Once upon a time there were two poor siblings, a brother and his sister. The brother was a wood seller and the sister took care of the house. One day, while the brother was going to work, he met a stranger. The man asked the young man to do a chore for him and gave him some money for this. The young man bought three small fish and took them home. 

Later, three women knocked on the siblings’ front door. “We are very tired, can we rest here for a while?” The sister happily agreed and she offered them the three fish because she didn’t have anything else to treat them. The three women were very grateful, so they decided to give the girl some blessings.

The first woman said “when she combs herself, pearls will fall off her hair”. The second woman said “when she washes herself, her basin will fill with fish” and the third woman said “when she dries herself, the towel will fill with roses‘’.

After that, the three women left and the girl wondered if their blessings would in fact ever become true. 

She then picked up the comb to comb herself and she saw pearls all over the place! When she washed herself, similar but much bigger fish appeared out of nowhere in her basin! When she used the towel, it filled with roses! The sister gathered all the pearls and the roses and she cooked the fish.

When her brother came home, he was very angry to discover that the small fish had been replaced by other more expensive fish. His sister explained to him what had happened and they both felt very happy because they weren’t poor anymore. 

The next day the brother took the pearls to another town to an open market to sell them, but the people didn’t believe that they belonged to him. They thought that he had stolen the pearls and took him to the king to judge him. The young man then told the king the whole story and the king said ‘’Go and bring your sister. If she is telling the truth, I will marry her. Otherwise, I will kill you’’. 

The brother came back home, took his sister with him and they got into a boat to go to the king. But the girl got seasick! On the boat traveling with them, there was a witch disguised in a poor woman and cunningly offered to help the girl.

The witch also asked the girl where they were going. When the witch heard their story, she put a magic pin into the girl’s head and the girl turned into a bird and flew away.

After that, the witch put on the girl’s clothes and the brother didn’t recognize her. When the king saw the witch, he was terrified. He told the servants to bring her a basin to wash herself, a comb to comb herself and a towel to dry herself. The woman washed and combed and dried herself, but nothing extraordinary happened.

The king ordered his servants to put the young man in prison and make the woman work in the fields. The brother kept saying that that particular woman was not his sister, but no one believed him. 

The next day the king visited his garden and a small bird flew over him and started singing with a human voice:

I am that bird, that little bird

which combed itself and pearls fell off

which washed itself and fish appeared

which dried itself and roses fell off.

When the king heard these words, he ordered his servants to capture that bird and put in a cage. The bird kept singing the same song and after a few days the king ordered to bring the bird in front of him. He started patting it on the head and he touched the pin with his finger. He pulled it out and immediately a beautiful girl appeared! “I am your wife and the other woman is an evil witch who turned me into a bird”. 

To prove her story, the sister combed herself and pearls filled the place, she washed herself and the basin filled with fish, she used the towel and roses fell off. The king ordered his servants to dress her in royal clothes and he put her on a golden throne next to him.

He then freed the brother and punished the evil witch!

And they lived happily ever after!