And the King said, “Well, the next task is, you must dive to the - PDF document

And the King said, “Well, the next task is, you must dive to the bottom of a great lake and retrieve a golden key.”So Simpleton walked through the woods until he got to the edge of a lake. And on the lake was a duck. And the duck waddled over to Simpleton and said, “I’ll get the key for you. You just rest yourself.” And the duck dived to the bottom of the lake and picked up the key and brought it back to Simpleton and jumped in his lap.And Simpleton brought the key to the king. And the king said, “Now you must climb to the highest tower and nd out which of the girls ate the sweetest thing before they went to bed.” So Simpleton climbed to the highest tower, unlocked the door, and as soon as he opened the door, in through the window ew the Queen Bee.And the Queen Bee said, “I know there’s one of these girls who eats honey! I’ll gure out which one for you.”And the Queen Bee landed on the lips of the youngest daughter and said, “is one! is one!” And Simpleton went over and shook the girl. And all three of them woke up with startled expressions on their faces.And the king came hung and pung up the stairs after Simpleton. And the King said, “You may have three wishes now that you have awakened my daughter.”And Simpleton said, “I wish that my two brothers were not stone. And for my second wish, I wish that we could all marry your daughters. And for my nal wish I wish that we could live happily ever after. And so it was: (the brothers changed back from being stone, and they all three married the princesses, but Simpleton married the youngest because she was the sweetest. And they lived happily ever after. So then they agreed to go with Simpleton. And they walked on until they came to a giant oak tree, with a beehive on one limb.And the biggest brother said, “Let’s smoke’m out.” And the medium sized brother said, “Yeah, let’s do.” and the smallest brother, Simpleton, said, “No, let the bees be. We’ll nd something somewhere else.”And so they agreed to go with Simpleton, and they walked on until they came to a great castle. And in front of the castle there was a King, crying. And they all said together, “Why are you crying, Mr. King?” And the King said, “ree of my daughters have been plunged into a deep sleep, and I do not know how to get them out.” And the biggest brother said, “Well, we shall help you. What shall we do?” e King said, “ere are three tasks you must do before you can get to my daughters.” And they all asked what it was-- what the rst one was. And the king said, “You must go into the forest and nd one thousand pearls. And you must do this before sunrise tomorrow.”e oldest brother said. “is is so easy! I can do it in half that time!” And so the oldest brother went into the woods and found one hundred and fty-three pearls, and fell asleep. At sunrise the next day, he was turned into stone.e medium sized brother said, “I’ll do better than my big brother.” and he went into the woods and found ninety-three pearls and fell asleep. And was turned to stone.And then Simpleton went into the woods and said, “I will try.”And he went into the woods, and he found ten pearls. And before he fell asleep, the queen of the ants came up onto his nger and said, “You may rest now, friend, and I shall help you.” And so Simpleton went to bed. And all the ants in the queen’s colony picked up as many pearls as they could nd and put them in a big pile next to Simpleton. And when Simpleton woke up, he brought all the pearls to the King. I began a 2002 Calais School residency by telling my old stand-by, “Dimwit,” a Jack Tale version of the three-brothers story about a battle of wits between a Princess who always gets the last word until the youngest brother’s clever foolishness �nally bests her. Afterwards, a sixth grader told me, “I know another story about that guy, it’s a family story, we tell it in my family.”This never happens, but sure tale, the real deal, He spoke with great simplicity and authority, front of many different audiences, Here are the boy’s words, taken verbatim from a recording of his assembly performance. Try saying it aloud, simply, one thing wonderful tale. --Tim Jenningsnce upon a time, there were three men. A big brother, a smaller brother, and the smallest brother, who was named Simpleton. And they went o in the world to seek their fortune.And soon along the trail they came upon an anthill.And the big brother said, “Let’s squish’em.” And the medium sized brother said, “Yeah, let’s do.” And Simpleton said, “No, they aren’t bothering us, Let’s let the ants be.” And they all agreed to go with Simpleton, and they all rode on.And then, soon after, they came to a pond, with giant trees around it, and grey, clear water.And the biggest one said, “See that duck out there? Let’s go kill’m and eat’m.” And the medium one said, “Yeah, let’s do.” And Simpleton said, “No, let the duck be, we’ll nd another kind of food.”