Once upon a time, there were three brothers. The youngest one was a dwarf. One day, the three brothers left home to find their fortunes. After travelling for a while, they came upon an anthill. The eldest brother said, “Let’s destroy the anthill and watch the ants run.”
The dwarf said, “No! I will not let you trouble them.” The two brothers laughed, but they did not harm the ants. Then, they came to a lake with many ducks. The second brother said, “Let us roast two ducks and eat them for dinner.” But the dwarf stopped him by saying, “No! Do not kill them.” So, they moved on from there.
Next, they came to a beehive inside a tree. The two elder brothers said, “Let us light a fire and kill the bees and then, we can get their honey.” But the dwarf held them back and said, “No! I cannot let you burn them.”
After some time, the three brothers reached an enchanted castle. They went in and met an old man. He showed them three marble tablets. They had the instructions to break the enchantment of the castle.
The first tablet said, ‘In the forest, under the moss, lie a thousand pearls. They must all be found before sunset; else, he who seeks them shall be turned into a statue.’ The eldest brother set out and by the evening, he had found hardly a hundred pearls. So, he turned into a marble statue. The second brother undertook the task. He also could not collect all the pearls, so he turned into a marble statue too.
Now, it was the dwarf’s turn. As he was searching, the ants whose lives he had saved, came to help him. They quickly found all the pearls.
The old man showed the second tablet, which said, ‘The key of the treasury must be fished out of the lake.’ As the dwarf stood near the lake, the two ducks, whose lives he had saved, dived down and brought up the key for him.
The third task was to choose the youngest of the king’s three daughters. They looked alike. But the youngest had eaten some honey. Just then, one of the bees, whose life the dwarf had saved, sat upon the lips of the princess who had eaten honey. The dwarf now knew who the youngest daughter was.
Thus, the spell was broken. The dwarf married the youngest princess and his two brothers married the other two princesses respectively.
