The Three Little Birds
Encyclopedia
The Three Little Birds is a German fairy tale
collected by the Brothers Grimm
, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German
.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird.
The original source for the tale is likely Ancilotto, King of Provino
, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola
. The story of the 756th night in the Arabian Nights is also similar.
The king had to go on a journey, and had her sisters attend the queen. She gave birth to a son with a red star on his forehead. Her sisters threw him into the water and, though a bird sprang out of the water singing of what they had told and terrifying them, told the king the queen had given birth to a dog, but a fisherman fished the boy out of the water and raised him. The king said that whatever God sent was good, and again when it happened with his second son, but when they did the same with a third child, a daughter, and said the queen had given birth to a cat, he threw his wife into a prison.
One day, the other boys would not let the oldest fish with them, because he was a foundling. So he set out to find his father. He found an old woman fishing and told her she would fish long before she caught anything. She told him that he would search long before he found his father, and carried him over the water to do it. The next year, the second boy set out in search of the brother, and it fared the same with him. The next year, the girl set out as well, and when she found the woman, she said "May God bless your fishing." The old woman gave her a rod and told her to go to a castle, bring back a caged bird and a glass of water, and on the way back, strike a black dog with the rod. She did it, found her brothers on the way, and when she struck the dog, turned it into a handsome prince. They went back home to the fisherman.
The second son went hunting and, when he grew tired, played a flute. The king heard this and found him. He did not believe he was the fisherman's son, so the second son invited him home. There, the bird sang the story of what happened to them. The queen was let out of prison, the false sisters killed, and the daughter married the prince.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
collected by the Brothers Grimm
Brothers Grimm
The Brothers Grimm , Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm , were German academics, linguists, cultural researchers, and authors who collected folklore and published several collections of it as Grimm's Fairy Tales, which became very popular...
, tale number 96. The story is originally written in Low German
Low German
Low German or Low Saxon is an Ingvaeonic West Germanic language spoken mainly in northern Germany and the eastern part of the Netherlands...
.
It is Aarne-Thompson type 707, the dancing water, the singing apple, and the speaking bird.
The original source for the tale is likely Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino
Ancilotto, King of Provino is an Italian literary fairy tale written by Giovanni Francesco Straparola in The Facetious Nights of Straparola....
, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giovanni Francesco Straparola
Giovanni Francesco "Gianfrancesco" Straparola was an Italian writer and fairy tale collector from Caravaggio, Italy. He has been termed the progenitor of the literary form of the fairy tale in Europe...
. The story of the 756th night in the Arabian Nights is also similar.
Synopsis
Three sisters were tending cows when a king and his company went by. The oldest pointed at the king and said she would marry him or no one; her sisters pointed at ministers and said the same. The king summoned them before him, and then, because they were very beautiful, he married the oldest and his ministers married the youngest.The king had to go on a journey, and had her sisters attend the queen. She gave birth to a son with a red star on his forehead. Her sisters threw him into the water and, though a bird sprang out of the water singing of what they had told and terrifying them, told the king the queen had given birth to a dog, but a fisherman fished the boy out of the water and raised him. The king said that whatever God sent was good, and again when it happened with his second son, but when they did the same with a third child, a daughter, and said the queen had given birth to a cat, he threw his wife into a prison.
One day, the other boys would not let the oldest fish with them, because he was a foundling. So he set out to find his father. He found an old woman fishing and told her she would fish long before she caught anything. She told him that he would search long before he found his father, and carried him over the water to do it. The next year, the second boy set out in search of the brother, and it fared the same with him. The next year, the girl set out as well, and when she found the woman, she said "May God bless your fishing." The old woman gave her a rod and told her to go to a castle, bring back a caged bird and a glass of water, and on the way back, strike a black dog with the rod. She did it, found her brothers on the way, and when she struck the dog, turned it into a handsome prince. They went back home to the fisherman.
The second son went hunting and, when he grew tired, played a flute. The king heard this and found him. He did not believe he was the fisherman's son, so the second son invited him home. There, the bird sang the story of what happened to them. The queen was let out of prison, the false sisters killed, and the daughter married the prince.
See also
- The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking BirdThe Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking BirdThe Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird is an Italian fairy tale collected by Thomas Frederick Crane in Italian Popular Tales...
- The Tale of Tsar SaltanThe Tale of Tsar SaltanThe Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan is an 1831 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin, written after the Russian fairy tale edited by Vladimir Dahl...
- Princess Belle-EtoilePrincess Belle-EtoilePrincess Belle-Etoile is a French literary fairy tale written by Madame d'Aulnoy. Her source for the tale was Ancilotto, King of Provino, by Giovanni Francesco Straparola....
- The Bird of TruthThe Bird of TruthThe Bird of Truth is a Spanish fairy tale collected by Cecilia Böhl de Faber in her Cuentos de encantamiento. Andrew Lang included it in The Orange Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
- The Wicked SistersThe Wicked SistersThe Wicked Sisters is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.Ruth Manning-Sanders included it, as "The Queen's Children", in A Book of Kings and Queens.-Synopsis:...
- The Boys with the Golden StarsThe Boys with the Golden StarsThe Boys with the Golden Stars is a Romanian fairy tale collected in Rumanische Märchen. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...
- A String of Pearls Twined with Golden FlowersA String of Pearls Twined with Golden FlowersA String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers or The Golden Twins is a Romanian fairy tale collected by Petre Ispirescu in Legende sau basmele românilor.-Synopsis:...
- The Pretty Little CalfThe Pretty Little CalfThe Pretty Little Calf is a Chinese fairy tale collected by Wolfram Eberhard in Folktales of China.-Synopsis:An official without children left home to take up his post. His first wife said she would offer him gold on his return; the second, silver; the third, a son. He was pleased with the third...
- The Girl Without HandsThe Girl Without HandsThe Girl Without Hands or The Handless Maiden or The Girl With Silver Hands or The Armless Maiden is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 31. It is Aarne-Thompson type 706.-Synopsis:...
- The Water of LifeThe Water of Life (Spanish fairy tale)The Water of Life is a Catalan fairy tale collected by D. Francisco de S. Maspous y Labros, in Cuentos Populars Catalans. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book.-Synopsis:...