Read Online Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version by Philip Pullman - Free Book Online

day long, until her youngest son, who was called Benjamin after the boy in the Bible, asked, ‘Mother, why are you so sad?’
    ‘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