Participate:
The Three Dolls is an ancient Middle Eastern folktale, filled with equal amounts of humor and wisdom. Read my version of this tale and then link to other versions to compare the stories. Try telling it yourself to a friend or family member. Draw a picture of the three dolls to use as a story aid when you tell your story.
One day, a mysterious package containing three dolls arrived at the palace for the king. A note attached read, “Great King, prove how wise you are and solve this riddle: how are these three dolls different?”
The king studied the three identical dolls for many hours. They were the same. He could not find any differences. Finally he knew that a wise king would ask for advice from his friends at court.
First he called his wise man, but he got no answer from him. Then he called the fool for advice. The fool was no help. He just wanted to be silly and play with the dolls. At last, the king called his best friend, the storyteller. The storyteller looked closely at each doll and said, “These dolls look alike, but they are not the same. I can tell you their differences. What makes them different is on the inside.”
The king was eager to hear more. The storyteller said he know how to reach inside a person through their ears. “What do you mean?” asked the king. “Let me show you,” replied the storyteller. “But first, I need a hair from your beard, your majesty.” The storyteller reached out and pulled a long yellow hair from the king’s beard. “Ouch,” said the king.
The storyteller then pushed the end of the hair into the first doll’s ear. It went in and in and in. “Your majesty, this doll must be the wise man, for what it hears, it keeps to itself.”
“Very interesting,” said the king.
For the second doll, the storyteller pulled another hair from the king’s beard. “Ouch,” said the king. Then the storyteller pushed the hair into the ear of the second doll, and it came out the other ear. “This, your majesty, must be the fool, for what goes in one ear, just comes out the other.”
“Very interesting,” said the king. “What about the third doll?”
“Ouch,” said the king. The storyteller had pulled one more hair from the king’s beard. He pushed the hair into the ear of the third doll and saw it come out from the doll’s mouth. “Your majesty, this doll is the storyteller, for what she hears, she will retell.”
“Very interesting, but why is the end of the hair curly when you put in a straight hair?” asked the king.
The storyteller answered, “That is because we storytellers always put our own style on it when we retell a story we have heard.”
The End
Connect:
Take a look at two other versions of this story. How are they different or alike?
https://spellbinders.org/story/the-three-dolls/
https://alltimeshortstories.com/the-prince-and-the-three-dolls/
Discover:
Many books on folktales for children can be found in the library's collection here.
Some great collections of world folktales can be checked out as ebooks from Overdrive.