According to scholar Stith Thompson, Hungarian professor Ágnes Kovács, Hungarian-American folklorist Linda Dégh and German scholar Hans-Jörg Uther, the tale of the reed girls is one of the popular fairy tales in Hungary.[10][11][12][13] In addition, the tale type is known all throughout the Hungarian speaking regions.[14] The Hungarian Folktale Catalogue (MNK) listed 59 variants of type 408, A Három Nádszálkisasszony ("The Three Reed Maidens"), across Hungarian sources.[15] On the other hand, Hans-Jörg Uther reports 79 variants.[16]
A previous study reported four texts in Palóc.[17] Later fieldwork conducted in 1999 by researcher Zoltán Vasvári amongst the Palóc population found 3 texts.[18]
In a Hungarian tale from Baranya, A tojásból teremtett lány ("The Girl who was created from an Egg"), the king asks his son to find a wife "just like his mother": "one who was never born, but created!" The prince, on his journeys, finds an egg on the road. He cracks open the egg and a maiden comes out of it; she asks for water to drink, but dies. This repeats with a second egg. With the third, the prince gives water to the egg-born maiden. He goes back to the castle to find her some clothes. While she awaits, a gypsy girl meets the egg maiden and throws her in the well. The gypsy maiden takes the place of the egg girl and marries the prince. Some time later, an old gypsy shows the prince a goldfish he found in the well. The usual transformation sequence happens: the false queen wants to eat the fish; a fish scale falls to the ground and becomes a rosewood; the gypsy wants the rosewood to be burnt down, but a splinter remains. At the end of the tale, the egg princess regains her human form and goes to a ceremony of kneading corn, and joins the other harvesters in telling stories to pass time. She narrates her life story and the king recognizes her.[19]
In a Hungarian tale collected from a source in Potyondon, Rábaköz, with the dialectal title Léán, aki sé anyátú, sé apátú nem született ("The Girl, never born from father, nor mother"), a prince has been cursed by his parents to search for a girl who has not been born by neither father, nor mother. He wanders the world and ventures into a forest, where he meets a witch. The witch directs him to a very tall tree with 999 branches, upon one lies a nest with tree eggs, and a magic fountain nearby. The witch then tells the prince to open the egg near the fountain, for a girl will emerge of it. The prince follows the instructions and fetches the eggs from the nest, cracking open the first: a maiden comes out of it and asks for water, but he cannot give any and he dies. He cracks open the second one and releases another maiden, who dies for not being given water. With the last egg, the prince breaks open the egg near the fountain, and gives water to the egg maiden. Noticing her nakedness, he leaves her by the fountain and promises to return with clothes for her. While he is away, a gypsy duo comes and drowns the maiden in the fountain, then the gypsy girl replaces the egg maiden. The prince returns and notices the egg maiden's skin has changed colour, and the false egg maiden says the sun darkened her skin. Still, he takes her to the palace. As for the true egg maiden, she has turned into a fish in the fountain. The gypsy asks the fish to be cooked and served her. The egg maiden turns into a little bird that sings to the prince, but the gypsy girl wants the prince to knock out the bird, since she dislikes its song. The prince, however, does not listen to
her, finds the bird and touches its wings: the bird turns back into the egg maiden, and she retells the whole story to him, which alerts him to the false bride. The prince executes the false bride, and marries the egg maiden.[20]
In a Hungarian tale collected from a source in Újkenéz with the title A kényes királyfi ("The Gentle Prince"), a gentle prince lives in a city. One day, he goes to the market and breaks the eggs inside an old woman's basket. She then curses him for his wife not to come from an egg. The prince dismisses the old woman's words, but becomes interested in the idea and goes to search for such a girl. He wanders the world until he ventures into a deep forest, where he meets an old man by a fire. The prince tells him about the old woman's words, and the old man gives him a ball of yarn to throw and follow, for it will direct him to a tree with a golden cockatoo's nest with three eggs inside. The prince does as instructed and fetches the eggs while the bird is not looking, and brings it back to the old man, who advises him to return home and not open them until he is near a body of water, for a maiden will come out of it asking for water. The prince departs and goes back home, but, doubting the old man's words, decides to break open one of the eggs: a beautiful maiden springs from the egg and asks for water, but, since the prince does not have any with him, she dies. The same thing happens to the second egg, which also releases a maiden who dies for not having water. Finally, he reaches a spring on the shade of a willow tree, and cracks open the last egg, releasing a maiden seven thousand times more beautiful than the previous two. He gives her water, then goes back home to find her some clothes. While he is away, she goes up the willow tree to wait for him, when a pair of gypsy women, mother and daughter, appear to draw water. The daughter finds the maiden's reflection in the water, and her mother points her to the maiden on the tree. They decide to kill the maiden and replace her as the prince's bride: they shove her down into the spring and place the gypsy daughter atop the tree. The prince returns with a wedding party and notices the maiden has darker skin, which the gypsy girl explains it was caused by the sun and the wind. As for the true egg maiden, she turns into a goldfish a man accidentally fishes out of the water when he goes to draw water, and sells it to the prince. The fish is placed into a tub, but the gypsy girl, advised by her mother, says she needs to eat the fish to be healthier. With this, the fish is killed and cooked, but a fish scale remains and a pear tree sprouts. The gypsy girl feigns illness and says she must lie on a bed made of the wood of the pear tree to be cured. Thus, the pear tree is cut down, but the old woman, who once cursed the prince, goes to fetch a twig and brings it home. She uses the twig as firewood and places it in a fire, but the twig bounces back. Defeated, she places the twig in the fire and goes to church. After she comes back, she finds the table is set for her. The old woman spies her house the next day and finds the beautiful maiden cooking at her stove, and adopts her. Some time later, the prince invites everyone for plucking feathers at the castle, and the old woman and the egg maiden go to the gathering. The prince bids them tell a story, and the egg maiden starts to relate her tale. The gypsy girl tries to interrupt her, but the prince insists she continues. Thus, the egg maiden tells everything that happened to her, which alerts the prince about the false bride. He lets the gypsy go away, marries the egg maiden in a grand ceremony, and takes the old woman to live with them.[21]
In a Hungarian tale collected in the Ukrainian Carpathians with the title Hattyúkacsa ("The Swan-Duck"), a king has an only son that he curses to marry a bride found in the egg. He ventures into a forest and finds a nest atop a tree with three eggs inside. He takes all three and cracks open the first one, releasing a golden-haired maiden that asks for water. She dies for not getting any. The prince then begins to journey towards a stream, and cracks open the second egg releasing another maiden, who dies for not getting water. He finally reaches a stream and cracks open the remaining egg, releasing a maiden to whom he gives water. The maiden survives, and he takes her home to marry. some time later, war breaks out and the prince has to depart. Meanwhile, the queen has two children and hires an old gypsy woman as maidservant. The gypsy woman shoves the princess into the lake in front of the castle and she turns into a swan-duck, while the gypsy woman replaces her. The prince, now a king, returns from war and notices his wife looks uglier, but the gypsy lies that the wind changed her. Still, he takes her word for it, but his own bed alerts him that the princess is a false one. For this, the gypsy woman burns the bed. Meanwhile, the princess in duck form flies in from the lake to suckle her children, then returns. The king sees the duck flying in and the gypsy wants the bird shot and its feathers gathered. The king shoots the bird and collects the feathers, but the wind blows some out of the castle and they turn into a pear tree with musical leaves and dancing fruits. The tree also alerts the king the gypsy is not his wife, but the gypsy fells down the tree. A woodchip flies off and is found by an old woman who lives alone. The old woman brings the woodchip home and tosses it in the fire, while she goes to church. A spark flies off from the woodchip and turns into the queen, the egg maiden, who then does the chores around the house. The old woman discovers the house is swept clean and the food cooked and spies through a keyhole, watching as the spark turns into the queen. The old woman discovers the queen and takes her in, after she tells the whole story. Sometime later, the king organizes a large feast and invites people to tell stories. The old woman and the queen attend the gathering, and the king bids the guests tell stories, until it is the queen's turn. She hesitates at first, but the others goad her into telling her story. As she tells her story, the gypsy woman begins to interrupt her, saying that the tale bothers her. The queen retells how she turned into a pear tree, and finishes her tale. The king then orders some soldiers to seize the impostor, tie her to a wild horse and let the animal free until it reaches a cellar with toads, lizards and crocodiles. It is done thus, and the king retakes his wife, celebrating her return with another feast.[22]