The Three Golden Hairs

Long ago, even before your great-great-grandparents were born, there was a place called Fairyland. It was a magical land, of course, and it was inhabited by special fairies who were called the Fates.

Every time a child was born, three Fates would visit and use their magnificent powers to bestow a strength or a task upon the child. The most famous of the Fates were Lia, Mia and Via. And this is their story.

“Look at those lovely pink cheeks! And those startling emerald green eyes!”

“He looks like a prince, doesn’t he!”

A sweet little boy had just been born to a coalman and his wife in a small, homely shack in the woods. The Fates loved him already and they took the boy by his hands and told him his fate.

The oldest Fate, Lia, began, “My dear boy, you will do many great things, but you will also run into a lot of danger in your life.”

“But I give you the strength to overcome all obstacles, big and small,” said Mia.

“And I,” said Via, the youngest and silliest of them, “would have you marry a king’s daughter, who is both charming and wise.”

Then they drew a magic circle in the dirt around the boy and sprinkled him with a memory-wiping powder. But just as they were telling the boy his fate, the king happened to be passing by the house. He overheard the words of the youngest Fate, her girlish wish for the boy floating out of the house like music.

His little daughter, a princess, had also been born that very day!

“I won’t let my precious daughter marry some simple peasant!” raged the king.

He stole the boy and gave it to a servant to send down the…