The Golden Lion is an Italian fairy tale

Fairy tale

A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 collected by Laura Gonzenbach

Laura Gonzenbach

Laura Gonzenbach was a Swiss folklorist, active in Messina, who collected fairy tales in a number of European dialects.Gonzenbach was born in a Swiss-German community of Sicily, to a German speaking mercantile family, her sister, Magdelena, began a school in Messina...

 in Sicilianische Märchen. Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang

Andrew Lang was a Scots poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University of St Andrews are named after him.- Biography :Lang was born in Selkirk...

 included it in The Pink Fairy Book.

Synopsis

A merchant had three sons. The oldest set out and found a city where the king had proclaimed that whoever found his daughter within eight days would marry her, but anyone who tried and failed would lose his head. The son tried and failed. His second brother followed and also failed.

The youngest son

Youngest son

The youngest son is a stock character in fairy tales, where he features as the hero. He is usually the third son, but sometimes there are more brothers, and sometimes he has only one; usually, they have no sisters....

, following his brothers, discovered their fates and rebuffed an old woman who sought alms from him. She asked if he was in trouble, and the son explained the situation. She told him that he should purchase a statue of a golden lion that played music, so that he could hide inside it. After the statue was completed, the man hid inside. The old woman showed the lion to the king. When he wanted it, she told him she could only lend it to him overnight. He brought it down a secret stairway to twelve identical women. During the night, the youth implored the princess to help him, and she told him she would wear a white sash when he came hunting for her so he could identify her.

The old woman took the lion away. The youth came out of hiding and went to the king, who gave him permission to search for the princess. The young man went to the place where the princess was hidden and chose the woman who was wearing the white sash.

The king agreed to their wedding. The merchant's son and the princess then sailed off with her dowry

Dowry

A dowry is the money, goods, or estate that a woman brings forth to the marriage. It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both...

. They also gave the old woman enough money for the rest of her days.

Motifs

This method of winning the princess is also found in the fairy tales The Fair Fiorita

The Fair Fiorita

The Fair Fiorita is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales. Italo Calvino included a variant of it, The Princesses Wed to the First Passer-By, in his Italian Folktales.-Synopsis:...

and The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground

The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground

The Princess Who Was Hidden Underground is a German fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book.-Synopsis:A king had three sons and divided his property. The older two squandered theirs, but the youngest son was prudent, and became rich...

.