The Knights and the Queen Bee

The story you will be listening to today is The Knights and the Queen Bee and is being read to you by Daniel. Once upon a time, two knights (who were brothers) went into the world to seek their fortunes; but they soon wasted all of their money and could not return home again. Then their youngest brother, who was still only a squire and had never left the castle until now, went out to look for his brothers. But when he found them, they only laughed at him because he was so young and inexperienced, should try to travel through the world, when they, who were so much wiser, had been unable to seek their fortune. However, they all set out on their journey together, and came at last to an ant-hill. The two older 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 youngest brother said, ‘Let the poor things enjoy themselves, I will not let you trouble them.’ So on they went, and came to a lake where many many ducks were swimming about. The two knights wanted to catch two and make them do silly Tik-Tok dances. But the youngest said, ‘Let them enjoy themselves and not be bothered.’ Next they came to a bees’-nest in a tree, and there was so much honey that it ran down the trunk. The two older brothers wanted to smash the nest, so as to get their honey. But the youngest held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you destroy their home.’ Soon the three brothers came to a castle: and as they passed by the stables they saw fine horses standing there, but all had been turned to stone, and no one was to be seen. Then they went through all the rooms until they came to a door on which were three locks. 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. They called a third time, and then he rose and came out to them. He said nothing, but took the oldest by the hand and led the brothers to a beautiful table covered with all sorts of good things: and when they had eaten and filled their bellies, he showed each of them to a bedroom. The next morning he came to the oldest brother and took him to a marble table, where there were three tablets, each containing an account of the means by which the curse on the castle might be broken. 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 sunset, he who seeks them will be turned into marble.’ The oldest 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 to stone, dabbing as he did so (the absolute madlad)! The next day the second brother undertook the task; but he could not find all of the pearls either for he could only find the second hundred; and therefore he too was turned into stone (also dabbing while he did so). At last came the youngest brother’s turn; and he looked in the moss; but it was so hard to find the pearls, and the job was exhausting!—so he sat down upon a stone and cried. And as he sat there, the queen of the ants (whose home 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 tower must be fished up out of the lake.’ And as the youngest brother came to the brink of it, he saw the two ducks who he had saved from making embarrassing videos 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 of king’s three daughters, who all lay in their beds, cursed to sleep forever. Now they were all beautiful and close in age: but the third tablet said that the oldest princess had eaten a piece of sugar, the next some sweet syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey. The youngest brother had to guess which one had eaten the honey. Then came the queen of the bees, who the youngest brother had saved her home from being destroyed, and she tried the lips of all three. At last she sat upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey: and so the youngest brother knew which was the youngest princess. Thus the spell was broken, and all who had been turned into stone awoke and rejoiced! And the youngest brother married the youngest of the princesses, and was made a knight by the king. His two brothers married the older princesses, and learned to love nature and animals as their youngest brother did. The End.