A long time ago there lived a king who was famed for his wisdom throughall the land. Nothing was hidden from him, and it seemed as if news ofthe most secret things was brought to him through the air. But he had astrange custom; every day after dinner, when the table was cleared,and no one else was present, a trusty servant had to bring him one moredish. It was covered, however, and even the servant did not know whatwas in it, neither did anyone know, for the king never took off thecover to eat of it until he was quite alone.

This had gone on for a long time, when one day the servant, who tookaway the dish, was overcome with such curiosity that he could not helpcarrying the dish into his room. When he had carefully locked the door,he lifted up the cover, and saw a white snake lying on the dish. Butwhen he saw it he could not deny himself the pleasure of tasting it,so he cut of a little bit and put it into his mouth. No sooner had ittouched his tongue than he heard a strange whispering of little voicesoutside his window. He went and listened, and then noticed that it wasthe sparrows who were chattering together, and telling one another ofall kinds of things which they had seen in the fields and woods. Eatingthe snake had given him power of understanding the language of animals.

Now it so happened that on this very day the queen lost her mostbeautiful ring, and suspicion of having stolen it fell upon this trustyservant, who was allowed to go everywhere. The king ordered the man tobe brought before him, and threatened with angry words that unless hecould before the morrow point out the thief, he himself should be lookedupon as guilty and executed. In vain he declared his innocence; he wasdismissed with no better answer.

In his trouble and fear he went down into the courtyard and took thoughthow to help himself out of his trouble. Now some ducks were sittingtogether quietly by a brook and taking their rest; and, whilst theywere making their feathers smooth with their bills, they were having aconfidential conversation together. The servant stood by and listened.They were telling one another of all the places where they had beenwaddling about all the morning, and what good food they had found; andone said in a pitiful tone: 'Something lies heavy on my stomach; asI was eating in haste I swallowed a ring which lay under the queen'swindow.' The servant at once seized her by the neck, carried her to thekitchen, and said to the cook: 'Here is a fine duck; pray, kill her.''Yes,' said the cook, and weighed her in his hand; 'she has sparedno trouble to fatten herself, and has been waiting to be roasted longenough.' So he cut off her head, and as she was being dressed for thespit, the queen's ring was found inside her.

The servant could now easily prove his innocence; and the king, to makeamends for the wrong, allowed him to ask a favour, and promised himthe best place in the court that he could wish for. The servant refusedeverything, and only asked for a horse and some money for travelling, ashe had a mind to see the world and go about a little. When his requestwas granted he set out on his way, and one day came to a pond, where hesaw three fishes caught in the reeds and gasping for water. Now, thoughit is said that fishes are dumb, he heard them lamenting that they mustperish so miserably, and, as he had a kind heart, he got off hishorse and put the three prisoners back into the water. They leapt withdelight, put out their heads, and cried to him: 'We will remember youand repay you for saving us!'

He rode on, and after a while it seemed to him that he heard a voice inthe sand at his feet. He listened, and heard an ant-king complain: 'Whycannot folks, with their clumsy beasts, keep off our bodies? That stupidhorse, with his heavy hoofs, has been treading down my people withoutmercy!' So he turned on to a side path and the ant-king cried out tohim: 'We will remember you--one good turn deserves another!'

The path led him into a wood, and there he saw two old ravens standingby their nest, and throwing out their young ones. 'Out with you, youidle, good-for-nothing creatures!' cried they; 'we cannot find food foryou any longer; you are big enough, and can provide for yourselves.'But the poor young ravens lay upon the ground, flapping their wings, andcrying: 'Oh, what helpless chicks we are! We must shift for ourselves,and yet we cannot fly! What can we do, but lie here and starve?' So thegood young fellow alighted and killed his horse with his sword, and gaveit to them for food. Then they came hopping up to it, satisfied theirhunger, and cried: 'We will remember you--one good turn deservesanother!'

And now he had to use his own legs, and when he had walked a longway, he came to a large city. There was a great noise and crowd inthe streets, and a man rode up on horseback, crying aloud: 'The king'sdaughter wants a husband; but whoever seeks her hand must perform a hardtask, and if he does not succeed he will forfeit his life.' Many hadalready made the attempt, but in vain; nevertheless when the youthsaw the king's daughter he was so overcome by her great beauty that heforgot all danger, went before the king, and declared himself a suitor.

So he was led out to the sea, and a gold ring was thrown into it, beforehis eyes; then the king ordered him to fetch this ring up from thebottom of the sea, and added: 'If you come up again without it you willbe thrown in again and again until you perish amid the waves.' All thepeople grieved for the handsome youth; then they went away, leaving himalone by the sea.

He stood on the shore and considered what he should do, when suddenlyhe saw three fishes come swimming towards him, and they were the veryfishes whose lives he had saved. The one in the middle held a mussel inits mouth, which it laid on the shore at the youth's feet, and when hehad taken it up and opened it, there lay the gold ring in the shell.Full of joy he took it to the king and expected that he would grant himthe promised reward.

But when the proud princess perceived that he was not her equal inbirth, she scorned him, and required him first to perform anothertask. She went down into the garden and strewed with her own hands tensacksful of millet-seed on the grass; then she said: 'Tomorrow morningbefore sunrise these must be picked up, and not a single grain bewanting.'

The youth sat down in the garden and considered how it might be possibleto perform this task, but he could think of nothing, and there he satsorrowfully awaiting the break of day, when he should be led to death.But as soon as the first rays of the sun shone into the garden he sawall the ten sacks standing side by side, quite full, and not a singlegrain was missing. The ant-king had come in the night with thousandsand thousands of ants, and the grateful creatures had by great industrypicked up all the millet-seed and gathered them into the sacks.

Presently the king's daughter herself came down into the garden, and wasamazed to see that the young man had done the task she had given him.But she could not yet conquer her proud heart, and said: 'Although hehas performed both the tasks, he shall not be my husband until he hadbrought me an apple from the Tree of Life.' The youth did not know wherethe Tree of Life stood, but he set out, and would have gone on for ever,as long as his legs would carry him, though he had no hope of findingit. After he had wandered through three kingdoms, he came one evening toa wood, and lay down under a tree to sleep. But he heard a rustling inthe branches, and a golden apple fell into his hand. At the same timethree ravens flew down to him, perched themselves upon his knee, andsaid: 'We are the three young ravens whom you saved from starving; whenwe had grown big, and heard that you were seeking the Golden Apple,we flew over the sea to the end of the world, where the Tree of Lifestands, and have brought you the apple.' The youth, full of joy, set outhomewards, and took the Golden Apple to the king's beautiful daughter,who had now no more excuses left to make. They cut the Apple of Life intwo and ate it together; and then her heart became full of love for him,and they lived in undisturbed happiness to a great age.