AV��ʪ

Tale Summary

There is a family with 12 brothers, 11 who are strong and able and the youngest, a small but smart. One day the 11 oldest wish to make their fortune in the world, and so they ask for a white horse and gold from their aging father and take off. Esben, the youngest, also asks for the same but is denied. He takes off into the forest, finds a white branch and whittles it till it is whiter than the horses and flies off on that after his brothers. The brothers come across an old hag with 12 beautiful daughters who offer them a place to stay. Sneaking into the house at night, Esben wakes all his brothers and tell them to switch their nightcaps for the daughters' nightcaps. Later, the old hag comes with an axe and with little light to see by, chops off the heads that are adorned with the masculine nightcaps. These heads, however, belong to the old hag's daughters. The brothers, seeing these deaths, escape from the witch.

They continue to the king's palace where they all get work as stable boys. A knight named Sir Red feels offended by the brothers and so goes to the king saying that he overheard them talking about a precious dove with feathers of gold and silver. The king brings forth the brothers and bade them to bring the dove to him or they'll lose their heads. Esben comes by when they are all mourning their heads and says he will fix their problem if they only give him some peas. Esben takes those peas to the old hag's home where the dove is and sprinkles the peas on the ground thereby catching the dove and flying off on his white branch. The knight then tells the king that the brothers can procure a boar with gold and silver bristles. The brothers are then commanded to bring the boar or lose their heads. Esben comes by and asks for malt, which he then uses to lure the boar and flies off. Each time he flies off, the witch asks him if it was him that stole the dove, and then the boar, and made her kill her 11 daughters. He says yes and she replies that she'll get him. Next, the brothers have to get the lamp that never burns out from the same old hag. Esben asks for a bushel of salt and sneaks into the house through the chimney. He puts all the salt in the porridge one of the daughters of the hag is making thereby ruining it. She takes the lamp to fetch more water from the well where Esben takes the lamp from her and pushes her down the well, where she drowns. The hag comes running and asks if it was Esben that took the dove and the boar and made her kill 11 daughters and now took her lamp and drowned her 12th daughter. Esben says yes and flies off.

Finally, the brothers are commanded to bring the king a very special coverlet from the witch. Esben sneaks inside the old hag's house but is discovered. The old hag puts Esben in a little dark hole and feeds him sweetmeats and candied nuts to fatten him to be roasted. However, the 13th daughter likes him and doesn't want to eat him. When the hag asks for a finger to test how fat he is, Esben asks the daughter to give her a nail wrapped in skin. The hag thinks he is skin and bones and continues feeding him. By this time the 13th daughter has lost all but one tooth from cracking nuts. The hag asks for a finger again and the daughter gives her a cow’s udder on orders from Esben. The hag has no time to deal with Esben because she has to go to witch church, so she asks her daughter to roast him. The daughter gets the oven spade and asks Esben to sit on it which is does. However, he splays his legs in such a way that the daughter cannot put him into the oven. He asks her to demonstrate how he must sit and when the final daughter sits on the spade, he puts her in the oven to be roasted. He then steals the coverlet and flies off but not before the hag comes shouting if he stole her bird and boar and lamp and drowned one daughter, made her chop off the heads of 11 daughters, and now roasted her final daughter. Esben says y-e-e-s and says he will not be back again and flies off on his branch. The hag becomes so furious she bursts into all the little flint pieces in the country. Esben brings the coverlet to the king who was about to execute the brothers and tells of the knight's deceit, who hangs for his crimes. Esben and the brothers are rewarded handsomely and return home very rich where the brothers tell of all the good things Esben did and he was ignored no longer.

��