The Snake in the Prince's Belly

A prince, wasting away because a snake had secretly made its home in his belly instead of an anthill, left his kingdom in despair and lived as a beggar in a temple in a distant land.

In that same land, a king had two daughters: one who greeted him only with flattering praise, and another who spoke plainly, greeting him simply with "your just deserts" instead of empty compliments. Offended by her honesty, the king angrily married this daughter off to the first foreigner available -- the ailing, beggared prince -- intending it as a punishment for her bluntness.

But the princess accepted her fate with grace, treating her new husband with genuine devotion rather than resentment, and traveled with him to a distant city to start their life together.

One day, while her husband rested with his head near an anthill, she returned from an errand to find two snakes arguing loudly -- the snake living in her husband's belly, and a second snake native to the anthill, each mocking the other's secret vulnerability. Overhearing every word from behind a branch, she learned an actual cure was named aloud in the argument: black mustard for one snake, boiling water for the other.

Using exactly what she had overheard, the princess cured her husband completely and, in doing so, gained access to the treasure the anthill snake had also revealed. She returned home with her once-ailing, now-healthy husband and a fortune besides, honored by the very father who had cast her out -- her honest tongue, once punished, having quietly earned her everything in the end.