64 lines
4.3 KiB
Text
64 lines
4.3 KiB
Text
The Queen Bee
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Two kings’ sons once went out in search of adventures, and fell into a
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wild, disorderly way of living, so that they never came home again. The
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youngest, who was called Simpleton, set out to seek his brothers, but
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when at length he found them they mocked him for thinking that he with
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his simplicity could get through the world, when they two could not
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make their way, and yet were so much cleverer. They all three travelled
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away together, and came to an ant-hill. The two elder wanted to destroy
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it, to see the little ants creeping about in their terror, and carrying
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their eggs away, but Simpleton said, “Leave the creatures in peace; I
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will not allow you to disturb them.” Then they went onwards and came to
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a lake, on which a great number of ducks were swimming. The two
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brothers wanted to catch a couple and roast them, but Simpleton would
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not permit it, and said, “Leave the creatures in peace, I will not
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suffer you to kill them.” At length they came to a bee’s nest, in which
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there was so much honey that it ran out of the trunk of the tree where
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it was. The two wanted to make a fire beneath the tree, and suffocate
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the bees in order to take away the honey, but Simpleton again stopped
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them and said, “Leave the creatures in peace, I will not allow you to
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burn them.” At length the three brothers arrived at a castle where
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stone horses were standing in the stables, and no human being was to be
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seen, and they went through all the halls until, quite at the end, they
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came to a door in which were three locks. In the middle of the door,
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however, there was a little pane, through which they could see into the
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room. There they saw a little grey man, who was sitting at a table.
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They called him, once, twice, but he did not hear; at last they called
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him for the third time, when he got up, opened the locks, and came out.
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He said nothing, however, but conducted them to a handsomely-spread
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table, and when they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to a
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bedroom. Next morning the little grey man came to the eldest, beckoned
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to him, and conducted him to a stone table, on which were inscribed
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three tasks, by the performance of which the castle could be delivered.
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The first was that in the forest, beneath the moss, lay the princess’s
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pearls, a thousand in number, which must be picked up, and if by sunset
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one single pearl was wanting, he who had looked for them would be
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turned into stone. The eldest went thither, and sought the whole day,
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but when it came to an end, he had only found one hundred, and what was
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written on the table came to pass, and he was changed into stone. Next
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day, the second brother undertook the adventure; it did not, however,
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fare much better with him than with the eldest; he did not find more
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than two hundred pearls, and was changed to stone. At last the turn
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came to Simpleton also, who sought in the moss. It was, however, so
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hard to find the pearls, and he got on so slowly, that he seated
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himself on a stone, and wept. And while he was thus sitting, the King
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of the ants whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants,
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and before long the little creatures had got all the pearls together,
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and laid them in a heap. The second task, however, was to fetch out of
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the lake the key of the King’s daughter’s bed-chamber. When Simpleton
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came to the lake, the ducks which he had saved, swam up to him, dived
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down, and brought the key out of the water. But the third task was the
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most difficult; from amongst the three sleeping daughters of the King
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was the youngest and dearest to be sought out. They, however, resembled
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each other exactly, and were only to be distinguished by their having
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eaten different sweetmeats before they fell asleep; the eldest a bit of
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sugar; the second a little syrup; and the youngest a spoonful of honey.
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Then the Queen of the bees, which Simpleton had protected from the
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fire, came and tasted the lips of all three, and at last she remained
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sitting on the mouth which had eaten honey, and thus the King’s son
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recognized the right princess. Then the enchantment was at an end;
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everything was released from sleep, and those who had been turned to
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stone received once more their natural forms. Simpleton married the
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youngest and sweetest princess, and after her father’s death became
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King, and his two brothers received the two other sisters.
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