By-and-by they all grew into men , and one day they told their father it was high time he found wives for them . ' I have a brother , ' he answered , ` who lives away in the East , and he has twelve daughters ; go and marry them . ' So the twelve sons saddled their horses and rode for twelve days , till they met an old woman . ` Good greeting to you , young men ! ' said she , ` we have waited long for you , your uncle and I . The girls have become women , and are sought , in marriage by many , but I knew you would come one day , and I have kept them for you . Follow me into my house . ' And the twelve brothers followed her gladly , and their father 's brother stood at the door , and gave them meat and drink . But at night , when every one was asleep , Halfman crept softly to his brothers , and said to them , ` Listen , all of you ! This man is no uncle of ours , but an ogre . ' ` Nonsense ; of course he is our uncle , ' answered they . ` Well , this very night you will see ! ' said Halfman . And he did not go to bed , but hid himself and watched . Now in a little while he saw the wife of the ogre steal into the room on tiptoe and spread a red cloth over the brothers and then go and cover her daughters with a white cloth . After that she lay down and was soon snoring loudly . When Halfman was quite sure she was sound asleep , he took the red cloth from his brothers and put it on the girls , and laid their white cloth over his brothers . Next he drew their scarlet caps from their heads and exchanged them for the veils which the ogre 's daughters were wearing . This was hardly done when he heard steps coming along the floor , so he hid himself quickly in the folds of a curtain . There was only half of him !
The ogress came slowly and gently along , stretching out her hands before her , so that she might not fall against anything unawares , for she had only a tiny lantern slung XXXXX her waist , which did not give much light .
So at for in into of on over while with