Tale type "Brother and Sister" is similar to other
AT-450 tales, such as "
The Lambkin and the Little Fish". In
West-Slavic variants, the reason the siblings escape from home is to thwart a cannibalistic attempt by their parents.
Relation to other tale types The tale has been noted to contain similarities, among others, to tale types AaTh 403, "
The Black and the White Bride"; AaTh 451, "
The Seven Ravens"; AaTh 706, "
Salvatica"; and AaTh 710, "
Our Lady's Child". Hungarian-American folklorist
Linda Dégh and
Stith Thompson also remarked on the closeness between types 450 and 403. In this regard, German folklorist
Ines Köhler noted the commonalities between both types (e.g., the role of the heroine's brother and the heroine's substitution), but remarked that the "main feature" of type ATU 450 is the brother's animal transformation.
Variants According to folklorist
Paul Delarue, the tale type is "very well known in
Eastern Europe" but "not widely disseminated in
Western Europe". In this regard, Swedish scholar argued that the tale type was distributed along the
Lower Danube region, in the
West Slavic-speaking regions and in the
Balkans. Stith Thompson located variants in Eastern Europe (Russia, Baltic region and the Balkans), but also across the Near East and into India. Likewise, Lithuanian folklorist Bronislava Kerbelyte stated that the tale is "popular" in Lithuania and neighbouring countries.
Europe In the early 20th century, Elsabet Róna-Sklarek also claimed that the story was "sehr beliebten" ("very popular") in Hungary. In this regard, the Hungarian Folktale Catalogue (MNK) registers 48 variants, According to German scholar
Kurt Ranke, tale type ATU 450 is "not very common" in Germany, but he lists up to fourteen texts collected after the Grimm's tale.
Southern Europe Scholars Anna Angelopoulou and Aigle Broskou state that tale type 450 is "widespread" in Greece, with 124 variants recorded.
Iberian Peninsula Hasan El-Shamy noted that the tale type does appear in
Iberian Peninsula, although it seems to be "infrequent". In the same vein, folktale catalogues of Portugal and Spain attest few variants in both countries (regionally in Spain and sparsely in Portugal).
Slavic peoples In the
East Slavic Folktale Classification (), tale type ATU 450 is classified as type SUS 450, "Братец и сестрица" ("Little Brother and Little Sister"), wherein the heroine's brother becomes a kid goat. Most of the indexed variants are located in Russia, but the tale type is also reported in Ukraine and Belarus. The tale type is also attested in the
Polish Folktale Catalogue by Julian Krzyżanowski, indexed as Polish type T 450,
Brat-baranek ("Brother Lamb"). In the Polish type, the sibling pair either escapes from home or are abandoned in the forest by their parents; later, the boy drinks some water from an animal's footprint and becomes a lamb, a goat or a bull; the sister eventually marries a king, but is replaced by her stepmother or a rival. The type is also attested in the
Bulgarian Folktale Catalogue with the title "Братчето еленче" ("Little
Fawn Brother") or
Brüderchen Hirsch ("Little
Hart Brother"): the brother and sister escape from a cannibalistic attempt by their parents in a "Magical Flight" sequence by throwing objects behind them (a comb, a jug of water, razors), or their stepmother convinces their father to abandon the two in the forest; while traversing the woods, the boy drinks water from a deer's hoofprints and becomes one; they settle in the forest, the sister atop a tree near a spring, and the deer underneath it; eventually, the sister is found by a king and marries him. According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, the tale type is also found in
Latvia, indexed as type 450,
Apburtais brālis ("Enchanted Brother"): the pair of siblings escape from their stepmother; the brother drinks water and becomes an animal (deer, ram, wolf, goat, or horse); the sister marries a king, but the stepmother comes back and shoves her into the water. Lithuanian folklorist , in his analysis of Lithuanian folktales (published in 1936), classified the tale as
Avinėliu paverstas berniukas (Jonukas ir Elenytė) ("The Boy Changed to a Lamb (John and Helen)"), with 43 variants registered until then. In these tales, the boy becomes a "silken, fleecy
lamb", and, after his sister marries the prince, their step-mother turns her into a duck. Years later, fellow folklorist reported 133 variants of the tale type in this country.
Asia In his Catalogue of Persian Folktales, German scholar reports 11
Iranian variants of type 450, "Brüderchen und Schwesterchen" ("Little Brother and Little Sister"), wherein the pair of siblings escape from their evil stepmother or from a
div, and the little brother becomes a
gazelle by drinking from a water source. Scholars
Wolfram Eberhard and
Pertev Naili Boratav devised a classification system for Turkish folktales, titled
Typen türkischer Volksmärchen ("Turkish Folktale Catalogue"). In the Turkish catalogue, they indexed a similar narrative as type TTV 168, "Bruder Hirsch" ("The Deer Brother"), with 32 variants in
Turkey. In this type, the stepmother wishes for the death of her step-children, a brother and sister pair, who escape from her in a Magical Flight sequence. After the siblings make their way to the woods, the brother drinks water from a puddle and becomes a deer, while the girl takes refuge up a tree. Later, she is found by a prince whom she marries, but a servant throws her in the water and she is swallowed by a fish. Scholar
Hasan El-Shamy located 43 variants of the tale type across
West Asia and
North Africa. In these tales, the heroine's brother may be transformed into a deer, a
goat or a kid goat.
Africa Hasan El-Shamy located 43 variants of the tale type across
West Asia and
North Africa. In addition, the tale type is "frequent" in North Africa, but only two variants were collected from
Subsaharan Africa. ==Interpretations==