They say there was a king who had three daughters. He was very anxious
to know which of them loved him most; he tried them in various ways,
and it always seemed as if the youngest daughter came out best by
the test. Yet he was never satisfied, because he was prepossessed
with the idea that the elder ones loved him most.
One day he thought he would settle the matter once for all, by asking
each separately how much she loved him. So he called the eldest by
herself, and asked her how much she loved him.
'As much as the bread we eat,' ran her reply; and he said within
himself, 'She must, as I thought, love me the most of all; for bread
is the first necessary of our existence, without which we cannot
live. She means, therefore, that she loves me so much she could not
live without me.'
Then he called the second daughter by herself, and said to her,
'How much do you love me?'