On these she laid the shirts for her brothers all completed but that for
the youngest, which lacked its left sleeve; she had not had time to
finish it. And as soon as ever she had done that, they heard a flapping
and whirring in the air, and down came twelve wild ducks from over the
forest, and each snapped up his shirt in his bill and flew off with it.

"See now!" said the old woman to the King, "wasn't I right when I told
you she was a witch! Make haste and burn her before the pile burns low."

"Oh!" said the King, "we've wood enough and to spare, and so I'll wait a
bit, for I have a mind to see what the end of this will be."

As he spoke up came the twelve Princes riding along, as handsome
well-grown lads as you'd wish to see; but the youngest Prince had a wild
duck's wing instead of his left arm. "What's all this about?" asked the
Princes.

"My Queen is to be burnt," said the King, "because she is a witch, so
the people say, and I can't save her."

"Speak now, sister," said the Princes, "you have set us free and saved
us, now save yourself."

Then the young Queen spoke and told the whole story, and the King and
all the people listened with wonder and joy. Only the wicked old woman
stood trembling with fear. And when the Queen had finished her story,
the people took the old witch and bound her and burned her on the pile.

But the King took his wife and the twelve Princes and went home with