Birdchild and the Witch

One day, on his round of inspection, a wizard who worked as a gamekeeper, came across a newborn child, which had been stolen from the cradle by an eagle. The wizard gamekeeper gathered the child in his arms and took it home, where he brought the baby up alongside his own daughter, Lena, who also knew a bit of magic.

The eagle, however, was really a witch and wanted to find the little boy again, because she planned to eat him. She searched high and low until she found him. Then she transformed herself into an old woman and persuaded the gamekeeper to employ her as a housekeeper.

Fortunately, Lena discovered the plan of the old witch, and fled with Birdchild (for this was what she called the baby her father had found). As soon as the witch realised what had happened, she flew off, disguised as an eagle, in pursuit. Lena than called on her own magic powers, and turned the little boy into a pool of water and herself into a duck.

The witch, however, still recognised Birdchild, and she bent down by the pool to gulp up the water, but Lena grabbed the eagle with her beak, and pulled the witch into the pool where she drowned. The two children returned home and were never again troubled.