The Pretty Little Calf

The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children".[3] This folktype contains the motif of the calumniated wife:[4] a girl promises her husband to bear children with wonderful aspect, but her persecutors (usually her sisters) replace the children for puppies to humiliate her.

Some of the story's motif has similarities with stories from "One Thousand and One Nights", namely "Tale of the Trader" and the "Jinni".

The story also contains the motif of the marital transformation,[5] which also appears in European tales of the Animal as Bridegroom cycle of stories, such as "Hans My Hedgehog", "The Pig King" and "The Donkey".

In the first catalogue of Chinese folktales (devised by Eberhard in 1937), Wolfram Eberhard abstracted a Chinese folktype he termed Der Verwandelte Knabe ("The Transformed Boy"): evil co-wives try to kill the man's youngest wife's child by feeding him to the cow; the cow gives birth to a calf; the calf escapes to another kingdom, marries a human princess and changes back to human form.[6] Eberhard based on a tale published in a book from Kiangsu. The author of the Kiangsu book noted that the tale seemed to hark back to a story of a concubine from the annals of the Sung Dynasty.[7]

Scholarship points that in a compilation of Buddhist teachings, titled Shijia rulai shidi xiuxing ji, there exists a story about a king whose third wive gives birth to a boy, and his jealous co-wives replace the baby with a skinned cat and even try to kill him, to no avail. Finally, they give the baby to a cow that eats it, and lie to their husband the third wive gave birth to a monster. The cow gives birth to a calf (a golden calf in many versions), to which the king takes a liking to, to the horror of the two co-wives. They feign some illness and persuade the king to kill the little calf as cure for them, but the royal butcher spares its life, killing another animal in its place. The calf escapes to another kingdom (Korea), grows up and marries a princess. The calf regains human shape and rescues his mother.[8] This tale can also be known as The Golden Calf, The Calf with the Golden Horns and Silver Hooves or The Marriage of the Calf.[9]

Other tales about Prince Golden Calf are attested in historical literature of Taiwan, Manchuria and Mongolia. They contain very similar plot structures: birth of hero by third wive or concubine, the attempts on the young prince by the other wives, his rebirth as a golden-horned and silver-hooved calf (with some difference between versions), his escape to another kingdom, his marriage to a human princess; his transformation to human and eventual return to his homeland.[10][11]

According to scholarship, the Buddhist tale of the birth of the Golden Calf "became wide-spread in Korea",[12] with the earliest printed edition dating back to 1329 (during the reign of King Chungsuk of Goryeo).[13] The tale is also known as Kŭmu t'aejajŏn (金牛太子傳; "The Life of Prince Golden Calf"); Kŭmsongajijŏn (금송아지전; "Story of the Golden Calf"),[14][15][16][17] 환생한 송아지 신랑 ("The Reincarnated Calf as a Groom") 금우태자전 ("Crown Prince Geumwoo"),[18] Geumdoktaeja ("Golden Calf Son") and 금송아지로 태어난 아들 ("Son Reborn as Golden Calf").[13]

According to scholarship, in the Mongolian version of Prince Golden Calf, the third queen gives birth to a boy with golden chest and silver backside. When the two jealous queens give the boy for the cow to eat it, the cow gives birth to a similarly coloured calf. The calf regains human form, returns to his father's palace and denounces the queens' deceit.[19] In addition, professor Charles R. Bawden stated that the theme of the calumniated wife appears in Mongolian tradition with the motif of the son's rebirth by a cow.[20]

Bawden also provided the summary of a tale recorded in Inner Mongolia: the three queens promise similar things. When the third one gives birth to the boy with golden breast and silver buttocks, they bury the boy under the threshold of the tent and replace him for kittens. After the king returns and demotes the third queen to a simple maid, the two queens dig up the boy and throw him in the well. When horsemen complain about the well, the two women draw the boy up, cook him up and give the broth for the cow to eat. The cow later gives birth to a calf, which becomes the king's pet. The two queens want its liver as remedy for their false illness. When the calf is ready to be killed, the axe breaks the transformation and disenchants him to normal human form.[21] This tale was also published in longer form with the title Jagar Büritü-yin Khagan, which Bawden understood to mean "Khan of All in India".[22]