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The Speaking Bird of Paradise restores the king's children t...

Date October 1978
Track ID 66777
Part 1

Track Information

Original Track ID

SA1978.159

Original Tape ID

SA1978.159

Summary

The Speaking Bird of Paradise restores the king's children to him.

A queen had three children, two sons and a daughter. Each time, immediately after the birth, the wicked housekeeper and her sister took the baby away and gave it to a woodcutter and his wife in the forest. They substituted a cat for the first child, a dog for the second, and a block of wood for the third. Each time the king sent the queen to the dungeons. The children grew up in the forest. One day the eldest boy helped an old woman, and she told him that he and his siblings were the king's children. To prove this, he would have to get the Speaking Bird of Paradise. He set off, leaving his knife stuck in a tree and telling his brother that if the blade turned red it would mean he could not come back. This happened, and the younger brother went to search for the elder. Helped by the old woman in the form of a bird, he got past various obstacles, got the Speaking Bird, and recovered his brother.

The Speaking Bird told the girl and her brothers what to do when the king and his huntsmen came to their cottage. The girl put a plate in front of them with only chuckie stones [pebbles] and water on it. The king said he couldn't eat it. The Speaking Bird of Paradise told him it was as well for him to eat chuckie stones as for his wife to have cats, dogs and blocks, and revealed the truth. The king took his children home, brought back his wife, and had the housekeeper and her sister beheaded. The king and his family lived happily ever after, and the last time the storyteller was there he got his tea off a wee tin table at the back door: "The table bended and ma story's ended."

Language

English, Scots

Genre

Story

Collection

SoSS

Source Type

Reel to reel

Audio Quality

Good