There was once a Prince who used to amuse himself by dressing as a
poor man, and going about amongst his subjects without their finding
out who he was.
In this way he found out all that they did, and how they lived.
Once, while walking through a gully, he saw three sisters, and
overheard their conversation.
One said: "If I could marry even a servant of the Prince, how happy
I should be! I should eat sweets and all sorts of nice things all
day long."
The other sister said: "I'd rather marry his cook, for then I should
get still better things."
But the third sister said: "I'd like best to marry the Prince himself,
for then I'd get the best things of all to eat."
The Prince went home, and next day, while holding court, gave an
order that these three sisters should be brought to him.
The order was immediately carried out, and, as the three trembling
girls stood before him, they wondered much why they had been summoned.
"Now," said he, "tell me what you three were talking about last night?"
Terribly alarmed, the eldest confessed that she had said she would
like to be the wife of one of the servants, so as to get nice things
to eat. The second said she had wished to be the wife of his cook.
The third sister hesitated, and then said timidly that she had dared
to say she would like best to be the wife of the Prince himself.