The blog post I did a couple of weeks ago got me thinking about the number of fairy tales that feature the number ‘3’.

Many of them are familiar like ‘Snow White’, ‘Cinderella’, ‘Rumpelstiltskin’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’, ‘Goldilocks and the Three Bears’…

There are also some I haven’t heard of, usually a variation of a more well-known tale.

Because this is to do with the number ‘3’, I’ve compiled a list of 3 lesser-known fairy tales that feature said number, starting with a European one.

The Love for 3 Oranges from Laboulaye's fairy book (1920) (***Wikipedia***)

‘The Love for Three Oranges’
Once upon a time, there was a king and queen who only had one child, a son.

When the prince was old enough, his parents anxiously awaited the day he would find a bride.

One day, while eating some cheese, the prince cut his finger, and a drop of his blood fell on a piece of white cheese.

Declaring that he would only marry a woman as white as the cheese and as red as the blood, he left to seek his bride.

The prince wandered through many lands and eventually came to the Island of Ogresses.

Instead of ogresses, he came across two old women who told him, if he continued on, he would find what he sought.

A third old woman gave him three oranges (or citrons) and a warning – he was not to cut the oranges until he came to a fountain.

Once cut, a fairy would fly out of each orange, and he was to give the fairies water at once.

Thinking the fairies would grant his wish, he returned home.

Still some way from the castle, he paused by a fountain and decided to cut the oranges.

Even though he was told about the fairies, he was still surprised when they flew out of the oranges.

He was too slow to give water to the first two, and they died.

But he was quicker with the third, and she survived.

To his delight, this fairy had white skin and red lips, and he declared she would be his wife.

But he didn’t want to bring her home and present her to his father as she was.

So, he bid her wait while he went to fetch clothing fit for a princess, and servants to tend to her.

Instead of leaving her out in the open, he told her to hide in a tree by the fountain and wait for his return.

While the fairy waited, a servant came along with a pot to fetch water.

Looking into the fountain, she saw the fairy’s reflection, and thought it was her own.

She announced she would no longer fetch water as she was too pretty for such lowly work.

Her manner of speaking made the fairy laugh.

Noticing her, the servant asked her what she was doing in the tree.

Innocently, the fairy told her about the prince and that she was waiting for his return.

Pretending to be excited, the servant asked the fairy if she would like her to arrange her hair as she was very good at it.

The fairy climbed down and sat on the edge of the fountain.

Feeling a sharp pain in her head, she quickly transformed into a bird and flew out of the servant’s reach.

In the servant’s hand was a pin, which she’d been about to stick into the fairy’s head.

When the prince returned, the servant claimed she was the fairy and she’d been changed by a wicked woman who had offered to help her.

Even though she no longer looked like the woman of his dreams, the prince remained true to his word and took her to meet his parents.

Preparations for the wedding commenced.

Desperate to reclaim her prince, the bird flew around the castle.

But the servant saw the bird and ordered that it be caught and cooked.

The water that the bird had been cooked in was thrown into the garden.

After three days, an orange tree grew, bearing three fruits.

When the prince saw them, he plucked the oranges and took them to his room.

As before, he cut them open, and when he cut the third, his true bride appeared, and she told him what had really happened.

When the prince presented her to court, the servant was caught and punished.

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This one reminded me a little of ‘The Goose Girl’ with the servant usurping the bride’s place.

The next one is an Italian fairy tale, written by Giambattista Basile in ‘Il Pentamerone’.

‘Pintosmalto’ was inspired by ‘Pygmalion’ of Greek mythology.

Betta, a merchant’s daughter, decided to make herself a groom from half a hundredweight of Palermo sugar, sweet almonds of the same amount, six bottles of scented water, a little musk and amber, pearls, sapphires, garnets and rubies, and some gold thread.

When her marzipan statue was completed, she prayed to the Goddess of Love to give him life, and her prayer was granted.

Naming him Pintosmalto, they prepared their marriage.

A queen, one of the guests at the wedding feast, wanted Pintosmalto for herself and abducted him.

Determined to get her husband back, Betta, in a beggar’s disguise, followed them.

As she travelled, Betta met an old woman and told her about her stolen husband.

Pitying her, the old woman taught Betta three spells to help her.

After a long journey, Betta came to the queen’s lands, but the queen forbade her to come near, and Pintosmalto failed to recognise his true wife.

Betta tried the first spell the old woman had taught her, and a golden coach appeared.

She bribed the queen with it and was allowed to sleep outside the door of Pintosmalto’s room.

But the queen had given Pintosmalto a sleeping potion, so he didn’t hear Betta as she tried to speak to him.

Undettered, Betta used the second spell and a golden singing bird appeared.

Again, Pintosmalto was given a sleeping potion and didn’t hear the bird singing or Betta weeping outside his door.

But, this time, a cobbler told Pintosmalto that he had heard weeping outside.

The third night, Pintosmalto pretended to take the drink the queen gave him.

With the third spell, Betta had conjured many fineries for the queen, and was allowed to be outside Pintosmalto’s room.

Hearing Betta, he opened the door and recognised her.

Reunited, they fled in the golden coach with the golden bird and the fineries, leaving the troublesome queen far behind.

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The part with Betta’s attempts to speak to her husband being thwarted until the third time brings to mind aspects of ‘The Black Bull of Norroway’. I wonder which inspired which.

The third tale is an Irish one, ‘The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen’.

The queen in The Black Thief and the Knight of the Glen

There was once a king whose dying wife made him promise to hide their three sons from his new wife if he chose to marry again.

She told him to raise them on an island on a lake, and the king agreed.

In time, the king remarried, and his new wife knew nothing of his sons.

But a servant told the new queen she would tell her a secret if the queen paid her, which she did.

The servant then told her of the king’s sons, giving the queen a pack of cards to play a game with each of the sons for a geasa.

(A geasa is basically a form of magical compulsion or curse, which is usually a command or a prohibition, the breaking of which leads to death.)

The angry queen demanded they be brought to court.

In the card game, she defeated the older two, but the youngest won.

The queen then set a geasa that the older two must steal the Knight of the Glen’s Steed of Bells.

The youngest son said he would go with his brothers but set a geasa on the queen – she was to stand on a tower with her face to the wind until they returned, with only a sheaf of corn to eat and water to drink.

As the brothers travelled to the Knight of the Glen’s lands, they met the Black Thief of Sloan.

He warned them of the danger that awaited them, but they had no choice but to attempt to steal the horse.

The Black Thief decided to go with them.

They found the horse easily enough, but when they tried to capture it, the bells that adorned it rang, warning the Knight, and the brothers and the thief were caught.

As punishment for trying to steal his horse, the knight said he would boil them, from the oldest to the youngest prince, and then the Black Thief.

He ordered the old woman who was nearby to build up the fire, ready for the pot.

While they waited, the Black Thief said he had once been in more danger than they were in now and had escaped with his life.

Intrigued, the Knight said if he told him the story and he was satisfied, he would pardon the oldest son.

The Black Thief said he had once been of a mind to steal the gold of three witches, but they had gone to sleep with the gold under their heads to stop him stealing it.

They hadn’t checked their bags before going to sleep and so didn’t know that he’d replaced the gold with turf until it was too late.

As he made his escape, they changed themselves into a greyhound, a hare, and a hawk and chased him.

He climbed a tree.

And they changed again, this time into a smith’s anvil and piece of iron, with which the third one made a hatchet and began to chop the tree down.

Just then, a cock crowed, and the witches disappeared.

Satisfied, the Knight pardoned the oldest son, but pulled the second one forward to boil instead.

The Black Thief said he might yet escape, and the Knight’s curiosity was, yet again, stirred.

If the Black Thief had, once again, been in such danger, the Knight bid him tell the tale after which he might pardon the second prince.

The Black Thief told of how he had heard of a rich bishop who had been buried with his jewels and robes, and he went to rob the tomb.

But, once there, he saw the tomb was open, heard footsteps and his courage failed him.

Seeing a dark figure, he shot at it, and found it was a member of the clergy who had already rifled the tomb for he had jewels on him.

Hearing shouts, he realised the guards were coming, and held up the body in front of him.

The guards shot at the body, then ran into the tomb.

Once they were past him, the Black Thief escaped.

Taken with that story, the Knight pardoned the second prince and said he would pardon the youngest for yet another wondrous tale.

The Black Thief then told his third tale, of a time when he had come to a castle and found a woman holding a child and weeping.

She told him the castle belonged to a giant who had ordered her to kill the child and cook it in a pie, ready for when he returned.

The Black Thief killed a pig and told her to hide the child and bake the pig instead.

He then cut off a finger and told her to show that to the giant if the need arose.

The woman then told him to hide in a room where the giant kept corpses.

When the giant returned, she served him the pie, but he was not satisfied, so she showed him the finger.

Not being full, he went to cut some meat from the corpses.

He cut some from the Black Thief who managed not to cry out.

Later, after drinking his fill of wine, the giant slept.

The Black Thief tried to kill the giant but only succeeded in blinding him.

As he tried to escape, the giant threw a ring at him, and it fastened itself to his toe, calling out to the giant.

In desperation, the Black Thief cut off his toe and threw it into the lake, where it continued to call to the giant, who followed and drowned.

When the Black Thief finished his tale, the old woman who had been tending the fire told the Knight that he was that baby and she, the woman who had been the giant’s drudge, and the Black Thief the man who had saved his life.

All were amazed at this revelation, and the Knight freed them all, and offered his hospitality.

The princes told the Knight why they had tried to steal his horse.

To spare their lives, he gave the steed to them.

Thanking the Black Thief for his help, the princes returned home.

When the queen heard them coming and heard the bells of the Knight’s steed, she threw herself from the tower and died.

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Of the three tales I’ve shared, this one is my favourite.

The Black Thief seems such an honourable character, I’m sure there’s more to him than what’s in the story.

I hope you enjoyed those three tales; maybe they’re more familiar to you than they are to me.

3 Lesser-Known Fairy Tales That Feature the Number '3'