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Overview
A goldfinch travelling through the world rolls on a threshing floor and injures different parts of its body. Each injury brings a gift from God: garments, silk head covering, silver forehead chain, earrings, clasps, an embroidered sash, bracelets and shoes. Delighted by this equipment, the bird asks for a donkey and receives one. A Bedouin woman gives it two pots of butter. A wolf then requests a shared ride but takes the donkey onward, leaving the goldfinch behind. Deliberately misinterpreting its calls about slipping bags as permission to eat, the wolf consumes the butter and runs away. The bird pursues and recognises the betrayal.
Later travelling with its young and seeking the wolf, it stops outside a witch’s dwelling at night. A youngster sent to obtain fire is surrounded by her children and escapes their threatened attack with needles. The parent leads the family away. They reach a river of scissors and send the donkey first; it is cut to pieces. The birds then cross one by one, losing wings, feet or other parts. At a rock dwelling a woman grants them hospitality and hides them from her ape husband, whom she says will kill them. He detects another presence by smell, but she denies visitors. During his next absence she arranges to flee with the birds.
After ten days they receive three days’ hospitality from a porcupine and a guide to a crested lark’s city. Following a lark, they enter a city filled with birds. Their human companion fears that she has made a mistake by abandoning her husband and leaves to return to him. The birds’ own subsequent fate is not followed. The remainder traces her journey into a robber’s household and deaths there, ending with a leopard occupying it. Thus the birds’ adventurous family passage is part of a longer shifting narrative, not a separate happy reunion with the wolf. The source changes from a travelling bird to a parent addressed as mother; the profile does not invent a second parent to resolve that wording.
Origins & earliest records
Hans Stumme, Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt (Leipzig, 1895), tale 29, Die Geschichte vom Stieglitz: complete German pp. 186–192. Abdulla Ben Mhammed, dictating contributor; collection context Preface v–vi.
Records & interpretation
Complete German tale 29 and relevant notes read through the ending. Creature actions and literary explanations remain those of this located named-contributor witness; no real species or modern chemical account is inferred.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Märchen der Schluḥ von Tázerwalt
Tale 29, whole German pp. 186–192; contributor/collection Preface v–vi.
Family & connections
A source-supported family tree or inspiration record has not yet been compiled for this profile. Related reading below indicates a connection in subject matter, not a proven lineage or creative influence.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary collected narrative with German translation and contextual notesOriginal bilingual collection: Die Geschichte vom StieglitzResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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