The Bird of Truth
The Bird of Truth (Spanish: "El Pájaro de la Verdad") is a Spanish fairy tale collected by Cecilia Böhl de Faber in her "Cuentos de encantamiento". Andrew Lang included it in "The Orange Fairy Book". Synopsis. A fisherman found two beautiful children in a crystal cradle, a girl and a boy, floating in the river and brought them to his wife to raise as their own. As the babies grew up, their older brothers were cruel to them and the boy and the girl often ran away to the riverbank, where they would feed breadcrumbs to  the birds. In gratitude, the birds taught them to speak their language. One day the oldest boy taunted them with having no parents, and so the boy and girl went out into the world to seek their fortunes. When they stopped to rest along their journey, they heard birds gossiping, and one bird said that the king had married the youngest daughter of a tailor, over the opposition of the nobles. He was obliged to go to war, and when he returned, he was told that his wife had given birth to twins who had died. Missing her babies, the  queen went mad, and had to be shut up in a tower in the mountains where the fresh air might restore her. In fact, the babies had not really died, but were taken to a gardener's cottage, and that night the chamberlain threw them into the river in a crystal cradle, which the children recognized from the story of how the fisherman had found them. The bird went on to say that only the Bird of Truth could convince the king that the children were really his children, and the bird was kept by a giant who only slept  a quarter-hour a day in the castle of Come-and-never-go. Only a witch could tell the way to the castle, and she would not do it unless she was given the water from the fountain of many colours. Furthermore, the Bird of Truth is surrounded by the Birds of ill Faith, and only an owl could tell which one was which. They went to the city, where they begged hospitality for a night, and were so helpful that the innkeeper asked them to stay. The girl did, but her brother left on his quest. A dove directed  him to go with the wind, and by following it, he reached the witch's tower and asked the way to the castle of Come-and-never-go. The witch tried to get him to stay the night, but when he refused, demanded a jug of the many-colored waters, or she would turn him into a lizard. She then directed a dog to lead him to the water. At the castle, he heard the owl's cry and asked its advice. It told him to fill the jug from another fountain and then find the white bird in the  corner, not the brightly colored birds. He had a quarter of an hour to do the task, and succeeded. When he brought back the water, the witch threw it over him and told him to become a parrot, but he became more handsome, and all the creatures about the hut threw themselves into the water and became human again. The witch fled. The courtiers who were responsible for abandoning the children tried to prevent the King from learning about the children, but they talked so much of it that he overheard the commotion and became curious. When the bird flew  to him, he listened. The King at once went to embrace his children, and then all three of them freed his wife, their mother, from the tower. The wicked courtiers had their heads cut off, and the couple who had raised them were given riches and honor. Analysis. Tale type. The tale is one of the many variants of Aarne–Thompson–Uther type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", a type widespread across all continents. According to scholarship, the tale type may also be known in Spain as "El lucerito de oro en la frente" ("The golden star on the  forehead"). Distribution. American fairy tale researcher and Hispanist Ralph Steele Boggs () published in 1930 a structural analysis of the tale type in Spanish sources. According to him, a cursory glance at the material indicated that the tale type was "very popular in Spanish". Modern sources, from the 20th century and early 21st century, confirm the wide area of distribution of tale type across Spain: in Catalonia, Asturias, Andalusia, Extremadura, New Castilla; Cuenca, Salamanca, Cáceres, and in Province of Ciudad Real. Scholar Montserrat Amores has published a catalogue of the variants of ATU 707 that can be found in Spanish sources  (1997). Researcher James M. Taggart commented that the tale type was one of "the most popular stories about brothers and sisters" told by tellers in Cáceres, Spain (apart from types AT 327, 450 and 451). Interpreting this data under a sociological lens, he remarked that the heroine's role in rescuing her brother reflects the expected feminine task of "maintaining family unity". Variants. In compilations from the 19th century, collector D. Francisco de S. Maspons y Labros wrote down four Catalan variants: "Los Fills del Rey" ("The King's Children"), "L'aygua de la vida" ("The Water of Life"), "Lo castell  de irás y no hi veurás" and "Lo taronjer"; Juan Menéndez Pidal a version from the Asturias ("El pájaro que habla, el árbol que canta y el agua amarilla"); Antonio Machado y Alvarez wrote down a tale from Andalusia ("El agua amarilla"); Wentworth Webster translated into English a variant in Basque language ("The singing tree, the bird which tells the truth, and the water that makes young") According to Josep Antoni Grimalt Gomila, author Antoni Maria Alcover collected and published 7 Catalan "rondalles" (folktales) from Mallorca that can be classified as type 707: "S'aygo ballant i es canariet parlant" ("The  dancing water and the talking canary"); "Sa flor de jerical i s'aucellet d'or"; "La Reina Catalineta" ("Queen Catalineta"); "La bona reina i la mala cunyada" ("The good queen and the evil sister-in-law"); "S'aucellet de ses set llengos"; "S'abre de música, sa font d'or i s'aucell qui parla" ("Tree of Music, the Fountains of Gold and the Bird that Talks"). A variant in the Algherese dialect of the Catalan language, titled "Lo pardal verd" ("The Green Sparrow"), was collected in the 20th century. Sérgio Hernandez de Soto collected a variant from Extremadura, named "El papagayo blanco" ("The white parrot ). This tale was translated into English as The White Parrot" by writer Elsie Spicer Eells in her book "Tales of Enchantment from Spain". In this variant, a sister and a brother live together, but the sister, spurred by an old lady, sends her brother to meet her whimsical demands (the fountain, the tree and the bird). At the end of the tale, after saving her brother, the sister regrets sending him on that dangerous quest.