de:Daniel Drascek |editor5-last=Gerndt |editor5-first=Helge |editor5-link=:de:Helge Gerndt |editor6-last=Köhler-Zülch |editor6-first=Ines |editor6-link=Ines Köhler-Zülch |editor7-last=Roth |editor7-first=Klaus |editor7-link=:de:Klaus Roth (Volkskundler) |title=Enzyklopädie des Märchens  |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |year=2012|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wh228bd8KNQC&pg=PR174 |pages=312a–318b |isbn=<!--3110921715, -->9783110921717}}
* {{cite book |last1=Baughman |first1=Ernest W. |title=Type and Motif-Index of the Folktales of England and North America |date=2012 |publisher=De Gruyter Mouton |isbn=978-3-11-140277-2 |doi=10.1515/9783111402772 |page=10 |hdl=2027/inu.30000041100821 }}
* Baring-Gould, Sabine. ''Curious myths of the Middle Ages''. London: Rivingtons. 1876. pp.&nbsp;561–578.
* {{cite journal |last1=Bihet |first1=Francesca |title=The Swan-Maiden in Late-Victorian Folkloristics |journal=Fairy Investigation Society Journal |date=31 January 2019 |pages=24–29 |url=https://eprints.chi.ac.uk/id/eprint/4686/ }}
* {{cite journal |last1=Berezkin |first1=Yuri |author-link=:ru:Берёзкин, Юрий Евгеньевич |title=Sky-Maiden and World Mythology |journal=Iris |date=2010 |volume=31 |issue=31 |pages=27–39 |doi=10.35562/iris.2020 }}
* Boggs, Ralph Steele. ''Index of Spanish folktales, classified according to Antti Aarne's "Types of the folktale"''. Chicago: University of Chicago. 1930. pp.&nbsp;52–53.
* Booss, C. ''Scandinavian Folk & Fairy Tales: Tales from Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland & Iceland''. New York: Crown, 1984. 
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* de Charencey, Comte H. "le Folklore dans les Deux Mondes". In: ''Actes de la Societé Philologique'' Tome XXIII. Anées 1893 & 1894. Paris: Librarie C Klincksieck. pp.&nbsp;308–331.
* Clouston, W. A. ''Popular tales and fictions: their migrations and transformations''. Edinburgh; London: W. Blackwood. 1887. pp.&nbsp;182–191.
* Cosquin, Emmanuel. ''Contes populaires de Lorraine comparés avec les contes des autres provinces de France et des pays étrangers, et précedés d'un essai sur l'origine et la propagation des contes populaires européens''. Deuxiéme Tirage. Tome II. Paris: Vieweg. 1887. pp.&nbsp;16–23.
* {{cite journal |last1=Cosquin |first1=Emmanuel |title=Contes populaires lorrains recueillis dans un village du Barrois à Montiers-sur-Saulx (Meuse) (Suite) |journal=Romania |date=1878 |volume=7 |issue=28 |pages=527–592 |doi=10.3406/roma.1878.6428 }}
* Dixon, Roland B. ''The Mythology Of All Races'' Vol. IX – Oceanic. Boston, MA: Marshall Jones Company. 1916. pp.&nbsp;63–63, 138–139, 206, 294–295 and 302.
* Grundtvig, Svend. ''Danske folkeæventyr, fundne i folkemunde og gjenfortalte''. Kjøbenhavn: C.A. Reitzel, 1878. pp.&nbsp;19–33 ("Jomfru Lene af Sondervand").
* Hahn, Johann Georg von. ''Griechische und Albanesische Märchen'' 1–2. München/Berlin: Georg Müller. 1918 [1864]. pp.&nbsp;336–340.
* {{Cite journal |last=Hatto |first=A. T. |author-link=Arthur Thomas Hatto |date=1961 |title=The Swan Maiden: A Folk-Tale of North Eurasian Origin? |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/610171 |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=326–352 |doi=10.1017/S0041977X00091461 |jstor=610171 |issn=0041-977X}}
* Jacobs, Joseph. ''European Folk and Fairy Tales''. New York, London: G. P. Putnam's sons. 1916. pp.&nbsp;240–242.
* Jones, W. Henry; Kropf, Lajos L.; Kriza, János. The folk-tales of the Magyars. London: Pub. for the Folk-lore society by E. Stock. 1889. pp.&nbsp;362–373
* {{cite journal|last=Kimishima |first=Hisako  |author-link=:ja:君島久子<!--Repositiory gives Kimijima but VIAF gives Kimishima--> |title=Hagoromo oboegaki: hishō to henshin |script-title=ja:羽衣覚書: 飛翔と変身 |trans-title=A note on Hagoromo |journal=<!--藝文研究-->The geibun-kenkyu: journal of arts and letters |volume=27 |date=March 1969|url=https://koara.lib.keio.ac.jp/xoonips/modules/xoonips/download.php/AN00072643-00270001-0411.pdf?file_id=72938 |pages=411–421  |publisher=Keiou University<!--慶應義塾大学藝文学会-->}}
* Meier, Ernst. ''Deutsche Volksmärchen aus Schwaben''. Stuttgart. 1852. pp.&nbsp;38–42 (''Von drei Schwänen'').
*{{cite journal |last=Miller |first=Alan L. |title=The Swan-Maiden Revisited: Religious Significance of 'Divine-Wife' Folktales with Special Reference to Japan |journal=Asian Folklore Studies |volume=46 |issue=1 |year=1987a |pages=55–86 |url=http://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/nfile/1390 |jstor=1177885|doi=10.2307/1177885}}
* Pino-Saavedra, Yolando. ''Cuentos Folklóricos De Chile''. Tomo I. Santiago, Chile: Editorial Universitaria. 1960. pp.&nbsp;390–392 (notes on Tale nr. 35).
* Sax, B. ''The Serpent and the Swan: The Animal Bride in Folklore and Literature''. Blacksburg, VA: McDonald & Woodward, 1998.
* Sri Wulan Rujiati Mulyani. "The Bathing Beauties in Indonesian Stories: A Preliminary Research". In: ''[http://repositori.kemdikbud.go.id/3976/1/UNTUK%20BAPAK%20GURU.pdf Untuk Bapak Guru. Persembahan para murid untuk memperingati usia genap 80 tahun Prof. Dr. A. J. Bernet Kempers]''. Jakarta: Proyek Penelitian Purbakala Jakarta, Departemen Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan, 1986. pp.&nbsp;241–257.
* {{cite conference |last1=Toshiharu |first1=Yoshikawa |title=A Comparative Study of the Thai, Sanskrit, and Chinese Swan Maiden |conference=International Conference on Thai Studies |date=August 1984 |pages=197–213 |url=http://sealang.net/sala/thai84-7/htm/TOSHIHARUYoshikawa.htm }}
*{{cite book |last=Thompson |first= Stith |title=The Folktale|publisher=University of California Press |year=1977 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKN44RtM_loC&pg=PA88 |pages=88–93 |isbn=978-0520035379}}
* ''Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon''. Collected and translated by H. Parker. Vol. II. London: Luzac & Co. 1914. pp.&nbsp;353–354.
* {{cite journal |last1=Waley |first1=Arthur |title=An Early Chinese Swan-Maiden Story |journal=Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes |date=1 January 1959 |volume=22 |issue=1–2 |pages=1–5 |doi=10.2307/750555 |jstor=750555 |s2cid=195021062 }}
*{{cite book |last=Wiley |first=Roland John |date=1991 |title=Tchaikovsky's Ballets}}
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* [Anonymous]. ''Il Nuovi goliardi''. Periodico mensile di storia-letteratura-arte. Volume 1, Fascicolo 1. Luglio 1881. Milano: Tipografia P. B. Bellini e C. 1881. pp.&nbsp;228–243.[https://archive.org/details/ilnuovigoliardi00unkngoog/page/n250/mode/2up]
{{Refend}}

==Further reading==
{{refbegin}}
*{{cite book |jstor=j.ctt9qg995.5|chapter=Urvaśī and the Swan Maidens|last1=Leavy|first1=Barbara Fass|title=In Search of the Swan Maiden|year=1994|pages=33–63|publisher=NYU Press}}
*{{cite book |jstor=j.ctt9qg995.8|chapter=Swan Maiden and Incubus|last1=Leavy|first1=Barbara Fass|title=In Search of the Swan Maiden|year=1994|pages=156–195|publisher=NYU Press}}
*{{cite book |last1=Leavy |first1=Barbara Fass |chapter=The Animal Bride |pages=196–244 |jstor=j.ctt9qg995.9 |title=In Search of the Swan Maiden |date=1994 |publisher=NYU Press |isbn=978-0-8147-5268-5 }}
*{{cite journal |jstor=40918267|title=Swan Maidens and Smiths: A Structural Study of "Völundarkviða"|last1=Burson|first1=Anne|journal=Scandinavian Studies|year=1983|volume=55|issue=1|pages=1–19}}
*{{cite journal |jstor=40988761|title=Métamorphoses chrétiennes des femmes-cygnes: Du folklore à l'hagiographie|last1=Grange|first1=Isabelle|journal=Ethnologie Française|year=1983|volume=13|issue=2|pages=139–150}}
* Hartland, E. Sidney. ''The science of fairy tales: An inquiry into fairy mythology''. London: W. Scott. pp.&nbsp;255–332. 
* Holmström, H. (1919). ''Studier över svanjungfrumotivet i Volundarkvida och annorstädes'' (A study on the motif of the swan maiden in Volundarkvida, with annotations). Malmö: Maiander.
* Kleivan, Inge. ''The Swan Maiden Myth Among the Eskimo''. København: Ejnar Munksgaard. 1962.
*{{cite journal |doi=10.7592/FEJF2007.36.kobayashi|title=The Forbidden Love in Nature. Analysis of the "Animal Wife" Folktale in Terms of Content Level, Structural Level, and Semantic Level|year=2007|last1=Kobayashi|first1=Fumihiko|journal=Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore|volume=36|pages=141–152|doi-access=free}}
*{{citation|doi=10.15405/epsbs.2018.04.02.10|title=Conceptual Integration of Swan Maiden Image in Russian and English Fairytales |work=Word, Utterance, Text: Cognitive, Pragmatic and Cultural Aspects |series=The European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences|year=2018|last1=Kovalchuk|first1=Lidia|pages=68–74}}
*{{cite journal |jstor=4527075|title=Das Märchen von der Schwanenjungfrau in Japan|last1=Mänchen-Helfen|first1=Otto|journal=T'oung Pao|year=1936|volume=32|issue=1|pages=1–14|doi=10.1163/156853236X00010}}
*{{cite journal |last1=Newell |first1=W. W. |title=Lady Featherflight. An English Folk-Tale |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=January 1893 |volume=6 |issue=20 |pages=54–62 |doi=10.2307/534281 |jstor=534281 }}
*{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/533373|jstor=533373|title=Sources of Shakespeare's Tempest|year=1903|last1=Newell|first1=W. W.|journal=The Journal of American Folklore|volume=16|issue=63|pages=234–257}}
*{{cite journal |jstor=40915312|last1=Peterson|first1=Martin Severin|title=Some Scandinavian Elements in a Micmac Swan Maiden Story|journal=Scandinavian Studies and Notes|year=1930|volume=11|issue=4|pages=135–138}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Petkova |first1=G. |title=Propp and the Japanese folklore: applying morphological parsing to answer questions concerning the specifics of the Japanese fairy tale |journal=Asiatische Studien/Études Asiatiques |date=2009 |volume=63 |issue=March 2009 |pages=597–618 |doi=10.5167/uzh-23802 }}
* Tawney, Charles Henry. ''The ocean of story, being C.H. Tawney's translation of Somadeva's Katha sarit sagara (or Ocean of streams of story)''. Book 8. London, Priv. print. for subscribers only by C.J. Sawyer. 1924–1928. Appendix I. pp.&nbsp;213–234.
* Thomson, Stith. ''Tales of the North American Indians''. 1929. pp.&nbsp;150–174.
* Tuzin, Donald F. ''The Cassowary's Revenge: The life and death of masculinity in a New Guinea society''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1997. pp.&nbsp;68–89.
*{{cite journal |jstor=2740874|last1=Utley|first1=Francis Lee|last2=Austerlitz|first2=Robert|last3=Bauman|first3=Richard|last4=Bolton|first4=Ralph|last5=Count|first5=Earl W.|last6=Dundes|first6=Alan|last7=Erickson|first7=Vincent|last8=Farmer|first8=Malcolm F.|last9=Fischer|first9=J. L.|last10=Hultkrantz|first10=Åke|last11=Kelley|first11=David H.|last12=Peek|first12=Philip M.|last13=Pretty|first13=Graeme|last14=Rachlin|first14=C. K.|last15=Tepper|first15=J.|title=The Migration of Folktales: Four Channels to the Americas &#91;and Comments and Reply&#93;|journal=Current Anthropology|year=1974|volume=15|issue=1|pages=5–27|doi=10.1086/201428|s2cid=144105176}}
* Wrigglesworth, Hazel J. ''The Maiden of Many Nations: the Skymaiden Who Married a Man From Earth''. Manila: Linguistic Society of the Philippines, 1991.
* Young, Serinity. ''Women who fly: goddesses, witches, mystics, and other airborne females''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2018. {{ISBN|978-0195307887}}
* Agundes Garcia, J. Luis. "Cuentos de tradición oral (Parte I)". In: ''Revista Folklore'', nº 212, pp.&nbsp;39–47, 1998.
* {{cite journal |last1=Hong |first1=Seong-yong |last2=Lee |first2=Si-jun |title=Diachronic Consideration on Japanese〈A Heavenly being wife〉Tale type - Focus on comparison with Korean 〈A fairy and a woodman〉 |journal=외국문학연구 |date=2016 |issue=61 |pages=527–548 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART002084266 |language=ko}}
* {{cite journal |last1=Bao |first1=Hasi |title=The Comparative Study of Mongolian and Manchu Swan Maiden Myth |journal=Journal of Inner Mongolia Normal University  |date=2012 |volume=41 |issue=4 |pages=63–70 |url=https://caod.oriprobe.com/articles/30451734/The_Comparative_Study_of_Mongolian_and_Manchu_Swan.htm }}
* {{cite journal |last=Chang |first=Dusik |title=A Study on the transformation pattern of Mongolian 'Swan Maiden' type folktales |journal=Mongolian Studies |date=2003 |volume=15 |pages=7–156 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART000924678 |language=ko}}
* {{cite journal |last=Lee|first=Ji-hee|title=On a heavenly mother of Manchu primogenitor and 'a heavenly maiden's son' type myth |journal=중국문학연구 |date=2011 |issue=44 |pages=1–26 |url=https://www.kci.go.kr/kciportal/ci/sereArticleSearch/ciSereArtiView.kci?sereArticleSearchBean.artiId=ART001584483 |language=ko}}
* Fu, Xiuyan. "The Creation of Crane-Fairy Tales". In: Chinese Narratologies. Springer, Singapore, 2021. pp.&nbsp;235–251. {{doi|10.1007/978-981-15-7507-5_12}}.
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource|The Swan Maidens}}
*[http://www.primitivism.com/swan-maidens.htm Icelandic tale.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110128235013/http://www.primitivism.com/swan-maidens.htm|date=28 January 2011}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20051218193754/http://www.advancedpoetx.com/STUDIO/maidene.html Various tales.]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060110012700/http://www.maerchenlexikon.de/etexte/400/te400-006.htm A Swedish swan maiden tale translated into English.]
*[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/european/swanmaidens.html ''The Swan Maidens''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120205023339/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/jacobs/european/swanmaidens.html|date=5 February 2012}} as reconstructed by [[Joseph Jacobs]]
*[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/swan.html Folktales of type Aarne-Thompson 400*, "The Swan Maiden"] by [[D. L. Ashliman]]
*[https://archive.org/details/TheSwanMaiden Archived audio recording of "The Swan Maiden" folktale]

{{Swan Maiden}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan Maiden}}
[[Category:Swan maidens| ]]
[[Category:European legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Shapeshifters]]
[[Category:Therianthropes]]
[[Category:Legendary birds]]
[[Category:Female legendary creatures]]
[[Category:Female characters in fairy tales]]
[[Category:ATU 300-399]]
[[Category:ATU 400-459]]
[[Category:Avian humanoids]]
[[Category:Folklore featuring nakedness]]