The Queen Bee
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The Queen Bee is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 62. It is Aarne-Thompson type 554, the grateful animals.
[edit] Synopsis
Two king's sons went out to seek their fortune, but fell into disorderly ways. The youngest, Simpleton, went out to find them, but they mocked him. They traveled on, and Simpleton prevented his brothers from destroying an ant hill, killing some ducks, and suffocating a bee hive with smoke. Then they came to a castle with stone horses in the stable, and no sign of anyone. They hunted through it and found a room with a little gray man, who showed them to dinner. In the morning, he showed the oldest son a stone table, on which were written three tasks. Whoever performed them would free the castle.
The first was to collect the princess's thousand pearls, scattered in the woods. Whoever tried and failed would be turned to stone. The older brother tried and failed. For the youngest, however, the ants collected the pearls. The second was to fetch from the key to the princess's bedchamber from the lake, which the ducks did for him. The third was to pick out the youngest princess from the three sleeping princesses; they looked exactly alike, and the only difference was that the oldest had eaten a bit of sugar before they slept, the second a little syrup, and the youngest some honey. The queen bee picked out the youngest.
This woke the castle, and restored all those who had been turned to stone. The youngest son married the youngest princess, and his two brothers, the other princesses.
[edit] See also
- The Grateful Beasts
- The Glass Coffin
- The Two Brothers
- Sleeping Beauty
- Ferdinand the Faithful and Ferdinand the Unfaithful
