Household Tales · Chapter
The Three Little Birds explained
A king overhears three girls making wishes about marrying him and his ministers.
What happens
A king overhears three girls making wishes about marrying him and his ministers. He marries the eldest, and his ministers marry the other two. The queen's sisters, jealous of her having children, throw her three newborns into the river, claiming they were born as animals. The king imprisons the queen. A fisherman rescues the children and raises them. Years later, the eldest son sets out to find his father, followed by his brother and sister. The sister receives guidance from an old woman, crosses a river, retrieves a bird and water from a fountain, and frees a prince from a dog's curse. She reunites with her brothers. The king learns the truth through the bird's song, frees the queen, and the false sisters are executed. The daughter marries the prince.
Themes in this chapter
Jealousy and Envy
The queen's sisters, jealous of her having children, throw the newborns into the river and lie about their births.
Family Dynamics and Betrayal
The sisters betray the queen and her children, leading to imprisonment and separation, but the children eventually reunite and restore the family.
Virtue Rewarded and Vice Punished
The false sisters are burned for their crimes, while the queen is freed and her children are restored to their rightful place.
Magic and the Supernatural
A prophetic bird sings of the children's fate, an old woman with magical knowledge helps the maiden, and a prince is transformed into a black dog.
Characters to notice
- the girl
The youngest of the three sisters who wished for the king's left-hand minister; later becomes queen, mother of the three children, and is imprisoned by the king.
- the maiden
The queen's daughter, who sets out to find her brothers, receives guidance from an old woman, retrieves a bird and water, and frees a prince.
- the boy
The queen's eldest son, rescued by a fisherman, who first sets out to find his father.
- the son
The queen's second son, who later goes hunting and plays the flute, leading the king to discover the truth.
- the rich man
The fisherman who rescues the three children from the river and raises them.
- the servant
The old woman who helps the maiden cross the water and gives her instructions to free her brothers and the prince.
- the princess
The prince freed from the black dog's curse, who marries the maiden.
Key passages
“Hilloa! hilloa! If I do not get that one, I will have none.”
The eldest girl declares she will marry the king or no one.
The eldest sister's bold wish sets the story in motion.
“To thy death art thou sped, Until God's word be said. In the white lily bloom, Brave boy, is thy tomb.”
The bird sings that the boy is doomed to die until God's will is fulfilled, and his grave is in the white lily.
The prophetic bird's song foreshadows the children's fate and the eventual revelation.
“What God does, is well done!”
The king accepts the false news of a dog's birth as divine will.
The king's resignation to fate contrasts with the sisters' deceit.
“Go thy way, foundling.”
The other boys reject the eldest son as a foundling.
This rejection prompts the boy to seek his true father.
“The mother sits alone There in the prison small, O King of royal blood, These are thy children all. The sisters twain so false, They wrought the children woe, There in the waters deep Where the fishermen come and go.”
The bird reveals that the queen is imprisoned and the three children are the king's own, wronged by the false sisters.
The bird's song exposes the truth and leads to the queen's release.
