The Queen Bee

Two kings' sons once went out in search of adventures, but they soon fell into wild and disorderly ways, so that they never came home again. The youngest son, who was called Simpleton, set out to find his brothers. When he finally found them, they laughed at him.

"You think you can get through the world with your simplicity," they said, "when we two, who are much cleverer, could not manage it?" But they all three traveled together, and came to an ant-hill.

The two elder wanted to destroy it, to see the little ants run about in terror, carrying their eggs away. But Simpleton said, "Leave the creatures in peace. I will not allow you to disturb them." Then they went on and came to a lake where many ducks were swimming.

The two brothers wanted to catch a couple and roast them, but Simpleton would not permit it. He said, "Leave the creatures in peace. I will not allow you to kill them." At last they came to a bee's nest. There was so much honey that it ran down the tree trunk.

The two wanted to build a fire under the tree to suffocate the bees and take the honey. But Simpleton stopped them again. "Leave the creatures in peace," he said. "I will not let you burn them." Finally the three brothers arrived at a castle where stone horses stood in the stables, and no human being was to be seen.

They walked through all the halls until they came to a door with three locks. In the middle of the door was a little window, through which they could see into a room. There sat a little grey man at a table. They called him once, twice, but he did not hear.

At last they called a third time, and he got up, unlocked the door, and came out. He did not say anything, but led them to a beautifully set table. After they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to a bedroom.

The next morning the little grey man came to the eldest brother, beckoned him, and led him to a stone table. On it were written three tasks. By completing them, the castle would be freed.

The first task was this: in the forest, under the moss, lay the princess's pearls, a thousand of them. They had to be picked up. If by sunset even one pearl was missing, the one who had searched would be turned to stone.

The eldest brother went and searched all day, but by evening he had found only a hundred. What was written on the table came true: he was turned to stone. The next day the second brother tried the task. But it did not go much better for him than for the eldest.

He found no more than two hundred pearls, and he too was turned to stone. At last it was Simpleton's turn. He searched in the moss, but it was so hard to find the pearls, and he made such slow progress, that he sat down on a stone and wept.

While he sat there, the King of the ants, whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants. Before long the little creatures had gathered all the pearls together and piled them in a heap.

The second task was to fetch the key of the king's daughter's bedchamber from the lake. When Simpleton came to the lake, the ducks he had saved swam up to him, dived down, and brought the key up from the water.

But the third task was the hardest: out of the three sleeping daughters of the king, the youngest and dearest had to be found. They looked exactly alike. The only way to tell them apart was that before falling asleep they had eaten different sweets: the eldest a bit of sugar, the second a little syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey.

Then the Queen of the bees, whom Simpleton had protected from the fire, came and tasted the lips of all three. At last she stopped on the mouth that had eaten honey. Thus the king's son recognized the right princess. Then the enchantment ended.

Everything woke from sleep, and those who had been turned to stone received their natural forms again. Simpleton married the youngest and sweetest princess, and after her father's death he became king. His two brothers married the other two sisters.