At last they came to a bee's nest, in which there was so much honey that it ran out and down the trunk of the tree. The two wanted to make a fire under the tree and smoke the bees, so that they could get the honey. But Dummling again stopped them and said, "Let the bees alone; I will not let you smoke them."

At last the three brothers came to a castle, where stone horses were standing in the stables, but they saw no one. They went through all the rooms of the castle, until at the end they came to a door with three locks. In the middle of the door was a little hole through which they could look into the room. They saw a little gray man sitting at a table. They called to him once, twice, but he did not hear; then they called him for the third time, and at last he got up, unlocked the door, and came out. He said nothing but led them to a table loaded with good things. They ate and drank. Then he took each of them to a sleeping-room.

The next morning, the little gray man came to the eldest, nodded to him, and led him to a table of stones, on which were written three things that must be done to free the castle.

The first was, that in the wood under the moss lay the pearls of the king's daughter-there were a thousand of them; these must be found, and if

at sunset even one was gone, he who had looked for them would be turned into stone.

The eldest went out and looked for them all day, but when the day was done, he had found only a hundred; what was written on the table came to pass, and he was turned into stone.

The next day the second brother tried it; but he did but little better than the eldest, for he found not more than two hundred pearls, and he was turned into stone.

So at last, it was Dummling's turn. He looked in the moss, but the pearls were hard to find, and he did not get on very fast. Then he sat down on a stone and began to cry. And as he sat there, the king of the ants, whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants, and before long they had found all the pearls and put them in a pile.

The second thing to do was to get the key of the sleeping-room of the king's daughter out of the lake.

When Dummling came to the lake, the ducks, whose lives he had once saved, swam up to him, dived down, and brought up the key.

But the third thing was the most difficult. From the three sleeping daughters of the king, he must pick out the youngest and sweetest. They looked just alike, and there was no way to tell them apart but this,--before they went to sleep each one

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had eaten something sweet but not the same thing; the eldest had eaten some sugar, the second a little syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey.

Then the queen of the bees, which Dummling had saved from the fire, came and tried the lips of all three. At last she stayed on the lips which had eaten the honey, and the king's son knew which was the youngest.

Then the enchantment was at an end; all awoke, and those who had been turned into stone became themselves again. Dummling married the young est and sweetest princess and became king after her father died. His two brothers married the two other sisters.

Long ago there lived a king and queen who had no child, although every day they wished for one. But, as the queen was bathing one day, a frog hopped out of the water and said to her, "You shall have your wish; before a year goes by you shall have a daughter."

As the frog had said, so it happened; and a little girl was born. She was so beautiful that the king in his joy did not know what to do, and he gave a splendid feast. He invited not only his relatives and friends, but also the wise women; for he wished them to be kind to the child.

There were thirteen of them in his kingdom; but as he had only twelve golden plates for them to eat from, one of them had to stay at home.

The splendid feast was held, and as it came to an end the wise women gave their wonderful gifts to the child: One gave virtue, another beauty, a third riches, and so on, until they had given all there is in the world to wish for. When eleven of them had spoken, in came the thirteenth. She was angry because she had not been invited, and, without looking at any one, she cried out in a loud voice: "When the princess is fifteen years old, she shall prick herself with a spindle and fall down dead;" and without speaking another word, she turned round and left the room.

All were frightened. Then the twelfth, who had not yet given her gift, stepped out. Because she could not take away the evil wish, but could only make it not quite so bad, she said: "The princess shall not die, but shall fall into a deep sleep, and not wake for a hundred years." The king, who wished to save his child from this misfortune, ordered all the spindles in his kingdom burned.

The princess grew up with all the gifts of the wise women; and she was so beautiful, sweet, kind, and clever, that every one who saw her loved her.