Three Wise Men and the King's Daughter

A King had a very beautiful daughter, and was anxious that she should marry some one who had made himself famous in some particular way.

Three men in the city came forward and begged the King for her hand in marriage.

"But what can you do?" asked the King.

"I can tell if a thing is lost, where to find it," said the first, "and produce it if required."

The second said: "I can make such wonderful horses out of wood, that they can rise to any height and go anywhere."

The third said: "I can shoot with my bow any living thing."

The King was pleased, and went and told his daughter, asking her to choose which she would have as a husband.

"I will tell you to-morrow," said the girl.

The King agreed, but on the morrow she was nowhere to be found, and her father, much distressed, went to the three wise men.

"Now," said he to the first, "tell me where my daughter is."

"She is with the fairies," he replied, "and unless the one in charge of her is killed, she cannot return."

Then the King turned to the other two men. To the horse-maker he said: "Go and make me a horse," and to the other: "Take your bow and arrow, mount the horse, and go and shoot the fairy: bring my daughter back with you."

Forthwith the men prepared: the horse was made, and mounted by the man with his bow and arrows, then they all disappeared into the skies. There they found the King's daughter guarded by a fairy.

The third man soon shot the fairy with his bow and arrow, and, lifting the Princess upon his horse, returned with her to her father.

Now each man felt that he had an equal claim upon her, and had earned her as his wife; so the King asked her to decide.

"I will marry the man who shot the fairy," said she, "and no other."

This decision being final, they had a grand feast in celebration of her marriage.

Moral.--Those who think they have the best claim, do not always attain their desires!