The Twelve Brothers

The Twelve Brothers
Illustration by Henry Justice Ford.
Folk tale
NameThe Twelve Brothers
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 451
CountryGermany
Published inGrimm's Fairy Tales

"The Twelve Brothers" (German: Die zwölf Brüder) is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in Grimm's Fairy Tales (KHM 9). Andrew Lang included it in The Red Fairy Book.

It is of Aarne-Thompson type 451 ("The Maiden Who Seeks Her Brothers"), which is commonly found throughout Europe. Other variants of the Aarne-Thompson type include The Six Swans, The Twelve Wild Ducks, Udea and her Seven Brothers, The Wild Swans, and The Seven Ravens.