The Bird Lover

The Bird Lover, also known as The Prince as Bird,[1] is a type of narrative structure in folklore, no. 432 in the Aarne–Thompson classification system. In the typical version of story, a woman acquires a bird lover—a nobleman in the shape of a bird—who is wounded by means of a trap set by the woman's husband, such as a set of sharp points set up outside the woman's window. She follows the wounded bird's trail, cures him, and then marries him.[2]

In French scholarship, this type is often referred to as "l'oiseau bleu" or "the blue bird", so named for a story by Madame d'Aulnoy.[2]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference mandel was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Boivin, Jeanne-Marie (1995). "Bisclavret et Muldumarec: La part de l'ombre dans les Lais". In Jean Dufournet (ed.). Amour et merveille: les Lais de Marie de France (in French). Paris: Champion. pp. 147–68.