Black Bull of Norroway

A variant of the story is the tale The Brown Bull of Ringlewood, from Scotland, collected by Peter Buchan. In this tale, the King of Coil gives alms to an old beggar man, who, in gratitude, grants the king's three daughters with a wish each. Each of the princesses wish for a husband: the eldest for the King of Westmoreland, and so it happens. Seeing her sister's good fortune, the middle one asks for the King of Southland as her husband and he appears to court her. Lastly, the youngest jokingly wishes for "The Brown Bull of Ringlewood", and a bull appears not too long after to take her. The Brown Bull comes to take the princess as his wife and to take her to his castle. Once there, he takes off the bull skin and becomes a man at night. The princess bears him thre son. Instructed by an old woman, the princess burns the bull skin and the husband tells her they must go to his father's castle, beyond the sea and up a crystal mountain named Hill of Forgetfulness.[13]

In the tale Tarbh Mór na h-Iorbhaig ("The Great Bull of Irvaig"), three princesses talk about their future husbands, and the third says she wants to marry the Great Bull of Irvaig. The bull himself appears the next week and demands the third princess. He takes his wife to their new home and takes off the cochull or bull cowl, and tells her she must not lay a finger on the cowl, nor must reveal that he is a man under the bull skin. A year passes by and she gives birth to a son, who is taken away from her by a huge hand that come down the chimney. The Bull husband asures their son is safe wherever he is. The same fate befalls their second son. When she gives birth to their third son, she visits her relatives and reveals everythin about the bull husband. The third son is also taken by the mysterious hand, as the bull husband enters a frenzied state and takes her back to their island palace. He tells the boys are being kept by three giants, gives her a pair of boots and departs. The princess visits the three giants, receives objects to travel a river of fire, a mountain of glass and a mountain of thorns to reach her husband's kingdom. She then meets a princess by the side of a river who tells her the prince will only marry the one who can wash a stain of blood out of his three white shirts. The tale concludes as the princess spends three nights trying to make her husband remember.[14]

In a variant from County Leitrim, The Glass Mountains, a man enchanted into bull form marries a human wife, and she tells him she prefers for him to be human during the night. He also tells her that, whenever she gives birth, she must not shed a tear to whatever happens to their child. Just as his husband promised, a black dog comes down the chimney and takes the child from her - this happens to her first two sons. When she gives birth to a daughter and the black dog comes, the wife sheds a tear and her husband disappears. She goes in search for him. She finds a cottage with an old couple and a little boy (her son). She spends the night and when she is leaving the boy gives her a comb. This happens again in the next house, and her second son gives her a pair of scissors. The maiden arrives at last at the foot of the titular Glass Mountain, where lies another house with an elderly couple with her daughter. The third old man tells her that her husband is married to another woman and they live at the castle atop the Glass Mountain. Her daughter gives her an egg and she departs to climb the mountain. She asks for shelter at the castle and buys her place at her husband's bed with the gifts her children gave her.[15]

Mabel Peacock wrote down another variant of The Glass Mountain from County Leitrim, which she claimed was "imperfect" and told to her when she was a child. In this version, a woman lived with her three daughters in a cottage. A man comes and asks for night lodgings. The matriarch relents and gives him shelter. The next day, the man asks for the hand of the youngest daughter in marriage. They marry and go to his castle, where he asks her which form she prefers: for him to be a bull or man during each time of the day. She prefers for him to be a man by night. Three children are born, and she wishes to visit her mother. She reveals the strange nature of her husband, he disappears and she seeks him with her children. However, Mabel Peacock noted that the tale, as given to her, was "defective", but she noted down the song the maiden sings to her sleeping husband to jog his memory, referring to him as the "Bare bull of Orange".[16]

In a variant from New England, The Three Maids who Went to Seek Their Fortunes, three girls went about the world to look for their fortunes. They stop at a crossroads and go their separate ways. After some walking, she looks despondent for having accomplished nothing that day, and a witch gives her an egg, telling her to break it should the need arise. She walks a bit more and reaches a fountain where washerwomen were trying to wash a handkerchief with blood on it, because, should one of them do it, they would marry the prince. The girl tries and accomplishes it. She marries the prince and discovers he becomes a bull by day, human by night. He must suffer the enchantment for seven years. By the end of this period, he regains human form.[17]

In a tale from the Wisconsin Chippewa, collected in 1944 in Lac du Flambeau, from teller Maggie Christensen and titled The Girl Who Married an Ox, an old woman lives with her three daughters. One day, an ox appears in their house and declares he wants to marry one of the woman's daughters. Only the youngest agrees to marry him. He becomes human and tells her that he must suffer his curse for 20 years. They have a son, but his wife eventually betrays his secret. She goes after him and, on her journey, gains a comb. She finally arrives at another kingdom, where her husband, now human, is set to marry a queen. The queen sees the comb and wants to trade it, but the girl asks for a night with the man. The husband drinks a cup of a potion and falls asleep. The next night, the girl wakes her husband and he recognizes her.[18]

In a tale from Newfoundland from teller Alice Lannon, titled The Big Black Bull of Hollow Tree, three sisters, Dinah, Marie and Kitty, live with their grandmother, who forbids theom from entering a certain part of the garden. The disobey her orders and find there a wishing chair and make their wishes for a husband: Dinah and Marie wish for "nice young men", while Kitty wants to marry "The Big Black Bull of Hollow Tree". Some time later, during a celebration, a big black bull appears to take Kitty as his wife. The girl relents and goes with him. He takes off his bull skin and becomes a man, and tells his wife not to tell anyone. After some time into their marriage, Kitty's grandmother sees her granddaughter in the arms of the man, while his bull skin ly strewn in the floor near the bed. The old woman takes the skin and burns it. The husband vanishes and Kitty goes after him. On the way, she finds three houses, each with a young woman inside and some children playing. In each of the houses, Kitty notices a particular child that look like either her daughter or one of her sons. Kitty receives a ball, a table cloth and shears. She later finds her husband, the (now human) Black Bull under the power of an old witch. She uses the table-cloth and shears to trade two nights with her husband, but old witch gives him a sleeping potion during the first nights.[19][20]

Martha Warren Beckwith collected a Jamaican variant titled Bull-of-all-the-Land, wherein the titular Bull-of-all-the-Land is a man named King Henry, who is a man at night and a bull by day when he wears his bull skin. His wife burns the bull skin and he disappears. She bleeds three drops of blood in a white shirt. She wears three pairs of shoes and goes to a riverside, where she meets a washerwoman. The washerwoman washes the blood-soaked shirt and goes to King Henry. The maiden is taken to King Henry's palace, and tries to talk to her husband. On the last night, she sings in his ear his name, "Bull-of-all-the-Land", since no one in his realm knows that name.[21]

Mrs. Caroline Alathea Creevey, in her autobiography, published a version she claimed she heard in her childhood from a Julia Congden, her mother's hired girl. In her tale, The Brown Bull of Orange, once there was a stile that granted wishes. Three sisters pass by it, the oldest wishes for the Prince of Spain and the middle one for the Duke of Algiers as their respective husbands. The youngest, not believing in its powers, mockingly wishes for the brown bull of Orange to appear and take her. The Prince and the Duke appear and make her sisters their wives. At last, a brown bull appears at her father's doorstep. The third daughter tries to dismiss the bull and her silly wishes, but the bull will not yield. She finally agrees to with the animal. The brown bull takes her to his palace and attends her with kindness. She eventually warms up to him and is asked by him if she loves him. She answers positively and the bull becomes a man, the King of Orange and Castile. He explains that a magician turned him into a bull and that he could only turn back into human form if he could find a girl to love him.[22]

In another tale, The Roarin' Bull of Orange, the maiden marries the bull prince, bears him three children, and tries to wake him up by calling him "Green Bull of Orange".[23]

Mabel Peacock noted another tale inserted in Mary Hallock Foote's tale, The Last Assembly Ball, published in The Century Magazine. In this version, a king has six daughters and a magical wishing-chair on a dais. Every daughter sits on the chair and makes her wish. When it is the youngest's turn, she wishes to be married to the "Roan Bull of Orange". Some time later, the Roan Bull himself appears at the palace and demands the princess. The king tries to substitute his daughter for the daughter of the hen-wife and the daughter of he swineherd. The Roan Bull discovers the ruse by giving his bride-to-be a white wand. He gets his true bride at last and departs with her.[24][25]