In a Moldavian tale published by author Grigore Botezatu with the title The Snake-Prince and the King's Daughter, an old couple have no children. One day, the old man decides to venture into the wide world in search of a son for them. He stops by a little well to drink water, and finds that a little snake sneaked into his bag. He brings the snake home to is wife and feeds with milk and nut kernels. After four days, the snake grows so large and asks their parents to find them a wife, the king's daughter. The old man goes to the king to offer his snake's son proposal, but he is beaten and cast out of the castle. The snake son swallows his father to restore his health and, after spitting him out, insists he tries again with the king. The king listens to the proposal, but asks for a task first: to level a mountain into a valley, build a mill in it, then plant wheat, harvest it, grind it into flour, bake bread and deliver it to the king - all of this overnight. The snake son whistles and summons an army of snake servants to fulfill the task for him. The second task is for the sea to beat just below the castle's window, and, on the other side of the sea, for a vineyard to be planted and for the grapes to be ripe just before sunrise. The third task isto build a golden road between the king's castle and the bridegroom's house, with golden bridges, golden trees with golden fruits and singing golden birds. He fulfills the tasks and marries the king's daughter. After the wedding feast, they retire to their new home, and the snake son takes off his snakeskin to reveal he is a human prince beneath it. They live like this for some time, until one day, the queen asks her daughter about her married life. The princess reveals he is a snake by day and a man by night, and the queen suggests she puts some hot coals under his side of the bed, so that, when he stretches his legs, the snakeskin will fall on the coals and burn. The princess follows the instructions and lets the snakeskin burn on the hot coals. The snake youth wakes up and tells that his curse would be undone in three days, then curses his wife to have three iron rings around her maidens girdle, so that she cannot bear their son, and departs. The princess goes after him and meets the Holy Wednesday, who gives her three golden apples; the Holy Friday, who gives her a gold spinning reel, and the Holy Sunday, who gives her a silk handkerchief embroidered with gold. Lastly, she reaches her destination where her husband is to be found: the land of the fairies, a kingdom where the water is blue, the fields are gold and the grass is green. She uses the presents from her helpers to buy three nights in her husband's bed, wakes him and lets him touch the iron rings, so she can give birth to their son.Botezatu, Grigore. Moldavian Folk-Tales. Kishinev: Literatura Artistika, 1986. pp. 51-60.
