close connection between our variants and the verse form of the
story, I give a prose paraphrase of the latter:--

There was once a poor beggar, Serbando, who had an only son named
Juan. They lived in the kingdom of Spain. They had a little hut outside
the city in which Serbando used to go to beg their living. One morning,
when Juan returned home from school and was playing around their
little hovel, he heard many kinds of birds speaking to him thus:
"Juan, be patient and toil in poverty. The time will come when God
will reward you." Then a large bird flew to him, and said, "Juan,
leave your little miserable hut; go and seek your fortune." When
his father returned home, Juan told him all about the advice of the
birds. Serbando did not believe that birds could talk, and doubted,
of course, the truth of what his son said.

Now, it happened that Serbando became sick, and after a short time
died, leaving his son alone in the world. Poor Juan wept bitterly over
the dead body. He did not know what to do. He covered the corpse of
his father, and then went crying out through the streets of the city,
"Who wants to buy a slave?" A merchant heard him. "I will serve you as
long as I live if you will only see to the burial of my dead father,"
said Juan to the merchant. Without hesitation the merchant assented,
and together they went to the little hut. The merchant ordered and paid
for a funeral; there was a procession, a mass, and after the burial a
banquet. Then the merchant took the boy to live with him in the city
where the king and queen lived. Moreover, this kind merchant sent Juan
to school, and treated him as a son. In time Juan took his bachelor's
degree, and was greatly admired and respected by his teachers.

One afternoon Juan put a notice on the door of the merchant's
house, which read thus: "If we use money, there is nothing we cannot
discover." It happened that on that same afternoon the king and queen
were driving through the streets of the city. The king chanced to
fix his eyes on the sign which Juan had put up. He did not believe
that the notice was true; and so, when he arrived at the palace,
he ordered the merchant to appear before him. The merchant was very
much frightened at the summons, so Juan himself went and presented
himself before the king.

"Is the notice on your door true?" asked the king.

"It is true, your Majesty," said Juan.

"Then go and find my daughter. If you can find her, she shall be
you