The Queen Bee

Once upon a time two sons of a king set out in search of adventure and fell into such a wild, careless way of life that they never came home again. The third and youngest son, whom they called Simpleton, set out to look for his brothers. When at last he found them, his brothers mocked him: "How will a simple fellow like you get through the world, when even two clever brothers like us couldn't?"

The three of them travelled on together and came to an anthill. The two older brothers wanted to break it open, so that they could watch the little ants scurrying about in fright, carrying away their eggs. But Simpleton said, "Leave the creatures in peace. I won't let you disturb them."

Then they went on and came to a lake. On the lake were many ducks swimming. The two older brothers wanted to catch a few ducks and roast them. But again Simpleton would not allow it: "Leave the creatures in peace. I won't let you kill them."

At last they came to a bees' nest. It was in a hollow tree, and there was so much honey in it that it was running down the trunk. The two older brothers wanted to light a fire under the tree to smother the bees and take the honey. But once again Simpleton stopped them: "Leave the creatures in peace. I won't let you burn them."

At last the three brothers came to a castle. In the stables stood horses that had been turned to stone, and not a living soul was to be seen. They went through all the halls until at last they came to a door with three locks. In the middle of the door was a little window through which they could look into the room. Inside they saw a little grey-haired man sitting at a table. They called to him once, twice, but he did not hear. When they called the third time, he got up, opened the locks and came out. He said not a word, but led them to a richly laid table. When they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to his own bedroom.

The next morning the grey man came to the eldest brother and beckoned him to a stone table. On the table were written three tasks by which the castle could be set free from its enchantment. The first was this: in the forest, under the moss, lay the princesses' pearls, a thousand of them scattered about. All of them had to be gathered up. If even one was missing by sunset, whoever was searching would be turned to stone.

The eldest brother went and searched all day. But when the day was over, he had found only a hundred pearls. And just as was written, he was turned to stone. The next day the second brother tried. He too found no more than two hundred pearls, and he was turned to stone.

At last it was Simpleton's turn. He began to search in the moss, but finding the pearls was very hard and the work went very slowly. He sat down on a stone and began to cry. Just then the king of the ants, whose life he had saved, came with five thousand ants. Before long the little creatures had found all the pearls and gathered them into a heap.

The second task was this: the key to the princesses' bedroom had to be brought up from the bottom of the lake. When Simpleton came to the lake, the ducks he had saved came swimming up, dived down and brought the key up from the depths.

The third task was the hardest of all. From among the three sleeping princesses, the youngest and loveliest had to be chosen. But the princesses looked exactly alike, and there was no difference between them at all. There was only one difference: before they fell asleep, they had eaten different sweets. The eldest had eaten a lump of sugar, the second a little syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey.

Just then the queen of the bees, whom Simpleton had saved from the fire, came along. The queen bee landed on the lips of each of the three princesses in turn, and at last she stayed on the lips of the one who had eaten honey. And so the king's son recognised the right princess.

The spell was broken. Everything awoke from its deep sleep, and those who had been turned to stone became human again. Simpleton married the youngest and loveliest princess and became king after her father's death. And his brothers married the princess's two sisters.

That day his brothers learned something: the brother they had once looked down on was in fact the cleverest of them all. For a heart that shows mercy to small and helpless creatures one day receives the greatest help from those very same small creatures.