Once a merchant, setting off on his travels, asked his three daughters what they wanted. The eldest daughter wanted pearls and the second wanted diamonds. But the youngest asked for a singing, soaring lark.
The merchant got the pearls and the diamonds. As he was about to reach home, he found a lark sitting on a branch. But as he reached up, a fierce lion roared, “How dare you steal my lark?”
The merchant explained his daughter’s request. The lion said that he would give him the lark. “But you must bring me the first thing you see as you reach home!” he added.
The merchant agreed. But it was his youngest daughter who came running out to greet him! The merchant burst into tears and explained his promise.
His daughter was brave, so she went to the lion. He was gentle and welcomed her warmly.
He was actually a prince who had been put under a spell. He had to be a lion during the day but became a prince at night. Also, no candlelight must fall on him or he would become a dove for seven years. Unfortunately, candlelight fell on him once and he became a dove. The girl followed him for seven years, but on the last day the dove vanished.
The sun helped the girl, telling her that he was fighting a dragon near the Red Sea. She must take a reed growing on the bank and touch the dragon with it. The dragon and the lion would change into humans and she must fly away with him on a griffin that stood there. He also gave her a casket to be opened when in need.
The girl did as she was told. The lion turned into the prince, and the dragon into a wicked princess, who flew off on the griffin with the prince!
The girl reached the palace of the wicked princess who was to marry the prince. Opening the casket, she found a dress that was like sunshine. She went in and showed the dress to the wicked princess.
The princess immediately wanted to buy the dress but the girl said, “I’ll give it in exchange for visiting the place where the prince lived.”
So, the princess sent her to the room where the prince lived. He was sleeping, enchanted. The girl whispered to him that she had come to take him home.
The spell broke. The prince and the girl strolled out of the palace at night and flew back home on the griffin!
