Found: based on classic fairy tale?
Original topic subject: based on classic fairy tale?
Talk Name that Book
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1phlegmmy
Published probably before 1970
(No other details known--I am trying to help a friend find this. She wrote this query.)
I'm 68 and trying to remember a book, or story I read as a preteen, or possibly in my early teens 1963-1970ish, although book/story could obviously be much older -- I think it sounds like a classic fairy tale, perhaps translated from another culture/language.
The story was about a hunter who lived a solitary, lonely life. He is befriended by a loud cheerful family who all strikingly resemble one another. He loves spending time with them in the forest in the daylight hours, but they all disappear in the evenings.
Eventually he falls in love with one of the daughters, she's round, gentle, soft spoken, just like everyone else in the family. One day, while in the woods the hunter spots, and shoots a quail/pheasant/partridge (I'm unclear on this). The hunter's beloved is devastated, and disappears into the brush.
Days go by and the next time the hunter sees the family, one of the brothers has been shot in the arm/chest (unclear on this as well). Turns out the family are all birds, obviously some kind of magic is involved in this, but I can't remember what, can't remember why, can't remember how the story ends, and worst of all, can't remember the name of the book/story, or the author.
Can anyone help me? Does this even vaguely remind anyone of a story you read when you were younger?
(No other details known--I am trying to help a friend find this. She wrote this query.)
I'm 68 and trying to remember a book, or story I read as a preteen, or possibly in my early teens 1963-1970ish, although book/story could obviously be much older -- I think it sounds like a classic fairy tale, perhaps translated from another culture/language.
The story was about a hunter who lived a solitary, lonely life. He is befriended by a loud cheerful family who all strikingly resemble one another. He loves spending time with them in the forest in the daylight hours, but they all disappear in the evenings.
Eventually he falls in love with one of the daughters, she's round, gentle, soft spoken, just like everyone else in the family. One day, while in the woods the hunter spots, and shoots a quail/pheasant/partridge (I'm unclear on this). The hunter's beloved is devastated, and disappears into the brush.
Days go by and the next time the hunter sees the family, one of the brothers has been shot in the arm/chest (unclear on this as well). Turns out the family are all birds, obviously some kind of magic is involved in this, but I can't remember what, can't remember why, can't remember how the story ends, and worst of all, can't remember the name of the book/story, or the author.
Can anyone help me? Does this even vaguely remind anyone of a story you read when you were younger?
2MissSquish
One book like this is The Enchanted by Elizabeth Coatsworth. 1951.
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/elizabeth-coatsworth-2/the-enchante...
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/a/elizabeth-coatsworth-2/the-enchante...
