There was once a rich merchant who had three sons. The two older sons were clever but the third one was a fool—and really he was so stupid that he was known throughout the land as Outtaluck. Every time he was carrying something, he would drop it. Every time he opened his mouth, he would say something stupid. Every time he picked up a tool, he would have an accident. And the people roundabout, who knew him well, preferred to give him food for free than risk letting him do any kind of work.

One fine day, the merchant called his three sons together and said to them:

“Now that you are grown up, you must learn the business of commerce. I am going to give each of you one hundred gold pieces with which to buy some goods, and a ship so you can go and sell your goods abroad.”

“Will Outtaluck get this gold too?” asked the two older sons.

“Outtaluck too.”

“But he’s a hopeless fool!”

“Fool or not, he is still my son, and he shall be treated exactly the same as you two!”

So the merchant gave a hundred gold coins to each of his sons and then they each went into town to buy some goods to sell abroad. Having risen early, the eldest boy was the first to arrive in town. He bought some fine, thick furs and filled his ship with them. Next to arrive was the second son, who filled his ship with a cargo of sweet honey. As for Outtaluck, he got up on the dot of midday, had a relaxed lunch, and set off around two o’clock in the afternoon. Before he had even reached the town, he came across a group of children who had caught a cat and were trying to stuff it into a sack.

“Why are you doing that?” asked the foolish son.

“So we can drown it in the sack,” replied the children.

“But why do you want to drown the cat?”

“Because it will be funny.”

Outtaluck felt sorry for the cat. He said to the children:

“Don’t do that. Give the cat to me.”

“No, no!” shouted the children. “We want to drown it. It’ll be more fun!”

“So, sell it to me!”

“How much money will you give us for it?”

“I don’t know. How much do you want?”

“That depends. How much money do you have here now?”

“I have a hundred gold pieces.”

“All right then, give them to us and the cat is yours.”

Without arguing, the fool gave the children all his hundred gold pieces and took the cat.

When the three brothers were home again, their father asked:

“What have you each bought with your hundred pieces of gold?”

His eldest son said, “I have bought furs.”

“And I,” said the second son, “I bought honey.”

“And I,” said Outtaluck, “I bought this cat that some children wanted to drown.”

Hearing this, the two older boys began to laugh helplessly.

“Oh, Outtaluck, that’s just like you! A hundred gold pieces for a single cat!”

“Never mind,” said their father. “What’s done is done. He shall go to sea and he’ll sell his cat, just as you will sell the things you have bought.”

The merchant blessed his three sons and, the following morning, each one set out in his own ship. They sailed and sailed, and after three months they all arrived at an island that was not on their maps.

Now, there wasn’t a single cat on this island. Therefore mice were swarming everywhere, as numerous as blades of grass in the fields, nibbling at everything, making holes in everything, devouring everything. It was a civic disaster.

The oldest brother landed there one evening, planning to take his furs to the local market. But the next morning, when he wanted to sell them, he found they were full of holes, for the mice had nibbled at them during the night.

The second brother landed on the island next, he too planning to take his merchandise—honey—to the local market. But the following morning, his honey barrels had all sprung holes, the honey had leaked out onto the ground, and it was full of mouse poo.

On the third day, the foolish brother landed with his cat on a leash. Hardly had he reached the island’s marketplace, when his cat set about hunting down the mice. He killed ten, twenty, a hundred of them; it was a real massacre. The local merchants came to ask the fool:

“Will you sell us your wonderful animal? How much do you want for him?”

“I don’t know,” said Outtaluck. “How much will you give me?”

“We can offer you three barrels of gold.”

“Well then, it’s a deal!”

The foolish brother gave the merchants his cat and received three barrels of gold from them in return. Then, seeing his brothers looking at him strangely, he said:

“Come now, brothers, don’t be sad! Why don’t you each take a barrel of gold with you and I’ll stay here with the one that’s left?”

“Thank you,” said the brothers, “but why should we leave you here? Won’t you come home to our father’s house, then?”

“No,” replied Outtaluck. “I’m very happy here. It’s the only place where no one has yet called me a fool.”

“All right, goodbye then!”

“Goodbye!”

And the two older brothers left, each in his own ship with his barrel of gold. Outtaluck stayed behind with the third barrel.

“Now what on earth can I do with this thing?” he wondered. “I’ve no need for all this gold…”

He gave his gold away among the poor of the island, then he sold his ship and with the money he bought some incense. He piled all the incense into a great heap on the beach. When it grew dark, Outtaluck set fire to the heap of incense and, while it crackled away, he danced around it chanting:

“This is for you, sweet God! This is for you, kind God!”

Hearing this, an angel floated down from the sky in a column of smoke and said:

“Many thanks, Outtaluck! As a reward, I am required to give you the next thing that you ask for. What is it that you want?”

At this, our fool was rather embarrassed.

“What I want? But what do I want? I haven’t a clue! I’ve never thought about it.”

“Listen,” said the angel, kindly, “take your time, go for a walk and ask the first three people you meet for some advice.”

“Thank you, thank you, Mister Angel,” replied the fool.

And off he went. After just a few steps, he came across a sailor:

“Here, sailor, would you mind giving me some advice? An angel has asked me what I want. What should I reply?”

The sailor began to laugh:

“What do I know! I’m not in your shoes!”

But, seeing that the sailor was making fun of him, Outtaluck grew angry:

“Oh, it’s like that is it?” he said.

And paff! With one punch he cracked the sailor’s head open.

A little farther on, he came across a peasant.

“Could you tell me, peasant: an angel has asked me what I want. What do you think I should reply?”

The peasant too began to laugh:

“Ask for whatever you like. It’s none of my business, to be sure!”

At these words, the fool grew even angrier than before:

“Isn’t it really, now?”

And boff! He killed the peasant with a single punch.

Farther on again, he came to an old lady:

“Tell me grandmother, I’m in a bit of a spot. An angel has asked me what I want…”

The old lady looked at him. She understood right away that he wasn’t very smart. So she replied seriously:

“That is a tough one, indeed. You could, of course, ask for wealth… But if you became too rich, you might forget about God… If I were you, I would ask for a wise wife.”

“Thank you, kind old lady!”

And our fool went back to the beach. The heap of incense was still glowing red, and the angel was still floating there above it in the smoke.

“So, Outtaluck, what is it that you want?”

“I want a wise wife!”

“Excellent!” said the angel. “You have made a very good choice. Go for a walk in the woods tomorrow morning and you shall find her.”

And the angel went back up to heaven.

The next morning, the fool walked out into the nearest forest. He walked there for a long, long time without meeting anybody. Then, all of a sudden, he heard a voice pleading, from behind a bush:

“Don’t kill me! Please don’t kill me!”

He leant over to look—it was a wounded dove, her feathers spotted with blood, hopping about on one foot and whimpering:

“Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!”

“I hadn’t the least thought of killing you!” said the fool.

“Then take me in your arms,” begged the dove.

“I haven’t got time,” the fool replied. “There’s someone I have to meet, you know…”

But the dove said again, pleading:

“Please! Take me in your arms, hold me in your arms…”

Outtaluck took pity on her. He picked up the dove and cradled her gently, then he kissed her little head. The dove said to him:

“That’s lovely. Again, please. And when I go to sleep, tap my right wing once lightly with your finger.”

Outtaluck kept on stroking her. After a minute, the dove closed her eyes and her bill began to droop forward. Then the fool gave her right wing a little tap with his finger and… no longer was he holding a bird in his arms but a superb young woman, who began to sing:

Outtaluck was delighted, but also a little ashamed of himself, at the same time:

“Alas,” he said, “I can see that you are wise and beautiful, but I have no profession by which to earn a living for us; indeed, everywhere I am known as Outtaluck.”

The young lady laughed, kissed him and answered:

“From today, no one will call you Outtaluck ever again; instead they’ll call you Lucky Devil!”

“You’re kind,” said the fool, “but I have to warn you: I don’t even know where we can sleep tonight!”

“No matter! Let’s walk straight on ahead.”

They went straight on, letting their feet carry them forward. When night fell, they stopped beneath a tree, and the wife said to her husband:

“Say your prayers and go to sleep. Tomorrow is another day.”

The fool said his prayers, lay down and went to sleep. As soon as he was asleep, the young wife took a book of magic spells out of her bodice, opened it and read aloud:

Straight away, two giants appeared:

“Daughter of your mother, what do you want from us?”

“I want you to build me a fabulous palace, with everything I might need: servants, furniture, a chapel and a cellar: everything, please!”

“Daughter of your mother, you can count on us!”

The following morning, when the fool woke up, he was lying in an enormous bed, in the finest room of a magnificent palace. A dozen servants came in to serve him his breakfast. Turning over, he saw that his wife was lying next to him. He asked her:

“What is happening to us?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” she yawned. “I couldn’t sleep during the night, so I did this to distract myself.”

The fool gazed at her admiringly:

“You really are wise!” he said.

She giggled:

“You haven’t seen anything yet! For now, hurry and have your breakfast. When you’ve finished, you must come and see the King to say sorry for building our palace in his kingdom.”

The fool had a tasty breakfast, then he got dressed and was taken by horse-drawn carriage to the kingdom’s capital city, where he went to see the King.

“What do you want from me?” asked the King.

“I have come to apologize, Your Majesty.”

“Apologize? Apologize for what?”

“For building my palace on your land.”

“Hmm!” the King pondered. “It’s not a very serious offence… But since you are here, show me this palace of yours! I am curious to see it, all the same…”

“Of course, Your Majesty.”

The fool brought the King along in the carriage to see his home. When the King saw the palace from outside, he gawped in amazement. When he saw inside it, he gasped in wonder. But when he saw the fool’s wife, he grew sad and couldn’t say another word, for he had fallen in love.

Seeing the King come back home, his mother asked him:

“Why are you so melancholy, my child?”

“Ah!” sighed the King. “It’s because I have such wicked thoughts!”

“What thoughts?”

“I saw the fool’s wife and I fell in love with her there and then! I think it’s unfair that that woman does not belong to me.”

“In that case,” said the old Queen Mother, “we shall have to steal her from him!”

“Yes, but how? They are married!”

“Listen,” said the Queen Mother, “I have an idea: give him something to do for you, something very, very difficult. And when he can’t do it, well then, you can chop his head off!”

“Now that,” said the King, “is a good idea!”

He went to bed, very pleased with his new plan.

The next day, he summoned the fool and said to him:

“Since you have built this beautiful palace, I have an order for you: you shall build an avenue to link your palace with mine. This avenue must be paved with gold. The trees lining it must have an emerald for every leaf and a ruby for every fruit. In every tree, there must be a pair of nesting firebirds, singing all the songs of Paradise. And at the foot of every tree there must be a pair of seafaring cats miaowing along in time with the birds. Let all this be ready by tomorrow morning, otherwise I shall cut off your head!”

The fool went back to his palace home, very downcast. His wife asked:

“Well, what’s up?”

“Ooh, I don’t want to talk about it,” the fool replied.

He told his wife what the King had said. She laughed out loud:

“Is that all? But this will be a piece of cake! Off you go now, say your prayers and get to bed: tomorrow is another day.”

The fool went to bed. As soon as he was asleep, his wife stepped outside the palace, took the magic-spell book from her bodice, opened it and began to read:

The next morning, the King took a look out of his window and, to his great surprise, he saw the avenue paved with gold linking the two palaces, with the emerald- and ruby-bearing trees, the singing firebirds and the cats all miaowing in time. He called his mother over:

“Look, mother! The fool is cleverer than you thought. He has built us an avenue paved with gold in a single night!”

“Hmm!” harrumphed the Queen Mother, with a mean smile. “It isn’t he who is clever, it’s his wife! But don’t despair: I have another idea. Order the fool to go into the next world, to ask the old King, your own dead father’s soul, where he hid his gold. It will be impossible for him to get there, and then of course you can cut off his head!”

“A brilliant idea!” said the King.

That very day, he commanded the fool:

“Since you are so clever, pop over to the next world and ask my father’s soul where he hid his gold. And if you can’t find the gold for me, don’t bother coming back!

The fool went back home and told his wife what the King had said. She laughed until her sides hurt.

“A fine plan indeed!” she said. “This time we have some work to do. Right, come with me.”

She took a magic ball out of her bodice and threw it in front of her. The ball began to roll along the ground. The fool and his wife followed it. The ball rolled all the way to the sea. The sea divided in front of it and the ball continued to roll along the dry seabed. The fool and his wife kept on following, walking now between two walls of water. They walked and walked, and when at last the ball stopped rolling, they were in the next world.

There they found a very old man with a crown on his head and, on his back, an immense bundle of wood, and behind him, two devils whipping tirelessly at him, to keep him moving.

“It’s the King’s father,” said the fool’s wife.

So the fool stepped forward and shouted, “Stop!” to the two devils.

“What do you want?” asked the devils.

“I need to talk to that man!”

“Then who will carry our wood, while he is dallying with you?”

“Just a moment,” said the wife.

She took the spell book out of her bodice and called out:

The two giants appeared instantly.

“Daughter of your mother, what do you want from us?”

“Carry these two devils’ wood, while we talk with this gentleman.”

The two giants picked up the bundle of wood. And as they did, the old man fell to the ground, quite worn out by his eternal burden. The fool approached him:

“Your son has sent me to you. He would like to know where you have hidden your gold.”

“My son?” muttered the old King. “He would do better to stick to governing his country wisely, and to leave my gold alone! Tell him, if he cannot be a better king than I, he will end up just as I have done!”

“Okay,” the fool replied, “I’ll tell him. But that’s not really what he was after. What about the gold?”

The old King sighed deeply, then he pulled out a little key which was hanging on a string around his neck:

“All right, then,” he said. “I quite see there’s no point trying to teach you living people about right and wrong. So, tell my son to go down into the palace cellar. He will find the door to my treasure trove behind the racks of wine bottles. This is the key to that door.”

And the old King gave the fool the key. The fool said thank you, and he and his wife set out on their long way back home. Meanwhile, the devils returned and began, once again, to crack their whips and drive the old King ever onwards.

The next day, the fool went back to the King’s palace. The King asked him:

“Haven’t you left yet?”

“I have left,” the fool replied, “and I’ve come back too. I met Your Majesty’s father.”

“You met him? Where?”

“In the next world, Your Majesty.”

“And what is he up to there?”

“He carries wood for some devils there,” said the fool, “and the devils whip him to make him go faster.”

The King made a sour face. This kind of thing is never very nice to hear, especially, as was the case now, in front of the whole royal court. The King looked down and asked the fool:

“Are you making fun of me?”

“Of course not, Your Majesty!”

“All right. And what did my father say?”

“He said you would do better to stick to governing the country wisely, and to leave his gold alone, if you don’t want to end up like him…”

“You’re lying!”

“No, I’m not lying, Your Majesty!”

“Well… what about the secret hiding place? Didn’t he say anything about where he hid his treasure?”

“He did, Your Majesty. You must go down to the cellar and, behind the racks of wine bottles, you will find a little door, which this little key will open…”

The King snatched the key out of the fool’s hand and left the court room, saying:

“I shall go and see right away. And if it isn’t true, I will cut off your head!”

He went down to the cellar, pushed aside the racks of bottles, and there he did find a little door. He opened it with the key: it was indeed the door to the old King’s treasure trove.

That evening, the King said to his mother:

“The fool is far cleverer than we thought. He has brought me the key to the treasure trove!”

“No he isn’t!” said the old Queen Mother. “It’s his wife who is clever, not him! But don’t worry, I have one more idea: command him to go to Nowhere-land, to find Nowhere-man, and to ask him for je-ne-sais-quoi. This time he won’t come back and you’ll be able to take his wife!”

“What a brilliant idea!” exclaimed the King, thrilled. The next morning he called the fool and commanded him:

“Off you go, to Nowhere-land, where you must find Nowhere-man and ask him to give you je-ne-sais-quoi. If you are unlucky enough to come back without it, I will have your head cut off.

And, just as the fool was leaving, the King added:

“Oh—I almost forgot. You must leave your wife here. She is banned from going with you.”

For the third time, the fool went home and told his wife what the King had said. This time, his wife looked thoughtful:

“This one,” she said, “this one is a real toughie. And you have to go alone…”

She thought for a long time, then she gave her husband an embroidered towel, saying:

“Listen carefully. You must leave here and keep on walking straight ahead until you reach the end of the earth. In every place you stop along the way, ask to take a bath. And only dry yourself with this towel, which I embroidered myself!”

Then she took the magic-spell book from her bodice and read aloud:

“Daughter of your mother, what do you want from us?” asked the two giants.

“As soon as my husband has left,” she said, “transform this palace into a mountain and me into a rock on the mountain. That way the King won’t be able to do anything to me.”

The fool kissed his wife, then, taking the towel, he went on his way. After just a few steps, he turned round to look, and what did he see? Instead of his palace he saw a tall mountain, and instead of his wife, he saw a rock.

On he went, straight ahead, going wherever his feet led him, for days, weeks and months. He crossed a sea, then another land, then yet another sea, then other lands and seas… so far and for so long that one day he found himself at the end of the earth. Before him was nothing but a river of fire. And beside the river stood a little house.

He looked inside the little house and there, in the middle of the living room, sitting in a great armchair, he found an ancient witch who instantly began to sniff the air:

“Pouf! Pouf! There’s a smell of Christians in here!”

“Excuse me, Granny,” said the fool, “but I’m looking for a place called ‘Nowhere-land’.”

“You’ve no need to look any further,” said the old crone, “for I shall eat you here and now!”

“Well! As you wish,” said the fool. “But may I take a bath first?”

“Certainly!” said the old witch. “That will save my having to wash you myself.”

She let him run a hot bath. The fool washed and, when he had finished, she handed him a towel.

“Here—dry yourself off.”

“No thanks,” he said, “I have my own towel.”

And he took out his embroidered towel. When she saw the towel, the old witch was astonished. She asked:

“Where did you take that towel from?”

“I didn’t take it from anywhere. My wife embroidered it.”

“Your wife? But in that case… you have married my daughter! Only she and I can embroider in that way… Come to my arms, my son-in-law!”

And the old lady hugged and kissed the fool. Then she asked:

“But what are you doing coming all the way here?”

The fool told her his whole story: about his two clever brothers, his champion cat, the angel, the injured dove and the King’s commands.

“Tell me, Mother, do you know of a place called Nowhere-land?”

“No,” said the old lady, “never heard of it. But wait a moment, I’ll go and find out more!”

She went outside, where she stood facing the forest and called as loudly as she could:

“Beasts of the forest, come to me!”

Instantly, all the beasts in the forest came to her:

“Old lady at the end of the earth,” they chorused, “what do you want from us?”

“Do you know the place called Nowhere-land?”

“No, we don’t know it.”

“All right. Off you go, then.”

The beasts went back into the forest. Then the old lady raised her arms up and called as loudly as she could:

“Birds in the sky, come to me!”

Then the sky went black all over, and all the birds in the entire world came to perch around the witch:

“Old lady at the end of the earth,” they chirped, “what do you want from us?”

“Do you know the place called Nowhere-land?”

“No, we don’t know it.”

“Never mind. Goodbye, then, till next time!”

And the birds all flew away. At the same time, the fool began to weep:

“Nobody knows this place! I shall never see my country—or my wife—again!”

“Now, now, you big baby, don’t cry!” said the old lady, kindly. “We still haven’t asked the fish.”

She took him to the seashore. There she began to call:

“Fish of the salt seas and fish of the fresh waters, come to me!”

At once all the fish in the world were teeming in the sea at their feet. The old lady asked:

“Do you know the place called Nowhere-land?”

“Nope!” replied the fish.

“Never mind. Goodbye!”

The old witch brought the fool back home with her. This time, the fool was so miserable that he even forgot to cry. And the old lady also said nothing.

When they were nearly there, they heard a peculiar voice croaking from behind them.

“What, what, what?”

They span around. It was a frog which was hopping after them.

“What, what, what?”

The old lady asked:

“What do you want?”

The frog replied:

“Excuse me; I’m terribly late. I only just heard that you had called for all the beasts in the forest…”

“And where were you when I called?” asked the old witch.

“I,” the frog said, “I was in a place called Nowhere-land. Do you know it?”

“Really? That’s lucky,” said the old lady. “Would you mind taking my son-in-law there with you?”

“At your service! Have him climb on my back.”

With these words, the frog began to swell and swell. Soon she had grown as big as a man. The fool sat on her as if she were a horse. He just had time to call to the old witch:

“Thank you so much, little Mother!”

And hop! The frog leapt over the river of fire. On the other side, she said to her rider:

“Now you can get down. We have reached Nowhere-land. Don’t worry about your return journey: when you have found what you’re looking for, you won’t need me any longer.”

And hop! She made a leap and disappeared.

Now the fool was all by himself, in the midst of an empty, rocky land. He walked for a while, until he came across a big house. He went inside and looked all over it, poking his nose into every room, but… nobody was home! Just as he was about to leave, he heard the sound of steps in the entrance hall. Quickly, he hid inside a cupboard in the great hall, and peeked out through a gap in the door. The person who entered was a stately old man who sat down on a chair and called:

“Nowhere-man!”

A voice called back:

“Yes, my lord?”

“I am hungry. Set the table!”

A table appeared, covered with good things to eat and drink. The old man ate and drank his fill, then he called again:

“Nowhere-man!”

“Yes, my lord?”

“I have finished. Clear the table!”

And just as quickly, the table disappeared. Now the stately old man stood up and left the room. As soon as he had gone, our fool stepped out of his hiding place, sat on a chair and, in his turn, called out:

“Nowhere-man, are you there?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“I am hungry. Set the table.”

And the table returned, covered in good things. The fool was about to begin eating when he had another idea:

“Nowhere-man, are you still there?”

“Yes, I’m still here.”

“Then come and sit down too, and dine with me.”

“Thank you kindly,” said the voice, trembling. “I have served this old man for thousands of years but not once has he invited me to his table. You thought of it straight away. Well, in return, from now on I shall never leave your side!”

At this, they both sat down to eat. While the fool ate, he saw food rise and vanish from the table, bottles that poured themselves and glasses that emptied themselves in mid-air. When he had eaten his fill, he asked:

“Nowhere-man, are you still hungry?”

“No, Master, I’ve had enough.”

“Then clear the table!”

The table disappeared.

“Nowhere-man, are you still there?”

“As I said, I shall never leave your side again!”

“Do you think you could give me je-ne-sais-quoi?”

“But of course, right away, sir. Here you are!”

At that moment, something quite extraordinary happened. Nothing had changed and yet everything was different. The fool breathed more freely, his blood flowed more rapidly. He saw the world around him as if he had opened his eyes for the very first time. He found everything beautiful, everything fine; he understood everything, he loved everything. He felt strong, free, joyous and filled with crazy high spirits. Standing there by himself, he began to laugh:

“But it’s true!” he exclaimed. “You have given me a little je-ne-sais-quoi…”

“Would you like anything else?” asked the voice.

“Yes, please,” said the fool. “Can you take me home?”

“Right away. Don’t be afraid!”

That very second, the fool found himself being lifted into the air and now he was flying, but so fast, so very fast, that he lost his cap!

“Hey there, Nowhere-man, stop! I’ve lost my cap!”

But the voice replied:

“I’m sorry, Master, but your cap is now twenty thousand miles away! It is gone. There’s no point looking for it now!”

A second later, the fool slowed to a halt in front of a craggy great mountain and then came down to land beside a large rock. He hardly had time to see where he was before the mountain turned back into his palace and the rock became his wife, once again. She ran to kiss him:

“Did you find what you were looking for, my darling?”

“Just a moment!” answered the fool.

And he called:

“Nowhere-man!”

“Yes, Master!”

“Can you give a little je-ne-sais-quoi to my wife, too?”

“Right away, master! There you go, ma’am!”

And instantly, his wife began to laugh:

“So it’s true! You really have given me a little je-ne-sais-quoi… Now let’s go and see the King!”

They took their coach and set out along the gold-paved avenue. On both sides the trees tinkled, the birds sang and the cats miaowed. They soon arrived at the royal palace and were shown into the throne room.

“You again!” growled the King. “What are you doing here?”

The fool replied:

“I’ve been to Nowhere-land, where I found Nowhere-man, and he gave me some je-ne-sais-quoi. Wouldn’t you like some too?”

“Well, I suppose I would,” said the King. “I’m curious to know…”

But he abruptly broke off what he was saying—and then burst out laughing:

“So it’s true after all! You really have given me a little je-ne-sais-quoi!”

Then he called:

“Mother! Mother!”

The old Queen Mother came in.

“Listen mother: the fool has returned and he has given me some je-ne-sais-quoi. Would you like to try some too?”

“Absolutely not!” said the Queen Mother. “What is this nonsense?”

“Go on, Nowhere-man, give her some anyway!” the fool asked his servant.

But the voice replied:

“I can’t, I’m afraid: if she will not accept it, I cannot give it to her.”

“Now, my dear fool,” said the King, “keep your wife and stay near me, from now on. As I have no children, you shall be King when I am gone.”

So it came about that, to this day, everyone in the kingdom is happy. Everyone except for the Queen Mother, who is just as dismal, mean and sad as ever. But she consoles herself with the thought that she at least still has her wits about her, while the others are all mad, every single one of them.