the hero as retribution for a good deed of the protagonist. In a variant collected in Austria, by Ignaz and Joseph Zingerle (Der Vogel Phönix, das Wasser des Lebens und die Wunderblume, or "The Phoenix Bird, the Water of Life and the Most beautiful Flower"), the tale begins with the motif of the birth of twin wonder-children, akin to The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird. Cast away from home, the twins grow up and take refuge in their (unbeknownst to them) father's house. Their aunt asks for the titular items, and the fox who helps the hero is his mother's reincarnation. In a Polish variant by Oskar Kolberg, O królewiczu i jego przyjacielu, kruku ("About the prince and his friend, the Raven"), a raven, sent by a mysterious hermit, helps a prince in his quest for a golden bird. The hero continues his quest for a golden-haired princess, then for a golden-maned horse. In a Hungarian variant translated by Michel Klimo as L'Oiseau de Feu, the hero is a poor farmer's youngest son, named Ladislas. His helper is a "ours d'argent" (silver bear). They quest for the firebird (which has been taking his father's flowers), the silver-maned horse from the "roi de fer" ("Iron King") and the daughter of the Fairy Queen. The bird as the object of the quest The character of the Golden Bird has been noted to resemble the mythological phoenix bird. Indeed, in many variants the hero quests for the Phoenix bird. In other variants from the Middle East and Turkey the bird's name is Hezārān Nightingale. August Leskien explained that the Hazaran bird may appear in Albanian tales as Gisar, and both names derive from the Persian word hezâr ('a thousand'), although the name may be translated as "a thousand songs" or "a thousand voices". The Golden Bird of the Brothers Grimm tale can be seen as a counterpart to the Firebird of Slavic folklore, a bird said to possess magical powers and a radiant brilliance, in many fairy tales. The Slavic Firebird can also be known by the name Ohnivak Zhar Bird or Bird Zhar; Glowing Bird, or The Bird of Light. Sometimes, the king or the hero's father send the hero on his quest for the bird to cure him of his illness or blindness, instead of finding out who has been destroying his garden and/or stealing his precious