2nd Kindergarten of Paiania

Digital tales from our country!

The twelve brothers who became birds

2014-2015

Once upon a time there was a king and had

thirteen children: twelve boys and a girl.

His queen died and the king married a bad

woman,who had no love for his children, and was
a witch.
Meanwhile war emerged and the king went far
away.

Then the witch stepmother covered the

daughter with tar daughter and sent her away
from the palace.

The princess walked for days until she found a

rill with crystal-clear water. She washed her face
there and got tar off her body.After that she
became more beautiful than she was before.
Then,the poor girl began to walk alone again,all
day and night.
After a while she found an old man who grazed
his lambs and said to him:

Dear sir, can I come with you? I am all alone in

the world and I am an orphan.
- Gladly, my daughter, you may join me. What I
am to eat will be your food too.
And so the princess lived in the hut of the old
man.

One day the old man said to her:

- Nearby, my daughter, every night a strange
thing happens, near the river. Twelve birds
descend on earth and when they touch the
ground,they turn to humans,oh lord!

When the girl heard that,became deeply

troubled and thought: "The twelve birds must be t
my brothers and that witch,devilsh woman must
have put a spell on them".
Then she said to the old man:
- At night I will come with you to see the twelve
birds myself.
When the evening came she followed the old
man and after a while she noticed 12 birds coming
down from the dark sky.

Once they stepped on earth, they instantly

turned into humans ... They were her brothers.
She immediately recognized them and her
brothers did too. They hugged and kissed each
other and then cried. But her brothers didnt want
to leave her in this place and took her to an old big
house. They stayed there all night and when the
morning came they became birds again and flew
into the sky.

One day the girl went out to gather herbs ,she

needed to make dinner for her brothers, because
every evening they went to this old house and sat
all night with their sister.

As she was gathering herbs, she heard a voice:

- A human soul is not to be seen here. Nobody
remembers me.
It was and old woman sitting on a rock. The
princess said to her:

- What do you want, old lady? Are you gathering

herbs too? Give me your basket and I will fill it
with the best I have.
The old woman was pleased with the good heart
of the girl and said:
- My poor,poor girl! What terrible things you will
have to go through! But dont show any fear,
because you will make it.
When the girl heard those words,she became
surprised.

- Do not be surprised, my dear princess, because

I know everything that happens in your heart. I am
aware of the spell that your stepmother cast on
your brothers. To turn them into humans again
you will do as I say: you will go out in the very
morning with the moon still up there and you will
collect weeds.With them you will knit twelve
costumes will webs, without talking.They will talk
to you, but you will not answer. And when you
have your costumes,you will put it on the birds
and they will immediately become humans. This is
what you have to do.

The princess did as the old lady told her. All night
she was gathering weeds and all day she was
knitting without talking. Her bird brothers ,that at
night turned into humans, talked to her every
evening but not a single word was to be said from
her. They were asking and she wasnt answering.
They spent every night next to their sister and
every morning they flew into the sky crying a sad
song.

One day a young prince went out to hunt. As

he walked with his dog he stopped outside the old
house. The dog walked into the house and then
came out waving his tail and barking and it got
inside again.

The prince was puzzled. He thought, something

must be going on here because the dog acted this
way.So he went inside the old house and saw a
gorgeous girl knitting some weeds.He talked to her
but he got no response.

The prince thought she was mute and could not

speak. So he ordered the people who had
accompanied him to his hunt to get her onto his
horse and to go to the palace.

So it happened. They took her to the palace.

The next day,the prince went to his father and

said:
- Father, I loved a girl, she is mute and cannot
speak, but I loved her and will make her my wife.

The king said to him:

- As long asyou love her,you may marry her.
So they gave the girl in a chamber with a bunch
of maids to serve her, but it all she kept doing was
knitting without stopping..

However when she finished the eleven costumes,

she ran out of the weeds she used to make them .
Then in the early morning she went out in the
palace courtyard and cut the weeds she needed
for the last costume

The kings people saw her there and went to the

king and said to him:
- Our long lasting King , this girl that our prince
wants to marry, is a witch and will cast her sorcery
on all of us here; she gets out at night and collects
herbs under the moon. Be careful, our king, not to
het harmed from her.
And the king said:
- I will secretly watch her and we will see.

Indeed at night he did as he said . The girl was

about to finish the last costume, when she ran
out of weed again; she went out again to collect
it,and when the king saw her he gave ,without
wasting his time,the order to immediately
imprison her.He had the intention to get her killed
afterwards.

The only thing that the girl continued to care

about was finishing her costumes,even while in
prison.
So the day that they planned to kill her came!

Her brothers,the birds, heard the news and flew

to the window of her prison room and cried
desperately.

When she finished the last costume however,

she throwed each one of twelve costumes on
each bird and they instantly became humans.
So they took their sister to the palace to tell her
story.They all cried from the tortures the beautiful
princess had to suffer. They welcomed the twelve
brothers to the palace and they were all fine,
especially the prince, and prepations for the
wedding were running.

The king invited to the wedding all the kings from

the nearby kingdoms,he also invited and father of
the princess, who in the meantime returned from
the war and was sad,having lost his thirteen
children. His wife,the witch, when he got back
from the war, told him that a terrible sickness
found his children and they all died.

The king sent a message to the other king,

marrying his son, and said:

- I will not come to the wedding. I cannot be

present at such a cheerful circumstance, since I
lost all thirteen my children.My only wish is to die.
But they kept inviting him again and again.His
witch wife who wanted such pleasures persuaded
into it and so they decided to go to the wedding.

When the stepmother saw the princess and her

twelve brothers she recognized all of them and
wanted to go away as soon as possible,but the
princess didnt allowed her to and said:

- Nobody will leave until he gets treated

properly and tells us a story of his own.
The twelve brothers were treated as the princess
wanted and told them their story.Once their
father heard it,he immediately recognized his
children!
After a while the stepmothers turn came to tell
her story, but what could she dare to say?
Her husband then ordered to catch her and
throw her out of the palace.

And all the kings who had gathered, suggested to

burn her alive and so it happened.

The princess lived a happy life in the palace with

her husband and her brothers. And so they lived
happily ever after.