. The first thing was, that in the wood
under the moss lay the pearls belonging to the princess--a thousand in
number--and they were to be sought for and collected, and if he who
should undertake the task had not finished it by sunset,--if but one
pearl were missing,--he must be turned to stone. So the eldest brother
went out, and searched all day, but at the end of it he had only found
one hundred; just as was said on the table of stone came to pass and he
was turned into stone. The second brother undertook the adventure next
day, but it fared with him no better than with the first; he found two
hundred pearls, and was turned into stone.

And so at last it was Witling's turn, and he began to search in the
moss; but it was a very tedious business to find the pearls, and he grew
so out of heart that he sat down on a stone and began to weep. As he was
sitting thus, up came the ant-king with five thousand ants, whose lives
had been saved through Witling's pity, and it was not very long before
the little insects had collected all the pearls and put them in a heap.

Now the second thing ordered by the table of stone was to get the key of
the princess's sleeping-chamber out of the lake.

And when Witling came to the lake, the ducks whose lives he had saved
came swimming, and dived below, and brought up the key from the bottom.
The third thing that had to be done was the most difficult, and that was
to choose out the youngest and loveliest of the three princesses, as
they lay sleeping. All bore a perfect resemblance each to the other, and
only differed in this, that before they went to sleep each one had eaten
a different sweetmeat,--the eldest a piece of sugar, the second a little
syrup, and the third a spoonful of honey. Now the Queen-bee of those
bees that Witling had protected from the fire came at this moment, and
trying the lips of all three, settled on those of the one that had eaten
honey, and so it was that the king's son knew which to choose. Then the
spell was broken; every one awoke from stony sleep, and took their right
form again.

And Witling married the youngest and loveliest princess, and became king
after her father's death. But his two brothers had to put up with the
two other sisters.

THE GOLDEN GOOSE

THERE was a man who had three sons, the youngest of whom was called the
Simpleton, and was despised, laughed at, and neglected, on every
occasion. It happened one day that the eldest son wished