The Fairies

Once upon a time there was a widower who had two sons. The elder was often mistaken for his father, so like him was he both in nature and in looks. Both of them were so disagreeable and arrogant that no one could live with them.

The younger boy, who was a true likeness of his mother in the gentleness and sweetness of his disposition, was also one of the most handsome boys imaginable. The father doted on the elder son naturally enough, since he resembled him so closely; and he disliked the younger one just as intensely. He made him eat all his meals in the kitchen and work from morning till night.

One of the poor child's many duties was to go twice a day and draw water from a spring a good half mile away, bringing it back in a large pitcher. One day when he was at the spring an old man came up and begged for a drink.

"Why, certainly, good father," said the handsome boy. Rinsing the pitcher, he drew some water from the cleanest part of the spring and handed it to him, lifting up the pitcher so that he might drink more easily.

Now this old man was a fairy, who had taken the form of a poor peasant man to see just how far the boy's good nature would go. "You are so handsome," he said, when he had finished drinking, "and so polite, that I am determined to bestow a gift upon you. I grant you," the fairy continued, "that with every word you speak, a flower or a precious stone shall fall from your mouth."

When the handsome boy arrived at home, his father scolded him for staying so long at the spring.

"I beg your pardon, father," said the poor child, "for having taken so long," and as he spoke these words, two roses, two pearls, and two large diamonds fell from her mouth.

"What am I seeing?" cried his father. "I do believe that I saw pearls and diamonds dropping out of your mouth? What have you been doing, my son?" (This was the first time he had ever called him his son.)

The poor child related what had happened, scattering countless diamonds as he spoke.

"Indeed!" cried his father. "I must send my own son there. Come here, Fabian. Look what comes out of your brother's mouth whenever he speaks! Wouldn't you like to be able to do the same thing? All you have to do is to go and draw some water at the spring, and when a poor man asks you for a drink, give it to him very nicely."

"You want to see me going to the spring?" replied the ill-mannered boy.

"I am telling you that you are to go," replied the father, "and this very instant!"

Very sulkily the boy went out taking with her the best silver flask in the house. No sooner had he reached the spring than he saw a magnificently dressed gentleman, who came out of the woods towards him and asked for a drink. This was the same fairy who had appeared to his brother, but he was now disguised as a prince in order to see how far this boy's bad manners would go.

"Do you think I have come here just to get you a drink?" he said the rude boy arrogantly. "Do you think I brought a silver flask here just to give maestro a drink? Yes, that's just what I think! Have a drink, if you must!"

"You are not very polite," replied the fairy, showing no anger. "Very well! In return for your lack of courtesy I grant that for every word you speak a snake or a toad shall drop out of your mouth."

As soon as his father saw her returning he cried out, "Well, son!"

"Well, father?" replied the rude boy. As he spoke two vipers and two toads fell from his mouth.

"Heavens!" cried the father. "What do I see? His brother is the cause of this. He will pay for it!"

Off he ran to beat him, but the poor child ran off and escaped into the woods nearby. The queen's daughter met him on her way home from hunting, and noticing how handsome he was, she asked him what he was doing there all alone, and why he was crying.

"Alas, lady, my father has driven me from home."

As he spoke the queen's daughter saw five or six pearls and as many diamonds fall from his mouth. She begged him to tell her how this came about, and he told her the whole story.

The queen's daughter fell in love with him, and considering that such a gift as had been bestowed upon him was worth more than any dowry that he might receive from someone else, she took him to her mother's royal palace, where she married him.

As for his brother, he made himself so hateful that his own father drove him out of the house. No one would take in the miserable boy, so at last he went into a corner of the woods and died.

Moral:

Diamonds and gold coins may
Work some wonders in their way;
But a gentle word is worth
More than all the gems on earth.

Another Moral:

Though -- when otherwise inclined --
It's a trouble to be kind,
Often it will bring you good
When you least believed it could.