Tale type American folklorist
D. L. Ashliman classified the tale in the
Aarne-Thompson Index as type AaTh 554B*, "The Child Who Was Raised by An Eagle", a tale type that is otherwise titled "The Boy in the Eagle's Nest" and features a male protagonist that is raised by an eagle. In an article in
Enzyklopädie des Märchens, scholar
Hasan M. El-Shamy remarked that tale type ATU 705A, "Born from a Fish (Fruit)", can be divided into two parts: in the first part, a man is given an apple by a stranger, eats it and a girl is born to him; later, the baby girl is kidnapped by a large bird and raised on top of a tree; when the girl becomes a woman, a prince falls in love with her and a witch tricks the woman into climbing down the tree. This sequence exists as its own type in the
Georgian Tale Index, numbered -407***, "The Forest Girl": the girl is born from the man's ankle, and is raised on top of an oak tree or poplar by the eagle or the raven; later, a prince tricks her into climbing down the tree with the help of an old woman, and marries her.
Motifs The child in the bird's nest is also found in "
Foundling-Bird". The method of luring the bride down from the tree is also found in "
The Golden Stag". More commonly, as in "
Brother and Sister", "
The Six Swans", or "
Mary's Child", the hero succeeds in luring her away himself. ==See also==