As he could get no other horse , he went into the forest , broke off a branch , stripped the bark off it , so that it became still whiter than his brothers ' horses , and , mounted on this . rode off after his eleven brothers . The brothers rode on the whole day , and towards evening they came to a great forest , which they entered . Far within the wood they came to a little house , and knocked at the door . There came an old , ugly , bearded hag , and opened it , and they asked her whether all of them could get quarters for the night . ` Yes , ' said the old , bearded hag , ` you shall all have quarters for the night , and , in addition , each of you shall have one of my daughters . ' The eleven brothers thought that they had come to very hospitable people . They were well attended to , and when they went to bed , each of them got one of the hag 's daughters . Esben had been coming along behind them , and had followed the same way , and had also found the same house in the forest . He slipped into this , without either the witch or her daughters noticing him , and hid himself under one of the beds . A little before midnight he crept quietly out and wakened his brothers . He told these to change night-caps with the witch 's daughters . The brothers saw no reason for this , but , to get rid of Esben 's persistence , they made the exchange , and slept soundly again . When midnight came Esben heard the old witch come creeping along . She had a broad-bladed axe in her hand , and went over all the eleven beds . It was so dark that she could not see a hand 's breadth before her , but she felt her way , and hacked the heads off all the sleepers who had the men 's night-caps on -- and these were her own daughters . As soon as she had gone her way Esben wakened his brothers , and they hastily took their horses and rode off from the witch 's house , glad that they had escaped so well . They quite forgot to thank Esben for what he had done for them . When they had ridden onwards for some time they reached a king 's palace , and inquired there whether they could be taken into service . Quite easily , they were told , if they would be stablemen , otherwise the king had no use for them .
They were quite ready for this , and XXXXX the task of looking after all the king 's horses .
change entered felt get got made mounted said see told