There was a queen whom our Lord God had shut up so that she would not bear children. So she went to the garden every morning and asked God in heaven to give her a son or a daughter. Then an angel came from heaven and said 'Be content, you shall have a son with desirable thoughts, for what he desires in the world he will receive'. She went to the king and told him the happy message, and when the time was over, she gave birth to a son, and the king was in great joy.

Now she went every morning with the child into the animal garden, and washed herself there at a clear well. Once, when the child was a little older, she lay on her lap and fell asleep. Then came the old cook, who knew that the child had desirable thoughts, and robbed her, and took a chicken and tore it, and dripped the blood on her apron and dress. Then he carried the child away to a hidden place where a nurse had to water it, and ran to the king and accused the queen of having let her child be stolen by the wild animals. And when the king saw the blood on the apron, he believed it and was so enraged that he had a deep tower built into which neither the sun nor the moon shone, and had his wife put inside it and walled up; there she was to sit for seven years, without food or drink, and was to languish. But God sent two angels from heaven in the form of white doves, which had to fly to her twice a day and bring her food until the seven years were over.

But the cook thought to himself, 'If the child has desirable thoughts and I am here, he could easily bring me into misfortune. So he left the castle and went to the boy, who was already so tall that he could speak, and said to him, "Wish for a beautiful castle with a garden and everything that goes with it. And no sooner were the words out of the boy's mouth than everything he had wished for was there. After a while the cook said to him: 'It is not good that you are so alone, wish for a beautiful maiden to keep you company. Then the king's son asked for her, and she stood before him immediately, and was as beautiful as no painter could paint her. Now the two of them played together and loved each other dearly, and the old cook went hunting like a distinguished man. But the thought occurred to him that the king's son might one day wish to be with his father and thus cause him great distress. So he went out, took the girl aside and said, "This night, when the boy is asleep, go to his bedside and plunge the knife into his heart, and bring me his tongue and liver; and if you do not do this, you shall lose your life. Then he went away, and when he came back the next day, she had not done it, and said, "Why should I kill an innocent blood that has not offended anyone? The cook said again, "If you don't do it, it will cost you your own life. When he had gone away, she sent for a small hind, and had it slaughtered, and took the heart and tongue, and put them on a plate, and when she saw the old man coming, she said to the boy 'lie down in bed and pull the blanket over you.

Then the villain came in and said, "Where is the boy's heart and tongue? The girl handed him the plate, but the king's son threw off the blanket and said 'you old sinner, why did you want to kill me? now I will pronounce your sentence. You shall become a black poodle-dog and have a golden chain around your neck, and you shall eat burning coals so that the tan beats out of your neck'. And as soon as he had spoken the words, the old man was turned into a poodle dog, and had a golden chain around his neck, and the cooks had to bring up live coals, which he ate so that the tan came out of his neck. Now the king's son stayed there for a little while, thinking of his mother and whether she was still alive. At last he said to the girl, "I want to go home to my fatherland, and if you will go with me, I will feed you. Oh," she answered, "the way is so far, and what shall I do in a foreign country where I am unknown. Because it was not her will, and they did not want to leave each other, he wished her to be a beautiful carnation and put her with him.

Then he went away, and the poodle dog had to go with him, and went to his father's country. Now he went to the tower where his mother was sitting, and because the tower was so high, he wanted a ladder that reached to the top. So he climbed up and looked in, and called out, "My dearest mother, Madam Queen, are you still alive, or are you dead? She answered 'I have just eaten and am still full,' and thought the angels were there. He said, "I am your dear son, whom the wild beasts have robbed from your womb, but I am still alive and will soon save you. Now he descended and went to his father, and let himself be announced as a foreign hunter, whether he could have service with him. The king answered yes, if he was skilled and could bring him game, he should come here; but there had never been any game on the whole border and area. The hunter promised to bring him as much game as he could use at the royal table. Then he called the hunters together, they should all go out with him into the forest. So they went with him, and outside he told them to close a large circle, which remained open at one end, and then he stood in it and began to wish. Immediately, two hundred and some pieces of venison came running into the circle, and the hunters had to shoot them. Then everything was loaded onto sixty farmer's wagons and driven home to the king; there he could adorn his table with venison for once, after he had had none for many years.

Now the king felt great joy about this and ordered his whole court to dine with him the next day, and made a great feast. When they were all together, he said to the hunter, "Because you are so skillful, you shall sit next to me. He replied, "Your Majesty, I am a bad hunter," but the king insisted. But the king insisted and said, 'You shall sit beside me,' until he did. As he sat there, he thought of his dearest mother, and wished that only one of the king's first servants would start from her, and asked how the queen was doing in the tower, whether she was still alive or languishing. No sooner had he asked for it than the marshal began, and said, "Your Royal Majesty, we live here in joy, how is the queen in the tower, whether she is still alive or has pined away? But the king answered 'she has let my dear son be torn to pieces by the wild beasts, I don't want to hear about it'. Then the hunter stood up and said, 'Most gracious father, she is still alive, and I am her son, and the wild beasts have not stolen him, but the villain, the old cook, has done it, who, when she was asleep, took me away from her lap and dripped her apron with the blood of a chicken.' Then he took the dog with the golden collar and said, 'This is the villain,' and had red-hot coals brought, which he had to eat in view of everyone, so that the bark came out of his throat. Then he asked the king if he wanted to see him in his true form, and wished him to be the cook again, and there he stood with the white apron and the knife at his side. The king, seeing him, was angry and ordered that he be thrown into the deepest dungeon. Then the hunter said, "Father, do you also want to see the girl who brought me up so tenderly and was supposed to kill me afterwards, but did not do so, although her own life was at stake? Answered the king, 'Yes, I would like to see her.' Said the son, 'Most gracious father, I will show it to you in the form of a beautiful flower.' And reaching into his pocket, he took the carnation and placed it on the royal table, and it was more beautiful than the king had ever seen. Then the son said, 'Now I will also show it in its true form,' and wished it to be a virgin; there it stood and was so beautiful that no painter could have painted it more beautifully.

The king sent two chambermaids and two servants down to the tower to fetch the queen and bring her to the royal table. But when she was brought there, she ate no more and said, "The merciful God who has kept me in the tower will soon deliver me. Then she lived three more days and died blessedly; and when she was buried, the two white doves, which had brought her food into the tower and were angels from heaven, followed her and sat on her grave. The old king had the cook torn into four pieces, but the grief ate away at his heart, and he soon died. The son married the beautiful maiden he had brought as a flower in his pocket, and whether they are still alive, that is up to God.