"I believe the royal chamberlain is fond of apples. Try to catch him
with a red apple."

At this the King and his people hunted all over the kingdom, and at
last found a tree with one solitary red apple growing on a little
branch nearly at the top. But unfortunately some one had sawed off the
trunk of the tree, close up to the branches, and had carried it away
and chopped it up for kindling wood. For this reason there was no way
to climb the tree to secure the apple.

While the King and the people were considering how they might get into
the tree, Prince Thinkabit came up to them and asked what they wanted.

"We want the apple," replied the King, "but some one has cut away the
tree trunk, so that we can not climb up."

Prince Thinkabit rubbed the top of his head a minute, to get his brain
into good working order. It was a habit he had acquired. Then he walked
to the bank of the river, which was near, and whistled three times.
Immediately a school of fishes swam up to him, and one of the biggest
cried out:

"Good afternoon, Prince Thinkabit; what can we do for you?"

"I wish to borrow a flying fish for a few minutes," replied the Prince.

Scarcely had he spoken when a fish flew out of the river and perched
upon his shoulder. Then he walked up to the tree and said to the fish:
"Get me the apple."