There was once a king's son who told his father that he wished to
marry.
'No, no!' said the king; 'you must not be in such a hurry. Wait till
you have done some great deed. My father did not let me marry till
I had won the golden sword you see me wear.'
The prince was much disappointed, but he never dreamed of
disobeying his father, and he began to think with all his might what
he could do. It was no use staying at home, so one day he
wandered out into the world to try his luck, and as he walked along
he came to a little hut in which he found an old woman crouching
over the fire.
'Good evening, mother. I see you have lived long in this world; do
you know anything about the three bulrushes?'
'Yes, indeed, I've lived long and been much about in the world, but I have never seen or heard anything of what you ask. Still, if you
will wait till to-morrow I may be able to tell you something.'
Well, he waited till the morning, and quite early the old woman
appeared and took out a little pipe and blew in it, and in a moment
all the crows in the world were flying about her. Not one was
missing. Then she asked if they knew anything about the three
bulrushes, but not one of them did.