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{{Short description|German fairy tale}}
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[[File:Gruelle fitchers bird.jpg|thumbnail|Illustration to ''Fitcher's Bird'' by [[John B. Gruelle]](?) (1914?)]]
{{Infobox folk tale
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'''Fitcher's Bird''' (German: ''Fitchers Vogel'') is a German [[fairy tale]] collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]], tale number 46.<ref name="KHM46">{{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1843|loc=KHM (Grosse Ausgabe), Band 1, "46. Fitchers Vogel" S.271-275}}</ref><ref name="hunt">Margaret Hunt (tr.) {{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1884|loc=vol. 1, "46. Fitcher's Bird"}}</ref>
|Folk_Tale_Name = Fitcher's Bird
|Image_Name = File:Gruelle fitchers bird.jpg|thumb
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|Image_Caption = Illustration to ''Fitcher's Bird'' by [[John B. Gruelle]](?) (1914?)
|Aarne-Thompson Grouping = ATU 311 (The Heroine Rescues Herself and Her Sisters)
|AKA =
|Mythology =
|Country = Germany
|Region =
|Origin_Date =
|Published_In = ''[[Grimms' Fairy Tales]]''
|Related =
}}
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"'''Fitcher's Bird'''" (German: ''Fitchers Vogel'') is a German [[fairy tale]] collected by the [[Brothers Grimm]], tale number 46.<ref name="KHM46">{{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1843|loc=KHM (Grosse Ausgabe), Band 1, "46. Fitchers Vogel" S.271-275}}</ref><ref name="hunt">Margaret Hunt (tr.) {{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1884|loc=vol. 1, "46. Fitcher's Bird"}}</ref>


It is [[Aarne-Thompson]] type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters.<ref name="TIF">{{cite book|last=Uther|first=Hans-Jörg|title=The Types of International Folktales|volume=1|publisher=Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica|year=2004|format=snippet|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=HVQsAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA191|page=191}}</ref> Another tale of this type is ''[[How the Devil Married Three Sisters]]''.<ref name="ashliman-web-type311">[[D. L. Ashliman]], "[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0311.html How the Devil Married Three Sisters, and other folktales of type 311]"</ref><ref name="dundes"/> The Brothers Grimm noted its close similarity to the Norwegian ''[[The Old Dame and Her Hen]]'',<ref name="grimm-notes"/> also grouped in this tale type.
It is [[Aarne-Thompson]] type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters.<ref name="TIF">{{cite book|last=Uther|first=Hans-Jörg|title=The Types of International Folktales|volume=1|publisher=Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica|year=2004|format=snippet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HVQsAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA191|page=191}}</ref> Another tale of this type is ''[[How the Devil Married Three Sisters]]''.<ref name="ashliman-web-type311">D. L. Ashliman, "[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0311.html How the Devil Married Three Sisters, and other folktales of type 311]"</ref><ref name="dundes"/> The Brothers Grimm noted its close similarity to the Norwegian ''[[The Old Dame and Her Hen]]'',<ref name="grimm-notes"/> also grouped in this tale type.


The tale also features the motifs of the "Forbidden chamber" and a bloodied item that betrays the bride peeking in that chamber against strict orders, and as such bears resemblance to the ''[[Bluebeard]]'' type tales (which are type AT 312).<ref name="dundes"/><ref name="tatar"/><ref name="jurich"/>
The tale also features the motifs of the "Forbidden chamber" and a bloodied item that betrays the bride peeking in that chamber against strict orders, and as such bears resemblance to the ''[[Bluebeard]]'' type tales (which are type AT 312).<ref name="dundes"/><ref name="tatar"/><ref name="jurich"/>


==Synopsis==
==Synopsis==
A sorcerer took the form of a beggar and carried off young women. He carried off an oldest sister and assured her she would be happy with him. Then, he went off and forbade her to enter one room; he also gave her an egg and told her to carry it everywhere and be careful with it. She went into the forbidden room, found hacked-up bodies and a basin of blood, and dropped the egg into it. The sorcerer returned and demanded the egg. Then he said that since she had gone in against his will, she would go in against her own, and killed her there. He carried off the second sister, and it went with her as with the first.
A sorcerer would take the form of a beggar to abduct young women as his would-be brides. After bringing the eldest sister of a family back to his home, he assured her she would be happy with him. Eventually, the sorcerer leaves but not before handing her the keys to all the rooms in the house and an egg to look after that was to be on her person at all times. However, he forbade her to enter one particular room in the house under the penalty of death. Ultimately, the sister did investigate the forbidden room out of curiosity and discovered a basin of blood at its center. Shocked at the dismembered body parts that existed within it, she dropped the egg.


Once back home, the sorcerer could tell by the bloodied egg that the sister had gone against his will in his absence and had her suffer the same fate as the others from the room. Subsequently, a second sister from the family was carried off only for the same outcome to occur as that of the first. It then came to be that the [[Youngest son#Youngest daughters|youngest]] sister found herself in the very same situation. But unlike her sisters, the youngest had put aside the egg before exploring the house. In the forbidden room, she found and assembled her sisters' remains which united and brought the sisters to life again.
Then he carried off the [[Youngest son#Youngest daughters|youngest]]. She put aside the egg before she searched the house. When she found her sisters' bodies, she put all the parts back together, and the sisters came to life again. The sorcerer returned and was ready to marry her, because the egg was unstained. She told him that first he had to carry her parents a basket of gold without resting on the way, and she put her sisters in the basket and covered it with gold. Whenever he tried to rest, one sister would shout that she could see him resting.


Finding her egg unstained upon his return, the sorcerer was ready to marry the youngest sister. Freed from his power, she had the sorcerer carry a basket of gold back to her family without rest. She indicated that she would be watching from a window at his progress while she would make preparations for a wedding. Unbeknownst to the sorcerer, the voice that would scold him whenever he tried to take a break on his journey came from one of the two sisters hidden inside the gold-brimmed basket and not his bride.
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Meanwhile, the youngest prepared a wedding feast, dressed up a skull and put it in the window, and covered herself with honey and feathers, so she looked like a strange bird. Going home, she is addressed as "Fitcher's Bird" by guests and the sorcerer, and tells them the bride is preparing the house. The guests and sorcerer went into the house. But the three sisters' brothers and relatives barred the doors and burned down the house, so they all died.
[[File:Grimm1917-00218.png|thumb|{{center|Arthur Rackham, 1917}}]]
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Meanwhile, the youngest sister dressed up a skull and let it rest at the [[garret]] window, looking outwards; and covered herself with honey and feathers, so she looked like a strange bird. She left the house intending to reunite with her family. Along her way, she is addressed as "Fitcher's Bird" by passing guests to the wedding and the sorcerer returning from his delivery and asked of the whereabouts of the bride. As the bird, she replied that the bride had cleaned the entirety of the house and was now looking out from the window. Once the guests and sorcerer had all entered the house, the three sisters' brothers and relatives barred the doors and set the house ablaze.


==Etymology==
==Etymology==
Regarding the meaning of ''Fitcher'', the Grimms wrote in the notes to the tale that "The Icelandic ''[[wikt:fitfugl|fitfuglar]]'' (swimming-bird), which looked as white as a swan, will help to explain Fitcher's Vogel,"<ref name="grimm-notes">{{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1856|loc=KHM (3e Ausgabe), Band 3, S.73-76}}, Margaret Hunt (tr.) {{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1884|p=237}}</ref> and although this "swan" theory was endorsed by {{ill2|Albert Teodor Lysander|sv}},<ref>{{citation|last=Lysander|first=Albert Theodor|contribution=Tvifvel om en svensk folksagas äkthet|title=Chr. Cavallin och A. Th. Lysander: Smärre skrifter i urval|place=Stockholm|publisher=P. A. Norsted & Söner|year=1891|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=TbwOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA431}}</ref> later commentators merely gloss ''{{linktext|fitfugl}}'' as "web-footed bird," which is the [[Richard Cleasby|Cleasby]]-[[Guðbrandur Vigfússon|Vigfusson]] dictionary definition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zipes|1987|pp=717–8}}</ref><ref>Cleasby-Vigfusson Dictionary, p. 155, "''fit-fugle'' a web-footed bird, water-bird" (as opposed to "''klófugl'' a bird with claws or talons")</ref> Others scholars advocate the view that the word derives from German ''{{linktext|Feder}}'' "feather" or ''[[wikt:Fittig|Fittich]]'' "wings".<ref name="tatar"/>
Regarding the meaning of ''Fitcher'', the Grimms wrote in the notes to the tale that "The Icelandic ''[[wikt:fitfugl|fitfuglar]]'' (swimming-bird), which looked as white as a swan, will help to explain Fitcher's Vogel,"<ref name="grimm-notes">{{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1856|loc=KHM (3e Ausgabe), Band 3, S.73-76}}, Margaret Hunt (tr.) {{Harvnb|Grimm|Grimm|1884|p=237}}</ref> and although this "swan" theory was endorsed by {{Interlanguage link|Albert Teodor Lysander|2=sv|preserve=1}},<ref>{{citation|last=Lysander|first=Albert Theodor|contribution=Tvifvel om en svensk folksagas äkthet|title=Chr. Cavallin och A. Th. Lysander: Smärre skrifter i urval|place=Stockholm|publisher=P. A. Norsted & Söner|year=1891|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TbwOAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA431}}</ref> later commentators merely gloss ''{{linktext|fitfugl}}'' as "web-footed bird," which is the [[Richard Cleasby|Cleasby]]-[[Guðbrandur Vigfússon|Vigfusson]] dictionary definition.<ref>{{Harvnb|Zipes|1987|pp=717–8}}</ref><ref>Cleasby-Vigfusson Dictionary, p. 155, "''fit-fugle'' a web-footed bird, water-bird" (as opposed to "''klófugl'' a bird with claws or talons")</ref> Others scholars advocate the view that the word derives from German ''{{linktext|Feder}}'' "feather" or ''[[wikt:Fittig|Fittich]]'' "wings".<ref name="tatar"/>


==Literary analogues==
==Literary analogues==
Modern folklorists classify the tale under [[Aarne-Thompson|AT]] 311 "Rescue by the Sister."{{Refn|Uther's ''TIF'', under Type 311 lists: "German: Ranke 1955ff. I, Grimm KHM/ Uther 1996 I, No. 46, cf. No. 66, Berger 2001" (No. 46 is Fitcher's Bird)<ref name="TIF"/>}}<ref name="dundes">{{cite book|last=Dundes|first=Alan|authorlink=Alan Dundes|title=Folklore Matters|publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press|year=1993|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=cDPbnS8PjcMC&pg=PA128|page=128|isbn=0870497766}}</ref><ref>Abstract for Type 311 matching it is given in: {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|title=The Folktale|publisher=University of California Press|year=1977|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=WKN44RtM_loC&pg=PA36|page=36|isbn=0520035372}}</ref>< A large comprehensive list of analogues to ''Fitchers Vogel'', spanning many languages, can be found in the companion volume to the Grimms' ''KHM'', the ''Anmerkungen'' edited by [[Johannes Bolte]] and [[Jiří Polívka]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Johannes|Polívka|1913|loc=vol. 1, pp.398-412}}</ref> although this list is not culled down to contain only the AT 311 types.
Modern folklorists classify the tale under [[Aarne-Thompson|AT]] 311 "Rescue by the Sister."{{Refn|Uther's ''TIF'', under Type 311 lists: "German: Ranke 1955ff. I, Grimm KHM/ Uther 1996 I, No. 46, cf. No. 66, Berger 2001" (No. 46 is Fitcher's Bird)<ref name="TIF"/>}}<ref name="dundes">{{cite book|last=Dundes|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Dundes|title=Folklore Matters|publisher=Univ. of Tennessee Press|year=1993|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cDPbnS8PjcMC&pg=PA128|page=128|isbn=0870497766}}</ref><ref>Abstract for Type 311 matching it is given in: {{cite book|last=Thompson|first=Stith|title=The Folktale|publisher=University of California Press|year=1977|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WKN44RtM_loC&pg=PA36|page=36|isbn=0520035372}}</ref> A large comprehensive list of analogues to ''Fitchers Vogel'', spanning many languages, can be found in the companion volume to the Grimms' ''KHM'', the ''Anmerkungen'' edited by [[Johannes Bolte]] and [[Jiří Polívka (linguist)|Jiří Polívka]],<ref>{{Harvnb|Bolte|Polívka|1913|loc=vol. 1, pp.398-412}}</ref> although this list is not culled down to contain only the AT 311 types.


A Norwegian analogue, ''[[The Old Dame and Her Hen]]'' (in the AT 311 tale group) was noted as analogue by the Brothers Grimm.<ref name="grimm-notes"/><ref group="lower-alpha">Grimm cites "Asbjörnsen, S. 237" but this is the tale "36. De tre Sostre, som bleve indtagne i Bjerget" in [http://books.google.com/books?id=i25WAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA237 Asbjörnsen and Moe (1843) p.237]" to be more precise.</ref> This [[Asbjørnsen and Moe]] folktale shares some essential features, such as the rescuer being of female gender, the other sisters being restored to life, and the villain being tricked into carrying the revived sisters back to their home. However, it lacks the "forbidden chamber" element, and she is merely confined to her captor's dwelling.
A Norwegian analogue, ''[[The Old Dame and Her Hen]]'' (in the AT 311 tale group) was noted as analogue by the Brothers Grimm.<ref name="grimm-notes"/><ref group="lower-alpha">Grimm cites "Asbjörnsen, S. 237" but this is the tale "36. De tre Sostre, som bleve indtagne i Bjerget" in [https://books.google.com/books?id=i25WAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA237 Asbjörnsen and Moe (1843) p.237]" to be more precise.</ref> This [[Asbjørnsen and Moe]] folktale shares some essential features, such as the rescuer being of female gender, the other sisters being restored to life, and the villain being tricked into carrying the revived sisters back to their home. However, it lacks the "forbidden chamber" element, and she is merely confined to her captor's dwelling.


The Italian tale ''[[How the Devil Married Three Sisters]]'' belongs in this group. Here, the forbidden door is not bloody but leads to fiery hell.<ref name="jurich">{{cite book|last=Jurich|first=Marilyn|title=Scheherazade's Sisters: Trickster Heroines and Their Stories in World Literature|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=iEPNBUkkqzsC&pg=PA82|pages=82–83}}</ref><ref name="widter-wolf">{{cite journal|last1=Widter|first1=Georg|last2=Wolf|first2=Adam|others=Reinhold Köhler (comparitive study)|chapter=Nr. 11 Der Teufel heirathet drei Schwestern|title=Volkmärchen aus Venetien|journal=Jahrbuch für romanische und englische Literatur|volume=7|year=1866|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=uGw-AAAAcAAJ|pages=148–155}}</ref> There are at least ten published Italian variants, e.g. ''Il diavolo dal naso d'argento'' "The Devil with the silver nose", more fully listed in the article for the [[How the Devil Married Three Sisters|Italian counterpart]].
The Italian tale ''[[How the Devil Married Three Sisters]]'' belongs in this group. Here, the forbidden door is not bloody but leads to fiery hell.<ref name="jurich">{{cite book|last=Jurich|first=Marilyn|title=Scheherazade's Sisters: Trickster Heroines and Their Stories in World Literature|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iEPNBUkkqzsC&pg=PA82|pages=82–83|isbn=9780313297243|year=1998}}</ref><ref name="widter-wolf">{{cite journal|last1=Widter|first1=Georg|last2=Wolf|first2=Adam|others=Reinhold Köhler (comparative study)|title=Volkmärchen aus Venetien|journal=Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur|volume=7 Nr. 11 Der Teufel heirathet drei Schwestern|year=1866|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uGw-AAAAcAAJ|pages=148–155}}</ref> There are at least ten published Italian variants, e.g. ''Il diavolo dal naso d'argento'' "The Devil with the silver nose", more fully listed in the article for the [[How the Devil Married Three Sisters|Italian counterpart]].


Another tale of similar plot and setting is the Scottish "[[The Widow and her Daughters]]", [[John Francis Campbell|Campbell]]'s ''[[Popular Tales of the West Highlands|Popular Tales]],'' No. 41.<ref name="ashliman-web-type311"/>{{Refn|Uther's ''TIF'', under Type 311 lists: "Scottish: Campbell 1890ff. II, No. 41, Aitken/Michaelis-Jena 1965, No. 20, Briggs 1970f. A I, 446f."<ref name="TIF"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Campbell actually notes that a 3rd variant to his "The Widow and her Daughters" (No. 41) is the same as the Norwegian "[[The Old Dame and her Hen]]". Campbell does not describe the 3rd variant extensively, but says it is the same as [[Peter Buchan]]'s "The History of Mr. Greenwood", which was not published later until 1908.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Also "The Princess and the Giant" from Scotland ([[Marie Lafrance Barchers|Barchers]] 43-46)<ref name="jurich"/>}}
Another tale of similar plot and setting is the Scottish "[[The Widow and her Daughters]]", [[John Francis Campbell|Campbell]]'s ''[[Popular Tales of the West Highlands|Popular Tales]],'' No. 41.<ref name="ashliman-web-type311"/>{{Refn|Uther's ''TIF'', under Type 311 lists: "Scottish: Campbell 1890ff. II, No. 41, Aitken/Michaelis-Jena 1965, No. 20, Briggs 1970f. A I, 446f."<ref name="TIF"/>}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Campbell actually notes that a 3rd variant to his "The Widow and her Daughters" (No. 41) is the same as the Norwegian "[[The Old Dame and her Hen]]". Campbell does not describe the 3rd variant extensively, but says it is the same as [[Peter Buchan]]'s "The History of Mr. Greenwood", which was not published later until 1908.}}{{Refn|group="lower-alpha"|Also "The Princess and the Giant" from Scotland ([[Marie Lafrance Barchers|Barchers]] 43-46)<ref name="jurich"/>}}


Insofar as the "Fitcher's Bird" is a tale of a serial-killing husband who compels his brides to the rule of the "Forbidden Chamber" (motif C611), it is closely similar to the ''[[Bluebeard]]'' (AT 312) type tales.<ref name="tatar">Maria Tatar, ''The Annotated Brothers Grimm'', p 201 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4</ref><ref name="jurich"/> And just as in Grimm's tale the bloodied egg gives away the misconduct of the elder sisters, the bloody key is the telltale sign that Bluebeard's wives have peeked in the forbidden chamber (motif C913 "Bloody key as sign of disobedience").<ref name="dundes"/>
Insofar as the "Fitcher's Bird" is a tale of a serial-killing husband who compels his brides to the rule of the "Forbidden Chamber" (motif C611), it is closely similar to the ''[[Bluebeard]]'' (AT 312) type tales.<ref name="tatar">Maria Tatar, ''The Annotated Brothers Grimm'', p 201 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 {{ISBN|0-393-05848-4}}</ref><ref name="jurich"/> And just as in Grimm's tale the bloodied egg gives away the misconduct of the elder sisters, the bloody key is the telltale sign that Bluebeard's wives have peeked in the forbidden chamber (motif C913 "Bloody key as sign of disobedience").<ref name="dundes"/>


Among Grimm's fairy tales, the forbidden door features here and in ''[[Mary's Child]]'' (AT 710), as have been remarked in the notes to that tale.<ref name="grimm-notes-ourladyschild">Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. ''Household Tales'' [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/3ourladyschild.html "Our Lady's Child" Notes].</ref>
Among Grimm's fairy tales, the forbidden door features here and in ''[[Mary's Child]]'' (AT 710), as have been remarked in the notes to that tale.<ref name="grimm-notes-ourladyschild">Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. ''Household Tales'' [http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/3ourladyschild.html "Our Lady's Child" Notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214001257/http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/3ourladyschild.html |date=2013-12-14 }}.</ref>


Some European variants of the ballad ''[[Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight]]'', [[Child ballad]] 4, closely resemble this tale.<ref>Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 47, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref>
Some European variants of the ballad ''[[Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight]]'', [[Child ballad]] 4, closely resemble this tale.<ref>Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 47, Dover Publications, New York 1965</ref>
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* In 2007, the theatre group [[BooTown]] adapted a short play based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, called ''Fitcher's a Bastard, but his bird's alright''.
* In 2007, the theatre group [[BooTown]] adapted a short play based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, called ''Fitcher's a Bastard, but his bird's alright''.
* American artist [[Cindy Sherman]] adapted the story in a photographic spread for [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]].
* American artist [[Cindy Sherman]] adapted the story in a photographic spread for [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]].
* In the mobile game [[Identity V]], during the third anniversary, the costume Monstrous Bird was released, and it is based on the tale.
* In the Chinese scifi drama The Spirealm, episodes 4-5-6-7 mention use The Fitcher's Bird and uses it as a theme of the second door. Episode 5 shows the three daughters with eggs in their mouth, asked not to drop them.


==See also==
==See also==
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==References==
==References==
;texts
;texts
*{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|chapter=46. Fitchers Vogel|title=Kinder- und Hausmärchen|volume=1|publisher=Dieterichischen Buchhandlung|edition=Grosse Ausgabe|year=1843|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=hgQ-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271|pages=271–275}} {{de-icon}}
*{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|chapter=46. Fitchers Vogel|title=Kinder- und Hausmärchen|volume=1|publisher=Dieterichischen Buchhandlung|edition=Grosse Ausgabe|year=1843|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hgQ-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA271|pages=271–275|language=de}}
**{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|title=Kinder- und Hausmärchen|edition=3|volume=3|publisher=Dieterich|year=1856|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=fo06AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA74|pages=73–76}}(notes)
**{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|title=Kinder- und Hausmärchen|edition=3|volume=3|publisher=Dieterich|year=1856|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fo06AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA74|pages=73–76}}(notes)
;translations
;translations
*{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|others=Margaret Hunt (tr.)|title=Grimm's household tales, with the author's notes|volume=1|publisher=George Bell|year=1884|format=snippet|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?hl=ja&id=rdvtAAAAMAAJ|pages=}}
*{{cite book|last1=Grimm|first1=Jacob|last2=Grimm|first2=Wilhelm|others=Margaret Hunt (tr.)|title=Grimm's household tales, with the author's notes|volume=1|publisher=George Bell|year=1884|isbn=9780810334632 |format=snippet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rdvtAAAAMAAJ}}
**e-text at: {{cite web|url=http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/grimms/46fitchersbird.html|title=Fitcher's Bird" Notes|work=SurLaLUne Fairy Tale Pages|author=Heidi Anne Heiner|year=2006|accessdate=Dec 2013}}
**e-text at: {{cite web|url=https://www.surlalunefairytales.com/a-g/bluebeard/stories/fitchersbird.html|title=Fitcher's Bird" Notes|work=SurLaLune Fairy Tale Pages|author=Heidi Anne Heiner|year=2006|access-date=18 May 2020}}
*{{cite book|last=Zipes|first=Jack (tr.)|authorlink=Jack Zipes|others=Brothers Grimm|title=The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm|place=NY|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1987|pages=717–718}}
*{{cite book|last=Zipes|first=Jack (tr.)|author-link=Jack Zipes|others=Brothers Grimm|title=The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm|url=https://archive.org/details/completefairytal00grim|url-access=registration|place=NY|publisher=Bantam Books|year=1987|pages=[https://archive.org/details/completefairytal00grim/page/717 717–718]|isbn=9780553051841 }}
;critical studies
;critical studies
*{{cite book|last=Bolte|first=Johannes|last=Polívka|first=Jiří|chapter=46. Fitchers Vogel|title=Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm|volume=1|publisher=Dieterich|year=1913|format=snippet|url=http://books.google.co.jp/books?id=U5lVAAAAYAAJ|pages=398–412}} {{de-icon}}
*{{cite book|last1=Bolte|first1=Johannes|last2=Polívka|first2=Jiří|chapter=46. Fitchers Vogel|title=Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm|volume=1|publisher=Dieterich|year=1913|format=snippet|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U5lVAAAAYAAJ|pages=398–412|language=de}}
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**{{wikisource-inline|single=true|links=[[:de:s:Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm I/Fitchers Vogel|''Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm'' Band I, 46. Fitchers Vogel]]}}
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**{{Commons-inline|Category:Grimms_M%C3%A4rchen_Anmerkungen_(Bolte_Polivka)_I|Bolte and Polivka, ''Anmerkungen v. KHM'' Band I|extratext= (page scans)}}


==External links==
==External links==
{{wikisource}}
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*{{Commons-inline|Category:Grimms_M%C3%A4rchen_Anmerkungen_(Bolte_Polivka)_I|Bolte and Polivka, ''Anmerkungen v. KHM'' Band I|extratext= (page scans)}}
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*{{wikisource-inline|single=true|links=[[:de:s:Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm I/Fitchers Vogel|''Anmerkungen zu den Kinder- und Hausmärchen der Brüder Grimm'' Band I, 46. Fitchers Vogel]]}}
*[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm046.html ''Fitcher's Bird''] with links to variants
*[http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/grimm046.html ''Fitcher's Bird''] with links to variants


[[Category:Brothers Grimm]]
{{Brothers Grimm}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Grimms' Fairy Tales]]
[[Category:Fictional birds]]
[[Category:Anthropomorphic birds]]
[[Category:Fairy tales about magic]]
[[Category:Fairy tales about shapeshifting]]
[[Category:Fairy tales about sisters]]
[[Category:Fairy tales about talking animals]]
[[Category:Witchcraft in fairy tales]]
[[Category:ATU 300-399]]

Latest revision as of 13:32, 13 December 2024

Fitcher's Bird
Illustration to Fitcher's Bird by John B. Gruelle(?) (1914?)
Folk tale
NameFitcher's Bird
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 311 (The Heroine Rescues Herself and Her Sisters)
CountryGermany
Published inGrimms' Fairy Tales

"Fitcher's Bird" (German: Fitchers Vogel) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 46.[1][2]

It is Aarne-Thompson type 311, the heroine rescues herself and her sisters.[3] Another tale of this type is How the Devil Married Three Sisters.[4][5] The Brothers Grimm noted its close similarity to the Norwegian The Old Dame and Her Hen,[6] also grouped in this tale type.

The tale also features the motifs of the "Forbidden chamber" and a bloodied item that betrays the bride peeking in that chamber against strict orders, and as such bears resemblance to the Bluebeard type tales (which are type AT 312).[5][7][8]

Synopsis

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A sorcerer would take the form of a beggar to abduct young women as his would-be brides. After bringing the eldest sister of a family back to his home, he assured her she would be happy with him. Eventually, the sorcerer leaves but not before handing her the keys to all the rooms in the house and an egg to look after that was to be on her person at all times. However, he forbade her to enter one particular room in the house under the penalty of death. Ultimately, the sister did investigate the forbidden room out of curiosity and discovered a basin of blood at its center. Shocked at the dismembered body parts that existed within it, she dropped the egg.

Once back home, the sorcerer could tell by the bloodied egg that the sister had gone against his will in his absence and had her suffer the same fate as the others from the room. Subsequently, a second sister from the family was carried off only for the same outcome to occur as that of the first. It then came to be that the youngest sister found herself in the very same situation. But unlike her sisters, the youngest had put aside the egg before exploring the house. In the forbidden room, she found and assembled her sisters' remains which united and brought the sisters to life again.

Finding her egg unstained upon his return, the sorcerer was ready to marry the youngest sister. Freed from his power, she had the sorcerer carry a basket of gold back to her family without rest. She indicated that she would be watching from a window at his progress while she would make preparations for a wedding. Unbeknownst to the sorcerer, the voice that would scold him whenever he tried to take a break on his journey came from one of the two sisters hidden inside the gold-brimmed basket and not his bride.

Arthur Rackham, 1917

Meanwhile, the youngest sister dressed up a skull and let it rest at the garret window, looking outwards; and covered herself with honey and feathers, so she looked like a strange bird. She left the house intending to reunite with her family. Along her way, she is addressed as "Fitcher's Bird" by passing guests to the wedding and the sorcerer returning from his delivery and asked of the whereabouts of the bride. As the bird, she replied that the bride had cleaned the entirety of the house and was now looking out from the window. Once the guests and sorcerer had all entered the house, the three sisters' brothers and relatives barred the doors and set the house ablaze.

Etymology

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Regarding the meaning of Fitcher, the Grimms wrote in the notes to the tale that "The Icelandic fitfuglar (swimming-bird), which looked as white as a swan, will help to explain Fitcher's Vogel,"[6] and although this "swan" theory was endorsed by Albert Teodor Lysander [sv],[9] later commentators merely gloss fitfugl as "web-footed bird," which is the Cleasby-Vigfusson dictionary definition.[10][11] Others scholars advocate the view that the word derives from German Feder "feather" or Fittich "wings".[7]

Literary analogues

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Modern folklorists classify the tale under AT 311 "Rescue by the Sister."[12][5][13] A large comprehensive list of analogues to Fitchers Vogel, spanning many languages, can be found in the companion volume to the Grimms' KHM, the Anmerkungen edited by Johannes Bolte and Jiří Polívka,[14] although this list is not culled down to contain only the AT 311 types.

A Norwegian analogue, The Old Dame and Her Hen (in the AT 311 tale group) was noted as analogue by the Brothers Grimm.[6][a] This Asbjørnsen and Moe folktale shares some essential features, such as the rescuer being of female gender, the other sisters being restored to life, and the villain being tricked into carrying the revived sisters back to their home. However, it lacks the "forbidden chamber" element, and she is merely confined to her captor's dwelling.

The Italian tale How the Devil Married Three Sisters belongs in this group. Here, the forbidden door is not bloody but leads to fiery hell.[8][15] There are at least ten published Italian variants, e.g. Il diavolo dal naso d'argento "The Devil with the silver nose", more fully listed in the article for the Italian counterpart.

Another tale of similar plot and setting is the Scottish "The Widow and her Daughters", Campbell's Popular Tales, No. 41.[4][16][b][c]

Insofar as the "Fitcher's Bird" is a tale of a serial-killing husband who compels his brides to the rule of the "Forbidden Chamber" (motif C611), it is closely similar to the Bluebeard (AT 312) type tales.[7][8] And just as in Grimm's tale the bloodied egg gives away the misconduct of the elder sisters, the bloody key is the telltale sign that Bluebeard's wives have peeked in the forbidden chamber (motif C913 "Bloody key as sign of disobedience").[5]

Among Grimm's fairy tales, the forbidden door features here and in Mary's Child (AT 710), as have been remarked in the notes to that tale.[17]

Some European variants of the ballad Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight, Child ballad 4, closely resemble this tale.[18]

Modern adaptations

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  • Gregory Frost sets the tale among the doomsday religious cults of 19th century New York in his 2002 novel Fitcher's Brides.
  • In 2007, the theatre group BooTown adapted a short play based on the Brothers Grimm fairy tale, called Fitcher's a Bastard, but his bird's alright.
  • American artist Cindy Sherman adapted the story in a photographic spread for Vanity Fair.
  • In the mobile game Identity V, during the third anniversary, the costume Monstrous Bird was released, and it is based on the tale.
  • In the Chinese scifi drama The Spirealm, episodes 4-5-6-7 mention use The Fitcher's Bird and uses it as a theme of the second door. Episode 5 shows the three daughters with eggs in their mouth, asked not to drop them.

See also

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Footnotes

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Explanatory notes

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  1. ^ Grimm cites "Asbjörnsen, S. 237" but this is the tale "36. De tre Sostre, som bleve indtagne i Bjerget" in Asbjörnsen and Moe (1843) p.237" to be more precise.
  2. ^ Campbell actually notes that a 3rd variant to his "The Widow and her Daughters" (No. 41) is the same as the Norwegian "The Old Dame and her Hen". Campbell does not describe the 3rd variant extensively, but says it is the same as Peter Buchan's "The History of Mr. Greenwood", which was not published later until 1908.
  3. ^ Also "The Princess and the Giant" from Scotland (Barchers 43-46)[8]

Citations

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  1. ^ Grimm & Grimm 1843, KHM (Grosse Ausgabe), Band 1, "46. Fitchers Vogel" S.271-275
  2. ^ Margaret Hunt (tr.) Grimm & Grimm 1884, vol. 1, "46. Fitcher's Bird"
  3. ^ a b c Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales (snippet). Vol. 1. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 191.
  4. ^ a b D. L. Ashliman, "How the Devil Married Three Sisters, and other folktales of type 311"
  5. ^ a b c d Dundes, Alan (1993). Folklore Matters. Univ. of Tennessee Press. p. 128. ISBN 0870497766.
  6. ^ a b c Grimm & Grimm 1856, KHM (3e Ausgabe), Band 3, S.73-76, Margaret Hunt (tr.) Grimm & Grimm 1884, p. 237
  7. ^ a b c Maria Tatar, The Annotated Brothers Grimm, p 201 W. W. Norton & company, London, New York, 2004 ISBN 0-393-05848-4
  8. ^ a b c d Jurich, Marilyn (1998). Scheherazade's Sisters: Trickster Heroines and Their Stories in World Literature. pp. 82–83. ISBN 9780313297243.
  9. ^ Lysander, Albert Theodor (1891), "Tvifvel om en svensk folksagas äkthet", Chr. Cavallin och A. Th. Lysander: Smärre skrifter i urval, Stockholm: P. A. Norsted & Söner
  10. ^ Zipes 1987, pp. 717–8
  11. ^ Cleasby-Vigfusson Dictionary, p. 155, "fit-fugle a web-footed bird, water-bird" (as opposed to "klófugl a bird with claws or talons")
  12. ^ Uther's TIF, under Type 311 lists: "German: Ranke 1955ff. I, Grimm KHM/ Uther 1996 I, No. 46, cf. No. 66, Berger 2001" (No. 46 is Fitcher's Bird)[3]
  13. ^ Abstract for Type 311 matching it is given in: Thompson, Stith (1977). The Folktale. University of California Press. p. 36. ISBN 0520035372.
  14. ^ Bolte & Polívka 1913, vol. 1, pp.398-412
  15. ^ Widter, Georg; Wolf, Adam (1866). "Volkmärchen aus Venetien". Jahrbuch für Romanische und Englische Literatur. 7 Nr. 11 Der Teufel heirathet drei Schwestern. Reinhold Köhler (comparative study): 148–155.
  16. ^ Uther's TIF, under Type 311 lists: "Scottish: Campbell 1890ff. II, No. 41, Aitken/Michaelis-Jena 1965, No. 20, Briggs 1970f. A I, 446f."[3]
  17. ^ Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Household Tales "Our Lady's Child" Notes Archived 2013-12-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  18. ^ Francis James Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, v 1, p 47, Dover Publications, New York 1965

References

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texts
  • Grimm, Jacob; Grimm, Wilhelm (1843). "46. Fitchers Vogel". Kinder- und Hausmärchen (in German). Vol. 1 (Grosse Ausgabe ed.). Dieterichischen Buchhandlung. pp. 271–275.
translations
critical studies
[edit]
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