Kabanata Kabanata 58 · The Queen Bee

. The Queen Bee

Two kings’ sons once went out in search of adventures, and fell into a

wild, disorderly way of living, so that they never came home again. The

youngest, who was called Simpleton, set out to seek his brothers, but

when at length he found them they mocked him for thinking that he with

his simplicity could get through the world, when they two could not

make their way, and yet were so much cleverer. They all three travelled

away together, and came to an ant-hill. The two elder wanted to destroy

it, to see the little ants creeping about in their terror, and carrying

their eggs away, but Simpleton said, “Leave the creatures in peace; I

will not allow you to disturb them.” Then they went onwards and came to

a lake, on which a great number of ducks were swimming. The two

brothers wanted to catch a couple and roast them, but Simpleton would

not permit it, and said, “Leave the creatures in peace, I will not

suffer you to kill them.” At length they came to a bee’s nest, in which

there was so much honey that it ran out of the trunk of the tree where

it was. The two wanted to make a fire beneath the tree, and suffocate

the bees in order to take away the honey, but Simpleton again stopped

them and said, “Leave the creatures in peace, I will not allow you to

burn them.” At length the three brothers arrived at a castle where

stone horses were standing in the stables, and no human being was to be

seen, and they went through all the halls until, quite at the end, they

came to a door in which were three locks. In the middle of the door,

however, there was a little pane, through which they could see into the

room. There they saw a little grey man, who was sitting at a table.

They called him, once, twice, but he did not hear; at last they called

him for the third time, when he got up, opened the locks, and came out.

He said nothing, however, but conducted them to a handsomely-spread

table, and when they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to a

bedroom. Next morning the little grey man came to the eldest, beckoned

to him, and conducted him to a stone table, on which were inscribed

three tasks, by the performance of which the castle could be delivered.

The first was that in the forest, beneath the moss, lay the princess’s

pearls, a thousand in number, which must be picked up, and if by sunset

one single pearl was wanting, he who had looked for them would be

turned into stone. The eldest went thither, and sought the whole day,

but when it came to an end, he had only found one hundred, and what was

written on the table came to pass, and he was changed into stone. Next

day, the second brother undertook the adventure; it did not, however,

fare much better with him than with the eldest; he did not find more

than two hundred pearls, and was changed to stone. At last the turn

came to Simpleton also, who sought in the moss. It was, however, so

hard to find the pearls, and he got on so slowly, that he seated

himself on a stone, and wept. And while he was thus sitting, the King

of the ants whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants,

and before long the little creatures had got all the pearls together,

and laid them in a heap. The second task, however, was to fetch out of

the lake the key of the King’s daughter’s bed-chamber. When Simpleton

came to the lake, the ducks which he had saved, swam up to him, dived

down, and brought the key out of the water. But the third task was the

most difficult; from amongst the three sleeping daughters of the King

was the youngest and dearest to be sought out. They, however, resembled

each other exactly, and were only to be distinguished by their having

eaten different sweetmeats before they fell asleep; the eldest a bit of

sugar; the second a little syrup; and the youngest a spoonful of honey.

Then the Queen of the bees, which Simpleton had protected from the

fire, came and tasted the lips of all three, and at last she remained

sitting on the mouth which had eaten honey, and thus the King’s son

recognized the right princess. Then the enchantment was at an end;

everything was released from sleep, and those who had been turned to

stone received once more their natural forms. Simpleton married the

youngest and sweetest princess, and after her father’s death became

King, and his two brothers received the two other sisters.