A wizard left each of his three sons a gift before he died. The oldest received a mirror, through which he could see anyone in the world. The second, a horse which could ride to any place in the world in one day. The third, a magic apple which would never rot, and when eaten would cure any disease.

One day the brothers heard about a princess in a faraway land who was dying of an unknown disease. Rumour had it the king would let the man who saved his daughter marry her. The brothers sprung into action. The first looked in his mirror and saw the ill princess and the land she lived in. All three jumped on the second brother's horse, and they rode so fast they got to the princess' land the next morning. Then the third son took his apple to the princess, who ate it and recovered full health instantly.

The king was grateful, and indeed intended to let one of them marry the princess. But it had taken the cooperation of all three brothers to save her. Which one did the king decide should marry his daughter?

Perhaps the answer depends more upon the king. There has been a lot of speculation and logical thoughts to proove the same son or a different son. Whoose to say that one answer is more correct than the other? The fact is that this is a fictional story, and the king could have chosen any one of the 3 depending on his character and motives. What if the princess didn't really want to marry them? If she didn't fall in love with these guys she might not have cared for their hand in marriage. She may just wanted to be friends with these guys. What would the king have her to do then? Go down a road of financial stability just for the sake of pre-arranged marriages? That's not fair. Maybe the guys didn't want to marry the princess anyway. She might have came upon them with a butterfly net and it scared the beejeezus out of them, and they all piled on that any place pony and mozied on out west were they started a printing press and had the largest paper circulation within the nearest 3 continents!

Just some thoughts!

Posted by Michael on 2004-11-27 06:28:50