The #German# ballad is: #A.# 'Graf Hans von Holstein und seine Schwester Annchristine,' Müllenhoff, p. 492, No 48. #B.# 'Der grobe Bruder,' Wunderhorn, II, 272, 1808, Birlinger und Crecelius, II, 24. #C.# 'Der grausame Bruder,' Parisius, p. 38, No 12, A. #D.# 'Das Lied vom Pfalzgrafen,' Düntzer und Herder, Briefe Goethe's an Herder, I, 154. #E.# 'Der grausame Bruder,' Erk, Liederhort, p. 153, No 45. #F.# 'Christinchen,' Pröhle, p. 4, No 2. #G.# Wunderhorn, Birlinger und Crecelius, II, 247, No 4. #H.# Parisius, No 12, C. #I.# Reifferscheid, p. 107. #J.# 'Der böse Bruder,' Zuccalmaglio, p. 185, No 89. #K.# 'Der Pfalzgraf vom Rhein,' Wunderhorn, I, 259, 1806, Birlinger und Crecelius, II, 24. #L.# 'Der grausame Bruder,' Hoffmann und Richter, Schlesische Volkslieder, p. 49, No 27. #M.# Parisius, No 12, B. A version in broadside style, Erlach, II, 585, Doenniges, p. 217; compounded copies, Simrock, No 16, Scherer, Jungbrunnen, No 35, A. According to the Scandinavian story, a king is informed by his queen, her inexorable enemy, that Kirstin, his sister, has just borne a child. The king sends for Kirstin, who is at some distance, to come to him immediately. She is obliged to make the journey on horseback. Upon her arrival the king puts her to a variety of tests, among these a long dance. Kirstin comes off so well that her brother says the queen has belied her. The queen then bares Kirstin's breast and makes milk flow from it. The king hereupon sends for heavy whips, and flogs his sister to the point of death. In the Icelandic and Färöe versions Kirstin dies of the dance, in her brother's arms. In the Swedish versions and in Danish #I# the king is Kirstin's father, not her brother. The Norwegian versions and Swedish #F#, #H# have a false conclusion: Kirstin survives, and is united to her lover. In Danish #A# the king had, before he learned the state of things, promised his sister to the son of the King of England, and in Danish #F#, #H#, #I#, Swedish #F#, and the Färöe ballad, Kirstin's lover is an English prince, who, in Danish #H#, comes to claim his mistress, and, finding her dead, kills the king. In Swedish #A# Kirstin dances with four, dances with five, dances with all the men of the court, and in Swedish #C#, #H# she tires out successively all the courtiers, the king, and the queen.