Monday, May 30, 2016

Grimm Reviews – “Fitcher’s Bird”




“Fitcher’s Bird”

There once was a wizard who disguised himself as a beggar to kidnap pretty girls. One day he came to a house where three girls lived. The eldest went to give him some food, but at a touch she jumped into his basket and he carried her to his home in the woods.

He gave her everything she could have wanted. But after a few days he said he needed to leave. So he gave her the keys to all the rooms of the house, but told her not to go into one room on pain of death. He also gave her an egg to keep safe.

After he left, she set out to explore the house, and eventually came to the forbidden room. She went in anyway, and saw a bloody basin with body parts and an ax. She was so frightened that she dropped the egg into the basin. She fished it out, but no matter how often she cleaned it, the blood came back.

When the wizard returned, he saw by the egg that she had disobeyed him, so he dragged her into the room, cut off her head and chopped her body up.

The wizard returned to the girl’s home and captured the second sister. She suffered the same fate.

But the youngest sister was clever. When the wizard left her with the egg and keys, she set the egg down and went to the forbidden room. When she saw her older sisters there, she gathered together the parts and they rejoined and came back to life.

When the wizard returned and could find no blood on the egg, he said that she had passed his test and would be his bride. She commanded that he carry a basket of gold to her parents. She hid her sisters in a basket and covered them with gold. She told the wizard to go, and she would watch from a window to make sure he didn’t stop. Whenever he tried to rest, one of the older sisters would call out why he was resting, so he hurried on.

The younger sister sent out invitations to all the wizard’s friends. She also took a skull and set it looking out a window. She then rolled herself in honey and covered herself in feathers from the bed so she looked like a great bird.

She then walked home, and whenever she met someone going to the wedding, she told them the bride was watching from a window. Even the wizard was fooled by her.

Once the wizard and all his friends were in the house, the girl’s brothers and kin (sent by the older sisters) locked all the doors and set fire to the house with everyone inside.

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Why do I have the feeling this is another fairy tale that won’t be made into a kids’ movie anytime soon? I wonder, did the youngest sister try putting together any of the other victims? Or did she just let them burn up with the wizard and his friends? 

How quickly did the invitations go out and the guests arrive?  That all happened while the wizard was carrying the older sisters home.

And why did she disguise herself as a bird and not just a beggar?

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