Far away on the beautiful island of Hawaii, a powerful chief lived with his daughter.
She was a tropical princess, and they were happy on the island.
One day the princess became very ill from eating a spoiled mango.
The chief sent for the magical healer to save his daughter.
The healer shook his head sadly and said,
"There is only one thing that will save this girl.
You must find three golden flowers.
They grow where the glorious sun shines into sparkling water."
The chief wanted his daughter to stay alive, so he gathered all the men in the village.
He told them that whoever found the golden flowers could marry the princess.
Three brothers who lived across the river heard the chief's plea.
They were just poor farmers, but they knew their island paradise very well.
The brothers alone knew where to find the sacred healing flowers.
The first brother rowed his small boat, called a skiff, up the river.
He found the golden flowers by a sparkling waterfall.
He knew that only nine flowers grew in that special spot every year.
He took three of the magical flowers.
As he rowed back to the village, an old fisherman stopped him.
"What do you have there?" the fisherman asked.
The boy didn't trust the old man, so he answered, "Worms."
When the poor boy reached the village, he showed his basket to the chief.
But worms came out of his basket instead of the three golden flowers.
The next day, the very same thing happened to the second brother.
The chief was sad.
Then the third brother tried.
He was the youngest, kind in nature, and shy.
When the fisherman asked him what he had in the basket, he was honest.
He said, "I have three golden flowers."
The old fisherman looked in the basket and said, "So you do.
And you will need this flute."
The enchanted flowers cured the sick princess, but the chief went back on his promise.
He did not want a poor, simple farmer to marry his daughter.
The chief said, "Go out tonight with these one hundred birds.
If you can return in the morning with all one hundred birds, then you may marry my daughter."
But in the moonlight, the poor boy quickly lost all the birds.
Then he remembered the flute the fisherman had given him.
He played the mystical flute, and all the birds came back to him.
The chief was very surprised!
Had this poor farmer boy really charmed all one hundred birds?
He counted the birds twice.
Then the chief bowed his regal head and said,
"You will be a worthy husband for my daughter."
The poor farmer boy moved his whole family to the chief's village.
He lived there happily with his new wife.
And sometimes, early in the spring when the sun glinted off the sparkling waterfall,
the young man and his princess would watch the golden flowers shining by the waterfall.