Boy or Bird?

I definitely agree with the general consensus that the brother is more human than bird when he is transformed. I think that is transformation is only a physical one (and not even complete at that since he can still talk/sing). The brother seems to maintain all personality traits, communication skills, and ability to analyze. I think that the latter is a main point in my argument. Often times we have seen other children transformed (again, the theme of a transformation into birds is quite common), however, we do not typically have that much inside knowledge into the fullness of that child's transformation. The transformed child can still usually talk, but our interaction with them is very limited. In Juniper Tree, the boy is still a main character. In fact, I find it most impressive that the boy is actually able to save himself. I think this is the first story (unless I've forgotten one) where the transformed animal is the one who transforms itself back. For example, we talked earlier about how the sister typically had to transform her brothers back, but in Juniper Tree, she merely saved his bones. The "bird" is clever enough to come up with an elaborate plan so that he may kill the stepmother and reverse the spell. I find this quite interesting because I think that this, above all else, shows his "humanness." Not only can this brother still communicate, but he can also still purposefully use this communication in order to create an elaborate plan. Besides, there would be no other point for a bird to have shoes, a golden chain, and a millstone-- there can be no doubt that it was all planned. Lastly, as a side note, I think it's interesting that the versions of this story have all very similar songs for the bird. My guess is that that's because a song is more likely to be remembered in a story than the precise details of anything else.