greed
that any girl we met should die at our hands, because it was for the
sake of a girl that we had to leave our kingdom.'

'But,' she replied, 'I will gladly die if by that means I can restore my
twelve brothers to their own.'

'No,' he answered, 'there is no need for that; only go and hide under
that tub till our eleven brothers come in, and I'll soon make matters
right with them.'

She did as she was bid, and soon the others came home from the chase and
sat down to supper.

'Well, Benjamin, what's the news?' they asked. But he replied, 'I like
that; have you nothing to tell me?'

'No,' they answered.

Then he said: 'Well, now, you've been out in the wood all the day and
I've stayed quietly at home, and all the same I know more than you do.'

'Then tell us,' they cried.

But he answered: 'Only on condition that you promise faithfully that the
first girl we meet shall not be killed.'

'She shall be spared,' they promised, 'only tell us the news.'

Then Benjamin said: 'Our sister is here!' and he lifted up the tub and
the Princess stepped forward, with her royal robes and with the golden
star on her forehead, looking so lovely and sweet and charming that they
all fell in love with her on the spot.

They arranged that she should stay at home with Benjamin and help him
in the house work, while the rest of the brothers went out into the wood
and shot hares and roe-deer, birds and wood-pigeons. And Benjamin and
his sister cooked their meals for them. She gathered herbs to cook the
vegetables in, fetched the wood, and watched the pots on the fire, and
always when her eleven brothers returned she had their supper ready for
them. Besides this, she kept the house in order, tidied all the rooms,
and made herself so generally useful that her brothers were delighted,
and they all lived happily together.

One day the two at home prepared a fine feast, and when they were all
assembled they sat down and ate and drank and made merry.

Now there was a little garden round the enchanted house, in which grew
twelve tall lilies. The girl, wishing to please her brothers, plucked
the twelve flowers, meaning to present one to each of them as they sat
at supper. But hardly had she plucked the flowers when her brothers
were turned into twelve ravens, who flew croaking over the wood, and the
house and garden vanished also.

So the poor girl found herself left all alone in the wood, and as she
looked round her she noticed an o