Fitcher's Bird

That's definitely a bird and not a woman covered in feathers.

Hello, reader. For this post, we're looking at one of the Grimm fairy tales called Fitcher's Bird. For those of you familiar with fairy tales, it might remind you of Bluebeard, which I liked so much, I looked at it twice. However, this story is different in a few key ways that make it perfect for Women's History Month. Keep reading to see what I mean.

We have to start by talking about the ending. The youngest daughter outsmarted the man who trapped her. She didn't need to be rescued because she rescued herself. She just asked her family to make sure no one else would fall victim to this guy. Excuse me. She didn't just rescue herself. She rescued her sisters too, after they were dead. I've got two ideas about that. Either this man's axe was magic and didn't fully kill anyone, or the youngest daughter is magic. I mean, she is the youngest of three girls...

I also get a kick out of how smart this girl is. She not only gets her sisters out, but she has the evil man carry them! It's interesting that he was willing and able to carry the weight of two women and some gold on his back. Especially since he thought all of that was his gold. He's either not worried about money, or he had a plan to get all of that back anyway.

So, that plan was brilliant, but the youngest daughter's next plan is ridiculous. But in the best way. She covers herself in feathers and says she's a bird. Even the villain, who disguised himself as a beggar earlier and would know something about disguises, believes her. I have to wonder what kind of birds they had back then. If I saw a person-sized bird who told me she was a bird, I would act like I agreed with her (because she's big enough to be scary), but I wouldn't believe it. But maybe that's just me.

I also have to wonder if no one else thought to put the egg somewhere safe when they were looking around the house. Since our heroine didn't have it with her when she found the murder room, it didn't get covered in blood. Apparently every other woman looked in that room and had the egg with her. Odd.

Oh, and of course, no tale of outsmarting the villain would be complete without burning him alive in his house. Because these are the Grimm brothers fairy tales, not Disney's.

I suppose the moral of this story is that if you're going to kidnap and possibly murder girls, you should be a bit more curious about strange things or birds around you. Alternatively, if you get kidnapped, it doesn't matter if the only plan you can think of to get out is crazy, it just might work.

Have a different moral? Annoyed I didn't talk about the villain's magic of compulsion? Have a different fairy tale you want me to talk about? Comment below!