A woman was dozing off while holding a baby in her arms. Suddenly, a large bird swooped down, snatched the baby away, and flew into the forest. After a while, it dropped the child and flew off.

Luckily, a hunter witnessed this. He thought, “Poor child. If I don’t take him in, he’ll either starve or be eaten by wild beasts. He can also be a companion to my only daughter, Lina.”

So the hunter brought the baby home and named him Fundevogel, meaning “the child abandoned by a bird.”

Fundevogel and Lina grew up happily together. They played side by side, hunted and practiced archery with the hunter, and learned magic from him as well.

When they were grown, one day the hunter said, “I know you two love each other. I must now go hunting with the king, but when I return, I will arrange your wedding!”

Fundevogel and Lina were overjoyed. But not everyone was happy. The cook in the hunter’s house, who was actually a wicked witch, had long wanted Lina to marry her own son. Now that Lina was to marry Fundevogel, she saw only one option left—to kill Fundevogel.

As soon as the hunter left, the witch ordered three servants to kill the boy.

Lina happened to overhear this and was terrified. She rushed to warn Fundevogel—but the witch caught her.

“Don’t even think about ruining my plan! You may know magic, and so does Fundevogel, but neither of you are a match for me. And your father is off hunting with the king—he won’t be back anytime soon. You’d better behave!”

The witch tied Lina up and locked her away.

Lina struggled with all her might and finally escaped. She ran straight to Fundevogel and cried, “We have to run—now!”

But they hadn’t gotten far when the three servants caught up to them.

“I don’t want to drag you into danger,” said Fundevogel. “You should go on without me!”

Lina replied, “I’ll never leave you. We know magic. You turn into a rose tree, and I’ll become a rose on one of its branches. They won’t recognize us.”

When the servants arrived, they saw only a rose tree and a beautiful rose. Finding no trace of the pair, they returned to the witch.

“We clearly saw them, but when we got there, they were gone—just a rose tree and a flower…”

“Idiots!” the witch yelled. “That was them! Go back and bring them to me!”

The servants ran back and shouted, “Stop! We know the rose tree and the rose are you two! This time, you won’t escape!”

“They’ve discovered us,” Lina whispered. “Quick, you become a church, and I’ll be the chandelier inside.”

Sure enough, when the servants arrived, they found only a church and a chandelier. Again, they returned empty-handed.

Sure enough, the three servants still couldn’t find them. They had no choice but to return to the witch and say, “We couldn’t find Fundevogel and Lina, and the rose tree and rose were gone too. All we saw was a church and a chandelier…”

 “You fools! That was them! I can’t count on you idiots to catch them—I’ll have to do it myself!”

Furious, the witch set off to chase them.

Seeing her coming, Lina said, “Quick, turn into a pond, and I’ll become a duck swimming in it.”

The witch approached, sneering, “You think I don’t know? The pond is Fundevogel, the duck is Lina—you won’t get away this time!”

But as she lunged at them, she slipped and fell into the pond—and drowned.

Hand in hand, Fundevogel and Lina returned home. When the hunter came back, they held their wedding and lived happily ever after.