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Once upon a time, a little brother and his little sister lived with their stepmother on the edge of a forest. The stepmother treated the children very badly.
One night, the brother and sister ran away from home. They ran deep into the forest and eventually came to a clearing by a small stream.
“Let’s sleep here tonight,” said the little brother. “Then we can figure out where to go tomorrow.”
They lay down to sleep in a hollow tree near the water’s edge.
But the stepmother was actually an evil witch. And when she discovered the children were gone, she cast a curse on all the streams in the forest.
When the children woke up the next morning, they were very thirsty. They walked over to the stream to drink.
Suddenly, they heard a voice whisper from the water:
“Beware! The water is cursed. If you drink it, you will be turned into deer!”
The little sister tried to stop her brother, but it was too late! He had already taken a sip and was transformed into a deer.
The sister was afraid, but she didn’t let it show.
“Don’t worry,” she said to her brother. “We’ll just live in the forest. I’ll take care of you.”
And so they lived happily for many years.
But one day, a hunter shot an arrow into the deer’s leg. The deer managed to limp home to his sister. The hunter, who was actually a prince, followed the deer. When he saw how lovingly the sister cared for the wounded deer, he immediately fell in love with her.
The sister married the prince, and she brought the deer with her to the castle, so he could live with them.
Many good years passed, and the sister and her deer-brother had almost forgotten about their evil stepmother.
But one day, the wicked witch found out where they lived. She snuck into the castle to cast a new curse on them…
Luckily, the prince’s guard dogs discovered her and chased her away, and in the confusion, she accidentally cast the curse on herself—and vanished!
Now that the witch was gone, the brother’s curse was lifted. He became human again, and the two siblings lived happily at the castle for the rest of their days.