Like many other fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, this one starts with a conflict between an evil stepmother and children. In this case, the brother and sister left their home and went into the woods hoping to find a better life.
Only a day after their department problems already look even bigger. Their stepmother was not only evil, she was a witch too. She knew where the children were and put spells on all brooks in the wood. The kids were thirsty, of course, but drinking from any brook would turn them into beasts.
Fortunately, the girl had some special powers too and heard whispering of the brooks. When her brother tried to drink she stopped him. The brooke was warning them not to drink if they didn't want to turn into tigers.
The second brooke threatened to turn them into wolves if they drank from it. Sistet stopped the boy again.
But the third time he couldn't resist drinking from the cursed brooke and turned into a deer. He kept only a golden chain around his neck.
So the girl stayed in the woods with a deer. They found a cottage to live in and somehow managed to survive among the forest beasts.
Yet once again humans proved to be their greatest threat.
A king loved to hunt in the very same forest and once he noticed a deer with a golden chain. He was curious and decided to catch the animal. It wasn't an easy task but after a while, the king wounded the deer.
By following the animal he found a girl, he fell in love and they married. The deer came with them and lived in the castle. For a while everybody was happy. The young queen had already given birth to a baby boy when the evil stepmother came back into the picture.
The witch had a daughter on her own and wanted to put her in the position of the young queen. So they disguised themselves and came to the castle where they killed the queen and the witch's daughter with the help of some magic replaced the queen.
King didn't mind but the dead queen visited her son at night as a ghost and the king eventually learned what happened.
He embraced the ghost and his real wife came back to life.
The evil stepmother was burned at the stake and her daughter was expelled into the woods. When the witch died, her spell on the deer lost power and the deer regained human appearance.
Brother, sister, the king, and the baby boy lived happily ever after.
