In this story, there is a fountain where once per year one person may bathe to have his or her problems answered. This is how three witches meet. The first witch, Asha, suffers from a disease. The second, Altheda, endures poverty and powerlessness due to a robbery. The third, Amatha, is distraught after being left by her beloved. The three witches decide to try to reach the fountain together. Along the way a knight also joins them.
On their path to the fountain, they face three challenges. The first involves a giant worm that demands “proof of their pain”. The second a steep slope where they have to bring “the fruit of their labours”. The third challenge, crossing a river, requires them to pay with “the treasure of their past”.
At the fountain, Asha collapses from exhaustion. To save her, Altheda brews an invigorating potion that also cures Asha of her disease and need of the fountain. Altheda realises that her skills are a means to earn money, so she also no longer needs the fountain. Amatha realises that washing away her regret for her lover removed her need as well. The knight bathes in the water, after which he flings himself at Amatha’s feet and asks her “for her hand and her heart” which she happily gives. Everyone gets an answer to his or her problem, unaware that the fountain held no magical power at all.
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