et us take up our abode, and you, Benjamin, you are
the youngest and weakest, you shall stay at home and keep house for us;
we others will go out and fetch food.' So they went forth into the wood,
and shot hares and roe-deer, birds and wood-pigeons, and any other game
they came across. They always brought their spoils home to Benjamin, who
soon learnt to make them into dainty dishes. So they lived for ten years
in this little house, and the time slipped merrily away.

In the meantime their little sister at home was growing up quickly.
She was kind-hearted and of a fair countenance, and she had a gold star
right in the middle of her forehead. One day a big washing was going
on at the palace, and the girl looking down from her window saw twelve
men's shirts hanging up to dry, and asked her mother:

'Who in the world do these shirts belong to? Surely they are far too
small for my father?'

And the Queen answered sadly: 'Dear child, they belong to your twelve
brothers.'

'But where are my twelve brothers?' said the girl. 'I have never even
heard of them.'

'Heaven alone knows in what part of the wide world they are wandering,'
replied her mother.

Then she took the girl and opened the locked-up room; she showed her the
twelve coffins filled with shavings, and with the little pillow laid in
each.

'These coffins,' she said, 'were intended for your brothers, but they
stole secretly away before you were born.'

Then she to tell her all that had happened, and when she had finished
her daughter said:

'Do not cry, dearest mother; I will go and seek my brothers till I find
them.'

So she took the twelve shirts and went on straight into the middle of
the big wood. She walked all day long, and came in the evening to the
little enchanted house. She stepped in and found a youth who, marvelling
at her beauty, at the royal robes she wore, and at the golden star on
her forehead, asked her where she came from and whither she was going.

'I am a Princess,' she answered, 'and am seeking for my twelve brothers.
I mean to wander as far as the blue sky stretches over the earth till I
find them.'

Then she showed him the twelve shirts which she had taken with her, and
Benjamin saw that it must be his sister, and said:

'I am Benjamin, your youngest brother.'

So they wept for joy, and kissed and hugged each other again and again.
After a time Benjamin said:

'Dear sister, there is still a little difficulty, for we had all a