"Brother and Sister.” The Juniper Tree, and other Tales from Grimm, Brothers Grimm, translated by Lore Segal, Randall Jarrell, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1973, pp. 42-54.

Tale Summary

After their mother died and their father was remarried to an evil woman, a brother and sister ran away to find a better life. When they woke up the next morning after a day’s travels, the boy was very thirsty and went with his sister to find a spring to drink from. The wicked stepmother had watched the children go and cursed every spring in the forest, and so when they reached one, the sister heard it murmur that whoever drank from it would turn into a tiger. She stopped her brother from drinking and waited until they found another stream, but she heard this one warn that whoever drank from it would turn into a wolf. The boy was so thirsty that he could not be stopped from drinking from the third stream, which the girl heard whisper would turn whoever drank from it into a deer. To their dismay, he immediately transformed into a young fawn. She gave it her golden garter for a collar and braided some reeds to make a rope and led the animal with her until, a long way into the forest, they found an empty hut. They lived here happily for some time, until the king of the land brought a hunting party nearby. The fawn longed to be a part of the hunt, and finally the sister gave in and let him out, and told her that he must be back by nightfall and that he must say “My sister, let me in” for her to unlock the door. So for two days he had fun with the king and his hunters trying to catch him, but on the evening of the second day he wounded his foot and limped back to the hut slowly enough that a huntsman was able to follow it and heard what he said at the door. The fawn healed quickly after his sister tended to his wound, and was back at it again in the morning. The king told his men to chase the deer until nightfall, but not to harm it. When the sun set, the huntsman showed the king to the hut and told him what to say for the girl to open the door. When the king saw her he thought she was very beautiful and asked her to marry him. She agreed and took the fawn to live in his palace, where they were happy for many years. The stepmother heard that the girl was now queen and became jealous, and wanted her own ugly daughter, who had one eye, to be queen instead. The queen gave birth to a little boy when the king was away hunting, and the evil woman took the opportunity to dress as a waiting woman. She drew a scalding hot bath and threw the queen in, killing her. She tucked her own daughter into bed and made her appear like the queen, so that when the king came home he could not tell the difference and thought she was sleeping. At midnight, when only an old nurse was awake, the true queen walked through the door and tended to her child before leaving silently. The nurse did not dare tell anyone, but it happened for many nights until one night the queen spoke and said “How is my child? How is my fawn? Now I come twice more, and never again”. The nurse went to the king and told him everything and the next night he kept watch and recognized his true wife, who said “How is my child? How is my fawn? Now I come once more, and never again”. He did not dare answer, and the next night she came again and said “How is my child? How is my fawn? Now I am here and never again”. He couldn’t contain himself and rushed to her, and she received her life again. After telling him the story of what had happened, the wrongdoers had their day in court and were sentenced. He had the wicked daughter thrown to the wild beasts in the forest and was torn to pieces, and the evil stepmother was burned to death. When she was dead the brother resumed his human form and they all lived happily together to the end of their lives.