The Fountain
A prince travels to a nearby kingdom to be wed, accompanied by a wicked advisor. On the journey, the two become separated from the rest of the retinue. They come to a magical spring. The advisor knows that this fountain transforms any men who drink from it into women, so he stays back while the prince drinks, then returns to the king's court and reports that the prince has been killed by wild beasts (or, in some versions, a lion). The prince is gravely distressed by his transformation into a woman. He is approached by a djinn, or a devil, who takes pity on him ('because he is so handsome'), and offers to help him. The djinn offers to transform himself into a woman in the prince's stead, but after a time (four months) the transformation will be reversed. The prince agrees; the djinn eventually returns, still in a woman's form and now visibly pregnant. The prince insists that they cannot swap their bodies back to how they were before, therefore, because the condition of a virgin maid's body (which was what he had before the swap) and that of a pregnant woman are not equivalent, so it is not a fair exchange. He stays (or becomes once again) a man, and returns to his wife; the wicked advisor is executed.
(From: Libro de los Engaños)
| Note
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See the combined story Striga and Fons which mixes elements of this narrative with elements of the Striga story.
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| Fons appears in the following versions and secondary versions
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| Fons is narrated in the following occurrences
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| Fons appears in the following manuscripts
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