The Princess and the Crow

In a royal castle there lived a very pretty and kind-hearted princess. Not far away stood the ruins of a second castle with a beautiful garden. The princess enjoyed walking to it. One day, she was meandering up and down the tree-lined path when out of the rose bushes hopped a black crow. It was all ruffled up and injured, so the princess felt sorry for it.

'I'm not a crow, I'm a cursed prince and have to spend my youth in this misery. Oh princess, you could save me. Stay with me forever as my wife. Say goodbye to your loved ones and come back to me and this castle. One of the rooms is still habitable and in it there is a golden bed. You will be lonely living here, but don't forget — no matter what you see or hear at night, you mustn't cry out in fright, because even if you scream just once, my affliction will be doubled.'

The kind princess left her mother and father and moved into the lonely castle.

She couldn't fall asleep on the first night. At midnight, she heard something creeping in. The doors opened and a host of evil ghosts stormed in. She almost died of terror — but she didn't make a single sound. Then suddenly the rooster crowed and they all vanished.

The crow hopped about the room with joy and thanked the princess for her courage because it had already lessened his suffering.

The princess, however, lived a lonely existence and endured the most terrible nights.

And so two years passed and the crow spoke to the princess, 'My punishment will be over in one year. However, before I return to my natural form, you must go out into the wide world and work as a servant.'

The young princess went out and served as a maid a whole year long.

One evening, she was weaving flax and was already very tired when she heard a cheerful shout. A handsome young man stepped in and kneeled before her, kissing her weary hands.

'It's me,' he announced. 'I'm the prince whom you freed from terrible suffering with your goodness. Come with me back to my castle.'

And so she moved back into the castle with him where she had once experienced so much torment. The prince and the kind-hearted princess lived there together for one hundred happy years.