“What I can tell is best of all,” said the jackal. “I know of a king who has only one daughter, and she lies weak and pale now three long years. If only someone would bathe her in beech leaves she would grow strong and rosy. Whoever cures her will make his fortune.”
At the last word day began to dawn. The bear, the wolf, and the jackal left the mill and disappeared into the wood.
The boy had heard it all. Full of thanks he came out of the hopper. “Perhaps,” said he to himself, “I may be the one to find the money, take away the stone, and cure the king’s daughter. If so, my fortune is sure.”
He set forward with a stout heart just as the sun rose. Soon its beams fell on a hill to the right and something glittered in its rays. And here he found the great heap of money, a fortune in itself. Farther on he came to the town where the people had no water. In the center of it there was the stone. He rolled it away, and behold! streams of clear water gushed forth. The people ran to get pitchers and filled them to overflowing. And they gave him a great sum of gold and silver. After this he set out for the kingdom of which the jackal had spoken. When he arrived he asked the king, “What wilt thou give me if I cure thy daughter?”
“If thou canst do this,” said the king, “thy fortune is made, for I will give thee my daughter as thy wife.”
The youth gathered the beech leaves, the princess bathed in them, and was cured. In great joy the king married the maiden to the youth. So now his fortune was made.
The news of this reached the ears of the selfish brother. He came to his brother and asked how it had all happened. When he heard he said, “I also will go and stay at that mill a night or two.” His brother warned him of the danger. But he would not listen. He reached the mill, crept into the hopper, and waited.
As before, at midnight, from some place or other, the bear, the wolf, and the jackal came into the mill, and went leaping and bounding about as if they were having a dance. And when they had done the bear said, “Come, let us each tell something he has seen or heard. I’ll begin.
“Next day after I told you my story the money was all taken away.”
The wolf said, “And the stone was rolled away and the water found.”