AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



627 



though unsolicited anxiety to fill the 

 order " when they were needed," though 

 before he paid a noble disregard to com- 

 munications on the subject. 

 Dayton, Ills. 



The Qiieei Bee— Interesting Legends, 



A king once had two sons who were 

 considered clever ; yet they wasted their 

 time and money in folly and dissipation, 

 and were scarcely ever at home. They 

 had a younger brother whom they called 

 stupid, because he was quiet and simple, 

 and they used to make sport, ai*d mock 

 him, and say that such a simpleton as 

 he would never fight his way through 

 -the world, for they, with all their clever- 

 ness, found it a very difficult matter. 



One evening, however, they took him 

 for a walk with them, and on their way 

 they met with an ant hill, and the two 

 elder brothers wanted to overturn the 

 hill, that they might see the little ants 

 running and creeping about in their 

 fright, and carrying their eggs away to 

 a place of safety. But the simpleton 

 said: "No, no; leave the little crea- 

 tures in peace. 1 do not like to see them 

 disturbed." 



The brothers gave way to him, and 

 they went on quietly till they came to a 

 lake on which a large number of ducks 

 were swimming, and the brothers wished 

 to catch one or two for roasting ; but 

 the simpleton said: "Leave the poor 

 birds in peace ; I cannot endure that 

 you should kill any of them." 



So the ducks were left to live, and the 

 three brothers walked on again, until at 

 length they came to a bees' nest in a 

 tree, with so much honey that it ran 

 over on the trunk. The two brothers 

 wanted to light a fire under the tree to 

 smother the bees, that they might take 

 away the honey ; but the younger 

 brother held them back. " Leave the 

 poor insects in peace," he said ; "I can- 

 not bear to think of their being burnt," 



Again they listened to him, stupid as 

 they thought him, and the three brothers 

 walked on until they came to a castle 

 where in the stables stood horses of pure 

 stone. They went all over the rooms 

 and through the castle until they 

 reached a door to which were three 

 locks. The center of this door was 

 glass, through which one could see into 

 the room. They looked and saw a very 

 old man sitting at a table. They called 

 him more than once, but he did not hear 

 until they called a third time. Then he 

 rose up, opened the three locks, and 



came out. Even then he uttered not a 

 word, but led them to a richly prepared 

 table, and after they had eaten and 

 drank as much as they wished, he 

 allowed them to remain all night and 

 sleep in his own chamber. 



The next morning the gray old man 

 came to the eldest brother, made signs 

 to him to follow, and led him to a stone 

 table, on which were engraved three 

 sentences, the first in the following 

 words : 



"In the wood under the moss are 

 scattered the pearls of the king's daugh- 

 ter ; they are 1,000 in number, and 

 whoever can find them all in one day 

 before the sun goes down, will release 

 the castle from its enchantment ; but if 

 he should search and not succeed before 

 sunset, he will be turned into stone." 



The eldcist brother read these words, 

 and determined to try. He searched for 

 the whole day, but when the hour of 

 sunset arrived, he had only found 100 

 pearls, and, according to the writing on 

 the table, he was turned into stone. 



Notwithstanding this, the second 

 brother made an attempt, and began his 

 task in the evening, so that he searched 

 all night, but with very little more suc- 

 cess than his brother. By sunset next 

 day he had only found 200 pearls ; he 

 was therefore turned into stone. 



At last came the turn of the simpleton 

 to seek among the moss ; but he had no 

 confidence in himself, and he was so 

 miserable at having to find the pearls, 

 that he went quite reluctantly, and 

 when he reached the place, sat down on 

 a stone and wept. As he sat there 

 weeping, he saw coming toward him the 

 ant king, whose kingdom and life he 

 had saved, with thousand of his ants, 

 and it was not long before they had 

 found all the pearls, and piled them up 

 in a large heap. Then they went home, 

 scarcely waiting for his thanks ; they 

 had only intended to show their grati- 

 tude. 



The poor simpleton was quite over- 

 joyed ; but on returning to the castle he 

 found the second task awaiting him. It 

 was to fetch the key of the princess' 

 sleeping chamber from the bottom of 

 the lake into which it had been thrown. 

 So the simpleton went to the shore of 

 the lake, wondering what he should do. 

 But the ducks knew him in a moment, 

 and were ready to help him, because he 

 had saved> their lives, and asked what 

 he wanted. No sooner had he told them 

 than they dived to the bottom, and in a 

 few moments brought up the key and 

 gave it to him. 



There was still another task to per- 



