The Princess And The Golden Bird

Once, upon her 18th birthday, a Queen gave her daughter, Princess Rosette a present of a magic golden cockateel that, she said, would predict the future for its owner three times.
When she took the golden bird away with her and, stroking it, asked it to predict the future however, it told her that an evil witch called Mordana was going to turn her parents into stone and seize control of the kingdom; that she would have to run away into the forest if she was to survive.
And so she did that and it was a good thing that she did for no sooner had she left the palace when an evil witch appeared before the king and queen and turned them both into statues
But though the princess had escaped being turned to stone she now had nowhere to live.
Fortunately, as she was running through the forest she came upon a cottage where a dog, a cat and a mouse lived together as friends and she begged them, "Oh please. Please. Can I stay with you. I have no where else to go and I cannot go back home".
"Can you make cheese sandwiches?", squeaked the mouse.
"Yes", said the girl.
"Can you make fried fish?", miaowed the cat.
"Yes", said the girl.
"What about roast beef?", woofed the Dog.
"Yes", said the girl.
The three animals whispered to each other, conferring before, finally the cat said, "Then we all agree you may stay with us".
But then, while Princess Rosette was living with the three animal friends she asked her bird to predict the future again.
"The witch knows where you have gone", said the bird, "And she is going to send a whirlwind to carry off the house of your three friends".
So the Princess; the dog, the cat and the mouse all had to pack up and leave the house and travel into the forest.
But it was a good thing they did, however, for no sooner had they left when they saw the whirlwind appear and picking up their house like a giant hand carry it off.
But now none of them had a place to live and so they travelled all day looking for somwhere where they could shelter.
Eventually, they came to a tower surrounded by three walls.
The first had a crack in it too small for a human to fit through but the mouse was small enough to fit through the crack and when he did, the wall disappeared.
The second wall had no crack in it at all and it was very high but the cat climbed up the wall, leaping over onto the other side and landing upon its paws and when it did the second wall vanished.
But then they came to a third wall that the cat couldn't climb over because it had sharp spikes in top of it.
Fortunately the dog was a good digger and he dug under the wall and as soon as he emmerged again on the other side the third wall vanished.
But then, inside the tower, they found a prince fast asleep just as if he was under some terrible spell and Princess Rosette thought the Prince so handsome that she kissed him.
But then, just at that moment the evil witch Mordana appeared, riding upon a pitch fork and dressed in black.
"No more chances for you, Princess", she said, "This time you will not escape".
And raising up her pitch fork she aimed it towards Princess Rosette.
And because they were brave and noble beasts, each of her three animal friends tried to save her.
First the dog leapt up and tried to bite her on the leg but the witch pointed her pitch fork at him and he turned to stone.
Then the cat leapt up and tried to claw at the witches eyes but she turned him into a statue aswell.
Finally, the mouse clambered up over her to her face and tried to bite her on the nose but she merely looked at him with her eyes crossed and the mouse became a little stone ornament.
Finally, when there was no one left to defend her, the witch drew closer to the Princess, raising her pitchfork and cackling evilly as if she were going to stab the poor young woman with it.
But then, just as the Princess thought all hope was gone, suddenly a sword pierced the witch through the heart and, looking round, Princess Rosette realised that the Prince from the tower was standing beside her and he had slain the witch.
Screaming, the evil witch exploded into a cloud of black dust that blew away on the wind.
Then the Prince told Princess Rosette that his name was Prince Lorrigan; that long ago he had been bewitched but that Rosettes kiss had broken the spell.
But not only that, as soon as the witch was destroyed, the three animal friends were turned back from stone into flesh.
Stroking the golden cockateel a third time, the Princess asked it, "Have my parents been brought back to life aswell?".
"Yes", said the bird, "And your kingdom is free of the witches power but not only that you and the prince will fall in love and be married".
And just as the bird predicted so it happened, Prince Lorrigan and Princess Rosette fell in love, were married and lived happily ever after.