A young shoemaker left his village. Along the way, he found some ants, who were very sad because a bear had destroyed their anthill（蚁冢，人群密集的地方） . The shoemaker helped them rebuild it, and the ants offered to return the favor.

The shoemaker followed his way and found some bees with the same problem as the ants. The young man also helped them, and the bees promised to help him in the future.

Further along, the shoemaker learned that the king’s daughter was in the castle of a witch（巫婆，女巫） . The young man decided¹ to rescue her. But the witch locked him up in a stinking²（发恶臭的，非常讨厌的） dunge on with a sack of sand mixed with poppy（罂粟） seeds and told him that if he wasn’t able to separate the two, she would cut off his head at dawn.

The young man thought about his death. But his friends the ants came and helped him pass the test. The witch was astounded³. Then she took him to a room where there were thirteen maidens⁴ with their faces covered: the shoemaker had to discover which one was the princess.

The young man became discouraged but he saw a bee that landed on... the sweetest one, the true princess. When the shoemaker uncovered her face, the witch was changd into a crow（乌鸦） . The young people fell in love and lived surrounded by animals and poppies.

一个年轻鞋匠离开他所在的村子。沿途中看到一些蚂蚁，蚂蚁们很伤心，因为熊破坏了他们的家。于是这个鞋匠帮助它们重修了蚁丘，蚂蚁们说将来会回报他的帮助。

鞋匠上路继续前行，发现一些蜜蜂遭遇到和蚂蚁一样的状况。于是这个年轻人也帮助了蜜蜂们，蜜蜂承诺将来也会帮助这位年轻人。

又走了很远，鞋匠听说国王的女儿困在女巫的城堡里，年轻人决定去营救她。但女巫把他锁在恶臭的粪土堆旁，还扔给他一麻袋混合在一起的沙子和罂粟种子。告诉他如果不能够在黎明前把这些区分开来，就要在黎明时砍掉他的脑袋。

年轻人想着他要死了。这时他的朋友蚂蚁来了，帮助他通过了这个考验。女巫大吃一惊，接着她把年轻人带到了一个房间，里面有蒙着面纱的是三个少女：鞋匠必须从中找出真正的王妃。

年轻人有些灰心了，但这时他看到了一只蜜蜂降落在一个人身上……那人就是真正的王妃。当鞋匠揭开她的面纱，于是女巫变成了一只乌鸦。年轻人跟公主坠入爱河，动物们和罂粟花都围绕着他们。