One day, therefore, he went to the king, and said that the eleven brothers who had come to the palace a little while ago, and served as stablemen, could do a great deal more than they pretended. One day he had heard them say that if they liked they could get for the king a wonderful dove which had a feather of gold and a feather of silver time about. But they would not procure it unless they were threatened with death. The king then had the eleven brothers called before him, and said to them, ‘You have said that you can get me a dove which has feathers of gold and silver time about.’ All the eleven assured him that they had never said anything of the kind, and they did not believe that such a dove existed in the whole world. ‘Take your own mind of it,’ said the king; ‘but if you don’t get that dove within three days you shall lose your heads, the whole lot of you.’ With that the king let them go, and there was great grief among them; some wept and others lamented. At that moment Esben came along, and, seeing their sorrowful looks, said to them, ‘Hello, what’s the matter with you?’ ‘What good would it do to tell you, you little fool? You can’t help us.’ ‘Oh, you don’t know that,’ answered Esben. ‘I have helped you before.’ In the end they told him how unreasonable the king was, and how he had ordered them to get for him a dove with feathers of gold and silver time about. ‘Give me a bag of peas’ said Esben, ‘and I shall see what I can do for you.’ Esben got his bag of peas; then he took his white stick, and said, Fly quick, my little stick, Carry me across the stream. Straightway the stick carried him across the river and straight into the old witch’s courtyard. Esben had noticed that she had such a dove; so when he arrived in the courtyard he shook the peas out of the bag, and the dove came fluttering down to pick them up. Esben caught it at once, put it into the bag, and hurried off before the witch caught sight of him; but the next moment she came running, and shouted after him, ‘ I Hey is that you, Esben.?’ ‘Ye--e--s!’ ‘Is it you that has taken my dove?’ ‘Ye--e--s!’ ‘Was it you that made me kill my eleven daughters?’ ‘Ye--e--s!’ ‘Are you coming back again?’ ‘That may be,’ said Esben. ‘Then you’ll catch it,’ shouted the witch. The stick carried Esben with the dove back to the king’s palace, and his brothers were greatly delighted. The king thanked them many times for the dove, and gave them in return both silver and gold. At this Sir Red became still more embittered, and again thought of how to avenge himself on the brothers. One day he went to the king and told him that the dove was by no means the best thing that the brothers could get for him; for one day he had heard them talking quietly among themselves, and they had said that they could procure a boar whose bristles were of gold and silver time about.