Editing World tree (section)

===ATU 301: The Three Stolen Princesses===
The imagery of the World Tree appears in a specific tale type of the [[Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index]], type ATU 301, "The Three Stolen Princesses", and former subtypes AaTh 301A, "Quest for a Vanished Princess" (or "Three Underground Kingdoms") and AaTh 301B, "The Strong Man and His Companions" (''[[Jean de l'Ours]]'' and ''[[Fehérlófia (Hungarian folk tale)|Fehérlófia]]''). The hero journeys alone to the underworld (or a subterranean realm) to rescue three princesses. He leads them to a rope that will take them to the surface and, when the hero tries to climb up the rope, his companions cut it and the hero is stranded in the underworld. In his wanderings, he comes across a tree, on its top a nest of eggs from an eagle, a griffin or a mythical bird. The hero protects the nest from a snake enemy that slithers from the roots of the tree.<ref name=Kencis2011/><ref>Radulović, Nemanja. "[https://www.academia.edu/16032893/ARBOR_MUNDI_Visual_Formula_and_the_Poetics_of_Genre Arbor Mundi: Visual Formula and the Poetics of Genre]". In: ''Epic Formula: a Balkan Perspective''. Edited by Mirjana Detelić and Lidija Delić. Belgrade: Institute for Balkan Studies/Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts. 2015. p. 67. {{ISBN|978-86-7179-091-8}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last1=Levin|first1=Isidor|title=Etana. Die keilschriftlichen Belege einer Erzählung.|journal=Fabula|date=January 1966|volume=8|issue=Jahresband|pages=1–63|doi=10.1515/fabl.1966.8.1.1|s2cid=161315794}}</ref>

Serbian scholarship recalls a Serbian mythical story about three brothers, named Ноћило, Поноћило и Зорило ("Noćilo, Ponoćilo and Zorilo") and their mission to rescue the king's daughters. Zorilo goes down the cave, rescues three princesses and with a whip changes their palaces into apples. When Zorilo is ready to go up, his brothers abandon him in the cave, but he escapes with the help of a bird.<ref>{{cite book|doi=10.18485/msc.2017.46.2.ch20|chapter='Од немила до недрага' Милана Дединца: есејизација лирске прозе или лиризација есеја|title=Есеј, есејисти и есејизација у српској књижевности ; Форме приповедања у српској књижевности|series=Научни састанак слависта у Вукове дане|year=2017|last1=Мeдан|first1=Маја Ј.|volume=46/2|pages=185–194|isbn=978-86-6153-470-6}}</ref> Serbian scholar Pavle Sofric ([[:sr:Павле Софрић Нишевљанин|sr]]), in his book about Serbian folkmyths about trees, noted that the tree of the tale, an [[ash tree]] ([[Serbian language|Serbian]]: јасен), showed a great parallel to the [[Yggdrasil|Nordic tree]] as not to be coincidental.<ref>Vukicevic, Dragana. "[https://www.academia.edu/22588972/ БОГ КОЈИ ОДУСТАЈЕ (Илија Вукићевић Прича о селу Врачима и Сими Ступици и Радоје Домановић Краљевић Марко по други пут међу Србима)]" [The Resigning God]. In: СРПСКИ ЈЕЗИК, КЊИЖЕВНОСТ, УМЕТНОСТ. Зборник радова са VI међународног научног скупа одржаног на Филолошко-уметничком факултету у Крагујевцу (28–29. X 2011). Књига II: БОГ. Крагујевац, 2012. p. 231.</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Glavnije bilje u narodnom verovanju i pevanju kod nas Srba|first=Pavle|last=Sofrić|publisher=BIGZ|date=1990|pages=119–121|isbn=9788613004745|language=Serbian|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0WmBAAAAMAAJ&q=%22%D0%9D%D0%BE%D1%9B%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE,+%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%BE%D1%9B%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE+%D0%B8+%D0%97%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%BE+%22}}</ref>

While comparing Balkanic variants of the tale type ATU 301, researcher Milena Benovska-Sabkova noticed that the conflict between the snake and the eagle (bird) on the tree "was very close to the classical imagery of the World Tree".<ref>Benovska-Sabkova, Milena. "[https://www.academia.edu/42800343 "Тримата братя и златната ябълка" — анализ на митологическата семантика в сравнителен балкански план] ["The three brothers and the golden apple": Analysis of the mythological semantic in comparative Balkan aspect]. In: "Българска етнология" [Bulgarian Ethnology] nr. 1 (1995): 90–102.</ref>