The Belbati Princess

The Belbati Princess is an Indian folktale, from the Ho people in Eastern India, collected by Cecil Henry Bompas. The tale is a local form of the tale "The Love for Three Oranges", which is classified as type ATU 408 of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index (ATU). As with The Three Oranges, the tale deals with a prince's search for a bride that lives in a fruit, who is replaced by a false bride and goes through a cycle of incarnations until she regains physical form again. Variants are known across India with other species of fruits.

Summary
In this tale, six of seven brothers are married, save for the youngest, Lita. He will marry no one save for the Belbati Princess. His sisters-in-law mock him for it, but he leaves to find her. He meets three holy muni who direct him to a garden with rakshasas that guard the bel tree with the fruit that holds the princess. The third muni warns him the he must seek the biggest bel fruit.

Lita enters the garden and steals one of the smaller ones; the Rakshasas gang up on him and devour the boy. The muni sends a crow to find him, and bids the bird brings the Rakshasas' excrement to the muni. The holy man revives Lita and turns him into a parakeet; Lita flies to the garden, steals the fruit, and returns to the muni, who tells him to open the fruit only by a certain well. In a hurry, Lita rushes to the well and falls to the ground, accidentally cracking open the bel fruit. The Belbati Princess comes out of the fruit in a blaze of light that kills Lita. The princess asks a passing girl of the Kamar caste for some water to revive him. The Kamar girl, cunningly, says she cannot reach the water in the well, and the Princess says she will do it herself. The Kamar girl then complains she will not stand by the boy's corpse, and the Belbati Princess gives her clothes to the girl as a pledge. Seizing the opportunity, the Kamar girl shoves the princess into the well, revives Lita with some water, then marries him.

While hunting with his brothers, Lita stops near the same well and finds a beautiful flower inside. He takes it home, but the false Princess cuts off its petals; where the petals land, a bel tree sprouts. Later, Lita's horse rushes off to the new bel tree, and a fruit falls on its saddle. Lita brings the fruit home and opens it, releasing a girl. Lita lets the girl live with them, but the false Princess feigns illness and accuses the new girl of sorcery, wanting to have her killed. Lita fulfills her wishes and delivers the Belbati girl to four Ghasis to be killed. As a last request, the girl asks for her hands and feet to be cut off and placed on the four corners of her grave. It happens thus, and a palace appears.

At the end of the tale, Lita goes on a hunt and stops to rest at the mysterious palace, where two birds are talking to each other about the story of the Belbati Princess, who comes to the palace every six months. The first time, Lita fails to hold her; the next time, he secures her. He marries the true Belbati Princess and punishes the Kamarin girl.

Tale type
The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 408, "The Three Oranges". In the Indian variants, the protagonist goes in search of the fairy princess on his sisters-in-law's mocking, finds her and brings her home, but an ugly woman of low social standing kills and replaces her. The fairy princess, then, goes through a cycle of transformations until she regains physical form.

In an article in Enzyklopädie des Märchens, scholar Christine Shojaei Kawan separated the tale type into six sections, and stated that parts 3 to 5 represented the "core" of the story:


 * (1) A prince is cursed by an old woman to seek the fruit princess;
 * (2) The prince finds helpers that guide him to the princess's location;
 * (3) The prince finds the fruits (usually three), releases the maidens inside, but only the third survives;
 * (4) The prince leaves the princess up a tree near a spring or stream, and a slave or servant sees the princess's reflection in the water;
 * (5) The slave or servant replaces the princess (transformation sequence);
 * (6) The fruit princess and the prince reunite, and the false bride is punished.

The maiden's appearance
According to the tale description in the international index, the maiden may appear out of the titular citrus fruits, like oranges and lemons. However, she may also come out of pomegranates or other species of fruits, and even eggs. In Stith Thompson and Jonas Balys's Oral Tales of India, this motif is indexed as "D211. Transformation: man to fruit". More specific motifs to the story include "D431.6.1.2. Woman emerges from fruit" and "T543.3. Birth from fruit".

The transformations and the false bride
The tale type is characterized by the substitution of the fairy wife for a false bride. The usual occurrence is when the false bride (a witch or a slave) sticks a magical pin into the maiden's head or hair and she becomes a dove. Christine Shojaei-Kawan notes that variants of Indian tradition lack the motif of the false bride mistaking the fruit maiden's reflection in the well for her own. Instead, generally in these tales the hero faints and the fruit princess goes to fetch water to awake him, when a girl of lower caste notices the fruit princess and trades clothes with her, then drowns her in water.

In other variants, the maiden goes through a series of transformations after her liberation from the fruit and regains a physical body. In that regard, according to Christine Shojaei-Kawan's article, Christine Goldberg divided the tale type into two forms. In the first subtype, indexed as AaTh 408A, the fruit maiden suffers the cycle of metamorphosis (fish-tree-human) - a motif Goldberg locates "from the Middle East to Italy and France". In the second subtype, AaTh 408B, the girl is transformed into a dove by the needle.

India
While organizing the Indic index, Stith Thompson and Warren Roberts noted the close proximity between types 403, "The Black and the White Bride", and 408, "The Three Oranges" - types that deal with the theme of the "Substituted Bride". To better differentiate between them, both scholars remarked that the heroine must be replaced by a female antagonist that is unrelated to her. Thompson's second revision of the international type index listed 17 variants of tale type 408 in India and South Asia.

The Bél-Princess
In the tale The Bél-Princess, collected by Maive Stokes, a king has six married sons and a cadet still single. The seventh prince dislikes his sisters-in-law, who, in retaliation, say he wants to marry a "Bél-Princess". On hearing this, the prince decides to look for her. On his journey, he meets a sleeping fakir whom he takes care and grooms for six months. After the fakir wakes up, the fakir thanks the prince and helps him in getting to the Bél-Princess: she lives in a bel-fruit in a tree in a garden guarded by demons in the fairies' country; and gives him the means to enter the garden unnoticed, warning him to get the fruit and not look back. The prince goes to the garden to steal the fruit, but looks back and turns to stone. Back to the fakir, he notices the prince's absence after a week and goes to look for him at the garden, restoring him to life. The prince enters the garden again and takes the fruit with him, which leads to the garden's guardians to chase him. The fakir turns him into a fly to hide from the fairies and demons, then sends him on his way with a warning: open the fruit only at home, not on the road. The prince journeys back home, but stops to rest near a well in his father's garden, and opens the bel-fruit: the Bél-Princess appears before him and he faints at her beauty. A wicked woman appears to fetch water and sights the Bél-Princess, whom she trades clothes and jewels and shoves her down a well, then takes her place by the prince's side. The prince wakes up and, upon seeing the wicked woman in the Bél-Princess's clothes, takes her as his bride to the palace. Back to the true Bél-Princess, she goes through a cycle of incarnations: she turns into a pink lotus-flower inside the well which only the prince can fetch; he brings it home, but the false bride throws it outside in the garden; a bel-fruit tree sprouts with a large fruit that only the prince can pluck. The false bride finds the fruit on the table and throws it away. The bel-fruit reveals a girl the poor gardener's family adopts and raises as their own. Seven years later, the false bride's cow eats the orchard the gardener's daughter (the reincarnated Bél-Princess) shoos it away. For this, the false bride orders the girl's execution. Two executioners take the girl to the jungle to kill her, but, on seeing her beauty, feel pity for her and decide to spare her. However, the girl takes one of their knives and cuts out her organs: her eyes become a parrot and a mainá bird), her heart becomes a tank, and her body parts become a palace in the jungle, her head its dome, and her arms and legs the pillars of its verandah. Time passes; the prince goes on a hunt and passes by the uninhabited palace that appeared in the jungle, and spends the night on the palace verandah. Suddenly, the parrot and the mynah being to talk to each other about the prince's story, and stop their conversation at a certain point. For the next days, the prince returns to the palace to overhear the birds' conversation and learns of the fate of the true Bél-Princess and how he can see her again: open every room of the palace, reach the center, lift a trap door and descend the stairs to an underground palace, where she is located. The following day, he follows the parrot's instructions and reaches the underground palace, where he finds the revived Bél-Princess. He reveals the situation to her, how the birds told everything, and tells her he will tell his parents about his true bride. The prince returns home and wants to bring everyone to the palace in the forest for his marriage to the Bél-Princess. The king orders the execution of the false bride, and the royal family joins the prince for their marriage to the true Bél-Princess. Richard McGillivray Dawkins remarked that both The Belbati Princess and The Bél-Princess are "near relatives" of Italian tale The Three Citrons.

The Marriage of Bael Kaniya
Ethnologist Verrier Elwin collected a tale from the Ghotul Pata, Bandopal, from North Bastar State, with the title The Marriage of Bael Kaniya. In this tale, the wife of a Muria Raja spends time with her brother-in-law, the raja's younger brother, until one day they quarrel. The younger brother leaves home and travels to another country where a woman named Jal-Kaniya lives with her Rakshasa husband. Jal-Kaniya's sister, Bael-Kaniya, lives in a bel-fruit in a garden protected by tigers, bears and snakes. The young prince greets Jal-Kaniya and announces he wishes to marry Bael-Kaniya, but is warned of the dangers that lie ahead in his journey. Jal-Kaniya then hides the youth from her Rakshasa husband, for fear of him devouring the human. The Rakshasa husband comes and senses a human smell, then Jal-Kaniya shows him the prince. By his nature, the Rakshasa opens his mouth to devour the boy, when the chelik shrinks himself, enters the Rakshasa's mouth and cuts him open from the inside. Jal-Kaniya laments her husband's death, for he was the only one that could help the prince reach the garden where Bael-Kaniya lives. The chelik revives the Rakshasa and they journey to the garden with provisions to distract its guardians (a tiger, a bear and a snake). The Rakshasa plucks Bael-Kaniya's fruit and brings it to the prince, advising him to open it when he returns home. On the road, after three days, the prince decides to open the bel-fruit and stops by a tank: a motiari appears from the fruit and combs his hair. She goes to cook some food for him, and he is fast asleep. The tale then explains the tank is where cheliks and motiaris of Tarbhum (the underworld) come to dance and fetch water. The Tarbhum chelik finds the Bael-Kaniya and goes to report to his monarchs, then comes back to kidnap the fruit maiden and bring her to Tarbhum. The tale then continues as another tale type: the human prince starts a journey to the underworld to rescue Bael-Kaniya. Georgy A. Zograf translated the tale to Russian as "Женитьба на Бэл-кании" ("Marriage to Bel-Kaniya"). According to Zograf, the heroine's name, "Bael-Kaniya", translates to "the girl from the bel tree".

The Story of the Girl Belavati
In an Orissan tale collected by author Upendra Narayan Dutta Gupta with the title The Story of the Girl Belavati, a king's only son departs to find a wife. On the road, he meets a Kamaruni (one from the blacksmith caste) girl who warns him about an Apuja (unpropitiated) goddess that may kill him. The prince journeys on and meets the bloodthirsty Thakurani goddess, who wants to devour the youth, but, on seeing him on a horse, she stops, since the animal is her favourite Vahana (mount). The goddess sends him with a boon: she instructs to reach Asura country, sweep the Asuras' houses and prepare dishes of rice and curry to earn their favour. The prince does as the goddess instructed him and earns the Asuras' favour. After a while, the prince, in return for his deeds, asks for Belavati. One of the Asuras gives him a bael fruit, which is to be opened only at the prince's home. The prince rides back home, but stops by a well and opens the fruit, releasing a dazzlingly beautiful maiden. The prince faints at her sight, and Belavati tries to wake him up. Suddenly, a Kundabhusundi (fat ugly woman; 'she-demon', in another translation) woman appears, beats the fruit maiden to death and throws her body into the well, then puts on her clothes to pass herself as Belavati. The prince wakes up, sees the ugly woman beside him and thinks she is the girl from the fruit, then takes her home. As for the true Belavati, she goes through a cycle of incarnations: two Padma (lotus) flowers inside the well that a gardener (Mali) takes to the prince, then a bael tree. The gardener plucks a fruit from the tree and brings it home to his wife. They try to open it, but a voice inside the fruit begs to be cut in a certain way, for she is Belavati who wishes to become their adopted daughter and bring them wealth. It happens thus, and the family's fortune increases. One day, the false bride notices Belavati is alive when the girl goes to make ablutions in a tank, and lies that the girl made faces at her, and for this she must be punished. The king attends the false bride's request and orders the death of the gardener's daughter. The following morning, a temple to Mahadeva (Mahadeb, in another translation; both referring to Shiva) sprouts in the place where the girl was executed. The king sends a Brahman to make the Puja to the deity and bring him a bael-leaf. One day, the Brahman overhears a pair of birds (Sua, a parrot, and Sari, another type of talking bird) conversing about the prince, Belavati, and the false bride. The Brahman writes their tale in the walls of the temple, and listens closely to the birds' conversation: in order to restore the true Belavati, the king is to offer himself before the temple with a piece of straw between his teeth and a straw rope around his neck, and ask for forgiveness. The king is informed by the Brahman and goes to the temple to prostrate himself before the God. By doing so, Belavati reappears before the king. The king then takes her home to marry his son, and executes the Kundabhusundi. The tale is also known as The Story of Belabati (Belabati katha) and The Girl inside the Bel Fruit.

Shan people
Anthropologist Mrs. Leslie Milne collected a similar tale from the Shan people. In this tale, titled The Story of a Fairy and a Prince, a king has seven sons, the elder six married and the cadet still single. The seventh prince replies he will only marry a fairy, and the king sets a deadline for him to find a wife in seven days or perish. The prince journeys and meets three hermits, who direct him to garden guarded by an ogre where a bale-fruit tree is located. The prince releases the fairy from the fruit and places her on top of a tree, and promises to return with a retinue. While he is away, a servant woman named Mai-pom-san-ta sees the fairy's reflection on the water and mistakes it for her own, then finds the girl atop the tree. The servant tries to talk to the fairy, but, as the prince instructed her, she remains silent. Thus, the servant kills the fairy, takes her clothes and passes herself off as the prince's true bride. The fairy then becomes a lotus flower in a pool of water that is taken by the gardener's old wife, to her house. Whenever the couple is not at home, the fairy comes out of the lotus tree to perform chores, then returns to it. Later, the fairy princess is ordered to be killed: her eyes become a pair of green parrots. The prince loses his way in a forest and overhears the conversation between the birds about how the real princess will descend from the skies in seven days' time to bathe in a certain pond. The prince lies in waiting and finds the fruit princess again. This time, she stays with him, and he punishes the false bride.

In another tale from the Shan people with the title Nang Maag Bin ("Princess Fruit Bale"), published in the Journal of the Burma Research Society, the king of the land of Mong Hsing Hko sends his son, the prince, to learn the princely arts. The prince becomes apprenticed to a hermit, who tells the prince of a princess inside a bale fruit in a tree in a garden guarded by giants. With the hermit's help, the prince steals the fruit and is advised to open it at home. On the road, however, he begins to talk to the princess inside the fruit and both fall in love with each other. Near the entrance to his kingdom, the prince opens the fruit and releases a beautiful princess he guides atop a tree next to a well. While the prince goes away to bring his father to meet his fairy bride, a rich man's ugly maid goes to fetch water for her master, sees the princess's visage in the water, and gives up doing the task, breaking the pots. The maid then discovers the fruit princess atop the tree, pulls her down, kills her and throws her body in a well, then takes her place. The prince returns and brings the ugly maid back to the palace, thinking she is the true princess. As for the real princess, she goes through a cycle of transformations: lotus flower, then a mango tree, which the false bride wants destroyed. Despite trying to destroy the princess, a mango survives and is washed down a stream to the king's gardener's house. The gardener and his wife take the mango and bring it home. Whenever they are not at home, the princess comes out of the mango to do chores and returns to it. The gardener couple discover her and adopt her as their daughter. One day, she weaves a flower wreath in a way that tells her whole story, and the gardener's wife delivers it to the prince. Later, the prince goes to the gardener's house, finds his true bride there and takes her home. The false bride then plants some finger and toenails in the princess's hair to pin her as a witch, and the fruit princess is ordered to be executed. Before she dies, she prays to God that her body becomes a large rest-house, her eyes two parrots, her limbs a golden mango tree, whose fruit is sweet to good people and sour to people with evil intent. The princess dies; the rest-house appears, but her soul becomes one of seven angels of a distant silver mountain. The prince visits the rest-house with a retinue, and, when he is alone, a parrot reveals the location of the true princess. The prince goes to the lake where the angels descend to take a bath and steals the clothes of the fruit princess. The other angels depart, but the true princess returns with the prince to his kingdom. The false bride is swallowed by the ground, and the prince and princess reign in happiness.

Nepal
In a Nepalese tale titled The Bel Girl, a farmer couple has four sons, three married and the cadet still unmarried. He is doted on by his family and sisters-in-law. One day, he catches a bird in a hunt and asks his sister-in-law to cook it for him. The bird is cooked and he eats it, but starts convulsing due to too much red pepper seasoning in the bird. The sister-in-law dislikes his reaction and mockingly tells him to look for a "bel girl" to cook his food. The youngest brother decides to look for her and enters the forest just outside their house until he finds a mound which he clean up to reveal a sage. The youth feeds the sage and he, in gratitude, advises him how to get the bel fruit: reach a pond near a Shiva temple, pluck one bel fruit from a nearby tree and fly back to the sage's location, never looking back on the garden, lest he becomes stone. The sage turns the youth into a parrot, who steals the bel fruit and makes a return, but he becomes stone by listening to a voice. The sage realizes the youth is in danger and walks to the garden, finds the petrified parrot and revives it. The parrot flies back to the tree and steals another bel fruit, this time not looking back. The sage turns the youth to human form and advises him not to break the fruit. The youth journeys back and accidentally trips over a stone, letting the bel fruit fall to the ground and crack in two: a beautiful girl comes out of the fruit. He brings the girl home and marries her, as the tale ends.