Reading Notes: Grimm (LibriVox) Part B

In the second part of this unit's readings, I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the twelve huntsmen. In this story there lived a prince and his father, the king. The prince was happily married to a bride when he caught news of his fathers illness. He told the bride that when he was named king he would come back to her and left on horseback. When the prince arrived at the palace, the king was near death and his last dying wish was for the prince to marry a handpicked maiden. Not knowing what he was saying, the prince agreed and the father died. The prince, now named king, married to a new queen. The true bride caught news of this and ordered her father to bring her maidens that looked like her and eleven of them. He found them all around and brought them to the true bride to be clothed like a huntsmen. They were then sent away to the king whom accepted them with open arms. The king had a lion, however, and this lion warned the king that these were not men, but instead women. The king put them to the test multiple times including having them walk on peas and look at spinning-wheels. The huntsmen had an ally on their side who was a servant of the king. He informed them of these challenged and thus they all passed. One day the king was informed that his queen would be arriving shortly. This made the true bride faint and fall to the ground. The king went to her and took off her gloves. Then he realized that this was his former bride who he married before his father died. When she woke, he told her that she was the only one he loved and informed the queen that she was no longer needed. In my story I would take it a bit further and have the ex-queen become jealous and exact her revenge of the kingdom in some form or another.

Grimm (LibriVox) by Brothers Grimm, link to online reading

(The King and his Lion, Source: Twelve Huntsmen)