This story may be a fragment of the hidden name series in which the song has lost the revelation of the name, and the introduction omits the trick to discover it. If so, it has become a fixed variant. P. Smith, 35-37, tells it much as in the present version.
The story has points of resemblance to the European tale of the boy who is admitted to the princess's chamber in the form of a singing bird. See number 113 and compare Spanish-American forms, JAFL 25:191-208; JAFL 27:135-137.