The Golden Bird

A king kept a garden with a tree of golden apples. The fruit was counted regularly, and as it ripened someone stole one apple every night. Angry, the king ordered the gardener to watch under the tree. The gardener sent his eldest son; around midnight the youth fell asleep, and another apple was gone by morning. The second son watched next and also slept through midnight; another apple vanished. The third son asked to keep watch. The gardener feared harm would come to him, yet at last agreed. At the stroke of twelve the young man heard a rustle in the air: a bird of pure gold snapped at an apple. He sprang up and loosed an arrow. The shot did not wound the bird; it only shed a golden tail-feather and fled. That feather went to the king. His council agreed it was worth more than the kingdom’s whole wealth, but the king said one feather was useless—he must have the bird itself.

The gardener’s eldest set out, sure the hunt would be easy. Near a wood he saw a fox and raised his bow. The fox begged him not to shoot: it knew his errand and would advise him. At evening he would reach a village with two inns facing each other—one bright and pleasant, the other poor and mean. He must not enter the fine one, but rest in the shabby house. The young man scorned advice from a beast, shot, missed, and the fox ran off with its tail high. That evening he chose the lively inn with singing and feasting, ate and drank at ease, and forgot bird and country alike.

When no word came of the eldest, the second son went out. The fox gave the same counsel; at the village his brother waved from the merry window and called him in. He could not resist, and forgot the golden bird just as the first had done.

At last the youngest wished to go. His father long refused, fearing ill luck, but the boy would not rest at home, so leave was granted. He met the fox, heard the counsel, and unlike his brothers thanked the creature and spared its life. “Sit on my tail,” said the fox, “and you will travel faster.” They raced over stock and stone until their hair whistled in the wind. In the village the youth went straight to the poor inn and slept well. Next morning the fox met him again. “Go on to a castle where a troop of soldiers sleep and snore,” it said. “Take no notice of them; go inside until you find a room where the golden bird sits in a wooden cage. Beside it stands a handsome golden cage. Do not move the bird into the fine one, or you will be sorry.” Away they sped again.

At the gate all was as promised. Inside he found the wooden cage, the golden cage, and even the three lost apples nearby. It seemed absurd to carry such a bird in a shabby cage, so he shifted it into the golden one. The bird screamed; the soldiers woke, seized him, and brought him before their king. Next day the court sentenced him to die unless he fetched the golden horse that runs as swift as the wind—then the bird would be his. He left in despair; the fox appeared and scolded him for ignoring counsel, yet told him how to take the horse: go to its stall, where the groom sleeps; lead the horse away quietly, but put on the old leather saddle, not the golden one beside it. They raced onward.

The groom snored with a hand on the golden saddle. Looking at the horse, the youth thought the leather unfit for such a steed and reached for the golden one. The groom woke, shouted, and the guards took the young man prisoner. Again he was judged and sentenced to die—unless he brought the beautiful princess; then bird and horse would both be his.

Sorrowful once more, he met the fox, who asked why he never listened, yet offered fresh advice. “At midnight the princess goes to the bathing-house. Kiss her and she will follow, but do not let her take leave of her parents.” They sped to the castle. At twelve he kissed her; she agreed to flee, yet wept to say goodbye to her father. He refused at first, then yielded to her tears. The moment she entered her father’s house the guards woke and he was captive again.

Their king said he should never have the princess unless in eight days he dug away the hill that blocked the view from the window—a hill so vast the whole world could scarcely move it. After seven days of little progress the fox told him to sleep; it would work. He woke to find the hill gone, went cheerfully to the king, and claimed the princess. The king had to keep his word.

The fox then said they would have all three—princess, horse, and bird. “When you bring the princess to the king who holds the horse,” it said, “mount the golden horse they give you, shake hands last of all with the princess, swing her up behind you, and gallop away.” So it went. At the bird’s castle the fox kept the princess at the door while the youth rode in; when the king brought out the bird, he asked to examine it, seized it, and fled. They rode into a great wood. There the fox begged to be killed and to have its head and feet cut off. The youth refused. “Then beware of two things,” said the fox. “Ransom no one from the gallows, and sit down by no river.” And it vanished.

Easy advice, thought the youth. He rode with the princess to the village where he had left his brothers and found a crowd: two men were about to be hanged. They were his brothers, turned robbers. Could they be saved? Only if he paid all his money to buy their freedom. Without long thought he paid; the brothers were freed and travelled homeward with him.

In the wood where the fox had first appeared it felt so cool and pleasant that the brothers urged him to sit by the river and rest. He agreed—and forgot the warning. While he suspected nothing they pushed him down the bank, took princess, horse, and bird, and went to their master the king claiming all as their labour. There was great rejoicing, yet the horse would not eat, the bird would not sing, and the princess wept.

The youngest fell nearly to the dry riverbed; his bones were almost broken, and the bank was too steep to climb. The old fox came, scolded him for ignoring counsel, yet would not leave him. “Lay hold of my tail,” it said, “and hold fast.” It pulled him out and warned that his brothers had watchers ready to kill him if he entered the kingdom. He dressed as a poor man and slipped into the court; scarcely inside, the horse began to eat, the bird to sing, and the princess stopped weeping. He told the king of his brothers’ treachery; they were seized and punished; the princess was restored to him; and after the king’s death he inherited the realm.

Long afterward, walking in the wood, he met the fox, who begged with tears to be killed and to have head and feet cut off. At last he did so; at once the fox became a man—the princess’s brother, lost for many years.

Where this story comes from

“The Golden Bird” is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, not an Indian one. It is number 57 in Margaret Hunt’s 1884 translation (Der goldene Vogel), and the version followed here is the Project Gutenberg text based on Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes.

The Grimms took it from Hesse but noted that it was told in many places, including Paderborn. There an older form has a sick or blind king who can only be cured by the singing of a phoenix. One version says the fox simply vanishes once it is shot, instead of turning into a man.

The fox’s request to have its head and feet cut off is kept, as in the source.

Read the original: Grimms’ Fairy Tales, tr. Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes (Project Gutenberg #2591, The Golden Bird)

Best for ages 9–12 with adult discussion. The hero is a gardener’s son, not a prince at the start. Includes death sentences, betrayal, a princess treated as an exchange object, and a fox’s violent magical transformation. Cutting an animal cannot heal or free it outside the tale.

Reading the story closely

The son ignores several warnings, yet the fox repeatedly returns to help. The story therefore cannot be reduced to ‘advice helps only those who follow it.’ Also, choosing a splendid cage differs morally from letting the princess say goodbye or saving brothers from execution. The magical plot penalizes all three, but readers need not call all three equally foolish.

Sort the broken instructions by motive: attraction to wealth, sympathy, family loyalty or forgetfulness. Then follow who decides where the princess goes, including the king’s bargain and the fox’s exchange plan. Her joy at the final reunion matters, but does not make every earlier transaction her choice.

Talk about it

• Each time the youngest son breaks the fox’s advice, something goes wrong. Which mistake do you think was hardest to resist?
• Why does the fox keep helping the young man even when he doesn’t listen?
• The fox warned him not to ransom anyone from the gallows. Would you have saved your brothers anyway? Why?

Related stories

• The Water of Life — a kind youngest Grimm prince betrayed by his jealous older brothers
• The Queen Bee — the youngest of three Grimm brothers wins by kindness to animals
• The Frog-Prince — an enchanted Grimm creature who is freed and becomes a prince again