"Foundling-Bird" is a German fairy tale collected by the

Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among th ...

, number 51. It is Aarne–Thompson type 313A, the girl helps the hero flee,

D.L. Ashliman Dee L. Ashliman (born January 1, 1938), who writes professionally as D. L. Ashliman, is an American folklorist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh and is considered to be a leading expert on folklore and ...

,
The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales (Grimms' Fairy Tales)
and revolves about a

transformation chase In mythology, folklore and speculative fiction, shape-shifting is the ability to physically transform oneself through an inherently superhuman ability, divine intervention, demonic manipulation, sorcery, spells or having inherited the ...

. Others of the type include ''

The Master Maid "The Master Maid" is a Norwegian fairy tale collected by Peter Christen Asbjørnsen and Jørgen Moe in their '' Norske Folkeeventyr''. "Master" indicates "superior, skilled." Jørgen Moe wrote the tale down from the storyteller Anne Godlid i ...

'', '' The Water Nixie'', ''

Nix Nought Nothing "Nix Nought Nothing" is a fairy tale included in Joseph Jacobs's anthology, ''English Fairy Tales'' (1898). ''Nix Nought Nothing'' is a translation of the Scottish tale "Nicht Nought Nothing", originally collected by Andrew Lang from an old woman in ...

'', and '' The Two Kings' Children''.

Synopsis

A forester found a baby in a bird's nest and brought him back to be raised with his daughter Lenchen. They called the child Fundevogel or

Foundling Foundling may refer to: * An abandoned child, see child abandonment * Foundling hospital, an institution where abandoned children were cared for ** Foundling Hospital, Dublin, founded 1704 ** Foundling Hospital, Cork, founded 1737 ** Foundling Hos ...

-Bird, and he and Lenchen loved each other. One day Lenchen saw the cook carrying many buckets of water to the house and asked what she was doing. The cook told her that the next day, she would boil Fundevogel in it. Lenchen went and told Fundevogel, and they fled. The cook, afraid of what the forester would say about his lost daughter, sent servants after them. Fundevogel transformed into a rosebush and Lenchen a rose on it, and the servants went back empty-handed. When they told the cook they had seen nothing but the rosebush and the rose, she scolded them for not bringing back the rose. They went again, and Fundevogel became a church, and Lenchen a chandelier in it. They returned and told the cook what they had seen, and she scolded them for not bringing back the chandelier. The cook set out herself. Fundevogel turned into a pond and Lenchen a duck on it. The cook knelt down to drink up the pool, but Lenchen caught her head and drew her into the pond to drown. The children went safely home again.

References

External links

Fundevogel online audiobook
{{Brothers Grimm Grimms' Fairy Tales Fiction about shapeshifting Fiction about magic Fictional birds ATU 300-399

Synopsis

See also

References

External links