Gower's ‘Tale of Three Questions’ and ‘The Clever Peasant Girl’ Folktale

Bratcher points the similarities between john Gower's "Tale of Three Questions' in Confessio Amantis, Book I and the story-line of " The Clever Peasant Girl" folktale. The folktale lies in the shared use of a particular riddle with 'the earth' as its answer; this, together with the fact that Gower's tale also features a quick-minded girl as a riddle solver, as is necessary if the king is to propose marriage.