This story may be a fragment of the hidden name series in which the
song has lost the revelation of the name, and the introduction omits
the trick to discover it. If so, it has become a fixed variant. P.
Smith, 35–37, tells it much as in the present version.
The story has points of resemblance to the European tale of the boy who
is admitted to the princess’s chamber in the form of a singing bird.
See number 113 and compare Spanish-American forms, JAFL 25: 191–208;
JAFL 27: 135–137.