Two kings' sons once went out in search of adventures, and fell into a wild, disorderly way of living, so that they never came home again. The youngest, who was called Simpleton, set out to seek his brothers, but when at length he found them they mocked him for thinking that he with his simplicity could get through the world, when they two could not make their way, and yet were so much cleverer. They all three travelled away together, and came to an ant-hill. The two elder wanted to destroy it, to see the little ants creeping about in their terror, and carrying their eggs away, but Simpleton said,“Leave the creatures in peace; I will not allow you to disturb them.”Then they went onwards and came to a lake, on which a great number of ducks were swimming. The two brothers wanted to catch a couple and roast them, but Simpleton would not permit it, and said,“Leave the creatures in peace, I will not suffer you to kill them.”At length they came to a bee's nest, in which there was so much honey that it ran out of the trunk of the tree where it was. The two wanted to make a fire beneath the tree, and suffocate the bees in order to take away the honey, but Simpleton again stopped them and said,“Leave the creatures in peace, I will not allow you to burn them.”At length the three brothers arrived at a castle where stone horses were standing in the stables, and no human being was to be seen, and they went through all the halls until, quite at the end, they came to a door in which were three locks. In the middle of the door, however, there was a little pane, through which they could see into the room. There they saw a little grey man, who was sitting at a table. They called him, once, twice, but he did not hear; at last they called him for the third time, when he got up, opened the locks, and came out. He said nothing, however, but conducted them to a handsomelyspread table, and when they had eaten and drunk, he took each of them to a bedroom. Next morning the little grey man came to the eldest, beckoned to him, and conducted him to a stone table, on which were inscribed three tasks, by the performance of which the castle could be delivered. The first was that in the forest, beneath the moss, lay the princess's pearls, a thousand in number, which must be picked up, and if by sunset one single pearl was wanting, he who had looked for them would be turned into stone. The eldest went thither, and sought the whole day, but when it came to an end, he had only found one hundred, and what was written on the table came to pass, and he was changed into stone. Next day, the second brother undertook the adventure; it did not, however, fare much better with him than with the eldest; he did not find more than two hundred pearls, and was changed to stone. At last the turn came to Simpleton also, who sought in the moss. It was, however, so hard to find the pearls, and he got on so slowly, that he seated himself on a stone, and wept. And while he was thus sitting, the King of the ants whose life he had once saved, came with five thousand ants, and before long the little creatures had got all the pearls together, and laid them in a heap. The second task, however, was to fetch out of the lake the key of the King's daughter's bed-chamber. When Simpleton came to the lake, the ducks which he had saved, swam up to him, dived down, and brought the key out of the water. But the third task was the most difficult; from amongst the three sleeping daughters of the King was the youngest and dearest to be sought out. They, however, resembled each other exactly, and were only to be distinguished by their having eaten different sweetmeats before they fell asleep; the eldest a bit of sugar; the second a little syrup; and the youngest a spoonful of honey.Then the Queen of the bees, which Simpleton had protected from the fire, came and tasted the lips of all three, and at last she remained sitting on the mouth which had eaten honey, and thus the King's son recognized the right princess. Then the enchantment was at an end; everything was released from sleep, and those who had been turned to stone received once more their natural forms. Simpleton married the youngest and sweetest princess, and after her father's death became King, and his two brothers received the two other sisters.
有一次,兩個(gè)王子出去冒險(xiǎn),竟過(guò)起放蕩荒唐的生活,根本不再回家。叫作“小笨蛋”的最小的王子動(dòng)身去找他的哥哥,終于找到他們,他們卻嘲笑他,說(shuō)他頭腦這么簡(jiǎn)單,還想去闖世界,他們兩個(gè)聰明得多,尚且不行。他們?nèi)艘黄鹜白?,?lái)到一個(gè)螞蟻穴跟前。兩個(gè)哥哥要捅螞蟻穴,看小螞蟻如何驚恐地搬運(yùn)蟻卵,小笨蛋卻說(shuō):“讓小螞蟻安寧吧,我不能容忍你們打擾它們?!彼麄兝^續(xù)往前走,來(lái)到一個(gè)湖邊,湖面上游著許多鴨子。兩個(gè)哥哥要捉幾只來(lái)烤,小笨蛋不同意,說(shuō):“讓小鴨子安寧吧,我不能容忍你們殺死它們?!彼麄儊?lái)到一個(gè)蜂窩旁邊,蜂窩里蜂蜜多得順著樹(shù)干往下流淌。兩個(gè)哥哥要在樹(shù)下點(diǎn)把火,熏死蜜蜂,好取走蜂蜜。小笨蛋又制止他們說(shuō):“讓小蜜蜂安寧吧,我不能容忍你們燒死它們。”三兄弟終于來(lái)到一座宮殿,那里馬廄里立著的都是石馬,也看不見(jiàn)一個(gè)人影。他們穿過(guò)所有大廳,一直走到盡頭一扇門(mén)前,門(mén)上掛著三把鎖,門(mén)正中有個(gè)小窗,可以看到屋里。他們看見(jiàn)一個(gè)白發(fā)蒼蒼的小老頭坐在一張桌子旁邊。他們喊他一聲,又喊一聲,他都聽(tīng)不見(jiàn),喊第三聲時(shí),他才站起來(lái)開(kāi)鎖,走出來(lái)。但他不說(shuō)一句話(huà),只領(lǐng)他們?cè)谝粡垟[著豐盛食物的桌旁坐下。吃喝完畢,老頭兒又領(lǐng)他們?nèi)ジ髯缘呐P室。第二天早晨,那個(gè)白發(fā)蒼蒼的小老頭來(lái)找大王子,打手勢(shì)把他領(lǐng)到一座石碑前面,碑上寫(xiě)著三件事,辦好這三件事宮殿就能被解除魔法。第一件事是森林里苔蘚下面藏著公主的一千顆珍珠,要在日落之前把它們都找出來(lái),如果缺一顆,找珍珠的人就要變成石頭。大王子去找了一整天,到日落天黑,才找到一百顆珍珠。結(jié)果像石碑上所寫(xiě)的那樣,他變成了石頭。第二天,二王子去冒險(xiǎn),他比老大也好不了多少,找到的不超過(guò)二百顆,他也變成了石頭。最后輪到小笨蛋去苔蘚里面找,但是找珍珠談何容易,進(jìn)展極其緩慢。他坐在一塊石頭上哭開(kāi)了。正哭著,他救過(guò)命的螞蟻王率領(lǐng)五千螞蟻來(lái)了,不一會(huì)兒,這些小動(dòng)物就把珍珠都找了出來(lái),堆成了一堆。第二件事是要把公主臥室的鑰匙從海里撈出來(lái)。小笨蛋來(lái)到海邊,他救過(guò)命的那幾只鴨子游過(guò)來(lái),潛入海底,取出鑰匙。第三件事是最難的,那就是要從睡著的三個(gè)公主當(dāng)中找出那位最年輕、最可愛(ài)的公主。但是她們?nèi)齻€(gè)長(zhǎng)得一模一樣,毫無(wú)差別,只是入睡前吃過(guò)不同的甜食:大公主吃了一塊糖,二公主吃了一點(diǎn)糖漿,小公主吃了一滿(mǎn)勺蜂蜜。這時(shí),受小笨蛋保護(hù)才沒(méi)被燒死的蜂王來(lái)了,它把三個(gè)人的嘴都檢查一遍,最后停在吃過(guò)蜂蜜的公主嘴上,這么一來(lái),王子就認(rèn)出要找的人來(lái)了。魔法已經(jīng)破除,所有的人們都從酣睡中被解救出來(lái),早先變成了石頭的,也都恢復(fù)了人形。小笨蛋和最年輕可愛(ài)的公主結(jié)婚了,老國(guó)王去世后,他當(dāng)了國(guó)王。他的兩個(gè)哥哥也和公主的兩個(gè)姐姐結(jié)了婚。
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