In "Melusine," for 1878, colt 206 ff., M. Luzel gives a Breton version, under
the title of "Les Trois Filles du Boulanger; ou, L'Eau qui dense, la Pomme qui
chante, et l'Oiseau de V⁄rit⁄," which does not appear to have been derived
from Galland's story, although it corresponds with it closely in the first
part. A prince overhears the conversation of three daughters of an old baker,
who is a widower. The eldest says that she loves the king's gardener, the
second, that she loves the king's valet, and the youngest says the prince is
her love, to whom she would bear two boys, each with a star of gold on his
brow, and a girl, with a star of silver. The father chides them for talking
nonsense and sends them to bed. The following day the prince sends for the
girls to come to the palace one after the other, and having questioned them,
tells the youngest that he desires to see her father. When she delivers the
royal message the old baker begins to shake in his shoes, and exclaims, "I
told you that your frivolous remarks would come to the ears of the prince, and
now he sends for me to have me punished, without a doubt." "No, no, dear
father; go to the palace and fear nothing." He goes, and, to be brief, the
three marriages duly take place. The sisters married to the royal gardener and
valet soon become jealous of the young queen, and when they find she is about
to become a mother they consult a fairy, who advises them to gain over the
midwife and get her to substitute a little dog and throw the child into the
river, which is done accordingly, when the first son with the gold star is
born. For the second son, a dog is also substituted, and the king, as on the
former occasion, says, "God's will be done: take care of the poor creature."
But when the little girl with the silver star is smuggled away and the king is
shown a third puppy as the queen's offspring, he is enraged. "They'll call me
the father of dogs!" he exclaims, "and not without cause." He orders the queen
to be shut up in a tower and fed on bread and water. The children are picked
up by a gardener, who has a garden close to the river, and brought up by his
wife as their own. In course of time the worthy couple die, and the king
causes the children to be brought to the palace (how he came to know of them
the story-teller does not inform us), and as they were very pretty and had
been well brought up, he was greatly pleased with them. Every Sunday they went
to grand mass in the church, each having a ribbon on the brow to conceal the
stars. All the folk were astonished at their beauty.
One day, when the king was out hunting, an old woman came into the kitchen of
the palace, where the sister happened to be, and exclaimed, "O how cold I am,"
and she trembled and her teeth chattered. "Come near the fire, my good
mother," said the little girl. "Blessings on you, my child! How beautiful you
are! If you had but the Water that dances, the Apple that sings, and the Bird
of Truth, you'd not have your equal on the earth." "Yes, but how to obtain
these wonders?" "You have two brothers who can procure them for you," and so
saying, the old woman went away. When she told her brothers what the old woman
had said, the eldest before setting out in quest of the three treasures leaves
a poignard which as long as it can be drawn out of its sheath would betoken
his welfare. One day it can't be drawn out, so the second brother goes off,
leaving with his sister a rosary, as in Galland. When she finds the beads
won't run on the string, she goes herself, on horseback, as a cavalier. She
comes to a large plain, and in a hollow tree sees a little old man with a
beard of great length, which she trims for him. The old man tells her that 60
leagues distant is an inn by the roadside; she may enter it, and having
refreshed herself with food and drink leave her horse there, and promise to
pay on her return After quitting the inn she will see a very high mountain, to
climb which will require hands and feet, and she'll have to encounter a
furious storm of hail and snow, it will be bitterly cold: take care and not
lose courage, but mount on. She'll see on either side a number of stone
pillars--persons like herself who have been thus transformed because they lost
heart. On the summit is a plain, bordered with flowers, blooming as in May.
She will see a gold seat under an apple-tree and should sit down and make it
appear as if asleep; presently the bird will descend from branch to branch and
enter the cage; quickly close it on the bird, for it is the Bird of Truth. Cut
a branch of the tree, with an apple on it, for it is the Apple that sings.
Lastly, there is also the fountain of water which dances: fill a flask from
the fountain and in descending the hill sprinkle a few drops of the water on
the stone pillars and the enchanted young princes and knights will come to
life again. Such were the instructions of the little old man, for which the
princess thanked him and went on her way. Arriving at the summit of the
mountain, she discovered the cage and sitting down under the tree feigned to
be asleep, when presently the merle entered and she at once rose up and closed
it. The merle, seeing that he was a prisoner, said, "You have captured me,
daughter of the King of France. Many others have tried to seize me, but none
has been able till now, and you must have been counselled by some one." The
princess then cut a branch of the tree with an apple on it, filled her flask
with water from the fountain that danced, and as she went down the hill
sprinkled a few drops on the stone pillars, which were instantly turned into
princes, dukes, barons, and knights, and last of all her two brothers came to
life, but they did not know her. All pressed about the princess, some saying,
"Give me the Water which dances," others, "Give me the Apple which sings," and
others, "Give me the Bird of Truth." But she departed quickly, carrying with
her the three treasures, and passing the inn where she had left her horse she
paid her bill and returned home, where she arrived long before her brothers.
When at length they came home she embraced them, saying, "Ah, my poor
brothers! How much anxiety you have caused me! How long your journey has
lasted! But God be praised that you are back here again." "Alas, my poor
sister, we have indeed remained a long time away, and after all have not
succeeded in our quest. But we may consider ourselves fortunate in having been
able to return." "How!" said the princess, "do you not bring me the Water
which dances, the Apple which sings, and the Bird of Truth?" "Alas! my poor
sister, a young knight who was a stranger to us carried them all away--curse
the rascal." The old king who had no children (or rather, who believed he had
none) loved the two brothers and the sister very much and was highly delighted
to see them back again. He caused a grand feast to be prepared, to which he
invited princes, dukes, marquises, barons, and generals. Towards the end of
the banquet the young girl placed on the table the Water, the Apple, and the
Bird, and bade each do its duty, whereupon the Water began to dance, and the
Apple began to sing, and the Bird began to hop about the table, and all
present, in ecstasy, mouth and eyes wide open, looked and listened to these
wonders. Never before had they seen such a sight. "To whom belong these
marvels?" said the king when at length he was able to speak. "To me, sire,"
replied the young girl. "Is that so?" said the King. "And from whom did you
get them?" "I myself procured them with much trouble," answered she. Then the
two brothers knew that it was their sister who had delivered them. As to the
king, he nearly lost his head in his joy and admiration. "My crown and my
kingdom for your wonders, and you yourself, my young girl, shall be my queen,"
he exclaimed. "Patience for a little, sire," said she, "until you have heard
my bird speak-- the Bird of Truth, for he has important things to reveal to
you. My little bird, now speak the truth." "I consent," replied the bird; "but
let no one go out of this room," and all the doors were closed. The old
sorceress of a midwife and one of the king's sisters- in-law were present, and
became very uneasy at hearing these words. "Come now, my bird," then said the
girl, "speak the truth," and this is what the bird said: "Twenty years ago,
sire, your wife was shut up in a tower, abandoned by everybody, and you have
long believed her to be dead. She has been accused unjustly." The old midwife
and the king's sister-in-law now felt indisposed and wished to leave the room.
"Let no one depart hence," said the king. "Continue to speak the truth, my
little bird." "You have had two sons and a daughter, sire," the bird went on
to say--"all three born of your lady, and here they are! Remove their bandages
and you will see that each of them has a star on the forehead." They removed
the bandages and saw a gold star on the brow of each of the boys and a silver
star on the girl's brow. "The authors of all the evil," continued the bird,
"are your two sisters-in-law and this midwife--this sorceress of the devil.
They have made you believe that your wife only gave birth to little dogs, and
your poor children were exposed on the Seine as soon as they were born. When
the midwife--that sorceress of hell--learned that the children had been saved
and afterwards brought to the palace, she sought again to destroy them.
Penetrating one day into the palace, disguised as a beggar, and affecting to
be perishing from cold and hunger, she incited in the mind of the princess the
desire to possess the Dancing-Water, the Singing Apple, and the Bird of Truth-
-myself. Her two brothers went, one after the other, in quest of these things,
and the sorceress took very good care that they should never return. Nor would
they have returned, if their sister had not succeeded in delivering them after
great toil and trouble." As the bird ended his story, the king became
unconscious, and when he revived he went himself to fetch the queen from the
tower. He soon returned with her to the festive chamber, holding her by the
hand. She was beautiful and gracious as ever, and having ate and drank a
little, she died on the spot. The king, distraught with grief and anger,
ordered a furnace to be heated, and threw into it his sister-in-law and the
midwife--"ce tison de l'enfer!" As to the princess and her two brothers, I
think they made good marriages all three, and as to the bird, they do not say
if it continues still to speak the truth;--"mats je pr⁄sume que oui, puisque
ce n'⁄tait pas un homme!"
It would indeed be surprising did we not find our story popularly known
throughout Germany in various forms. Under the title of "The Three Little
Birds" a version is given in Grimm's K. u. H. M. (No. 96, vol. i. of Mrs.
Hunt's English translation), which reproduces the chief particulars of
Galland's tale with at least one characteristic German addition;