KidLit Forum

THE BIRD OF TRUTH

1. Context
“The Bird of Truth” ("El Pájaro de la Verdad") 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” in 1906.
2. Summary
Once upon a time there was a poor fisherman. As he lived on the banks of a river, one day when he went to cast his nets, he found a little crystal casket. In the casket he found two baby boys, whom he took home to his wife. The wife was not pleased at all, since they had 8 more children, but the fisherman encouraged her: “heaven, which has sent us these two more children, will assist us to provide for them”.
The two children grew up, being always an example for the other 8 children, but these 8 children became envious and treated them badly. Every time the 8 children would insult them, the twins took refuge in the woods and they started to learn the bird’s language. One day the twins were insulted severely and they decided to travel in search of their real parents. After a while they found an abandoned little house. As they were sitting on a bench, they listened to the swallows, which were talking to each other. They began to tell a story about a queen and a king. The queen was the daughter of a tailor, but she was kind and beautiful. The king had to go a war and leave his queen alone. The people who lived in the king’s court couldn’t accept that they were ruled by a tailor’s daughter, so they decided to ruin her. When the queen gave birth to twins, the conspirators sent to tell the king that the queen gave birth to 4 kids, a serpent and a cat. When hearing this news, the king ordered that the queen should be “entombed alive” and the children should be “cast in the river”. However, a good servant made a hole in the wall and fed the queen and a fisherman found the twins and took care of them. The swallows also said that the twins could liberate their mother and gain their place in the palace by finding the “bird of truth”, which could be found in the “Go and Return Not” Castle, which was guarded by a ferocious giant who “only sleeps one quarter of an hour in twenty-four hours”. If he saw anybody, he would eat him. The castle is found near a tower in which lives a witch and she would show the way to the castle to anyone that would bring her the “water of many colours”, thus just a red owl could tell the prince where the “bird of truth” was.
The swallow ends its story and leaves. The two children followed it and they finally arrived in their parents’ town and they found shelter in a old woman’s house. The boy leaves the next day and with the help of a turtle-dove he finds the tower of the witch. He strikes the gate of the castle and a woman gets out accompanied by spiders, lizards and other vermin. The witch orders a dog to lead the boy to the castle. There the boy meets the red owl which tells him what he has to do: to fill his jar with pure water from s spring that is found at the foot of the fountain “Water of many colours” , to go quickly in the aviary and to seize one white bird and to run to the witch’s tower. He followed these steps and he finally arrived at the tower, where the witch poured the water over him, thinking it was water from the “water of colours” fountain and it would transform him into a lizard. But, as it was pure water, the boy became more handsome. All the creatures in the tower were transformed back into human beings and came with the prince back into town.
The people living in that kingdom, knew that the “Bird of Truth” was found and they tried to satirize the truth about it, but the news finally arrived at the king’s ears and he ordered that anyone who had the bird in his possesion, should immediately present himself to the king. The prince wanted to go, but he was not allowed to entered. The bird flew and entered into the castle through a window, telling him who the boy that brought it was. The king ordered that his wife be liberated and they all seated on their thrones . The fisherman was made the chief of the Ministry of Fishing, and the faithful servant who fed the queen became a duchess and received many gifts.

3. ATU System: The story is a tale of magic with a brother and a sister and with supernatural tasks and helpers.

4. Propp’s functions in the fairy tale:
a. Absentation - A member of the family leaves home – the fisherman
b. Interdiction -
c. Violation of the interdiction -
d. Reconnaissance – Atempt to find more – the children want to meet their real family
e. Delivery -
f. Trickery -
g. Complicity -
h. Villainy and lack – the 8 children insult the twins
i. Mediation -
j. Seeker agrees to take couter-action -
k. Departure – the twins leave home
l. Testing – the twins found out that the king was fooled
m. Reaction – the twins decide to seek the “bird of truth”
n. Aquisition – the owl helps the boy
o. Guidance – the hero finds the pure water
p. Struggle – he escapes from the giant’s mouth
q. Branding -
r. Resolution – hero finds the “bird of truth”
s. Return – the hero returns to the witch’s tower
t. Pursuit – the witch pours the water over him
u. Rescue – he becomes more handsome
v. Arrival – he returns in the town
w. Claim -
x. Task – to present the bird to the king
y. Solution – the bird flies and tells the truth
z. Recognition – the twins are recognized
aa. Exposure – they discovered that they were fooled by some people in the kingdom
bb. Transfiguration – the twins are recognized as prince and princess, the queen is liberated
cc. Punishment -
dd. Marriage - no marriage, but the fisherman and the faithful servant are rewarded

5. Morality: The truth is always revealed.

6. Characters: The fisherman and his wife, the 8 children, the twins (the heroes, the prince and princess), the swallows (helpers), the giant, the witch (the villain), the wise owl (the helper), the king, the queen, the faithful servant, the old woman who offers help, the envious people in the kingdom

7. Similarities to other stories: “Hansel and Grettel” – children leaving home, witch, wood, trials.

Daniela Bud,
LECT, 1