Donor (fairy tale) by Giambattista Basile. In the Grimm Brothers' variant of "Cinderella", the protagonist is aided not by her fairy godmother but by her dead mother, as is the heroine of the Finnish variant, "The Wonderful Birch". A great variety of other figures may also take this place. In "Vasilissa the Beautiful", the heroine is aided by a wooden doll that her dying mother had given her; in "Rushen Coatie", by a red calf sent to her by her dead mother, a calf that can continue to aid her after its death; in "Katie Woodencloak" by a mysterious dun bull; in "Tattercoats",
The Owl (fairy tale) The Owl (fairy tale) "The Owl" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in "Grimm's Fairy Tales", number 174. It is Aarne-Thompson type 1281, Burning the Barn to Destroy an Unknown Animal. In the story, a horned owl flies into a barn owned by a local at the nearby town. The owl quickly frightens all of the townspeople who try to enter the barn. The same day, a man known for his courage and bravery in warlike skills announces to the populace that they are "all acting like women". He then ventures into the barn with a