“Wait there
till I come back again,” said the musician, and went his way. Again he said to himself, “Time is beginning to pass heavily with me
here in the forest, I will fetch hither another companion,” so he took
his fiddle, and the sound echoed through the forest. Then a little hare
came springing towards him. “Why, a hare is coming,” said the musician,
“I do not want him.” “Ah, dear musician,” said the hare, “how
beautifully thou dost fiddle; I too, should like to learn that.” “That
is soon learnt,” said the musician, “thou hast only to do everything
that I bid thee.”

“Oh, musician,” replied the little hare, “I will obey thee as a scholar
obeys his master.” They went a part of the way together until they came
to an open space in the forest, where stood an aspen tree. The musician
tied a long string round the little hare’s neck, the other end of which
he fastened to the tree. “Now briskly, little hare, run twenty times
round the tree!” cried the musician, and the little hare obeyed, and
when it had run round twenty times, it had twisted the string twenty
times round the trunk of the tree, and the little hare was caught, and
let it pull and tug as it liked, it only made the string cut into its
tender neck. “Wait there till I come back,” said the musician, and went
onwards. The wolf, in the meantime, had pushed and pulled and bitten at the
stone, and had worked so long that he had set his feet at liberty and
had drawn them once more out of the cleft. Full of anger and rage he
hurried after the musician and wanted to tear him to pieces. When the
fox saw him running, he began to lament, and cried with all his might,
“Brother wolf, come to my help, the musician has betrayed me!” The wolf
drew down the little tree, bit the cord in two, and freed the fox, who
went with him to take revenge on the musician. They found the tied-up
hare, whom likewise they delivered, and then they all sought the enemy
together. The musician had once more played his fiddle as he went on his way, and
this time he had been more fortunate. The sound reached the ears of a
poor wood-cutter, who instantly, whether he would or no, gave up his
work and came with his hatchet under his arm to listen to the music. “At last comes the right companion,” said the musician, “for I was
seeking a human being, and no wild beast.” And he began and played so
beautifully and delightfully that the poor man stood there as if
bewitched, and his heart leaped with gladness. And as he thus stood,
the wolf, the fox, and the hare came up, and he saw well that they had
some evil design. So he raised his glittering axe and placed himself
before the musician, as if to say, “Whoso wishes to touch him let him
beware, for he will have to do with me!” Then the beasts were terrified
and ran back into the forest. The musician, however, played once more
to the man out of gratitude, and then went onwards. 9 The Twelve Brothers

There were once on a time a king and a queen who lived happily together
and had twelve children, but they were all boys. Then said the King to
his wife, “If the thirteenth child which thou art about to bring into
the world, is a girl, the twelve boys shall die, in order that her
possessions may be great, and that the kingdom may fall to her alone.”
He caused likewise twelve coffins to be made, which were already filled
with shavings, and in each lay the little pillow for the dead, and he
had them taken into a locked-up room, and then he gave the Queen the
key of it, and bade her not to speak of this to any one. The mother, however, now sat and lamented all day long, until the
youngest son, who was always with her, and whom she had named Benjamin,
from the Bible, said to her, “Dear mother, why art thou so sad?”

“Dearest child,” she answered, “I may not tell thee.” But he let her
have no rest until she went and unlocked the room, and showed him the
twelve coffins ready filled with shavings. Then she said, “my dearest
Benjamin, thy father has had these coffins made for thee and for thy
eleven brothers, for if I bring a little girl into the world, you are
all to be killed and buried in them.” And as she wept while she was
saying this, the son comforted her and said, “Weep not, dear mother, we
will save ourselves, and go hence.” But she said, “Go forth into the
forest with thy eleven brothers, and let one sit constantly on the
highest tree which can be found, and keep watch, looking towards the
tower here in the castle. If I give birth to a little son, I will put
up a white flag, and then you may venture to come back, but if I bear a
daughter, I will hoist a red flag, and then fly hence as quickly as you
are able, and may the good God protect you. And every night I will rise
up and pray for you—in winter that you may be able to warm yourself at
a fire, and in summer that you may not faint away in the heat.”

After she had blessed her sons therefore, they went forth into the
forest. They each kept watch in turn, and sat on the highest oak and
looked towards the tower. When eleven days had passed and the turn came
to Benjamin, he saw that a flag was being raised. It was, however, not
the white, but the blood-red flag which announced that they were all to
die. When the brothers heard that, they were very angry and said, “Are
we all to suffer death for the sake of a girl? We swear that we will
avenge ourselves!—wheresoever we find a girl, her red blood shall
flow.”

Thereupon they went deeper into the forest, and in the midst of it,
where it was the darkest, they found a little bewitched hut, which was
standing empty. Then said they, “Here we will dwell, and thou Benjamin,
who art the youngest and weakest, thou shalt stay at home and keep
house, we others will go out and get food.” Then they went into the
forest and shot hares, wild deer, birds and pigeons, and whatsoever
there was to eat; this they took to Benjamin, who had to dress it for
them in order that they might appease their hunger. They lived together
ten years in the little hut, and the time did not appear long to them. The little daughter which their mother the Queen had given birth to,
was now grown up; she was good of heart, and fair of face, and had a
golden star on her forehead. Once, when it was the great washing, she
saw twelve men’s shirts among the things, and asked her mother, “To
whom do these twelve shirts belong, for they are far too small for
father?” Then the Queen answered with a heavy heart, “Dear child, these
belong to thy twelve brothers.” Said the maiden, “Where are my twelve
brothers, I have never yet heard of them?” She replied, “God knows
where they are, they are wandering about the world.” Then she took the
maiden and opened the chamber for her, and showed her the twelve
coffins with the shavings, and pillows for the head.