Stranica 132 [132]
96 GRIMM’S FAIRY TALES.
and left him alone by the sea. As he was standing on the shore
and thinking of what heshould do, there came three fishes swim¬
ming by, none other than those he had set free. The middle
one had a mussel in his mouth, and he laid it on the strand
at the young man’s feet ; and when he took it up and opened
it there was the gold ring inside! Full of joy he carried it
to the King, and expected the promised reward; but the
King’s daughter, proud of her high birth, despised him, and
set him another task to perform. She went out into the
garden, and strewed about over the grass ten sacks full of
millet seed.
‘By the time the sun rises in the morning you must have
picked up all these,’ she said, "and not a grain must be
wanting.”
The young man sat down in the garden and considered
how it was possible to do this task, but he could contrive
nothing, and stayed there, feeling very sorrowful, and expecting
to be led to death at break of day. But when the first beams
of the sun fell on the garden he saw that the ten sacks were
all filled, standing one by the other, and not even a grain was
missing. ‘The ant-king had arrived in the night with his thou¬
sands of ants, and the grateful creatures had picked up all the
millet seed, and filled the sacks with great industry. The
King’s daughter came herself into the garden and saw with
astonishment that the young man had performed all that had
been given him to do. But she could not let her proud heart
melt, but said,
‘“‘ Although he has completed the two tasks, he shall not
be my bridegroom unless he brings me an apple from the tree
of life.”
The young man did not know where the tree of life was
to be found, but he set out and went on and on, as long as
his legs could carry him, but he had no hope of finding it.
When he had gone through three kingdoms he came one
evening to a wood, and seated himself under a tree to go to
sleep ; but he heard a rustling in the boughs, and a golden
apple fell into his hand. Immediately three ravens flew to¬
wards him, perched on his knee, and said,
‘‘We are the three young ravens that you delivered from
starving ; when we grew big, and heard that you were seeking