 It is of Aarne-Thompson type 451 ("The Brothers Who Were Turned into Birds"), which is commonly found throughout Europe.Other variants of the Aarne-Thompson type include "The Six Swans", "The Twelve Wild Ducks", "Udea and her Seven Brothers", "The Wild Swans", "The Seven Ravens", and "The Magic Swan Geese".The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of "Kinder- und Hausmärchen" in 1812, and substantially rewritten in the second edition (1819).