The Youth and the Maiden with Stars on their Foreheads and Crescents on their Breasts is an Albanian folktale. It is related to the theme of the calumniated wife and classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children". These tales refer to stories where a girl promises a king she will bear a child or children with wonderful attributes, but her jealous relatives or the king's wives plot against the babies and their mother.
Sources The tale was translated by Albanologist Robert Elsie and sourced to a publication by French scholar Auguste Dozon.Elsie, Robert. Albanian Folktales and Legends. Dukagjini Pub. House. 2001. pp. 42-47. Elsie stated that the original name of the tale, in Albanian, was "Djali dhe vajza me yll në ball dhe hënëz në kraharuar".Elsie, Robert. A Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture. London: C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, 2001. p. 154. .
Dozon collected the tale in Albanian in his book Manual de la langue ChkipeDozon, Auguste. Manuel de la langue chkipe ou albanaise: grammaire, vocabulaire, chrestomathie. Paris, Ernest Leroux, 1878. pp. 21-25. and published it in French with the title Les Soeurs Jaleuses, in Contes Albanais.Dozon, Auguste. Contes Albanais. Paris: Leroux. 1881. pp. 7–16.
Dozon's tale was also translated into German by linguist August Leskien in his book of Balkan folktales, with the title Die neidischen Schwestern ("The Jealous Sisters").Leskien, August. Balkanmärchen aus Albanien, Bulgarien, Serbien und Kroatien. Jena, E. Diederichs. 1915. pp. 265–270.
The tale was also translated into English as The Jealous Sisters, and published in The Slavonic and East European Review."The Jealous Sisters: An Albanian Folk Tale" (1930). In: The Slavonic and East European Review 9 (26): 308–311. Retrieved August 14, 2021, from http://www.jstor.org/stable/4202524
Summary A king dies. A new king ascends to the throne and orders that no one is to light any candle at night during his coronation. Despite the ban, the new king wears a disguise and walks through the city, until he reaches the house of the previous king's three daughters, who are talking to one another: the elder promises to weave a carpet large enough for the whole army to sit, and there would still be room left; the middle promises to weave a tent for the whole army, and there would still be room left, and the youngest promises to give birth to twins, a boy and a girl with stars on their foreheads and crescents on their breasts.
The new king summons the three sisters the next morning and marries all three, the elder two fulfilling their boasts in this tale. The youngest also gives birth to the titular twins, but her sisters take the children, place them in a box and order a servant to throw them in the river. They also tell the king his third wife gave birth to a little kitten and a mouse, and the king, enraged, orders the woman to be placed in the stairs and to be spat on.
Meanwhile, the box with the children is found by an old miller and his wife, and the couple raise them. After the old miller's wife dies, on his deathbed, the old miller tells the male twin to wait 40 days after his death to enter a cave and fetch a magic bridle. The male twin follows his last request, finds the bridle and summons two horses, one for him other for his sister, and they go to the king's city where the male twin opens a coffee house, while the female twin spends time at home.
One day, the king pays a visit to the coffee house, and sees the boy with the moon on his forehead. The king goes back to the palace and comments with his two wives about him. The two wives realize the twins have survived, and send an old woman to their house. The old woman talks to the female twin about the flower of the Earthly Beauty for her to play with. After the male twin returns home, his sister tells she wants the Earthly Beauty's flower.
The male twin summons a horse with the bridle and rides away. He first reaches a Kulshedra, who gives up eating him since the boy is so handsome. The first kulshedra does not know the location of the Earthly Beauty, so she sends him to her elder sister. The second Kulshedra also does not know, so she sends her to the eldest sister, another Kulshedra. The third one knows where she lives, and advises him to rub his scarf on her door, give brains to lion and grass to a lamb so the animals let him pass, enter the garden and pluck the flower.
The male twin takes the flower to his sister. Seeing that the boy survived, the king's two wives send the old woman again, who, this time, convinces the girl to ask for the Earthly Beauty's scarf. Thus the male twin also goes for the scarf.
The third time, the old woman convinces the girl to ask for the Earthly Beauty herself. The male twin rides to the third kulshedra, who warns him that to quest for the Earthly Beauty is no easy task, and advises him to find her ring first, since it is the source of her power. The male twin passes the animals in the garden and enters the Earthly Beauty's chambers. While she is fast asleep, the male twin takes off the ring from her finger and she wakes up. The maiden notices the boy has overpowered her and goes with him to his sister.
Later, the king visits the coffee house again and returns to the palace, to summon a feast for the boy with the star and his family. The twins' aunts - the third queen's sisters - order the cooks to poison the food, but the Earthly Beauty, who married the male twin, notices the danger and tells the twins not to eat anything, but they eat a bit from the king's dish of stewed prunes.
At the end of the feast, the king suggests each tell a story. The male twin tells the story of his life and their mother. The king learns of the truth, orders the execution of his two elder wives and restores the youngest as his queen.
Analysis Tale type The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children".Leskien, August. Balkanmärchen aus Albanien, Bulgarien, Serbien und Kroatien. Jena, E. Diederichs. 1915. p. 326 (notes to tale nr. 57). In this cycle of stories, a woman promises to bear children of wondrous aspect, who are taken from her as soon as they are born by her jealous relatives (her sisters or her mother-in-law). The children survive and are adopted by a childless couple. Years later, the children are sent on a quest for marvellous items, which will eventually lead to reuniting the family.Aarne, Antti; Thompson, Stith. The types of the folktale: a classification and bibliography. Folklore Fellows Communications FFC no. 184. Helsinki: Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 1961. pp. 242–243.
Linguist Martin Camaj and Uta Schier-Oberdoffer noted that an Albanian tale they published (see below) matched Turkish tale type TTV 239.Camaj, Martin; Schier-Oberdorffer, Uta. Albanische Märchen. Jena: Eugen Didierichs, 1974. p. 262. . Turkish tale type TTV 239, as it appears in the Typen Turkischer Volksmärchen (devised by folklorists Wolfram Eberhard and Pertev Naili Boratav), is named Die Schöne or Güzel ("The Beautiful"), and concerns a quest for a woman of renowned beauty and supernatural powers, who becomes the male twin's wife at the end of the story and reveals the whole truth to the king.Eberhard, Wolfram; Boratav, Pertev Nailî. Typen türkischer Volksmärchen. Wiesbaden: Steiner, 1953. pp. 287-291, 422.
In a late 19th analysis, scholar W. A. Clouston named Dozon's tale as the "Albanian version" of the story The Sisters Envious of Their Cadette, from The Arabian Nights - another tale of the same tale type.Burton, Richard Francis. A plain and literal translation of the Arabian nights entertainments, now entitled The book of the thousand nights and a night. Vol. 3. Printed by the Burton Club for private subscribers only. 1887. pp. 627–630.
Motifs The tale features characters from Albanian mythology, like Bukura e dheut (translated as "Earthly Beauty") and the kulshedra. According to Elsie, kulshedra is a female creature of Albanian folklore, who is described as a serpent, and linked to storms.Elsie, Robert (2001). The Dictionary of Albanian Religion, Mythology and Folk Culture. Hurst & Co Ltd. p. 154. . In the tale type of "The Jealous Sisters", the envious aunts send their nephew to quest for the Bukura e Dheut as a way to get rid of him, but the Bukura e Dheut is actually helpful towards the boy and helps to reunite the family and punish the wicked aunts.
According to Myzafere Mustafa, in Albanian tales, the number three is prevalent, and the opposition occurs between two elder sisters and their cadette. As such, the three sisters want to marry the king's son or the king himself, and promise grand feats to impress him: the first one boasts she could weave a tent to house the whole army and more, the middle one that she can sew a rug or carpet for the whole army to sit and more, and the youngest promises to bear a boy and a girl with a star on the front and a Moon on the chest. In some stories, all three sisters fulfill their boasts, but in others only the youngest's promise is realized.
Variants Albania Martin Camaj collected an Albanian variant translated as Das Mädchen mit dem Mond und der Junge mit dem Stern auf der Stirn, from informant Avdyl Dragideli.Camaj, Martin; Schier-Oberdorffer, Uta. Albanische Märchen. Jena: Eugen Didierichs, 1974. p. 262. . In Avdyl Dragideli's narration, the tale begins with three sisters declaring their wishes to marry the king, and promising great feats: the elder that she can weave a sleeping mat and a blanket for the whole army to seat, and half would still be unseated; the middle one that she can prepare food for the whole army, and there would still be half uneaten; the youngest promises to give birth to the titular twins with astral birthmarks.Camaj, Martin; Schier-Oberdorffer, Uta. Albanische Märchen. Jena: Eugen Didierichs, 1974. pp. 10-15. .
Folklorist Anton Berisha published another Albanian language tale, titled "Djali dhe vajza me yll në ballë".Berisha, Anton. Antologji e përrallës shqipe. Rilindja, 1982. pp. 161–167.
The Boy with a Star on the Front and a Girl with a Moon on the Breast (Kozhicë)