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THE TWELVE BROTHERS
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set free. They scattered the fire and trampled on the flames, and showered kisses and loving words upon their sister as they untied her from the stake.
And now that she might speak, she was able to tell the king why she had been dumb and had never laughed. And he was rejoiced when he heard her tale and knew that she was guiltless, and they all lived happily together for ever after.
But the wicked old mother-in-law was taken before the judge and tried, and he condemned her to be put in a vat of boiling oil, in which there were poisonous snakes, and so she died a miserable death.
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