Peta has her own blog, where she posts and talks about an interesting fairytale approximately each Friday. This week, we have “The Golden Bird” – I’m reposting it for Les Bonnes Fees readers consumption. She is too modest to post this herself, and she wouldn’t let me do it if she knew I was 😉
The Golden Bird is sometimes known as The Fox’s Brush, referring to the fox’s tail (see Grimm’s Fairy Tales, Stories and Tales of Elves, Goblins, and Fairies, available through GoogleBooks). This was my favourite fairy tale for a long time–I loved the wonderful images the fox’s brush brought to mind, and so very desperately wanted a fox of my own!
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In times gone by there was a king who had at the back of his castle a beautiful pleasure-garden, in which stood a tree that bore golden apples. As the apples ripened they were counted, but one morning one was missing. Then the king was angry, and he ordered that watch should be kept about the tree every night. Now the king had three sons, and he sent the eldest to spend the whole night in the garden; so he watched till midnight, and then he could keep off sleep no longer, and in the morning another apple was missing. The second son had to watch the following night; but it fared no better, for when twelve o’clock had struck he went to sleep, and in the morning another apple was missing. Now came the turn of the third son to watch, and he was ready to do so; but the king had less trust in him, and believed he would acquit himself still worse than his brothers, but in the end he consented to let him try. So the young man lay down under the tree to watch, and resolved that sleep should not be master. When it struck twelve something came rushing through the air, and he saw in the moonlight a bird flying towards him, whose feathers glittered like gold. The bird perched upon the tree, and had already pecked off an apple, when the young man let fly an arrow at it. The bird flew away, but the arrow had struck its plumage, and one of its golden feathers fell to the ground: the young man picked it up, and taking it next morning to the king, told him what had happened in the night. The king called his council together, and all declared that such a feather was worth more than the whole kingdom.
read more of the story (from a Grimms Collection)
And then there’s the analysis/commentary:In the absence of overwhelming scholarship – and I’m sure there’s some around for AT 550, just not available through my regular sources – I present a comparison of a few tale types, much as I did for Suan the Guesser. The tales I’ve chosen – The Golden Bird (Grimms, most likely German), The Bird Grip (Swedish), Tsarevitch Ivan, the Fire Bird and the Grey Wolf (Russian), The Nunda, Eater of People (Swahili), and The Greek Princess and the Young Gardener (Irish) – are an interesting collection of tales within the same type, with The Nunda, Eater of People being a good example of the variation than can exist within a given group, and The Bird Grip aptly illustrating how some tales fit within two groupings. I’ll post some links to, or versions of, these tales in the coming days.
[…] Fairy Tale Fridays The bird perched upon the tree, and had already pecked off an apple, when the young man let fly an arrow at it. The bird flew away, but the arrow had struck its plumage, and one of its golden feathers fell to the ground: the young man … […]