is that you again , Esben ? ' ` Ye -- e -- s ! ' ` Was it you that took my dove ? ' ` Ye -- e -- s ! ' ` Was it also you that took my boar ? ' ` Ye -- e -- s ! ' ` And it was you that made me kill my eleven daughters ? ' ` Ye -- e -- s ! ' ` And now you have taken my lamp , and drowned my twelfth daughter in the well ? ' ` Ye -- e -- s ! ' ` Are you coming back again ? ' ` That may be , ' said Esben . ` Then you 'll catch it , ' said the witch . It was only a minute before the stick had again landed Esben at the king 's palace , and the brothers were then freed from their distress . The king gave them many fine presents , but Esben did not get even so much as thanks from them . Never had Sir Red been so eaten up with envy as he was now , and he racked his brain day and night to find something quite impossible to demand from the brothers . One day he went to the king and told him that the lamp the brothers had procured was good enough , but they could still get for him something that was far better . The king asked what that was . ` It is , ' said Sir Red , ` the most beautiful coverlet that any mortal ever heard tell of . It also has the property that , when anyone touches it , it sounds so that it can be heard over eight kingdoms . '
` That must be a splendid coverlet , ' said the king , and he XXXXX once sent for the brothers .
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