Chapter One

Hungry and cold, lost in a deep forest, a brother and sister hear the voice of a bird. They understand the creature's song, which tells them that just ahead is the answer to their prayers: they will find a house made of food. But the prophetic bird warns them they must be careful, for eating that food could cost them their lives!

A girl stands by the side of the road. She is impossibly beautiful, with skin like snowy cream and hair that falls in raven-black ringlets. She seems to be lost, alone, frightened. A carriage drives by. On the door is the royal crest. She peers into the coach, and meets the eye of a king. He signals the driver to stop, and takes the girl inside. His wife looks away, an impassive expression on her face, her deepest feelings hurt by this strange girl's very presence.

A teenage girl wanders playfully through her father's castle. She knows this place intimately, for she has lived here all her life. She has stepped upon every stair, opened every ornate doorway, sat upon each window bench looking out upon the fields of her father's kingdom. But oddly, today, on the birthday that will mark her as a woman, she finds a door where she has never seen one before. Her face flushed with curiosity and excitement, she opens it, peering into a tiny room. An old woman sits there, working away at something the girl has never beheld: a wooden wheel that spins flax into linen thread. The girl draws closer, thrilled and flushed with wonder, and reaches out her finger to touch the strange whirring wheel ...

A man has made a promise to his yo