Array The Brothers Grimm - Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm - A New English Version

‘My dear child,’ she said, ‘I can’t tell you.’

But he wasn’t satisfied with that answer. He gave her no peace until she unlocked the room and showed him the twelve coffins all in a row, with the wood shavings and the pillows and the folded shrouds.

Weeping as she spoke, she said, ‘My sweet Benjamin, these coffins are for you and your brothers. If this child I’m expecting is a girl, you will all be killed and buried in them.’

Benjamin embraced her and said, ‘Don’t cry, mother. We’ll run away and look after ourselves.’

‘Yes!’ she said. ‘That’s a good idea. Go out into the forest, and find the highest tree you can. Keep watch on the castle tower. If I give birth to a little boy I’ll raise a white flag, but if it’s a girl I’ll raise a red one, and then you should escape as fast as you can. May God protect you! I’ll get up every night and pray for you all. In winter I’ll pray that you’ll always have a fire to warm yourselves at, and in summer I’ll pray that you won’t be oppressed by the heat.’

When she had given them her blessing, the twelve brothers went out into the forest. They took turns to keep watch from a lofty oak tree, and after eleven days had passed and it was Benjamin’s turn, he saw the flutter of a flag being raised; but it wasn’t a white flag, it was a red one.

He scrambled down the tree and told his brothers. They were furious.

‘Why should we suffer for the sake of a girl?’ they said. ‘We must take revenge for this! Any girl who crosses our path will regret it. Her red blood will flow!’

They set off deeper into the forest, and in the deepest, darkest heart of it, they found a little cottage. Sitting outside it, with her suitcase packed, was an old woman.

‘Here you are at last!’ she said. ‘I’ve kept the cottage clean and warm for you. And I’ve planted twelve lilies here outside the window. As long as those lilies bloom, you will be safe. Now I must be going.’

And she picked up her suitcase and disappeared down a dark path before they could say a word.

‘Well, let’s live here,’ they said. ‘It looks comfortable enough, and she did say it was intended for us. Benjamin, you’re the youngest and weakest, so you can stay at home and keep house. The rest of us will hunt for food.’

So the older brothers went out into the forest every day and shot rabbits, deer, birds, whatever they could eat. They took it home to Benjamin, who cooked it and laid it on the table for them. They spent ten years in the little cottage, where they were safe, and the time passed quickly.

Meanwhile the little daughter was growing. She turned out to have a kindly heart, a beautiful face, and a golden star on her forehead. One day when all the laundry had been done at the palace, she saw twelve linen shirts on the line, each one slightly smaller than the next, and said to her mother, ‘Whose are those shirts, mother? They are too small for father.’

The queen answered with a heavy heart: ‘They belong to your twelve brothers, my dear.’

‘I didn’t know I had twelve brothers!’ said the girl. ‘Where are they?’

‘Only God knows. They went into the forest, and they might be anywhere now. Come with me, my dear, and I’ll tell you all about it.’

And she took the girl to the locked room and showed her the twelve coffins with the wood shavings, and the pillows, and the shrouds.

‘These coffins were made for your brothers,’ she explained, ‘but they ran away before you were born.’ And she told her how everything had happened.

The girl said, ‘Don’t cry, mother! I’ll go and look for my brothers. I’m sure I can find them.’

And she ironed the twelve shirts and packed them neatly, and went out into the forest. She walked all day, and in the evening she came to the little cottage.

She went inside and found a young boy. He said, ‘Who are you? Where have you come from?’

He knew she was a princess, because of her fine dress, but he was astonished at how beautiful she was, and at the golden star on her forehead.

‘I am a princess,’ she said, ‘and I’m looking for my twelve brothers. I’ve vowed to walk on as far as the sky is blue till I’ve found them.’

And she showed him the twelve shirts, each one slightly smaller than the next. Benjamin saw at once that this girl was his sister, and said, ‘You’ve found us! I’m your youngest brother, and my name is Benjamin.’

She wept for joy, and so did he. They kissed and embraced lovingly.

But then he remembered what his brothers had vowed, and said, ‘Sister dear, I have to warn you: my brothers have sworn that every girl they meet must die, since it was because of a girl that we had to leave our kingdom.’

She said, ‘I’ll willingly give up my life, if I can free my brothers from their exile.’

‘No,’ he said, ‘you shan’t die. I won’t let it happen. Sit under this tub till our brothers come home, and I’ll make it all right.’

So she did. When they came home from hunting at nightfall, they sat down to eat and said to Benjamin, ‘Any news?’

‘Don’t you know?’ he said.

‘Know what?’

‘You’ve been in the forest all day long, and I’ve been here at home, and yet I know more than you do.’

‘Know what? Tell us!’

‘I’ll tell you,’ he said, ‘as long as you promise that the next girl you meet shall not be killed.’

By this time they were so curious that they all cried, ‘Yes! We promise! We’ll be merciful! Just tell us!’

Then he said, ‘Here is our sister,’ and lifted up the tub.

The princess came out in her royal clothes, looking so lovely, with the golden star on her forehead, and everything about her was delicate, and fine, and perfect.

They all wept with joy, and embraced her and kissed her, and they loved her at once.

From then on she stayed at home with Benjamin and helped with the housework. The eleven older brothers went out into the forest every day and shot game, deer and pigeons and wild boar, and the sister and Benjamin prepared it all for the table. They gathered wood for the fire and herbs for the pot so that supper was always ready as soon as the others came home, they kept the house in order and swept the floors and made the beds, and the sister always did the washing and hung up their shirts, each one slightly smaller than the next, to dry in the sunshine.

One day they had prepared a fine meal, and they were all sitting down to eat when the sister thought that some parsley would taste very good sprinkled over the stew. So she went outside and gathered a bunch from their little herb garden, and then she saw twelve fine lilies growing by the window, and thought she would please the brothers by bringing them in to decorate the table.

But the moment she cut the lilies the cottage disappeared, and the twelve brothers were changed into twelve ravens that flew away over the trees with a dismal cry and vanished. The poor girl was left standing in the little forest clearing all on her own.

She looked around in dismay, and saw an old woman standing close by.

‘My child, what have you done?’ said the old woman. ‘Now your brothers have been changed into twelve ravens, and there’s no way of changing them back.’

‘No way at all?’ said the girl, trembling.

‘Well, there is one way,’ said the old woman, ‘but it’s so difficult that no one could ever do it.’

‘Tell me! Tell me, please!’ said the girl.

‘You must remain silent for seven whole years, neither speaking nor laughing. If you speak a single word, even if it’s in the very last minute of the very last day of the very last year, it will all be for nothing, for your brothers will all be killed by that single word.’