> were so much wiser, had been unable to get on. However, they all 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 to see how the poor

ants in their fright would run about and carry off their eggs. But the

little dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoy themselves, I will not

suffer you to trouble them.'



So on they went, and came to a lake where many many ducks were swimming

about. The two brothers wanted to catch two, and roast them. But the

dwarf said, 'Let the poor things enjoy themselves, you shall not kill

them.' Next they came to a bees'-nest in a hollow tree, and there was

so much honey that it ran down the trunk; and the two brothers wanted to

light a fire under the tree and kill the bees, so as to get their honey.

But the dwarf held them back, and said, 'Let the pretty insects enjoy

themselves, I cannot let you burn them.'



At length the three brothers came to a castle: and as they passed by the

stables they saw fine horses standing there, but all were of marble, and

no man was to be seen. Then they went through all the rooms, till they

came to a door on which were three locks: but in the middle of the door

was a wicket, so that they could look into the next room. There they saw

a little grey old man sitting at a table; and they called to him once or

twice, but he did not hear: however, they called 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 beautiful

table covered with all sorts of good things: and when they had eaten and

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 by

which the castle might be disenchanted. The first tablet said: 'In the

wood, under the moss, lie the thousand pearls belonging to the king's

daughter; 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 he was

turned into stone as the tablet had foretold.



The next day the second brother undertook the task; but he succeeded no

better than the first; for he could only find the second hundred of the

pearls; and therefore he too was turned into stone.



At last came the little dwarf's turn; and he looked in the moss; but it

was so hard to find the pearls, and the job was so tiresome!--so he sat

down upon a stone and cried. And as he sat there, the king of the ants

(whose life he had saved) came to help him, with five thousand ants; and

it was not long before they had found all the pearls and laid them in a

heap.



The second tablet said: 'The key of the princess's bed-chamber must be

fished 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 they

dived down and soon brought in the key from the bottom.



The third task was the hardest. It was to choose out the youngest and

the 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 a piece of

sugar, the next some sweet syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of 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 little dwarf

from the fire, and she tried the lips of all three; but at last she sat

upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey: and so the dwarf knew

which was the youngest. Thus the spell was broken, and all who had been

turned into stones awoke, and took their proper forms. And the dwarf

married the youngest and the best of the princesses, and was king after

her father's death; but his two brothers married the other two sisters.