Brides On Their Trial

There was once a young shepherd who wished much to marry, and was
acquainted with three sisters who were all equally pretty, so that it
was difficult to him to make a choice, and he could not decide to give
the preference to any one of them. Then he asked his mother for advice,
and she said, "Invite all three, and set some cheese before them, and
watch how they eat it." The youth did so; the first, however, swallowed
the cheese with the rind on; the second hastily cut the rind off the
cheese, but she cut it so quickly that she left much good cheese with
it, and threw that away also; the third peeled the rind off carefully,
and cut neither too much nor too little. The shepherd told all this to
his mother, who said, "Take the third for thy wife." This he did, and
lived contentedly and happily with her.
