A king had three sons. Two of the sons were charming, smart, and handsome. However, they were lazy, and only thought of themselves, never cared about other people's comfort or pleasure. They had a younger brother named Alexander, who was quiet and gentle. The two older brothers often laughed at him.
“You are too naïve to ever make your way in the world,” they said.

One day, the three brothers started on a journey together. They had not gone far when they came to an ant hill.
“Let us go up to this ant hill,” said the oldest brother. ”It will be fun to see the frightened ants running to and fro carrying their eggs.”
“No, no,” said Alexander, “leave the little ants in peace. Why should we frighten them?”
They left the ants' hill unharmed, and off they went.

Soon they came to a lake. Many ducks were swimming about on the water. Then the second brother said,
“Come, let us throw stones at some of these fine ducks.”
“No,” said Alexander, “do not hurt them. We do not need them for food. So why should we cause them pain and injury?”

So they left the ducks swimming about on the lake. They walked on till they came to a bees' nest in a tree.
“Let us kindle a fire,” said the oldest brother. “The smoke will keep the bees from stinging us. Then we can take the honey.”
But Alexander held him back.
“Do not make a fire. Why should we rob the bees of their nest? We are not hungry, and we cannot carry the honey with us.”
Again, they listened to his words, though they said,
“You are a poor, silly fellow.”
On and on they went.

At last, they came to a great castle. It was made of stone, and all things they saw, even the horses in the stables, were stone.
The brothers went through room after room. They did not see a man nor a woman nor a child, only stone figures.
At last, they reached a door, through a hole in which they saw a little, gray man. They knocked on the door. The man stood up, opened the door, gave them food and showed them a room where they might sleep. But he did not speak one word.

The next morning, he showed a stone table on which were written three tasks. These were tasks everyone who came to the castle must undertake.
The first was this:
“In the moss around the castle, are scattered a thousand pearls. They must all be found in one day. Whoever does this will free the castle from its spell. Whoever tries and fails will himself be turned to stone at sunset.”

The oldest brother read these words and began at once to search for the pearls. He looked all day long. But when sunset came he had found only a hundred. So he was turned into stone.
The next day the second brother began the search. He began before day time, searching by moonlight. But at sunset he had found only two hundred pearls. So he, too, was changed to stone.

It was now the turn of Alexander. He searched and searched, but he found only a handful of the pearls. As the sun was about to set, poor Alexander dropped the gems and began to weep. As he wept there came to him the ants whose home he had saved.
“Good day, friend Alexander,” they said, “Once you did us a good turn. Now we will repay you.”
Here and there through the moss went the little ants. One after another came up with a pearl which it laid before him. Then home they went without waiting for his thanks.

In great joy, Alexander carried the pearls to the castle. Then the old gray man pointed to the stone table. There Alexander read the second task.
“The key of the princesses’ room is under the mud and water of this great lake. It must be found and the door unlocked.”
“Ah!” thought Alexander, “this is a thing I can never do. No man on earth can dive deep enough to find a little key lost in a great lake.”

He went out and stood beside the lake, and his tears fell into the blue water. Then the ducks that he had saved came swimming to his feet. “Do not be so sad, friend Alexander,” they said. “You saved us. Now it is our time to save you.”
Down to the bottom of the lake they dived. At last one came up with the key in his beak.
Alexander took it and unlocked the door of the princesses’ room. There they lay, all three fast asleep.

Now the little gray man pointed Alexander to his last task, the hardest of all.
“Go into the room where the three princesses lie asleep. They are so much alike that their own mother cannot tell one from another. You must awaken the youngest and dearest. Before they went to sleep the oldest ate some sugar, the second a little sirup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey.”
But how was Alexander to know which had eaten the honey? He stood looking at the princesses. They were as much like one another as his image in the mirror was like him.
Just then there flew into the room the queen bee of the nest that he had saved. She flew to the king's daughters and buzzed from one to another:
“Buzz, buzz”, she buzzed around the princesses.
Then she began to sip honey from the lips of one. Thus Alexander knew this was the youngest, and he woke her up.

When she opened her eyes the castle was freed from its spell. The other princesses woke up, and the horses and men took their own shapes again.
Then the king gave Alexander half his kingdom, and his youngest daughter as bride. The two other brothers married the other princesses. They had learned from Alexanderg that it is better to be simple and kind hearted than clever and unkind.