She went down into the garden and strewed with her own hands ten
sacks-full of millet-seed on the grass; then she said, “To-morrow
morning before sunrise these must be picked up, and not a single grain
be wanting.”

The youth sat down in the garden and considered how it might be
possible to perform this task, but he could think of nothing, and there
he sat sorrowfully 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 saw all the ten sacks standing side by side, quite full, and not a
single grain was missing. The ant-king had come in the night with
thousands and thousands of ants, and the grateful creatures had by
great industry picked up all the millet-seed and gathered them into the
sacks. Presently the King’s daughter herself came down into the garden, and
was amazed 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
he has performed both the tasks, he shall not be my husband until he
has brought me an apple from the Tree of Life.”

The youth did not know where the 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 finding it. After he had wandered through
three kingdoms, he came one evening to a wood, and lay down under a
tree to sleep. But he heard a rustling in the branches, and a golden
apple fell into his hand. At the same time three ravens flew down to
him, perched themselves upon his knee, and said, “We are the three
young ravens whom you saved from starving; when we 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 Life stands, and have brought
you the apple.” The youth, full of joy, set out homewards, and took the
Golden Apple to the King’s beautiful daughter, who had no more excuses
left to make. They cut the Apple of Life in two and ate it together;
and then her heart became full of love for him, and they lived in
undisturbed happiness to a great age. 18 The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

In a village dwelt a poor old woman, who had gathered together a dish
of beans and wanted to cook them. So she made a fire on her hearth, and
that it might burn the quicker, she lighted it with a handful of straw. When she was emptying the beans into the pan, one dropped without her
observing it, and lay on the ground beside a straw, and soon afterwards
a burning coal from the fire leapt down to the two. Then the straw
began and said, “Dear friends, from whence do you come here?” The coal
replied, “I fortunately sprang out of the fire, and if I had not
escaped by main force, my death would have been certain,—I should have
been burnt to ashes.” The bean said, “I too have escaped with a whole
skin, but if the old woman had got me into the pan, I should have been
made into broth without any mercy, like my comrades.” “And would a
better fate have fallen to my lot?” said the straw. “The old woman has
destroyed all my brethren in fire and smoke; she seized sixty of them
at once, and took their lives. I luckily slipped through her fingers.”

“But what are we to do now?” said the coal. “I think,” answered the bean, “that as we have so fortunately escaped
death, we should keep together like good companions, and lest a new
mischance should overtake us here, we should go away together, and
repair to a foreign country.”

The proposition pleased the two others, and they set out on their way
in company. Soon, however, they came to a little brook, and as there
was no bridge or foot-plank, they did not know how they were to get
over it. The straw hit on a good idea, and said, “I will lay myself
straight across, and then you can walk over on me as on a bridge.” The
straw therefore stretched itself from one bank to the other, and the
coal, who was of an impetuous disposition, tripped quite boldly on to
the newly-built bridge. But when she had reached the middle, and heard
the water rushing beneath her, she was, after all, afraid, and stood
still, and ventured no farther. The straw, however, began to burn,
broke in two pieces, and fell into the stream. The coal slipped after
her, hissed when she got into the water, and breathed her last. The
bean, who had prudently stayed behind on the shore, could not but laugh
at the event, was unable to stop, and laughed so heartily that she
burst. It would have been all over with her, likewise, if, by good
fortune, a tailor who was traveling in search of work, had not sat down
to rest by the brook. As he had a compassionate heart he pulled out his
needle and thread, and sewed her together. The bean thanked him most
prettily, but as the tailor used black thread, all beans since then
have a black seam. 19 The Fisherman and His Wife

There was once on a time a Fisherman who lived with his wife in a
miserable hovel close by the sea, and every day he went out fishing. And once as he was sitting with his rod, looking at the clear water,
his line suddenly went down, far down below, and when he drew it up
again he brought out a large Flounder. Then the Flounder said to him,
“Hark, you Fisherman, I pray you, let me live, I am no Flounder really,
but an enchanted prince. What good will it do you to kill me? I should
not be good to eat, put me in the water again, and let me go.” “Come,”
said the Fisherman, “there is no need for so many words about it—a fish
that can talk I should certainly let go, anyhow,” with that he put him
back again into the clear water, and the Flounder went to the bottom,
leaving a long streak of blood behind him. Then the Fisherman got up
and went home to his wife in the hovel. “Husband,” said the woman, “have you caught nothing to-day?” “No,” said
the man, “I did catch a Flounder, who said he was an enchanted prince,
so I let him go again.” “Did you not wish for anything first?” said the
woman. “No,” said the man; “what should I wish for?” “Ah,” said the
woman, “it is surely hard to have to live always in this dirty hovel;
you might have wished for a small cottage for us. Go back and call him. Tell him we want to have a small cottage, he will certainly give us
that.” “Ah,” said the man, “why should I go there again?” “Why,” said
the woman, “you did catch him, and you let him go again; he is sure to
do it. Go at once.” The man still did not quite like to go, but did not
like to oppose his wife, and went to the sea. When he got there the sea was all green and yellow, and no longer so
smooth; so he stood still and said,

“Flounder, flounder in the sea,
Come, I pray thee, here to me;
For my wife, good Ilsabil,
Wills not as I’d have her will.”


Then the Flounder came swimming to him and said, “Well what does she
want, then?” “Ah,” said the man, “I did catch you, and my wife says I
really ought to have wished for something. She does not like to live in
a wretched hovel any longer.