tale type, after the lowly hero marries the princess, her father sends him to the Devil or another creature, on a dangerous quest designed to kill him. On his way to the other world, he is asked riddles and questions that he promises to ask the Devil. In many variants, the three questions pertain to a fountain that has dried up, a tree that does not yield fruits, and lastly about the ferryman. Motifs The motif of the old man ferrying the poor boy/hero across the sea to the Devil (in Grimm's version; a giant, ogre, in other variants) parallels the mythological journey to "The Otherworld" (Hell) on the boat. Likewise, the figure of the devil fulfills the role of an oracular god. The motif of frogs blocking the flow of waters has several parallels studied by Andrew Lang. Lang suggests this motif may descend from the ancient Indo-European myth of a hero or thunder god slaying a serpent or dragon that blocks the flow of waters. Variants In the story Emperor Conrad and the count's son (Gesta Romanorum), the protagonist is the son of the Count of Caln, who had offended Emperor Conrad II and thus fled to a hut in the Black Forest. The boy is adopted by Duke Herman of Swabia. When Conrad sent the youth to Aachen with a letter instructing the empress to kill him, it was the dean of the Speyer Cathedral who save the young count and changed the instruction, so Caln could marry the princess. When Conrad found out, he became reconciled with the events and made the count, now his son-in-law his co-regent. Because the dean had prevented innocent blood to be shed, he was made chancellor and it was also because of this action, the imperial burial vault was constructed in Speyer. The Brothers Grimm collected a tale in the first edition of their compilation with the name Der Vogel Phönix (English: "The Phoenix Bird"), where the hero was found by a miller in a box cast into the water and he is tasked with getting three feathers from the "Phoenix Bird", who lives in a hut atop a mountain in the company of an old lady. In Slavic folktale compilations, the devil is replaced by a character called Old Vsevede or "Father Know-All". Francis Hindes Groome collected a Transylvanian-Romani variant with the title The Three Golden Hairs of the