Hello there,
My name's Mandy.
I'm really pleased you've decided to join me for tonight's reading.
It's one of the original stories brought to us by those well-known brothers and academics,
Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
Before we start,
Let's just spend a few moments taking up a comfortable position,
Whether you're sitting or lying down,
And do any of those last-minute little adjustments that you might need to,
Just making yourself as comfortable as you can be tonight at this particular moment in time.
Okay,
Then I'll begin.
The Queen Bee.
Two king's sons,
Once upon a time,
Went out into the world to seek their fortunes.
But they soon fell into a wasteful,
Foolish way of living,
So they couldn't return home again.
Then their young brother went out to seek for his brothers.
But when he'd found them,
They only laughed at him,
To think that he,
Who was so young and simple,
Should try to travel through the world when they,
Who were so much wiser,
Had been unable to get on.
However,
They all set out on their journey together and came at last to an anthill.
The two elder brothers would have pulled it down in order to see how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry off their eggs.
But the little brother said,
Let the poor things enjoy themselves,
I will not suffer you to trouble them.
So on they went and came to a lake where many,
Many ducks were swimming around.
The two brothers wanted to catch two and roast them.
But the little brother said,
Let the poor things enjoy themselves,
You shall not kill them.
Next they came to a bee's nest in a hollow tree and there was so much honey that it ran down the trunk.
And the two brothers wanted to light a fire under the tree and kill the bees so as to get their honey.
But the little brother held them back and said,
Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves,
I cannot let you burn them.
At length the three brothers came to a castle and as they passed by the stables they saw fine horses standing there.
But all were of marble and no man was to be seen.
Then they went through all the rooms till they came to a door on which were three locks.
But in the middle of the door was a wicket so that they could look into the next room.
There they saw a little grey old man sitting at a table and they called to him once and they called to him twice but he didn't hear.
However when they called a third time he rose and came out to them.
He said nothing but took hold of them and led them to a beautiful table covered with all sorts of good things.
And when they had eaten and drunk he showed each of them to a bed chamber.
The next morning he came to the eldest and took him to a marble table where there were three tablets containing an account of the means by which the castle might be disenchanted.
The first tablet said in the wood under the moss lie the thousand pearls belonging to the king's daughter.
They must all be found and if one be missing by set of sun he who seeks them will be turned into marble.
So the eldest brother set out and sought for the pearls the whole day but the evening came and he had not found the first hundred.
So he was turned into stone as the tablet had foretold.
The next day the second brother undertook the task but he succeeded no better than the first for he could only find the second hundred of the pearls and therefore he too was turned into stone.
At last came the little brother's turn and he looked in the moss but it was so hard to find the pearls and the job was so tiresome that he sat down upon a stone and cried and as he sat there the king of the ants whose life he had saved came to help him with five thousand other ants and it was not long before they had found all the pearls and laid them in a heap.
The second tablet said the key of the princess's bed chamber must be fished up out of the lake and as the little brother came to the brink of the lake he saw the two ducks whose lives he had saved swimming about and they dived down and soon brought up the key from the bottom.
The third task was the hardest it was to choose out the youngest and the best of the king's three daughters.
Now they were all beautiful and all exactly alike but he was told that the eldest had eaten a piece of sugar,
The next some sweet syrup and the youngest a spoonful of honey so he was to guess which it was that had eaten the honey.
Then came the queen of the bees who had been saved by the little brother from the fire and she tried the lips of all three but at last she sat upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey and so the little brother knew which was the youngest.
Thus the spell was broken and all who had been turned into stone awoke and they took their proper forms and the little brother married the youngest and best of the princesses and was king after her father's death but he was merciful and allowed his two brothers to marry the other two sisters.
