Abandoned Women 289 310 1 The Twelve Huntsmen Grimms prince and princess fell in love he promised to marry her and sealed the promise with a kiss and ring he said he would first have to return to his own country and make peace with his dying father back at home he learned that his father had already arranged a marriage with him and another princess out of respect for the king he agreed and forgot the princess with the ring she waited and cried but nothing happened so she asked her father to disguise her and 11 of her ladies in waiting as huntsmen they went to the prince s castle and were installed as huntsmen of the court prince suspected they were women in disguise so he devised a plan to bring out the truth he put peas all over the floor guessing they would tiptoe around them but they heard about the plot and walked all over them seemingly not noticing them he was still suspicious so he placed the most advanced spinning wheels and weapons of war in the great hall thinking they would be attracted to the spinning wheels they heard of the trap and made their way to the great hall admiring the weapons and ignoring the spinning wheels he was hunting with the 12 satisfied at their being men when the wedding entourage appeared and the princess with the ring fainted he picked her up saw the ring and fell in love with her again he found the bride to be and her family and asked if a man loses the key to his treasure chest and has a new one made then finds the old one which should he use the guests said the old one would be preferable so he returned to the old princess and married her and them and the 11 ladies in waiting lived happily ever after 2 Sweetheart Roland Grimms mother who loved her real daughter and hated her stepdaughter who was prettier and better the real daughter was jealous of the stepdaughter s apron and the mother said she would get it to push the stepdaughter to the front of the bed at night and she would come in and chop off her head stepsister was in a corner and heard everything she let her get in bed first but when she fell asleep she pushed her to the front and the mother chopped off her own daughter s head the stepsister got up and ran to her sweetheart roland s house and told him she took her stepmother s wand and that they must run away they took the head and dribbed 3 drops of blood in front of the bed in the kitchen and on the steps next day the mother said for the daughter to come get the apron but she did not she asked where she was the drop of blood on the porch said on the porch I m sweeping she went there but no one was there the one in the kitchen said I m in the kitchen getting warm by the fire the third said in the bedroom I m sleeping the mother went in and saw her own daughter dead put on her boots and went to go catch the stepdaughter mother was a witch and could see far into the world the stepdaughter saw through the magic wand that they were being chased so she transformed into a lake and roland into a duck stepmother tried to attract the duck with bread but it did not come she went home empty handed the next day the witch went to find them again so the girl changed into a flower in the middle of a thorn bush and roland into a violin player she came by and asked if she could pick the flower he said of course and he would play for her while she did she started dancing while in the thorn bush and it pricked her all over and she died roland said he would go home to his father to arrange their wedding she turned herself into a stone to wait for him to return but he didn t so she turned herself into a flower hoping someone would trample her to death a shepherd found the flower and took it home and put it in his cabinet when he awoke the house work was done and fire was going food cooked he got scared and asked a wise woman about it she said it was magic and if he saw anything move in the morning to put a white cloth over it he did so and the enchantment on the girl was broken he wanted to marry her she said no she learned that roland was getting married to someone else everyone was supposed to sing a song at the wedding she went but did not want to sing finally she was compelled to sing he heard her and they got married 3 The Mastermaid Norway king who had many sons youngest was never happy at home and wanted to explore he came to a giant s house and got a place in the giant s service giant told the prince to clean out the stable but he would be free for the rest of the day but to do his job well and not to go into any of the rooms in the house besides the one he slept in prince disobeyed his master and went in the other rooms in the first room there was a pot boiling on a hook by the wall but no fire beneath it it seemed to turn his hair to copper when he put a lock in it in the next room was another pot hanging by a hook that was boiling with no fire beneath it he put another lock of hair in the pot and it turned to silver in the third room there was the same and it turned his hair gold in the fourth room was no pot but a princess sitting on a bench she told him that if he set to work on the stable like others ten forkfuls will come in for every one he throws out she told him to turn the pitchfork upside down and throw with the handle and everything will fly out by itself he sat there with her all day and they decided they wanted to get married then he went out to the stable and cleaned it as she had told him giant came home asked if he cleaned the stable he said yes the giant checked and said he must have been talking to the mastermaid next day he told the prince to bring in his horse from the pasture and then his work was done for the day telling him if he goes into the rooms he will rip his head off he went into the mastermaid s room and she told him that the horse would come at him with flaming nostrils so he should take the bit behind the door throw it into its mouth and it would …