There was a merchant in a village who had three sons. The eldest son decided to work abroad. The merchant asked him, “We have no shortage here, so why do you want to go abroad?” But the son wasn’t convinced and obtained everything for his travel on the ship, and he wasn’t convinced. After a few days, he stopped at the port and found a wooden fence saying that whoever returned the princess would be given half the kingdom as a prize.
He thought he must try and went immediately to meet the king. The king said, “If you can’t find the princess in eight days, then you’ll be executed. You must remember that.” But he agreed to the condition and began searching for the princess everywhere. But every time he failed. After eight days, he was executed. After a few days, another son went abroad, but he also ended like his eldest brother and was executed. After several days passed, and when neither of them returned, the youngest son wanted to go abroad.
After two days, his ship stopped at the same port. He thought his elder brothers were trying to find the princess, so he also decided to try. But he was very clever and also agreed to the same condition. He stayed in the capital and befriended the gardener. The gardener lived with his old mother. She listened to the youngest son’s story and said, “If you’re willing to spend money, I can tell you the solution for this.” The old woman knew all the princess’s secrets. He said to her, “Yes.” The old woman said, “Get the golden lion that has a hole in it and sit inside and play, and everyone will think it’s a magic lion.” He did as she said.
The old woman took the lion and went to see the king. The king was extremely happy and ordered the woman to leave the lion in the palace. The woman said, “I can’t do that. He’ll scold me, my lord. I only wanted to show you, and if you wish, you can get him in your palace tonight, and I’ll come tomorrow morning and take him back.” The king agreed to the condition. The king proudly took the lion to his palace. Through that hole, the youngest son was able to see and hear. The king removed the carpet from the ground and was amazed, for there was a cellar, and the cellar had a door above it. He opened the door slowly and went inside. There was another large palace. In the palace, there were twelve identical girls playing. The king showed the golden lion to them. All the girls began playing around the lion happily. The boy started playing. He stopped playing and called out at the top of his voice for the princess. The princess answered yes, so he knew who the princess was.
She had a rose in her hair and a mole on her cheek. The next day, the king returned the lion to the old woman. On the third day, the boy appeared in the royal palace and said to the king, “I found the princess.” The king said, “How is this?” The king was extremely astonished. He said, “There in your palace is a very beautiful carpet, and under that there’s a cellar. There’s a door at the top. In this cellar, there are twelve girls, one of them is the princess. I was able to recognize the princess easily because of the mole and the rose.” The merchant was proud of his son. According to the condition, the king rewarded him with half the kingdom.