His father, whose name was Felix, was a great and good king. He had reigned many years, had filled his treasury with gold, and made many wise laws for the welfare of his people. He was very anxious that his son should grow up an educated and refined man; and he tried by kind words and wholesome advice to show him the necessity of work and the folly of idleness. But Willful paid no heed to his father's words, and daily grew more indolent.
At last the king could bear it no longer; and he said that if the prince would not learn from books, he should be taught in a way not so pleasant. Accordingly he called Willful to him one day and told him that he was going to send him away from home, and that he could not return until by watching the birds, the beasts and the insects he had learned the three lessons most necessary for a prince to know.
He did not say what these lessons were, but left that for the boy to find out himself. Then he gave Willful a golden cross to protect him from harm, a magic glass to magnify even the tiniest creatures, and a curious fan-shaped instrument, by which the languages of the animal-world might be understood.
With these to assist him, Willful started on his journey. He visited many countries and saw many wonderful things, but it was a long time before he learned anything from what he saw, for he was so proud that he thought nothing could teach him.
But one day he was lying down in the shade of a tree, and was looking around for some object of interest, when he saw a number of ants going up and down the tree in great haste. He further noticed that when two ants met they would stop and touch each other with the little horns on their heads, just as people shake hands.
This amused Willful, and he wished to know its meaning, so he took out his hearing fan, and placing it to his lips he found that one ant said to the other, "Good morning, Mr. Ant; fine day. Been to breakfast?" to which the other replied pleasantly, and passed on.
While he was watching these tiny creatures, he saw one which appeared very much excited over something. It stopped one of its friends who was going up the tree, and said, "Have you seen my goats this morning? I went up to milk them a few moments ago; and can not find them anywhere." "Yes," replied the other, "They got over into my pasture; come with me and I will find them for you." Then the two went up the tree and disappeared.
Willful's curiosity was thoroughly aroused; so he climbed the tree, and, crawling out upon one of the branches, took out his magic glass and looked around to see what the ants meant by their "goats."