The gold-bearded man

an to lay their heads together to plot his ruin.
Then they went to the king.
`Your Majesty,` they said, `we think it our duty to tell you that your new companion has boasted to us that if he were only your steward he would not lose a single grain of corn out of the storehouses. Now, if your Majesty would give orders that a sack of wheat should be mixed with one of barley, and would send for the youth, and command him to separate the grains one from another, in two hours` time, you would soon see what his talk was worth.`
The king, who was weak, listened to what these wicked men had told him, and desired the prince to have the contents of the sack piled into two heaps by the time that he returned from his council. `If you succeed,` he added, `you shall be my steward, but if you fail, I will put you to death on the spot.`
The unfortunate prince declared that he had never made any such boast as was reported; but it was all in vain. The king did not believe him, and turning him into an empty room, bade his servants carry in the huge sack filled with wheat and barley, and scatter them in a heap on the floor.
The prince hardly knew where to begin, and indeed if he had had a thousand people to help him, and a week to do it in, he could never have finished his task. So he flung himself on the ground in despair, and covered his face with his hands.
While he lay thus, a wood-pigeon flew in through the window.
`Why are you weeping, noble prince?` asked the wood-pigeon.
`How can I help weeping at the task set me by the king. For he says, if I fail to do it, I shall die a horrible death.`
`Oh, there is really nothing to cry about,` answered the wood-pigeon soothingly. `I am the king of the wood-pigeons, whose life you spared when you were hungry. And now I will repay my debt, as I promised.` So saying he flew out of the window, leaving the prince with some hope in his heart.
In a few minutes he returned, followed by a cloud of wood-pigeons, so dense that it seemed to fill the room. Their king showed them what they had to do, and they set to work so hard that the grain was sorted into two heaps long before the council was over. When the king came back he could not believe his eyes; but search as he might through the two heaps, he could not find any barley among the wheat, or any wheat amongst the barley. So he praised the prince for his industry and cleverness, and made him his steward at once.
This made the two soldiers more envious still, and they began to hatch another plot.
`Your Majesty,` they said to the king, one day, as he was standing on the steps of the palace, `that fellow has been boasting again, that if he had the care of your treasures not so much as a gold pin should ever be lost. Put this vain fellow to the proof, we pray you, and throw the ring from the princess`s finger into the brook, and bid him find it. We shall soon see what his talk is worth.`
And the foolish king listened to them, and ordered the prince to be brought before him.
`My son,` he said, `I have heard that you have declared that if I made you keeper of my treasures you would never lose so much as a gold pin. Now, in order to prove the truth of your words, I am going to throw the ring from the princess`s finger into the brook, and if you do not find it before I come back from council, you will have to die a horrible death.`
It was no use denying that he had said anything of the kind. The king did not believe him; in fact he paid no attention at all, and hurried off, leaving the poor boy speechless with despair in the corner. However, he soon remembered that though it was very unlikely that he should find the ring in the brook, it was impossible that he should find it by staying in the palace.
For some time the prince wandered up and down peering into the bottom of the stream, but though the water was very clear, nothing could he see of the ring. At length he gave it up in despair, and throwing himself down at the foot of the tree, he wept bitterly.
`What is the matter, dear prince?` said a voice just above him, and raising his head, he saw the wild duck.
`The king of this country declares I must die a horrible death if I cannot find the princess`s ring which he has thrown into the brook,` answered the prince.
`Oh, you must not vex yourself about that, for I can help you,` replied the bird. `I am the king of the wild ducks, whose life you spared, and now it is my turn to save yours.` Then he flew away, and in a few minutes a great flock of wild ducks were swimming all up and down the stream looking with all their might, and long before the king came back from his council there it was, safe on the grass beside the prince.
At this sight the king was yet more astonished at the cleverness of his steward, and at once promoted him to be the keeper of his jewels.
Now you would have thought that by this time the king would have been satisfied with the prince, and would have left him alone; but people`s natures are very hard to change, and when the two envious soldiers came to him with a new falsehood, he was as ready to listen to them as before.
`Gracious Majesty,` said they, `the youth whom you have made keeper of your jewels has declared to us that a child shall be born in the palace this night, which will be able to speak every language in the world and to play every instrument of music. Is he then become a prophet, or a magician, that he should know things which have not yet come to pass?`
At these words the king became more angry than ever. He had tried to learn magic himself, but somehow or other his spells would never work, and he was furious to hear that the prince claimed a power that he did not possess. Stammering with rage, he ordered the youth to be brought before him, and vowed that unless this miracle was accomplished he would have the prince dragged at a horse`s tail until he was dead.
In spite of what the soldiers had said, the boy knew no more magic than the king did, and his task seemed more hopeless than before. He lay weeping in the chamber which he was forbidden to leave, when suddenly he heard a sharp tapping at the window, and, looking up, he beheld a stork.
`What makes you so sad, prince?` asked he.
`Someone has told the king that I have prophesied that a child shall be born this night in the palace, who can speak all the languages in the world and play every musical instrument. I am no magician to bring these things to pass, but he says that if it does not happen he will have me dragged through the city at a horse`s tail till I die.`
`Do not trouble yourself,` answered the stork. `I will manage to find such a child, for I am the king of the storks whose life you spared, and now I can repay you for it.`
The stork flew away and soon returned carrying in his beak a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes, and laid it down near a lute. In an instant the baby stretched out its little hands and began to play a tune so beautiful that even the prince forgot his sorrows as he listened. Then he was given a flute and a zither, but he was just as well able to draw music from them; and the prince, whose courage was gradually rising, spoke to him in all the languages he knew. The baby answered him in all, and no one could have told which was his native tongue!
The next morning the king went straight to the prince`s room, and saw with his own eyes the wonders that baby could do. `If your magic can produce such a baby,` he said, `you must be greater than any wizard that ever lived, and shall have my daughter in marriage.` And, being a king, and therefore accustomed to have everything the moment he wanted it, he commanded the ceremony to be performed without delay, and a splendid feast to be made for the bride and bridegroom. When it was over, he said to the prince:
`Now that you are really my son, tell me by what arts you were able to fulfil the tasks I set you?`
`My noble father-in-law,` answered the prince, `I am ignorant of all spells and arts. But somehow I have always managed to escape the death which has threatened me.` And he told the king how he had been forced to run away from his stepfather, and how he had spared the three birds, and had joined the two soldiers, who had from envy done their utmost to ruin him.
The king was rejoiced in his heart that his daughter had married a prince, and not a common man, and he chased the two soldiers away with whips, and told them that if they ever dared to show their faces across the borders of his kingdom, they should die the same death he had prepared for the prince.