The other one was stealing quietly to the door . ` Stop her ! called Tubby . ` We will judge her cause at once . ' And he seated himself solemnly on the oven , and condemned Titty to be burned alive . After which the lords and cooks formed themselves in lines , and Tubby betrothed Desire to Zizi . XVI The marriage took place a few days later . All the boys in the country side were there , armed with wooden swords , and decorated with epaulets made of gilt paper . Zizi obtained Titty 's pardon , and she was sent back to the brick-fields , followed and hooted at by all the boys . And this is why to-day the country boys always throw stones at a titmouse . On the evening of the wedding-day all the larders , cellars , cupboards and tables of the people , whether rich or poor , were loaded as if by enchantment with bread , wine , beer , cakes and tarts , roast larks , and even geese , so that Tubby could not complain any more that his son had married Famine . Since that time there has always been plenty to eat in that country , and since that time , too , you see in the midst of the fair-haired blue-eyed women of Flanders a few beautiful girls , whose eyes are black and whose skins are the colour of gold . They are the descendants of Zizi . -LRB- 21 -RRB- -LRB- 21 -RRB- Charles Deulin , Contes du Roi Gambrinus . THE TWELVE BROTHERS THERE were once upon a time a King and a Queen who lived happily together , and they had twelve children , all of whom were boys . One day the King said to his wife : ` If our thirteenth child is a girl , all her twelve brothers must die , so that she may be very rich and the kingdom hers alone . ' Then he ordered twelve coffins to be made , and filled them with shavings , and placed a little pillow in each . These he put away in an empty room , and , giving the key to his wife , he bade her tell no one of it . The Queen grieved over the sad fate of her sons and refused to be comforted , so much so that the youngest boy , who was always with her , and whom she had christened Benjamin , said to her one day : ` Dear mother , why are you so sad ? ' ` My child , ' she answered , ' I may not tell you the reason . '
But he left her no peace , till she went and unlocked the room and showed him the twelve coffins filled with shavings , and XXXXX the little pillow laid in each .
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