“Jorinda and Joringel.” The Snow Queen and other tales : a selection of traditional Russian fairy tales, André Bay, Marie Ponsot, New York: Golden Press, 1962, pp. 29-31.

Tale Summary

There was once an old castle hidden deep in the forest, and in it lived a witch, who spent her time in the day as an owl or a cat to catch creatures in the forest for food, and her evenings as a horrible hag. Any man who ventured into the realm of the castle was turned to stone, and any girl was turned into a bird. The witch had over seven thousand cages of these poor birds in her castle. Nearby lived a pretty girl named Jorinda, who was engaged to a young man named Joringel. One day they ventured into the forest but became lost as night fell, and Jorinda began to sing a sorrowful song: 

“Down to my garden I went today

After rosemary and rue,

And to my hand that broke a spray

A nightingale, nightingale, flew.”

Joringel turned to stone, and his love into a nightingale. An owl appeared and transformed into a hag, who took the bird into the castle. A moment later she returned and said a chant, releasing the young man from his stone state at moonrise. The witch told him that he would never see Jorinda again, and he left the forest until he came to a strange village and lived for some time as a shepherd. One night he dreamed that he picked an unusual vermillion flower, in the center of which was a great pearl, and that this blossom disenchanted whatever it touched. He knew when he awoke that he must find this flower to deliver Jorinda from her spell. He searched everywhere, and on the beginning of the ninth day he found it. It had bright red flowers and a drop of dew as big as a pearl in its center. He bravely entered the realm of the witch with it and safely made it to the great hall where the witch was feeding her birds. There were hundreds of nightingales, and Joringel did not know which one was his love. The witch grabbed one of the cages and ran. He followed and touched her with his flower, making her lose all power, and then touched the cage, which released Jorinda. Together they freed all of the birds, and had seven thousand brides-maids at their wedding.