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

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.’
    And the old woman hurried off down a dark path before the girl could say another word.
    But she