A fisherman found two beautiful children in a crystal cradle, a girl and a boy, floating in the river and brought them to his wife to raise as their own.
As the babies grew up, their older brothers were cruel to them and the boy and the girl often ran away to the riverbank, where they would feed breadcrumbs to the birds.
In fact, the babies had not really died, but were taken to a gardener's cottage, and that night the chamberlain threw them into the river in a crystal cradle, which the children recognized from the story of how the fisherman had found them.
[3][2] According to scholarship, the tale type may also be known in Spain as El lucerito de oro en la frente ("The golden star on the forehead").
Interpreting this data under a sociological lens, he remarked that the heroine's role in rescuing her brother reflects the expected feminine task of "maintaining family unity".
[15] In Lo castell de irás y no hi veurás ("The Castle of Going and Not Returning"), a father makes a pact with the Devil in order to get rich, in exchange for one of his daughters.
The king receives the letter and writes one back, which is also intercepted and falsified by the Devil with a command to cast the twins in the water.
[17] According to Josep Antoni Grimalt Gomila, author Antoni Maria Alcover collected and published 7 Catalan rondalles (folktales) from Mallorca that can be classified as type 707:[18] S'aygo ballant i es canariet parlant ("The dancing water and the talking canary");[19] Sa flor de jerical i s'aucellet d'or;[20] La Reina Catalineta ("Queen Catalineta"); La bona reina i la mala cunyada ("The good queen and the evil sister-in-law"); S'aucellet de ses set llengos; S'abre de música, sa font d'or i s'aucell qui parla ("Tree of Music, the Fountains of Gold and the Bird that Talks").
[21] Spanish folklorist Antonio Machado y Alvarez wrote down an Andalusian tale from his own sister, titled El agua amarilla ("The yellow water").
In this tale, three sisters talk about their choices for husbands: the elder wants to marry a baker so there is not shortage of bread for her; the middle one a cook, and the youngest the king.
Years later, the siblings build a little house near the palace, and an old woman comes to visit them and tell about the yellow water, the bird that talks and the tree that sings.
[22] Sérgio Hernandez de Soto collected a variant from Extremadura, named El papagayo blanco ("The white parrot").
At the end of the tale, the once petrified people are invited to the twins' house, where they show their baby blankets with the count's family crest emblazoned on them and the white parrot helps them discover the truth of their parentage.
[23] Historian Juan Menéndez Pidal collected a version from the Asturias from informant Tomás Sanchez, from Pola de Laviana.
Years later, an old witch visits their house and tells them about three objects that can grant them full happiness: the bird that talks, the tree that sings and the yellow fountain that flows gold.
[24] Author Wentworth Webster translated into English a variant in Basque language, titled The singing tree, the bird which tells the truth, and the water that makes young.
When the new queen gives birth to a girl and two boys (in three consecutive pregnancies), they replace them for a cat, a dog and a bear cub and abandon them in a basket elsewhere.
Years later, an old beggar man visits the siblings and tells them to seek the speaking bird, the dancing water and the singing tree.
[26] Galician ethnographer Lois Carré Alvarellos [gl] published a tale collected from Campamento, in San Xurxo de Iñás [es], with the title As Fillas do Zapateiro ("The Shoemaker's Daughters").
One day, the old woman takes the twins to a feast at the king's castle, and the shoemaker's eldest daughter wishes to know them, so she can poison their food.
[27] A variant in the Algherese dialect of the Catalan language, titled Lo pardal verd ("The Green Sparrow"), was collected in the 20th century.