Brother and Sister

Brother and Sister

Once upon a time, there lived a brother and sister who loved one another very much, though life at home was difficult. Their stepmother had a dark temper, was often angry, and knew how to use magic.

One morning, the brother said quietly:

“Let’s leave this place. Somewhere in the world there must be a home where no one scolds us for every little thing.”

His sister took his hand.

“Then we’ll go together. I won’t leave you.”

They set out before dawn and entered the forest. It rained during the day, and by evening it had grown cold. The children sheltered beneath a great oak and fell asleep leaning against each other.

When the stepmother woke and discovered that they had run away, she guessed where they had gone. She took her magic wand and enchanted every spring in the forest.

The next morning, the brother woke terribly thirsty.

“I want a drink so badly,” he said.

Before long, they heard a stream murmuring.

The boy was already bending toward the water when his sister thought she heard a voice whispering in the splashes:

“Whoever drinks this water will turn into a tiger.”

“Don’t drink!” she cried. “I hear magic in the water. You may turn into a wild tiger.”

The brother stepped away, though his thirst grew worse and worse.

They went on and found a second stream. Its water was perfectly clear.

But once again, the sister heard a whisper:

“Whoever drinks this water will turn into a wolf.”

“Please hold on a little longer,” she begged. “I don’t want to lose you.”

Her brother nodded and kept walking.

At last, they came to a third spring. It bubbled between little stones, and the water sparkled in the sunlight.

The sister listened and went pale.

“Whoever drinks this water will turn into a young deer.”

“Brother, wait!”

But the boy was too thirsty. He dropped to the spring and drank several mouthfuls.

At once, he became a little golden deer.

His sister burst into tears, and the deer pressed close to her knees.

“Don’t be afraid,” she said through her tears. “You are still my brother. I will take care of you.”

She removed her golden belt and gently fastened it around the little deer’s neck. Then she braided a long cord from soft grass so they would not lose each other in the thickets.

They wandered for a long time until they found an abandoned cottage. Inside were a table, a bench, and a small bed.

“We’ll live here,” the sister decided.

Every morning, she gathered berries, nuts, and herbs. The little deer ran beside her, and in the evenings they returned to the cottage. A long time passed this way.

One day, hunting horns sounded through the forest.

The little deer pricked up his ears.

“You want to see what’s happening, don’t you?” his sister asked.

The deer jumped excitedly.

“All right,” she said. “But come back before evening. Knock and say, ‘Sister, let me in.’ Then I’ll open the door.”

The little deer ran into the woods.

The hunters spotted him, but he was so swift that no one could catch him. In the evening, the brother returned.

“Sister, let me in!”

The door opened at once.

The following day, the king hunted in the same forest again. He gave an order:

“Do not harm the golden deer. Simply follow him and see where he goes.”

One hunter followed him all the way to the cottage and heard the secret words at the door.

The next morning, when the deer ran out again, the king himself came to the cottage. He approached the door and said:

“Sister, let me in.”

The girl opened the door and was astonished to see a stranger.

The king honestly explained who he was and how he had found her.

They talked for a long time. He admired her kindness and courage, and she appreciated that the king had forbidden his hunters to hurt the little deer.

In time, the king asked her to become his wife.

“I will agree on one condition,” said the sister. “My little deer must live with me, and no one may ever harm him.”

“I promise,” replied the king.

And so the girl became queen, while the little deer made his home in the royal garden. He wandered among the roses, ate apples from his sister’s hand, and came running to greet her every morning.

In time, the king and queen had a child.

But the old stepmother learned where the children were living. She became furious when she heard that the sister had become queen and the brother was living happily beside her.

Together with her own daughter, she came to the palace in disguise and prepared a deception.

While the king was away, the stepmother entered the queen’s rooms and cast her into a deep enchanted sleep. Then she hid her in a quiet chamber of an old tower, where the spell prevented her from waking during the day.

The stepmother dressed her own daughter in royal clothes and ordered her to pretend she was the lady of the palace.

But the deception was imperfect. The false queen did not know how to soothe the baby. She did not know where the sister kept her favorite ribbon. Most of all, she was afraid of the golden deer, who immediately sensed that this was not his sister.

At night, the magic weakened.

The true queen woke in the tower and, as though walking through a dream, found her way to the nursery. She took her baby in her arms, rocked the child gently, then stroked the little deer’s head before returning to the tower before dawn.

One night, the old nurse saw her and was astonished.

The following night, the queen came again.

“How is my child?” she whispered. “How is my little deer?”

The nurse told the king about the mysterious nighttime visits.

When he returned, he decided not to raise an alarm. Instead, he waited beside the nursery himself.

At midnight, the door quietly opened.

The true queen entered.

“It’s you!” cried the king.

He took her hand. At that very instant, the stepmother’s spell shattered like ice crystals in the sunlight. The queen awoke completely and told him everything she remembered.

The stepmother and her daughter were exposed. They were banished from the kingdom and forbidden ever to return to the palace.

And when the final lie had been spoken aloud and the last spell had lost its power, the golden deer suddenly stopped in the middle of the garden.

A soft light flared around him.

A moment later, the queen’s brother stood before her, just as he had been before drinking from the enchanted spring.

His sister threw her arms around his neck.

“I told you I would never leave you.”

“And I knew that one day I would become myself again,” he said with a smile.

From then on, the brother lived in the palace near his sister. He often walked through the same garden where he had once run as a deer, and he never forgot the three forest streams.

And the sister taught her son a simple rule: if you truly love someone, protect them not only when everything is easy. The most precious kind of loyalty is the one that does not disappear even when the whole world changes beyond recognition.

And the sister taught her son a simple rule: if you truly love someone, protect them not only when everything is easy. The most precious kind of loyalty is the one that does not disappear even when the whole world changes beyond recognition.