On similarities with 'Fitcher's Bird'

"The transvestism that finally saves her, and results in the demise of evil and patriarchy, is her disguise as a bird—a fantastic bird, a possibly androgynous bird." - Pauline Greenhill (2008)

“She looked like a strange bird, and it was impossible to recognize her” - (157, Fitcher's Bird)

I read a critical literary analysis of the Grimms Brothers' folk tale 'Fitcher's Bird,' which to me conjured up a great deal of similarities with the Crane Wife. Through the social and feminist analysis of the former, I was able to better understand the Crane Wife and issues I may face within my own adaptation of it. Fitcher's Bird can be seen as a contra-patriarchal story, where the typical hegemonic power of males in folk tales is subverted. 

"Unnamed, except as Fitcher’s Bird, the main protagonist is an everywoman who undermines actual and symbolic patriarchy by a series of actions that also expose the Freudian and Lacanian creation myths about women. The story subverts patriarchy, heterosexuality, femininity, and masculinity alike." Comparatively, the protagonist of The Crane Wife is the title character: a heroine and a bird in one. 

The heroines of both tales perform secretive actions that disclose the main male character’s true nature, with the the women’s ultimate survival as autonomous beings depending on these secrets being uncovered. The contrast between the two is clear; in Fitcher's Bird, the bird discovers the man's terrible hidden secret. In the Crane Wife, the bird is the one who must keep the secret of her identity from the man. “Fitcher’s Bird” is difficult to convert into a tale about the dangers of female curiosity; it’s about the need for hiding objects and actions from, and deceiving, patriarchal male figure.' This too is true of the Crane Wife. The power of the man is subverted by female autonomy in both instances. 'Women’s duplicity, feminine duplicity, is not only powerful; it is also a primary survival strategy.' In Fitcher's Bird, it is bravery of the heroine which allows her to uncover the secret, which is more powerful and morally upstanding than the simple curiosity of the man in The Crane Wife who breaks his oath to his wife,

In The Crane Wife, unusually, the secret is held by the female and the onus is put on her male partner by her not to disturb her secret, whereas in many other instances it would be the male controlling the female to do/ not to do something. Such orders become logical in the context of patriarchy, where men may figuratively or even literally own their wives’ bodies and services, and, ultimately, their lives. The Crane takes control of her situation and relationship by denying complete ownership over herself and laying her own rules and boundaries. 

The women in both tales break common tropes of female subjection through autonomy, which 'by implication revisions the constitution of women beyond the patriarchal gaze.' 'While these processes of male looking and the objectification of and violence against women do take place in the tale, they are narratively disrupted, overturned, reversed, and/or turned against male figures by female figures.' Both women end the stories away from their captors/ partners, proving 'They don’t want the men who want them, and they certainly don’t need these murderous patriarchs.' 'Contra-patriarchally, the story requires readers/hearers to identify with a woman in order to survive at the end.'

Fitcher's Bird has the support system of female companionship and solidarity to help her through her tale, while the Crane Wife can use only self-reliance. 

The bird form of the female protagonist in 'Fitcher's Bird' is referred to throughout as an 'avatar.' In this way, the bird form of the Crane Wife could be seen as her avatar. A queer reading of these avatars highlights how women save themselves by creating an object that represents what the heterosexual gaze loves in women: a beautiful appearance. 'When the youngest sister does Fitcher, as a Bird, he doesn't recognize the fact. This reverses and subverts the patriarchal gaze, which is supposed to be directed by and from the male toward and against the female, not vice versa.' Similarly, the Crane acknowledges the man without him being aware of her female presence. She has a greater grasp in understanding the world around her and their positions within it than the male. The man cannot recognize the Crane in the woman he marries, because he is so concerned with outward appearances. Fitcher sees women as no more than a collection of parts.'The protagonist creates
avatars, and they successfully stand for her, because she is unknown and unknowable. She uses the recognition that she is known only for her qualities (or even for her supposed qualities of traditional feminine domesticity and appearance); she develops her own assemblage, with parts that are (again) both her own and not her own.'
The Crane Wife's contact with the outside and connection to the public sphere is enabled only through the use of her avian avatar. To compare. the female in the other tale also does engage in the public space, though in disguise as her Fitcher’s Bird avatar. Both women make their way into public space as a transvestite, but they don't 'take the robes of the patriarchy, but those of the animal world.'

Neither tale utilizes the typical 'happily-ever-after'device of marriage and heterosexual companionship, and both end with the female freeing herself in someway from the male, to live away from patriarchal oppression.

Reference: Greenhill, P. (2008). "Fitcher's [Queer] Bird": A Fairy-Tale Heroine and Her Avatars. Marvels & Tales, 22(1), pp.143 - 167.