The Bay-Tree Maiden
The Bay-Tree Maiden (Romanian: Fata din dafin) is a Romanian fairy tale about a beautiful maiden who emerges from a bay tree and falls in love with a prince. A prince is promised to marry a girl named Sanda-Lucsandra, who is said to live far away. Years later his mother confesses that Sanda-Lucsandra does not exist, so the prince sets off to find her.
He comes to a great bay tree, rests beneath it, and a lovely maiden steps out. He seduces her, promises to marry her, and leaves. He later reaches a castle where a man claims his daughter is Sanda-Lucsandra and a wedding is arranged. The bay-tree maiden cannot return to the tree after that night, so she travels and even disguises herself as a monk to stay close to the prince. She follows the prince to his wedding.
When the monk vanishes, the prince discovers that the monk was really the bay-tree maiden in disguise and that he has not married the true Sanda-Lucsandra. He sends away the false bride and marries the maiden from the bay tree.
There are many variants in Romania, Greece and Turkey. Some endings have the tree maiden marrying the prince, while others are more tragic. The tale is often connected to the myth of Daphne, with the plant as the maiden’s home.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 06:27 (CET).