The ogress who was afraid of children (Dhundha and the first Holika fire)
In the Bhavishya Purana an ogress named Dhundha, protected by a boon from Shiva, torments the children of King Raghu's kingdom. Vasishtha tells the king that on the Phalguna full moon the children must gather wood, light a fire, and shout and laugh, and the ogress will flee. So the Holika fire began. In the north the boys still collect the wood.
Yudhishthira asks Krishna why the Holika festival is kept. Krishna tells him that in the reign of Raghu an ogress named Dhundha, daughter of Malin, won a boon from Shiva that no god, man or weapon could kill her, nor heat, cold or rain harm her; but Shiva left her one fear, of children at play. She attacked the children of the kingdom. Raghu asked Vasishtha, who told him that on the full moon of Phalguna the children should collect wood and cow dung, build a fire, and run around it with sticks, shouting and laughing; the ogress would flee. It was done, and the day was called Holika.
In the villages of the north boys go from house to house before Holi collecting wood and dung cakes for the fire, and are given them, because the fire belongs to the children. Dhundhi, the ogress, is the reason; the noise and the fire keep her away. In parts of Gujarat and Rajasthan a baby's first Holi is marked with the dhundh, a rite to keep the child safe.
What is different here:
No king and no sage; told through the custom of the boys and the baby's first Holi.