The Three princes and their Beasts - Part One

Three Princes went deep into the forest during hunting. Once as they were hunting, they saw a Wolf with her three cubs. 

The three princes were about to pull out their bows and arrows to kill the wolf when the wolf spoke to them. "I shall each give you one of my cubs who will be loyal to you. Please do not kill me."

All the three princes agreed to it and they each got a wolf cub as their pet.

After that the princes met a fox, a hare, a bear, a boar and many more animals. All the Animals had three cubs with them and all of them offered one of their little ones to the three princes in exchange for not killing them. Soon the three princes had a sizable amount of beasts following them.

The three brothers had a step sister who was back in the castle. 

Before going back they saw some birch trees at the edge of the forest. 

Each of the brothers marked the birch tree with their arrow. They agreed that if anything happened to their mark on the tree it would be assumed that the brother was dead or needed help.

They went back to their own castle and there the three brothers asked their step sister which of the brothers she wanted to spend her time with. The step sister wanted to stay with the eldest brother. 

After that the two younger brothers went their way to find their own fortune and the eldest prince and the stepsister stayed together.

The eldest brother and the stepsister soon set out in the plains and they came across a huge castle. 

The castle was a base of many robbers.  

As the castle opened the beasts with the first prince attacked, all the robbers in the castle and killed them. Then the animals dumped the bodies of the robbers in the cellar and went their way. 

However, one of the robbers was only injured and he was not dead. He was also left in the cellar along with the other dead robbers, but nobody knew that he was still alive. 

The eldest Prince and the step sister decided to make this castle their own and live here.

The next day, the eldest prince and his beasts decided to go hunting. He told his step sister to go anywhere in the castle other than the cellar where the bodies of the robbers were dumped.

As soon as the eldest Prince went hunting, however, the step sister forgot the eldest prince's instruction. She went to the cellar. There she found the robber. 

"Do not be afraid!" The robber told the stepsister in a gentle voice. "I will not hurt you. Think about it. If you marry me, you will be happier with me than if you stay with your step brother."

At first the stepsister was not convinced. However slowly the robber convinced her to side with him. 

“First you must get me three bottles from the castle. The first shall cure my injuries. The second bottle shall make me well and the third bottle shall make me stronger than anyone else.” 

The step sister agreed to the robber’s words and got the thief the three bottles.

After that in the evening the robber and the stepsister made a plan to get rid of the eldest prince. "In the evening, get your strongest chord and bind your brother's hands behind his back. When he is not able to break the bind, you can call me from the cellar. Then I will take care of your stepbrother and then we can take over this castle."

That evening after the eldest prince came back from hunting the step sister did as she was asked to do. She convinced her stepbrother to bind himself in the back with a silk chord under the guise of wanting to test his strength.

However, the prince was easily able to break the chord. So the stepsister did not call the robber that evening.

The next day, the robber convinced the step sister to get a stronger chord. However, the prince was able to easily break the second chord as well. The third day the stepsister got the strongest chord she could and this time the prince could not break the chord.

"Free me from this step sister," the eldest Prince told the woman before him. "I am not able to break this bond."

Instead the stepsister called the robber from the cellar who burst into the room with a knife in his hands looking to kill the eldest prince.

Adapted from Lithuanian fairy tales