Explore "The Singing-Tree and the Speaking-Bird" by Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Once upon a time there was a very inquisitive King who spent all his time eavesdropping at the window. There was also a merchant, who had three daughters, and one day they were talking to their father, and one said: "If only the King's bread-bearer would marry me! " The second one said: "If only the King's valet would cast his eyes upon me! " But the third said: "I want the King himself: I would bear him two sons and one daughter."
Now the King was listening to all this conversation; and after a few days he did exactly as they had wished: the eldest married the King's bread-bearer, the middle one the King's valet, but the youngest married the King himself.