"Foundling-Bird" (original German title: ''Fundevogel'') is a German

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob Grimm, Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm Grimm, Wilhelm (1786–1859), were Germans, German academics who together collected and published folklore. The brothers are among the best-known storytellers of Oral tradit ...

, number 51. It is Aarne–Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee, D.L. Ashliman,
The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales)
and revolves about a transformation chase. Others of the type include '' The Master Maid'', '' The Water Nixie'', '' Nix Nought Nothing'', and '' The Two Kings' Children''.

Synopsis

forester A forester is a person who practises forest management and forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Fores ...

is in the woods to hunt when he finds a baby boy in a

bird of prey Birds of prey or predatory birds, also known as (although not the same as) raptors, are hypercarnivorous bird species that actively predation, hunt and feed on other vertebrates (mainly mammals, reptiles and smaller birds). In addition to speed ...

's nest on top of a tall tree. The child's mother had been asleep when the bird snatched him away and left him in the nest. The forester climbs up the tree and brings the boy down, bringing him home to raise alongside his own daughter, Lenchen, and names the child Fundevogel or Foundling-

Bird Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class (biology), class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the Oviparity, laying of Eggshell, hard-shelled eggs, a high Metabolism, metabolic rate, a fou ...

because a bird had carried him away. Foundling-Bird and Lenchen grow up loving each other early. One evening, Lenchen spots her father's old cook carrying many buckets of water into the house. When asked what she is doing, the cook, who hates Foundling-Bird, tells Lenchen that she is going boil him to death. When the forester leaves to go hunting the next day, Lenchen informs Foundling-Bird of the evil cook's plan and they run away into the woods. When she has the water hot and boiling, the cook goes to fetch Foundling-Bird only to find the children's bedroom empty. Afraid of her master punishing her, the cook sends out three servants to bring the missing children back home. In the woods, Foundling-Bird and Lenchen change their forms when they see the servants coming: the boy turning into a rosebush and the girl into a single

rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

on it. The servants go back empty-handed. When they tell the cook they had seen nothing but the rosebush, she scolds them for not uprooting it and bringing back the rose. The servants go into the woods again but this time, Foundling-Bird turns into a church and Lenchen into a

chandelier A chandelier () is an ornamental lighting device, typically with spreading branched supports for multiple lights, designed to be hung from the ceiling. Chandeliers are often ornate, and they were originally designed to hold candles, but now inca ...

in it. The servants return home and tell the cook what they had seen, and she scolds them for not demolishing the church and bringing back the chandelier. Accompanied by the cook, the servants return to the woods where Foundling-Bird turns into a

pond A pond is a small, still, land-based body of water formed by pooling inside a depression (geology), depression, either naturally or artificiality, artificially. A pond is smaller than a lake and there are no official criteria distinguishing ...

and Lenchen into a

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

swimming in it. When the cook bends down to drink the pond dry, the duck seizes her and drowns her in the water. With the evil cook dead, Foundling-Bird and Lenchen assume their original forms and go back home.

References

External links

Fundevogel online audiobook
{{Authority control Grimms' Fairy Tales Fairy tales about shapeshifting Fairy tales about magic Fictional birds ATU 300-399

Synopsis

See also

References

External links