# Fitcher's Bird explained — Household Tales

> Chapter companion for Household Tales by Jacob Grimm.

## What happens

A wizard kidnaps three sisters, one by one, by tricking them into his basket. The first two sisters succumb to curiosity and enter a forbidden room where they are murdered and dismembered. The third sister, clever and crafty, enters the room, reassembles her sisters, and brings them back to life. She then tricks the wizard into carrying her sisters home in a basket of gold, disguises herself as a bird, and orchestrates the wizard's death by burning his house down with the help of her kinsmen.

## Themes in this chapter

### Transformation and Redemption

The third sister transforms from a victim to a savior, redeeming her sisters from death and herself from the wizard's control.

### Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished

The clever and obedient third sister is rewarded with survival and freedom, while the curious first two sisters are punished with death, and the wicked wizard is punished with burning.

### Family Dynamics and Betrayal

The wizard betrays the trust of the sisters, but the third sister's loyalty to her family leads to their rescue and revenge.

## Character check-ins

### the girl

The third sister, clever and crafty, who survives the wizard's test, revives her sisters, and orchestrates the wizard's downfall.

### the maiden

The eldest daughter, first kidnapped by the wizard, who enters the forbidden room and is murdered.

### the maiden

The second daughter, also kidnapped and murdered after entering the forbidden room.

### Unknown

The wizard who kidnaps and murders young women, ultimately killed in the burning house.

### the servants

The wedding guests and crew of the wizard who are burned alive in the house.

## Key lines

> She put both of them in a basket and covered them quite over with gold, so that nothing of them was to be seen, then she called in the wizard and said to him, 'Now carry the basket away, but I shall look through my little window and watch to see if thou stoppest on the way to stand or to rest.'

The third sister hides her revived sisters under gold in a basket and orders the wizard to carry it home, threatening to watch him from the window to ensure he does not stop.

_The clever sister uses the wizard's own greed and obedience against him to smuggle her sisters to safety._

> Then she took a skull with grinning teeth, put some ornaments on it and a wreath of flowers, carried it upstairs to the garret-window, and let it look out from thence.

She decorates a skull and places it in the window to deceive the wizard into thinking it is his bride.

_The skull serves as a decoy, allowing the sister to escape and prepare the wizard's destruction._

> They locked all the doors of the house, that no one might escape, set fire to it, and the wizard and all his crew had to burn.

The bride's kinsmen trap the wizard and his guests inside the house and burn it down, killing them all.

_The tale ends with a violent and final punishment for the wizard, emphasizing the theme of justice._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters/fitcher-s-bird
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/household_tales_se/chapters