One day, the little brother held his sister’s hand and said, “Since our mother passed away, we haven’t had a single happy day. Our stepmother is so cruel to us. We don’t have enough to eat or wear, and she often kicks us. Let’s leave. The world outside is much bigger.”

So they left home, walked through meadows and fields, and came to a forest.

At that moment, they saw a stream, and the brother said, “Great! There’s water! I’m so thirsty.”

As he ran towards it to drink, a voice called out, “Don’t drink, or you’ll turn into a tiger!”

They looked up and saw an angel appear in the sky.

It turned out their stepmother was an evil witch, and when the siblings left, she cast spells on all the nearby streams. The kind angel couldn’t bear to see the siblings suffer, so she appeared to warn them.

The sister quickly said, “Brother, you can’t drink it! If you turn into a tiger, you’ll tear me apart!”

The brother listened to his sister and said, “I’ll drink from the next stream then.”

When they reached the second stream, the brother happily ran to drink, but the angel appeared again and said, “Don’t drink, or you’ll turn into a wolf!”

The sister quickly said, “Brother, don’t drink it! If you turn into a wolf, you’ll eat me up.”

The brother replied, “I won’t drink, but no matter what, I have to drink from the next stream, or I’ll die of thirst.”

When they reached the third stream, the angel appeared again and said, “Don’t drink, or you’ll turn into a fawn.”

The sister quickly said, “Brother, don’t drink it! If you turn into a fawn, you’ll run away from me.”

But the brother couldn’t hold back anymore and took a sip of the water.

As soon as his lips touched the water, he turned into a little fawn.

Seeing that her brother had indeed turned into a fawn, the sister hugged the fawn and began to cry, and the brother cried too.

After crying for a long time, the sister wiped away her tears and then wiped the little fawn’s tears as well.

She said, “Little fawn, don’t be sad. No matter what you turn into, you’re still my brother. I won’t abandon you.”

She braided a reed rope, tied it around the fawn, and led him deep into the forest.

After walking for a long time, they saw a house that was empty inside.

The sister said to the fawn, “From now on, this will be our home.”

During the day, she would pick wild fruits and grass—eating the fruits herself and feeding the grass to the fawn.

At night, she would sleep with her head resting on the fawn.

Their life was peaceful and happy, but the sister thought, ‘If only my brother could turn back into a human!’”

One day, the peaceful life was disrupted. A king came hunting in the area, and the sounds of people, horns, and barking dogs echoed through the forest.

The fawn became restless and said, “Sister, let me join the hunt! I can’t resist anymore.”

At first, the sister refused, saying, “They will catch and kill you.”

But the fawn insisted, “They won’t! I’m very fast.”

Unable to persuade him otherwise, the sister finally agreed, but she repeatedly warned him to be careful.

In the end, she said, “You must return home before dark. When you knock, say, ‘Sister, open the door!’ Remember, this is our secret code, so I will know it’s you and open the door.”

Before she could finish, the fawn happily ran out.

It dashed past the king, and when the king and his hunters saw this beautiful fawn, they quickly gave chase.

However, they couldn’t catch the nimble fawn—it escaped them several times.

At dusk, the fawn remembered his sister’s words, returned home, and knocked on the door with their secret code.

That night, the fawn slept soundly.

The next day, upon hearing the horn again, the fawn wanted to go out.

 Despite her worries, the sister had no choice but to agree.

When the king and his hunters spotted the fawn again, they began chasing it once more, but still couldn’t catch it due to its agility.

However, one hunter managed to shoot its leg, slowing the fawn down. The king and the hunters finally caught up to it.

At dusk, they saw the fawn arrive at a small house and say, “Sister, open the door!”

A young woman opened the door for the fawn, and it quickly entered before the door closed.

The king was astonished, not only because the fawn could speak, but also because the girl was incredibly beautiful.

He fell in love with her at first sight.

Meanwhile, the sister saw her brother was injured, and she was both scared and heartbroken.

 Trembling, she cleaned the fawn’s wound, applied herbs, and told him to sleep early so the wound would heal faster.

The wound was light, and with his sister’s careful care, the next day the fawn no longer felt any pain.

When he heard the sounds of hunting again, he wanted to run out.

His sister cried, saying, “If you get killed, I’ll be left all alone in this world. You can’t go…”

“Sister, if I don’t go, I’ll suffocate!”

Helpless, the sister had no choice but to let the fawn out again.

When the king saw the fawn this time, he said, “Follow it, but don’t hurt it!”

As the sun began to set, the king arrived at the house, knocked on the door, and said, “Sister, open the door!”

The sister thought her brother had returned and quickly opened the door, but instead of her brother, it was a young king wearing a crown.

The king gently asked, “Would you return to the castle with me and be my queen?”

The girl saw that the king was handsome and kind-hearted, and she liked him too, so she said, “Ah, I will, but I must take the fawn with me. We must always be together.”

The king immediately agreed.

So, the king took the girl and the fawn back to the castle.

Soon after, they held a grand wedding, and the girl became the queen.

The fawn lived happily in the castle.

However, the story didn’t end there. Their wicked stepmother, upon hearing that the siblings had not only survived but that the sister had become queen, was so furious she nearly fainted.

According to her plan, the sister should have been devoured by wild beasts, and the brother, turned into a fawn, should have been killed by hunters.

The stepmother had an ugly daughter with only one eye, who was also filled with jealousy. She angrily said, “I deserve to be queen!”

“I’ll make sure you become queen, but we must wait for the right moment…”

A year later, the queen gave birth to a baby prince.

One day, the stepmother found out that the king was away and thought her chance had come.

She and her daughter disguised themselves as servants and sneaked into the palace.

That night, they went to the queen’s room, and while it was late and everyone was asleep, they carried the weakened queen into the forest and trapped her under an invisible cover.

After finishing everything, the stepmother said, “I’ve trapped her under an invisible cover. No one, not even the king, will be able to see her! If the spell isn’t broken within three days, she’ll die and disappear from this world forever!”

Then she added darkly, “After that, we’ll find a way to kill the little prince and the fawn, so there will be no loose ends.”

The witch made her one-eyed daughter lie in the queen’s bed, pretending to be the queen.

Meanwhile, the real, unfortunate queen suddenly found herself in the forest and overheard their conversation, realizing it was the stepmother and her daughter who were behind everything.

When she heard they planned to harm her baby and the fawn, she became frantic and tried to run to them.

However, she found herself unable to move forward, as if there was an invisible wall surrounding her. It was then that she realized she was trapped in the invisible cover.

Just as she was panicking, the angel appeared again.

The queen pleaded, “Kind angel, please break the evil spell! They are going to hurt my baby and the fawn. I must save them.”

The angel sighed and said, “I cannot break the spell. Only the king can. If he can recognize that you are the true queen, the spell will be lifted. But it must happen within three days, or you will die.”

The queen, discouraged, said, “I am invisible now. The king cannot see me. How will he recognize me as the true queen? I’m so worried. I don’t even know how my baby is doing or how the fawn is.”

The angel sighed again and said, “Well, during the night, I can help you leave the invisible cover briefly. But remember, you only have half an hour.”

With a wave of her hand, the queen found herself outside the invisible cover. She thanked the angel and hurried to her baby prince’s room.

Finding no one inside, she gently pushed open the door and entered, whispering, “How is my baby? How is the fawn? I can only come twice more; after that, I won’t be able to return.”

She picked up her baby and rocked him to sleep before laying him gently back in his crib.

However, what she didn’t know was that the prince’s nurse had just returned and had seen everything through the window.

The nurse was terrified. Just moments ago, she had seen the queen lying in bed, and now she appeared here? And what did she mean by saying she wouldn’t be able to come back again?

The next morning, the nurse couldn’t wait to report this to the king.

The king grew suspicious because he had felt that the queen lying in bed lately was behaving strangely, almost like someone else, and she kept hiding her face from him.

So that night, the king hid in the baby prince’s room.

Sure enough, deep into the night, the queen appeared again.

She said, “How is my baby? How is my fawn? I can only come one more time, and after that, I will never be able to return.”

The king felt that this was the wife he knew, but he didn’t act just yet.

On the third night, the king stayed in the prince’s room again.

As expected, the queen came once more, saying, “How is my baby? How is my fawn? This is the last time I can come. After this, I won’t be able to return.”

At that moment, the king could no longer hold back. He rushed out and said, “You are my true wife, the real queen! The one lying in bed is a fake!”

At that very moment, the spell was broken.

The queen told the king how the stepmother had plotted to harm her and her brother, disguised herself as a servant, and trapped her under the invisible cover, while her daughter pretended to be the queen.

Enraged, the king immediately ordered the capture of the stepmother and her daughter, and they were sentenced to severe punishment.

The spell on the fawn was also lifted, and he returned to his human form.

From then on, the family lived happily together.

---

👉 Very Short Story

Once upon a time, a loving brother and sister shared a close bond. Sadly, their stepmother often beat and scolded them, so they decided to leave home and live peacefully and happily in a small, deserted cabin deep in the forest.

However, their wicked stepmother didn’t leave them alone. Being a witch, she cast a spell on the younger brother, turning him into a fawn.

Heartbroken, the sister held her brother and cried, saying, “No matter what you become, you will always be my brother, and I will never abandon you.”

One day, a king came hunting in the forest and, upon seeing the sister, fell in love with her at first sight. He brought both the sister and the little fawn back to his palace.

The sister became queen, and a year later, she gave birth to a little prince.

The fawn also lived happily in the palace.

When the wicked stepmother heard that her stepdaughter had become queen, she was consumed with jealousy. She brought her ugly daughter to the palace, where she used her magic to trap the queen in an invisible barrier, and then placed her own daughter in the queen’s bed to impersonate her.

She declared, “If no one breaks the curse within three days, she will die. Then I will kill the little prince and the fawn as well, leaving no obstacles in my path.”

The poor queen, trapped in the invisible barrier, overheard her stepmother’s plot to kill her child and her beloved fawn. Desperate to save them, she tried to escape but could not.

At that moment, an angel appeared and told the queen that if the king could recognize her as the true queen, the curse would be broken, and she would be freed from the invisible barrier.

The queen replied, “But I am trapped in this invisible barrier and the king cannot see me. How can he recognize me? My own life doesn’t matter, but I am deeply worried for my child and the fawn…”

The angel took pity on her and agreed to allow her to briefly leave the barrier each night for the next three days so she could see her child and the fawn.

The queen thanked the angel and hurried to see them as soon as she was free.

She went to her son’s room, held him close, and, with tears streaming down her face, said, “My child, are you well? And my little fawn, too? I can only come for two more nights, and then never again.”

The prince’s nurse returned just then and, astonished at the sight, thought, “But I just saw the queen lying in bed! How is she here, and what does she mean she can’t come anymore?”

The next morning, the nurse reported this strange occurrence to the king, who was already troubled by the queen’s recent change in behavior.

The queen, who usually took great care of her child and the fawn, suddenly became indifferent toward them and refused to be seen, as if she had turned into a different person.

That evening, the king hid himself in the prince’s room.

When night fell, the queen appeared again. Holding her child, she wept and said, “Are you well, my child? And the little fawn, too? I have only one more night, and then I can never return.”

At that moment, the king rushed forward and cried out, “You are the true queen! Only the real queen would show such love for her child and the fawn. The one lying in bed is an imposter!”

In that instant, the curse was broken.

The queen told the king all about how her stepmother had tormented her and her brother.

Furious, the king ordered that the stepmother and her daughter be captured and punished with the harshest sentence.

The fawn also transformed back into human form, and from that day on, they all lived together in happiness.