格林童话选 英文版 Grimms' Fairy Tales
格林兄弟 Brüder Grimm
THE QUEEN BEE
Two kings' sons once upon a time went into the world to seek theirfortunes; but they soon fell into a wasteful foolish way of living, sothat they could not return home again. Then their brother, who was alittle insignificant dwarf, went out to seek for his brothers: butwhen he had found them they only laughed at him, to think that he, whowas so young and simple, should try to travel through the world, whenthey, who were so much wiser, had been unable to get on. However, theyall set out on their journey together, and came at last to an ant-hill. The two elder brothers would have pulled it down, in order tosee how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry offtheir eggs. But the little dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoythemselves, I will not suffer you to trouble them.'
So on they went, and came to a lake where many many ducks wereswimming about. The two brothers wanted to catch two, and roast them.But the dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoy themselves, you shallnot kill them.' Next they came to a bees'-nest in a hollow tree, andthere was so much honey that it ran down the trunk; and the twobrothers wanted to light a fire under the tree and kill the bees, soas to get their honey. But the dwarf held them back, and said, 'Letthe pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you burn them.'
At length the three brothers came to a castle: and as they passed bythe stables they saw fine horses standing there, but all were ofmarble, and no man was to be seen. Then they went through all therooms, till they came to a door on which were three locks: but in themiddle of the door was a wicket, so that they could look into the nextroom. There they saw a little grey old man sitting at a table; andthey called to him once or twice, but he did not hear: however, theycalled a third time, and then he rose and came out to them.
He said nothing, but took hold of them and led them to a beautifultable covered with all sorts of good things: and when they had eatenand drunk, he showed each of them to a bed-chamber.
The next morning he came to the eldest and took him to a marble table,where there were three tablets, containing an account of the means bywhich the castle might be disenchanted. The first tablet said: 'In thewood, under the moss, lie the thousand pearls belonging to the king'sdaughter; they must all be found: and if one be missing by set of sun,he who seeks them will be turned into marble.'
The eldest brother set out, and sought for the pearls the whole day:but the evening came, and he had not found the first hundred: so hewas turned into stone as the tablet had foretold.
The next day the second brother undertook the task; but he succeededno better than the first; for he could only find the second hundred ofthe pearls; and therefore he too was turned into stone.
At last came the little dwarf's turn; and he looked in the moss; butit was so hard to find the pearls, and the job was so tiresome!--so hesat down upon a stone and cried. And as he sat there, the king of theants (whose life he had saved) came to help him, with five thousandants; and it was not long before they had found all the pearls andlaid them in a heap.
The second tablet said: 'The key of the princess's bed-chamber must befished up out of the lake.' And as the dwarf came to the brink of it,he saw the two ducks whose lives he had saved swimming about; and theydived down and soon brought in the key from the bottom.
The third task was the hardest. It was to choose out the youngest andthe best of the king's three daughters. Now they were all beautiful,and all exactly alike: but he was told that the eldest had eaten apiece of sugar, the next some sweet syrup, and the youngest a spoonfulof honey; so he was to guess which it was that had eaten the honey.
Then came the queen of the bees, who had been saved by the littledwarf from the fire, and she tried the lips of all three; but at lastshe sat upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey: and so thedwarf knew which was the youngest. Thus the spell was broken, and allwho had been turned into stones awoke, and took their proper forms.And the dwarf married the youngest and the best of the princesses, andwas king after her father's death; but his two brothers married theother two sisters.