In a certain kingdom there was a beautiful princess who never spoke to anyone. She was so silent that many people assumed she was mute, and thus unable to speak. But her father, the king, was certain that she could speak, but that she had chosen, for reasons of her own, to remain silent. Thus when suitors came to ask for her hand in marriage, the king permitted them to meet her on the following condition: You have one evening to spend with my daughter. If in that time you succeed in getting her to speak, even if it is only one word, then she shall be your bride. But if you fail—you will be hanged on the gallows at dawn. Still, there had been many young men who boasted that they could win the heart of the princess and open her lips, but instead she kept silent in their presence, as verified by a witness who remained with them, and in the end they lost their lives.
Now in another country there lived a prince who was both handsome and wise. One day this prince said to his father: I wish to set out to wander in the land, to learn the ways of man and to amass wisdom and knowledge. The king replied: You may set out, if you wish to, my son. For surely you shall be a better ruler once you have become more familiar with the ways of the world. But you must return before the end of a year. So the prince set out on his travels with his father's blessings.
And in his wanderings he learned many things, and became skilled in many tasks. But never did he stay in any one place too long, for he wanted to see as much of the world as possible before it was time for him to return from his travels. In this way he arrived at the kingdom of the mute princess, and when he heard of the king's condition that the princess must speak to her suitor before they could be wed, he desired to seek her hand for himself.
Therefore the prince came before the king, who admired the young man, and tried to warn him against the danger. But the prince accepted the condition, even though his life was at stake.
And that evening he joined the princess in her chamber, in the company of a faithful witness. The prince, the princess, and the witness all sat in the room and were silent, for the prince did not even attempt to strike up a conversation with the princess, and this astonished her, for all the previous suitors had kept trying to make her speak.
After an hour's silence, the prince turned to the witness and said: Let us speak, in order to pass the time, for tomorrow I will be hanged. The witness replied: I am not permitted to speak to you or to say anything. I am only a witness whose job it is to listen. Then the prince said: And if I were to ask you something, would you reply? Perhaps I would and perhaps I wouldn't, said the witness.
Well, in that case, said the prince, listen carefully. Three men—a carpenter, a tailor, and a maggid—were traveling together and came to a desolate wilderness, and when night fell they made a campfire and prepared to sleep. But for safety's sake they decided that each one of them would stand guard for a third of the night. The carpenter would take the first shift, the tailor the second, and the maggid the third.
So it was that the carpenter stood watch while his companions slept. In order to pass the time, he took a piece of wood from a nearby tree, and carved it into a statue of a girl. And when he had finished the carving his shift was over, and he woke the tailor to take over while he slept.
The tailor awoke and rubbed his eyes, and when he had wiped the sleep away he saw the lovely statue the carpenter had made. And because he liked it very much, he decided to dress it in suitable garb. And so he did. He took out his work tools and some pieces of cloth, made a dress, and put it on the statue, and the clothes gave the statue the appearance of life. When he had finished his work he saw that it was time to wake the maggid. He woke him and went back to sleep. The maggid arose and saw the statue of the girl and was startled, for it seemed to be alive. But after he touched it he understood it was the workmanship of his two companions. He said: The statue is so perfect it is fit for God to breathe the breath of life into it.' Then the maggid stood and prayed, and asked the Creator of all to bless the girl with the breath of life. And the Creator of the universe heard his prayer, and turned the statue into a living, life-size figure.
When morning came the carpenter and tailor awoke and saw a living girl walking among them, and each man said: 'She belongs to me.' The carpenter said: 'I made her and molded her and gave her shape, therefore I have the greatest right to her.' The tailor said: 'I dressed her, and my contribution to her human appearance is greater than yours.' The maggid said: 'I prayed and asked for life to be breathed into her, and that is the main thing; therefore, she belongs to me.' Then the prince who had told this story to the witness said:
So, the question is, who do you think has the greatest right to the girl? It is a difficult question, and I can't decide it now, said the witness. Tomorrow I will put it before our men of judgment, and they will decide. You forget, said the prince, that tomorrow I will no longer be alive. For I will be hanged before I hear the verdict. Then the princess, who had listened to the tale with great interest, could no longer remain indifferent to this matter of justice.
She spoke up and said: The right of the maggid is the greatest, and therefore the girl should go with him, for it is he who caused her to be given life, and that was decisive in her creation. Thank you, princess, said the prince, bowing to her. I am persuaded that your verdict is the just one. The next morning the executioner came at dawn and started to drag the prince to the gallows despite his protests, for the executioner assumed that the princess had remained silent, as she always did. It was only when the witness intervened and confirmed that the princess had spoken that the execution was put off, and the young man brought before the king.
I find it difficult to believe that my daughter has broken her silence after all this time, said the king. But we'll give you the benefit of the doubt, and allow you to spend another night with her, in the presence of two reliable witnesses, and we'll see what happens. The second evening, when the four of them sat together, the prince and the princess and the two witnesses, the prince said to the witnesses: Tell us a tale to while away the time, for tomorrow I shall die. The witnesses said: We will not speak, for we are only witnesses, and our job is to listen and remain silent. In that case, said the prince, will you reply if I ask you something? Perhaps . . . they replied.
Then the prince said: Three companions climbed together to the top of a mountain. One of them had a magic jewel through which he could see to the ends of the earth. Another had a flying carpet, and the third had a potion with which to revive the dead.
The one with the magic jewel looked through it and saw in a faraway land a great multitude following a coffin to a grave-site.
And when he told his companions what he saw, the one with the flying carpet said: 'Get on the carpet quickly and we will attend the funeral, for it must have been a great man who has died.' The three friends sat down on the magic carpet, and it carried them where they wanted to go in the wink of an eye. And after they joined the procession, they asked the mourners who had died and why there was such sorrow. The mourners told them that the king's fair and lovely daughter had died while still very young. And when the three heard this, they made their way to the king and said: 'We can revive your daughter, sire.' The grieving king replied: 'Whoever can revive my daughter shall have her for a bride.' Then the one with the magic potion stood near the girl's body and sprinkled the potion on her, and at once she began to breathe. But when she had been revived, and embraced her father and mother amid great rejoicing, the three men began to argue over her.
The one with the magic jewel said: If it were not for me, the princess would have been buried and not have been revived, for it is I who saw the funeral procession. Since she was saved because of me, she belongs to me.' The owner of the flying carpet said: 'If it were not for my magic carpet, which carried us a great distance as fast as lightning, we would not have arrived in time to revive the girl. Therefore she should be my bride.' Then the one who had brought the magic potion said: 'If it were not for my potion, the princess would now be in her grave, so I have a greater right to her than either of you.' Then the prince who had told this story asked the witnesses for their decison, but they said: It is a difficult matter which we cannot decide by ourselves. Tomorrow we will ask the judges for their verdict. But I am to be hanged at dawn, said the prince, and I will go to my grave without knowing the answer. Here the princess intervened and said: I will reply to your question. I believe that the man who revived the princess with his magic potion should receive her as his bride, for without his potion she could not have been revived. Then the prince thanked the princess, and agreed that she was correct.
The next day, at dawn, the executioner again arrived and began to drag the prince away, but the witnesses stopped him and said: The princess spoke to the young man, and he does not deserve to die. Now when the king heard the witnesses, he did not believe his ears: It can't be that my daughter has finally spoken after having remained silent for so long. But since I have some doubt about it, let us have a third and final test, this time in the presence of three reliable witnesses. And on the third evening the prince asked the three witnesses to tell him a tale to pass the time, but they refused. Then he said to them: And if I ask you something, will you be so kind as to reply? Perhaps . . . they said.
So the prince began another tale: Three people were walking together—a nobleman, his wife, and a servant. Evening drew near, and the sun went down, and the three were compelled to spend the night in a remote field. During the night they were attacked by highwaymen, who robbed them and beheaded the nobleman and the servant, and his wife alone escaped. She sat down and wept and waited for daylight.
Meanwhile she heard two owls conversing in the branches of a tree. One said: 'Oh, my, what a terrible thing has happened to the poor nobleman and his servant, and now the nobleman's wife is very miserable.' 'Yes,' said the second owl, 'but if someone were to take some leaves from this tree, pound them, squeeze out their juice, and sprinkle it on the bodies, the dead men would surely be revived.' Now when the woman heard this, she hastened to pick some leaves of that tree and crushed and squeezed them, as the owls had said. Then she put the decapitated heads next to the bodies and sprinkled them with the fluid, and they were revived.
But when it was daylight, the woman saw that she had made a terrible mistake: she had connected the nobleman's head to the servant's body, and the servant's head to the nobleman's body, and the error could not be corrected.
The two men began to argue over the woman. The nobleman's head, connected to the servant's body, said: 'She is my wife and I am her husband, as my face reveals.' And the servant's head, connected to the nobleman's body, said: 'She is my wife, as my body clearly shows.' The question is this, said the prince to the three witnesses.
To whom does the woman belong, to the nobleman's head connected to the servant's body, or to the servant's head connected to the nobleman's body? The witnesses said: It is too complicated a matter for us to decide. It can be solved only by men of judgment. At this point the princess broke in, for she could not contain herself any longer, and she said: The woman belongs to the nobleman's head connected to the servant's body, for the head is the repository of all memory and knowledge, and it can be seen by all, whereas the rest of the body is covered with clothing. The prince said: Thank you, your highness, for your excellent reply, which is surely correct. Now, let us sleep and wait for tomorrow. The next day the three witnesses testified that the princess had indeed spoken to the prince, and no one could still doubt it.
Then the king arranged a lavish wedding for the princess and prince, and she returned with the prince to his country with a royal salute. So it was that the prince and princess lived together in love all the days of their lives. And the prince often entertained his wife with tales, and the princess did not hesitate to speak the words of love she felt for him.