Belleforest’s version is longer than the Heptaméron tale — much longer — and contains elaborations and additions that are not found in the earlier sources.

He added the detail of a clandestine marriage between Marguerite and her young man, for instance, which may or may not correspond to reality but which served to make the story more morally acceptable within the framework of the time: if they were married, then Marguerite was not guilty of the sin of fornication.

The relationship between these three sources — the Heptaméron tale, Thevet’s cosmography, and Belleforest’s dramatic history — illustrates how a real historical event becomes complicated over time by layers of retelling, each shaped by the interests and assumptions of the teller.

The core of the story — the abandonment, the survival, the deaths of companions, and the rescue — is consistent across all three sources.