The Three Crowns

Once upon a time, there was a king who had three daughters. The two eldest were very proud and quarrelsome, but the youngest was as good as they were bad. Three princes came to court them. Two of the princes were exactly like the eldest princesses, and one was just as kind as the youngest.

One day they were all walking down to a lake at the bottom of the lawn when they met a poor beggar. The king wouldn't give him anything. The eldest princesses and their sweethearts wouldn't give him anything either. But the youngest daughter and her true love gave him something, and they spoke kindly to him, which was better than anything else.

When they reached the lake, they found the most beautiful boat they had ever seen. The eldest princess said, 'I'll take a sail in this fine boat.' The second eldest said the same. But the youngest said, 'I won't take a sail in that boat, for I'm afraid it's enchanted.' The others persuaded her to go in, and her father was about to step in after her when a little man only seven inches tall sprang onto the deck and ordered him to stand back.

All the men tried to draw their swords, but they couldn't move them. Their arms had lost all their strength. Seven Inches loosened the silver chain that fastened the boat and pushed away from the shore.

He grinned at the four men and said, 'Bid your daughters and your brides farewell for a while. You, young prince, need not fear. You will get your princess back in good time, and you and she will be as happy as the day is long.

Bad people, even if they were rolling naked in gold, would not be rich. Goodbye.' And away they sailed. The princesses stretched out their hands but could not say a word.

The men watched as Seven Inches helped the three princesses out of the boat and lowered them down a draw-well in a basket. The king and the princes had never seen an opening there before. As soon as the last princess was out of sight, the men could move again. They ran around the lake and did not stop until they reached the well and windlass. There was the silk rope rolled on the axle, and a nice white basket hanging from it.

'Let me go down,' said the youngest prince. 'I will die or find them.'

'No,' said the second princess's sweetheart. 'It is my turn first.'

The eldest prince said, 'I am the eldest.' So they gave way to him, and he got into the basket and was lowered down. Soon they lost sight of him. After winding off a hundred perches of rope, it slackened, and they stopped turning. They waited two hours, but no one pulled on the rope, so they went to dinner.

Guards were set until the next morning. Then the second prince went down. And on the third day, the youngest prince was lowered. He went down and down through the darkness, as if he were in a big pot with a lid on. At last, he saw a glimmer far below, and soon he felt the ground. He stepped out of a big lime-kiln and found himself in a wood with green fields, a castle on a lawn, and a bright sky above.

'This must be Tir-na-n-Oge,' he said. 'Let's see who lives in the castle.' He walked across the fields and lawn. No one stopped him, and the big hall door was wide open. He went from one fine room to another, each finer than the last, until he reached the handsomest room of all. In the middle stood a table covered with the most delicious food. The prince was very hungry, but he was too polite to eat without being invited. So he sat by the fire.

He did not wait long before he heard footsteps. In came Seven Inches, leading the youngest princess by the hand. The prince and princess threw their arms around each other. Seven Inches said, 'Why aren't you eating?'

'I thought it was only polite to wait to be asked,' said the prince.

'The other princes did not think that,' said Seven Inches. 'Each of them began eating without permission. When I told them they were taking more freedom than was welcome, they gave me rude words. I don't think they feel much hunger now.

Look – they have become marble instead of flesh and blood.' He pointed to two statues, one in each corner of the room. The prince was frightened but said nothing. Seven Inches made him sit down to dinner between himself and his bride.

The prince would have been as happy as the day is long, except for the sight of the stone men in the corner.

The next day, Seven Inches said, 'Now you must go in that direction, toward the sun. This evening you will reach a giant's castle where the second princess is staying. Tomorrow evening you will find the eldest princess in another giant's castle. Bring them back here with you. You do not need to ask permission from the giants. And perhaps, if they ever get home, they will learn to treat poor people as if they were flesh and blood like themselves.'

The prince set off. He was tired and hungry when he reached the first castle at sunset. The second princess was overjoyed to see him and gave him a good supper. But she heard the giant at the gate and hid the prince in a closet. When the giant came in, he sniffed and sniffed and said, 'By my life, I smell fresh meat!'

'Oh,' said the princess, 'it's only the calf I had killed today.'

'Ah, well, is supper ready?' said the giant. It was, and he ate three-quarters of the calf and a flask of wine. When he had finished, he said, 'I still smell fresh meat.'

'You are sleepy,' said the princess. 'Go to bed.'

'When will you marry me?' asked the giant. 'You have been putting me off too long.'

'On St. Tibb's Eve,' she said.

'I wish I knew when that is,' said the giant, and he fell asleep with his head in the dish.

The next day, after the giant had gone out, the princess sent the prince to the castle where the eldest princess was. The same thing happened there. But when that giant was snoring, the princess woke the prince, and they saddled two horses and rode into the field. The horses' hooves struck stones outside the gate, and the giant woke up and ran after them. He roared and shouted, and the faster he shouted, the faster the horses ran. Just as dawn was breaking, he was only twenty perches behind.

But the prince had brought something useful from Seven Inches' castle. He reined in his horse and threw a short, sharp knife over his shoulder. A thick wood sprang up between the giant and them. They caught the wind that blew ahead of them, and the wind behind them could not catch them. At last they neared the castle where the other princess lived. She was waiting under a high hedge with a fine horse.

But now the first giant was in sight, roaring like a hundred lions. The second giant also came out, and the chase continued. For every two leaps the horses took, the giants took three. Soon the giants were only seventy perches away.

Then the prince stopped again and threw his second knife behind him. The flat ground fell away, leaving a quarry a quarter of a mile deep, filled with black water. Before the giants could go around it, the prince and the princesses were inside the kingdom of the great magician, where the high thorny hedge opened only for those whom the magician chose to let in.

The three sisters were overjoyed to see each other, until the two eldest saw their lovers turned to stone. While they wept, Seven Inches came in and touched the statues with his rod. The two princes became flesh and blood again. There was much hugging and kissing, and all sat down to breakfast with Seven Inches at the head of the table.

After breakfast, he led them into another room filled with piles of gold, silver, diamonds, silks, and satins. On a table lay three sets of crowns: a gold crown inside a silver crown, inside a copper crown. He gave one set to each princess and said, 'Now you may all go back up the well. When you are at the bottom, just stir the basket, and the people above will draw you up. But remember: you must keep your crowns safe and be married in them on the same day. If you are married separately, or without your crowns, a curse will follow.'

They thanked him respectfully and walked arm in arm to the bottom of the draw-well. Above them was a sky and a sun, and before them rose a high ivy-covered wall, so tall they could not see the top.

There was an arch in the wall, and the bottom of the well was inside it. The youngest couple went last. The princess said to her prince, 'I am sure the two princes do not mean any good to you. Keep these crowns under your cloak.

If you are forced to stay last, do not get into the basket. Put a big stone or something heavy inside and see what happens.'

Inside the dark cave, they placed the eldest princess in the basket, stirred it, and up she went. Then the basket came down again, and up went the second princess. Then the youngest went up, but first she kissed her prince and wept a little. Finally, it was the youngest prince's turn. Instead of getting into the basket, he put a big stone inside. He stepped aside and listened. When the basket had been drawn up about twenty perches, it came crashing down, and the stone shattered into pieces.

The poor prince had no choice but to walk back to the castle. He walked through it and around it. He had the finest food and drink, a bed of soft down to sleep on, and long walks through gardens and lawns. But he could not find Seven Inches anywhere. Within a week, he grew tired. He missed his true love. After a month, he did not know what to do.

One morning he went into the treasure room and noticed a beautiful snuffbox on the table that he had not seen before. He picked it up and opened it. Out stepped Seven Inches onto the table. 'I think, prince,' he said, 'you are getting a little tired of my castle.'

'Oh!' said the prince. 'If I had my princess here and could see you now and then, I would never have a dismal day.'

'Well, you have been here long enough. You are needed up there. Keep your bride's crowns safe. Whenever you need my help, open this snuffbox. Now take a walk down the garden, and come back when you are tired.'

The prince walked down a gravel path with a hedge on each side, his eyes on the ground. He was thinking of this and that. Finally, he looked up and found himself outside a smith's gate that he had often passed before, about a mile from the palace of his betrothed. His clothes were ragged, but his crowns were safe under his old cloak.

The smith came out and said, 'It is a shame for a strong, big fellow like you to be lazy when there is so much work to be done. Are you any good with hammer and tongs? Come in and help, and I will give you food and lodging, and a few pennies when you earn them.'

'Never say it twice,' said the prince. 'I want nothing but to be busy.' So he took the hammer and pounded away at the red-hot bar the smith was shaping into horseshoes.

Soon a tailor came in and sat down to talk. 'You all heard how the two eldest princesses were reluctant to marry until the youngest was ready with her crowns and her sweetheart. But after the windlass accidentally loosened when they were pulling up her bridegroom, there was no more sign of a well, rope, or windlass.

So the princes courting the eldest ladies would not give the king any peace until he agreed to the marriage. It was to take place this morning. I went out of curiosity and was delighted by the brides' grand dresses and the three crowns on their heads.

The youngest stood by, looking sad. Everything was ready. The two bridegrooms came in, proud and grand, and walked up to the altar. But the floorboards opened two yards wide under their feet, and they fell into the vault among the dead men and coffins. Oh, the shrieks!

The clerk soon opened the vault door, and the princes came up, their fine clothes covered in cobwebs and mold.

'So the king said the marriage must be postponed. "There is no use in thinking of it," he said, "until the youngest gets her three crowns and is married with the others. I will give my youngest daughter as a wife to whoever brings me three crowns like the others. And if he does not want to marry her, someone else will, and I will make his fortune."'

'I wish I could do it,' said the smith, 'but I saw the crowns after the princesses came home, and I don't think any blacksmith or whitesmith on earth could copy them.'

'Faint heart never won fair lady,' said the prince. 'Go to the palace and ask for a quarter pound of gold, a quarter pound of silver, and a quarter pound of copper. Borrow one crown as a pattern, and take my head as a pledge. I will give you the very things that are needed in the morning.'

'Are you in earnest?' asked the smith.

'Yes, I am,' said the prince. 'Go. You can't do worse than fail.'

So the smith got the gold, silver, and copper, and brought them to the prince along with a pattern crown. At nightfall, the prince closed the forge door. The neighbors gathered in the yard and heard him hammering, hammering, hammering until daybreak. Every now and then, he would throw out bits of gold, silver, and copper through the window. The idlers scrambled for them, cursed each other, and prayed for the workman's good luck.

Just as the sun was about to rise, the prince opened the door and brought out the three crowns he had received from his true love. What shouting and cheering! The smith asked him to come to the palace, but he refused. So the smith went alone, and the whole townland followed him. The king was overjoyed when he saw the crowns.

'Well,' said the king to the smith, 'you are a married man. What is to be done?'

'Your Majesty, I didn't make those crowns at all. It was a big fellow who started working for me yesterday.'

'Well, daughter, will you marry the man who made these crowns?'

'Let me see them first, father,' she said. But when she examined them, she knew them at once and guessed it was her true love who had sent them. 'I will marry the man these crowns came from,' she said.

'Well,' said the king to the elder of the two princes, 'go to the smith's forge in my best coach and bring home the bridegroom.' The prince did not like it, but he could not refuse. When he reached the forge, he saw the prince standing at the door and beckoned him over. 'Are you the fellow who made these crowns?' he asked.

'Yes,' said the prince.

'Then maybe you could brush yourself up and get into this coach? The king wants to see you. I pity the princess.'

The young prince got into the carriage. While they were on the way, he opened the snuffbox, and Seven Inches stepped out and stood on his thigh. 'Master,' said the prince, 'please let me go back to my forge, and let this carriage be filled with paving stones.' No sooner said than done. The prince was sitting in the forge, and the horses wondered what had happened to the carriage.

When they arrived at the palace yard, the king himself opened the carriage door to honor his new son-in-law. As soon as he turned the handle, a shower of small stones fell on his powdered wig and silk coat, and he fell down. There was great fright and some laughter. After the king wiped the blood from his forehead, he glared at the eldest prince. 'My lord,' said the eldest prince, 'I am sorry for this accident, but it is not my fault. I saw the young smith get into the carriage, and we never stopped for a minute.'

'You were rude to him,' said the king. He turned to the other prince. 'Go and bring the young smith here, and be polite.'

'Never fear,' said the other prince.

But some people cannot be polite no matter how hard they try. The second messenger was no politer than the first. When the king opened the carriage door again, a shower of mud fell on him. 'There is no use going on this way,' said the king. 'The fox never got a better messenger than himself.'

So he changed his clothes, washed himself, and went to the prince's forge himself. He asked the prince to sit beside him. The prince asked to sit in the other carriage. Halfway there, he opened his snuffbox. 'Master,' he said, 'I would like to be dressed according to my rank now.'

'You shall be,' said Seven Inches. 'And now I will bid you farewell. Continue to be as good and kind as you have always been. Love your wife. That is all the advice I will give you.' Then Seven Inches vanished. When the carriage door was opened in the yard, out stepped the prince, looking as fine as could be. The first thing he did was run to his bride and embrace her.

Everyone was full of joy except the two other princes. The weddings were not delayed long, and all three were celebrated on the same day. Soon after, the two elder couples went to their own kingdoms. But the youngest pair stayed with the old king, and they were as happy as the happiest married couple you have ever heard of in a story.