19th century Portuguese folklorist Consiglieri Pedroso claimed that the tale is a popular one, specially "in the East of Europe". Its name in Russian compilations are Emilian the Fool or By the Pike's Will. Similarly, Jack Haney stated that the tale is "common throughout the Eastern Slavic world". Predecessors The tale first appeared in a German language compilation of fairy tales, published by Anton Dietrich in 1831, in Leipzig. Its name was Märchen von Emeljan, dem Narren. Jacob Grimm, of his famed collection, noted its great resemblance with Peruonto.<ref>Dietrich, Anton, and Jacob Grimm. Russian Popular Tales: Tr. From the German Version of Anton Dietrich'. London: Chapman and Hall, 1857. p. viii. </ref> The similarity was also noted by mythologist Thomas Keightley, in the 19th century, in his book Tales and Popular Fictions. Interpretations Portuguese author José Teixeira Rêgo suggested that the story of Emiliano Parvo ("The Foolish Emelian") was "a deformed [narrative] of the flood myth". He also considered the text of Emelian the Fool as a more complete version of the story, which would allow him to formulate his hypothesis. For instance, he compared the episode of Emelyan meeting the pike in the ocean and its help to Matsya, pisciform avatara of Vishnu, being released by king Manu and, in turn, alerting the human about the upcoming great deluge and helping him reach terra firma. He also compared the crystal bridge the pike produces with his magic to a rainbow the gods send the survivors of the flood. Variants Folklorist Alexander Afanasyev compiled two variants of the tale about the magic pike wherein the protagonist is the foolish character."Emelia the Fool." In: The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev: Volume I, edited by Haney Jack V., 429-38. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Accessed November 17, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qhm7n.110. He also collected another version about the magic pike, but the protagonist is simply a humble man, instead of a stupid and lazy boy."At the Pike’s Command." In: The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas’ev: Volume I, edited by Haney Jack V., 439-42. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2014. Accessed November 17, 2020. doi:10.2307/j.ctt9qhm7n.111. Cultural legacy The tale was adapted into the 1938 film Wish upon a Pike and four Soviet animated films (1938, 1957, 1970, 1984). See also The Fisherman and His Wife (German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm) The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (Alexander