In a faraway kingdom there lived a king and queen whose palace had been built by the shore of the sea. This king had a daughter by his first wife, who had since died, and he had remarried, but his second wife was an evil woman, who despised the princess because of her great beauty. This king loved above all to lead his army in conquests, so he was rarely home, and he was so bewitched by the new queen that he left all decisions concerning the princess to this jealous woman. Now the queen was determined that the princess should not marry, because if she did she might have a son who could come to challenge the queen's right to rule should the king die. So she found fault with every suitor who showed an interest in the princess, and saw to it that the princess remained within the palace at all times.
Yet despite the best efforts of the evil queen, it happened one day that a young man was walking along the seashore and looked up and saw the princess in the balcony of the palace tower.
And the moment he set eyes on her he lost his heart, and he knew that he could never rest until she had become his bride, Yet what chance did he have to win the hand of the princess? He was only a Jewish youth who spent most of his time studying to be a cantor. Since many richer and mightier princes had been refused by the queen, he realized that he would not be considered a proper match even for a moment. Yet there was one treasure that this youth possessed which made him unique. For his singing voice was as sweet as honey, and all who heard it thought that they were in the presence of an angel.
So it was that this youth decided to stroll along the beach at midnight and raise up his voice in song so that the princess could hear it. It happened that the princess was lying awake that first night, and all at once she heard a song sweeter than that of any nightingale. She could not imagine who it was who sang with such a wonderful voice, so she stepped out to her balcony.
And there, by the light of the full moon that shone that night, round and full, she saw that young man strolling along the beach, singing. When she saw how handsome he was and heard his voice as it rose up with the waves, she gave her heart to him as well. For three nights the young man strolled along the beach and sang, and the princess listened from her balcony. And on the fourth night she took off her royal ring and tied it in her scarf, and threw it as hard as she could, so that it landed on the beach near where the young man stood. And when he untied the scarf and saw the ring of the princess, he knew that she loved him as much as he loved her.
After that the young man returned to the beach every night, and sang the ballads that were so familiar to him, but which the princess had never heard before in her life. And one night it happened that the evil queen also was awake at midnight, and heard the beautiful strains of his song. This caused her to wonder greatly, for never had she heard such a sweet voice, and she thought it was so beautiful that it must be unearthly. Therefore she decided it was the voice of a mermaid, who had emerged from the sea.
Now it happened the next day that the queen mentioned to the princess the marvelous song of the mermaid she had heard in her chamber at night. And the princess replied that it was not a mermaid, but a young man who was courting her, although he would not win her hand. The queen grew furious when she heard this, and said that she would order him to be killed. Then the princess grew very pale and protested that if he were killed, she also wished to die. In this way the queen discovered the deep love of the princess for this youth. Then she turned to the princess with hatred in her eyes, and told her that if she ever tried to run away with him she would get her wish and lose her life. And when the princess saw that the intentions of the queen were evil, and that she could not turn to her father for help, since he was not expected to return for several years, she decided to try to escape with her loved one as soon as possible.
That night the princess wrote out a message to the youth and cast it from her window wrapped in a scarf, with a coin enclosed to make it heavy enough to reach him. When the young man read the letter of the princess, he burst out in a song that was filled with joy, and the next day he made preparations to meet her as she climbed down from her balcony by a rope, for that is what she told him that she would do.
Now the evil queen recognized how deeply in love was the princess, and she expected that she would try to elope. Therefore she warned the guards to watch her window both day and night, and if they ever saw the princess trying to escape, to arrest her and anyone else who was with her as well. Thus it happened that the princess and the young man were caught that night as they tried to run off together, and they were brought before the queen. Of course the evil queen did not intend to pass up this chance to do away with the princess, whom she so hated, and she commanded that the two lovers be put to death.
Shortly afterward the princess and the young man were dragged out to the courtyard, and as they were being blindfolded they cried out to each other, swearing that their love would last for all time. And it happened that at the very instant the sword of the executioner descended, each of them was transformed into a bird, the princess into a dove and the young man into a nightingale, who quickly flew away together. The astonished guards reported this miracle to the queen, who fell into a terrible fury.
Just then she heard song birds singing in the tree outside her window, and when she looked outside she saw two birds sitting in the tree, a nightingale and a dove, who were singing together in perfect harmony. Then she did not hesitate, but ordered her guards to capture those two birds at once, and they hurried out to do as she had commanded. And before long both birds were captured in a single net and brought to the queen, who ordered that their throats be slit on the shore of the sea. She herself went along with the guards to be certain that this was done, and so it was that she saw how in the instant the knife took their souls each of the birds turned into a fish, the nightingale into a perch and the dove into a flounder, who swam off together.
Now when the queen saw that the princess and her lover had escaped her clutches once more, she screamed for the guards to go out in boats and to fish until they had captured the perch and flounder that were swimming together. And before three days had passed a great many fish had been caught, and at last the guards came back with the two fish flapping together in one net. Then the queen ordered the fish to be killed and cooked, because she intended to eat them herself, to be certain that the two of them were out of her life at last. And when this was done, the queen sat down to a meal of the perch and flounder that were the princess and the youth. But she took only one bite before one of the bones became caught in her throat, and she choked to death while the servants stood helplessly around her.
After this the king's minister took over the kingdom until the return of the king, and directed the guards to bury the two fish together, since the king would surely want to know where the grave of the princess could be found. This was done, and to the amazement of everyone it happened that the next day a carnation and a rose bush were found growing from the grave of the princess and the youth, which grew so closely together that the beautiful flowers stood side by side. But from the grave of the evil queen nothing ever came forth except for smoke, which arose for many years, although it did not last nearly as long as the two plants, which eventually grew so closely entwined that they could not be separated from each other at all.