Brother Bird - Human or Animal?

The Juniper Tree has personified brother bird, giving him human characteristics such as singing in an understandable language to humans and memory to remember his human lifestyle after his transition from a bird back to a human. Brother bird is no ordinary bird, but a unique, thinking bird, who clearly responds to the request of goldsmiths, shoemakers and millers to obtain items in a grand plan. Brother bird’s previous life translates into his animal life which causes me to categorize him more towards the totally human side of the spectrum. His song, his life, is unfortunate and he is clearly aware of this. He calls out the devilish, the ignorant and the dutiful, clearly delineating properties to the various people in his life. Not only does he acknowledge his misfortune through the words of his song but ironically ends with “what a lovely bird I am!” Yeah, right. Furthermore, the bother comes back from the dead with the help of someone who possesses both the power to heal and destroy. Even though we think of stepmothers as evil, in some of these other fairy tales they do in fact have their own children who they are nice to, just at the expense of the stepchild. In the Twelve Brothers for example, the daughter although innocent and benevolent, is indirectly responsible for the mal fortune that befalls her brothers. Her piety just like Marlene’s, is responsible for restoring her brothers. It is a derivative of the archetypal mother that is responsible for the saving in most of these fairytales. Even in the Seven Ravens, the sister actively searched for her brothers to rescue them putting herself in danger in an act of selflessness. The transformations all seem relatively smooth, ending happily ever after with everything resuming as usual but with perks (– dead stepmother, royal marriage).