about to eat the apples. The third son snatches a feather and shows it to his father, who proclaims that whoever brings him the bird shall inherit his throne. The third son begins the quest: he sacrifices his horse to feed a wolf who becomes his mount and guide, and eventually steals a horse from the chaan and rescues one of the Prince Olgör's daughters from an unwanted marriage. At the end of the tale, the wolf asks for a heavy golden axe to be made and to be used on him. The prince's third son, reluctantly, kills the wolf, but the animal changes back into his original human form. Africa Northeast Africa German ethnologue Leo Frobenius collected a tale from Kordofan with the title Vogel, Pferd, Büchse ("The Bird, The Horse, The Box"): a Melik has a beautiful tree in the garden that yields seven apricot-like fruits. However, one night, a bird comes and takes one of the seven fruits, until there it none. The youngest son offers to stand guard on the tree the next night and shoot at the bird, which leaves a feather. The youth takes the feather and shows his father, who wants the bird for himself. The three sons go on a quest for the bird; the two elders brothers stop at a crossroads, read the signposts and cease their questing. The youngest son continues on his quest, with the help of an Aldjann: he obtains a bird, a horse that can be summoned everywhere by simpling rubbing some hairs from his mane, and a box that holds another king's servants, drummers and trumpeters. When he gets the box, the prince opens it and a large retinue comes out. The Aldjann helps the prince put everyone inside again and close the box. Central Africa In a variant from Congo, The Tale of the Golden Birds, a flock of golden-coloured Golden Birds fly over the kraal, and the local king sends his 11 sons after them. During their long journey, every one of the brothers decide to settle in a local village, until there is only one brother left to continue their quest. He arrives at the city of the Golden Birds, whose people demand the Magic Drum. In turn, the people who have the drum ask for the Golden Queen from the city that rules over all the land and who shines like the