A certain king had a beautiful garden, and in the garden stood atree which bore golden apples. These apples were always counted, andabout the time when they began to grow ripe it was found that everynight one of them was gone. The king became very angry at this,and ordered the gardener to keep watch all night under the tree.The gardener set his eldest son to watch; but about twelve o’clock hefell asleep, and in the morning another of the apples was missing. Thenthe second son was ordered to watch; and at midnight he too fellasleep, and in the morning another apple was gone. Then the third sonoffered to keep watch; but the gardener at first would not let him,for fear some harm should come to him: however, at last heconsented, and the young man laid himself under the tree to watch. Asthe clock struck twelve he heard a rustling noise in the air, and a birdcame flying that was of pure gold; and as it was snapping at one of theapples with its beak, the gardener’s son jumped up and shot an arrow atit. But the arrow did the bird no harm; only it dropped a goldenfeather from its tail, and then flew away. The golden feather wasbrought to the king in the morning, and all the council wascalled together. Everyone agreed that it was worth more than all thewealth of the kingdom: but the king said, «One feather is of no use to me, I must have the whole bird.»
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