Saturday, July 15, 2017 <p>Synopsis of the variant found in Santa&nbsp;(1959).&nbsp;</p> <p>A great king, a widower with two boys, remarries a woman who quarrels with the princes. Crows warn them that the witch-queen will kill them. They put logs in their beds, strap on their swords, and flee. At the ends of the earth they find a sign that orders them to separate. They each insist the other takes the more promising road; they draw lots and part tearfully. The elder travels to a city, hides in a manger in a stable, and falls asleep. The dove that the city is using to select a new king lights on him, and he is crowned ruler. The younger travels until he meets an ogre, who imprisons him in a cave and sups on his blood. The prince wastes away until St. George comes to arm him and tell him how kill the ogre (by getting on his back and plunging the knife into the middle of his three nostrils). The prince travels to a city, where an old woman adopts him. She warns him never to stay outside after dark. One day, his hunting keeps him out after nightfall. A sea monster finds him. In the morning, the people discover the monster cut to pieces; they blind the boy and throw him into a pit so as to claim the reward for the slaying. A bird later cures the boy’s sight. He finds a cookshop in the city where he can sing of his sorrows. The king comes to listen, and each brother recognizes the other. The king takes him back to his palace, punishes the people who had blinded him, rewards the old woman, and throws a party.</p>