The Three Little Birds (Brothers Grimm)
Short summary
Medieval Germany, over a thousand years ago. While hunting, a king heard three shepherd girls declare they wanted to marry him and his two ministers. The king took them at their word and married the eldest, while his ministers married her sisters. When the queen gave birth to a son marked with a red star, her jealous sisters threw him into the river and told the king she had birthed a dog. A bird sang of the child's fate, and a fisherman rescued the baby. This happened twice more with another son and a daughter - each time the sisters claimed the queen birthed animals. The king imprisoned his wife in fury.
Years later, the grown children sought their origins. An old woman helped them retrieve a caged bird, magical water, and a wand from a castle, and transform a black dog back into a prince. When the king met the fisherman's supposed son while hunting, the bird finally sang:
The mother sits alone
There in the prison small,
O King of royal blood,
These are thy children all.
Detailed summary
Division into sections is editorial.
The three girls declarations and the royal marriages
About a thousand years ago, a small king lived on the Keuterberg mountain and was very fond of hunting. One day, while riding forth from his castle with his huntsmen, he encountered three girls watching their cows on the mountain. When the girls saw the king with all his followers, the eldest pointed to him and declared that if she could not have him, she would have no one. The second girl pointed to the one on the king's right hand and made the same declaration, while the youngest pointed to the one on the left and cried the same words.
The king heard all this, and when he returned from the chase, he had the three girls brought to him and asked what they had said on the mountain. When they would not tell him, he asked the eldest if she would truly take him for her husband. She said yes, and the two ministers married the two sisters, for all three were fair and beautiful of face, especially the queen, who had hair like flax.
The cruel deception: three lost children
The two sisters had no children, and when the king was obliged to go from home, he invited them to come to the queen to cheer her, for she was about to bear a child. She had a little boy who brought a bright red star into the world with him.
Then the two sisters said to each other that they would throw the beautiful boy into the water. When they had thrown him in... a little bird flew up into the air
The bird sang a prophetic verse about the child's fate. When the two heard that, they were frightened to death and ran away in great haste. When the king came home, they told him that the queen had been delivered of a dog. The king said that what God does is well done.
But a fisherman who dwelt near the water fished the little boy out again while he was still alive, and as his wife had no children, they reared him.
When a year had gone by, the king again went away, and the queen had another little boy, whom the false sisters likewise threw into the water. Again a little bird flew up and sang the same prophetic verse. The king was told the queen had given birth to another dog, and the fisherman rescued this child too. The same pattern repeated with a third child, a little girl, but this time the king grew angry and ordered his wife to be cast into prison.
The Queens imprisonment and years of separation
Then the King grew angry, and ordered his wife to be cast into prison, and therein was she shut up for many long years.
In the meantime, the children had grown up with the fisherman and his wife. The eldest once went out fishing with some other boys, but they would not have him with them and called him a foundling. This troubled him greatly, and when he asked the old fisherman if it was true, the fisherman told him that he had once drawn him out of the water while fishing. The boy decided he would go forth and seek his father, despite the fisherman's entreaties to stay.
The children grow up and begin their search
The boy walked for many days until he came to a great piece of water beside which stood an old woman fishing. She told him he would seek long enough before finding his father and asked how he would get over the water. When he replied that God knows, the old woman took him on her back and carried him through it. He sought for a long time but could not find his father.
When a year had gone by, the second son set out to seek his brother, and all fared with him just as with his brother. Now only the daughter remained at home, and she mourned for her brothers so much that she begged the fisherman to let her set forth to search for them.
The magical trials and transformations
The daughter also came to the great water and greeted the old woman kindly, wishing her good luck with her fishing. When the old woman heard this, she became quite friendly and carried her over the water. She gave the girl a wand and detailed instructions: she must pass a great black dog silently and boldly, enter a high castle, take down a bird in a cage from a tree growing out of an old fountain, take a glass of water from the fountain, and return the same way, striking the dog with the wand.
The maiden found everything exactly as the old woman had said. On her way back, she found her two brothers who had sought each other over half the world. When she struck the black dog in the face with the wand, it turned into a handsome prince who went with them to the river.
The truth revealed and justice restored
The old woman rejoiced to see them again and carried them all over the water, then went away, for now she was freed. The others returned to the old fisherman, and all were glad to have found each other again. They hung the bird on the wall. When the king was hunting and heard the second son playing his flute, he questioned the fisherman, who told everything.
The sisters twain so false,
They wrought the children woe,
There in the waters deep
Where the fishermen come and go.
Then they were all terrified, and the king took the bird, the fisherman, and the three children back to the castle. He ordered the prison opened and brought his wife out again. She had grown quite ill and weak, but the daughter gave her some of the magical water to drink, and she became strong and healthy. The two false sisters were burnt, and the daughter married the prince.