This story has a basic quest theme, but note how it embodies a kind of class warfare.  The king attempts to destroy the “very poor woman’s” son because he is angry over the prophesy that this poor guy, fortune’s child, is destined to marry the king’s daughter.  The child destined for destruction being rescued and given to adoptive parents is a motif recognizable from the Oedipus story in Greek tragedy, and like that story, attempts to contravene fate are doomed to failure.  The king discovers the child of fortune has escaped and engineers another plan for destroying him - the same plan Claudius uses in Hamlet to try to rid himself of his nephew.
        The truth of the prediction that this is fortune’s child is demonstrated by his treatment at the hand of the vicious robbers; their substitute letter also fulfills the initial prediction.  Note that this in itself could be a complete narrative, although a very short and not very interesting one.  Only after the king returns does the real story begin, with the impossible quest assigned - a third instance of the king seeking to destroy the boy.  Another tripling comes with his encountering three questioners along the journey; he passes the test by promising to find the answers from them.  The boy’s reception by the devil’s wife mirrors his reception by the old lady at the robber’s house - she switches allegiance to him and seeks to protect him (another common motif, viz., Jack and the Beanstalk).  This suggests some literary tinkering, perhaps - few oral tales have such perfect symmetry.  Finally, the king is tricked for his wickedness into an eternity of ferrying travelers across the river; this might also be an echo of the Greek mythical figure of Charon, ferrying people across the River Styx.

[Note in re being born with a caul on one’s head: A caul is part of the placental membrane that is ejected along with the child at birth.  American folklore says this is a sign that the child will have second sight (according to several people on the FOLKLORE list); in Dickens’s David Copperfield, David is born with a caul and it is said to protect against death by drowning (Consider implications then in the king’s bungled attempt at infanticide).  Here it is suggested that the German folk tradition equates this with simply being lucky in life; the prediction that he will marry the king’s daughter seems to be a secondary prophesy based on the supposed good fortune.]

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