Simpleton and his Two Brothers - Part One

Once there was a king who had three sons. 

All the three of them were clever and intelligent, but the third one did not talk much. That was why the two elder brothers called him Simpleton. 

When the king became old and weak, he was not sure who among his three sons should inherit his kingdom. So he decided to set a test for the three of them to determine who would get the kingdom after him.  

“If you bring the finest carpet in the world, you shall be the king after me,” he told them.

So that there was no dispute between them he led them in front of the castle and he blew three feathers into the air. 

“As they fly, so you should go to find your destiny.” 

The first feather flew east and the other feather flew west. 

The first two brothers went East and West, respectively, in search of the finest carpet. 

The third feather flew straight ahead and fell into the ground after a short distance. 

Simpleton sat down and looked at the feather. That was when he noticed that there was a trap door next to his feather.  He lifted it and found a stairway there. He walked inside and came to another door and knocked it. 

When the door opened, he saw a big fat toad sitting there surrounded by a large number of smaller toads. 

The fat toad asked the Prince what he wanted.

Simpleton shrugged. “I want the most beautiful and finest carpet.” 

The fat toad called out to one of the younger toads to bring him a large box. 

When the young toad brought the box, the fat toad opened it and inside it was the most beautiful woven carpet ever. 

Simpleton was astonished to see it. 

The toad offered the carpet to him. 

Simpleton thanked the toad and climbed out of the trap door. The other two brothers were sure that Simpleton would not bring anything back. “So why should we spend a lot of effort looking for a carpet?” They asked each other.

Then they took some pieces of cloth from the first shepherd's wife, they came to and took them back home to the king. 

That was when they saw the carpet that Simpleton had brought back.  

Then the king decided that the kingdom had to go to the youngest son. 

However, the other two sons were not willing to do so and they wanted another contest

Adapted from the Grimm Brothers Stories