Once upon a time,
there were three men. A big brother, a smaller brother, and the smallest brother, who was named Simpleton. And they went off in the world to seek their fortune.
And soon along the trail they came upon an anthill.
And the big brother said, “Let’s squish’em.” And the medium sized brother said, “Yeah, let’s do.” And Simpleton said, “No, they aren’t bothering us, let's let the ants be.” And they all agreed to go with Simpleton, and they all rode on.
And then, soon after, they came to a pond, with giant trees around it, and grey, clear water.
And the biggest one said, “See that duck swimming out there? Let’s go kill’m and eat’m.” And the medium one said, “Yeah, let’s do.” And Simpleton said, “No, let the duck be, we’ll find other means of food.”
So then they agreed to go with Simpleton. And they walked on until they came to a giant oak tree, with a beehive on one limb.
And the biggest brother said, “Let’s smoke’m out.” And the medium sized brother said, “Yeah, let’s do.” and the smallest brother, Simpleton, said, “No, we can find something somewhere else, let's let the bees be! ”
And so they agreed to go with Simpleton, and they walked on until they came to a great castle. And in front of the castle there was a King, crying. And they all said together, “Why are you crying, Mr. King?” And the King said, “Three of my daughters have been plunged into a deep sleep, and I do not know how to get them out.” And the biggest brother said, “Well, we shall help you. What shall we do?” The King said, “There are three tasks you must do before you can get to my daughters.” And they all asked what it was-- what the first one was.
And the king said, “You must go into the forest and find one thousand pearls. This is before sunrise tomorrow.”
The oldest brother said. “This is easy! I shall do this in half that time!” And so the oldest brother went into the woods and found one hundred and fifty-three pearls, and fell asleep. At sunrise the next day, he was turned into stone.
The medium sized brother said, “I shall do this better than my bigger brother.” and he went into the woods and found ninety-three pearls and he fell asleep. And he was turned to stone.
And then Simpleton went into the woods and said, “I shall try.”
And he went into the woods, and he found ten pearls. And before he fell asleep, the queen of the ants came up onto his finger and said, “You may rest now, friend, and I shall help you.” And so Simpleton went to bed. And all the ants in the queen’s colony picked up as many pearls as they could find and put them in a large pile next to Simpleton. And when Simpleton woke up, he brought all the pearls to the King.
And the King said, “Well, the next task is, you must dive to the bottom of a great lake and retrieve a golden key.”
So Simpleton marched through the woods until he got to the edge of a lake. And on the lake was a duck. And the duck waddled over to Simpleton and said, “I shall get the key for you. You may rest now.” And the duck dived to the bottom of the lake and picked up the key and brought it back to Simpleton and jumped in his lap.
And Simpleton brought the key to the king. And the king said, “Now you must climb to the highest tower and find out which girl has eaten the sweetest thing before they went to bed.”
So Simpleton climbed to the highest tower, unlocked the door, and as soon as he opened the door, in through the window flew the Queen Bee, and the Queen Bee said, “I know there’s one of these girls who eats honey! I shall figure out which one for you.”
And the Queen Bee landed on the lips of the youngest daughter and said, “This one! This one! This girl has been eating honey!” And Simpleton went over and shook the girl. And all three of them woke up with startled expressions on their faces.
And the king came huffing and puffing up the stairs after Simpleton. And the King said, “You may have three wishes, now that you have awakened my daughter.”
And Simpleton said, “I wish that my two brothers were not stone. And for my second wish, I wish that we could all marry your daughters. And for my final wish I wish that we could live happily ever after."
And so it was: the brothers changed back from being stone, and they all three married the princesses. But Simpleton married the youngest because she was the prettiest. And they lived
happily ever after.