:
3, the argument of which, as given in Burton's translation (2 : 372),
runs thus:--

Ciancola, son of the King of Verde-colle, fareth to seek his three
sisters, married one with a falcon, another with a stag, and the
other with a dolphin; after long journeying he findeth them, and
on his return homewards he cometh upon the daughter of a king,
who is held prisoner by a dragon within a tower, and calling by
signs which had been given him by the falcon, stag, and dolphin,
all three came before him ready to help him, and with their aid he
slayeth the dragon, and setteth free the princess, whom he weddeth,
and together they return to his realm.

This argument does not quite do justice to the similarities between
Basile's story and ours. For instance, in the Italian story, when
the daughters leave, they give their mother three identical rings as
tokens. Then a son is born to the queen. When he is fifteen years old,
he sets out to look for his sisters, taking the rings with him. Nor,
again, does this argument mention the fact that in the end the animal
brothers-in-law are transformed into men,--a feature which is found
in Basile, but not in our story. In the main, however, it will be seen
that the two are very close. In Von Hahn, No. 25, the brothers-in-law
are a lion, a tiger, and an eagle.

The opening of our story, so far as I know, is not found in any of the
other members of this cycle. Usually the sisters are married to the
animals in consequence of a king's decision to give his daughters to
the first three persons who pass by his palace after a certain hour
(Crane, No. XIII); or else the animals present themselves as suitors
after the death of the king, who has charged his sons to see that
their sisters are married (Von Hahn, No. 25; compare the opening
of Wratislaw No. XLI = Wuk, No. 17). In our story, however, Pedro
is deprived of his daughters in consequence of his greed. With this
situation compare the "Maha-vanija-jataka," No. 493, which tells how
some merchants find a magic banyan-tree. From this tree the merchants
receive wonderful gifts; but they are insatiable, and finally plan to
cut it down to see if there is not large treasure at the roots. The
guardian-spirit of the tree, the serpent-king, punishes them. It is not
impossible that some such parable as this lies behind the introduction
to our story. There is abundant testimony from early travellers in
the Islands that the natives in certain sections regar