Simon, the shapeshifter

Long ago there was a rebel leader called Simon, the shapeshifter who fought against a cruel and tyrannous king called Harald the Ironheart and, changing their form into woodland animals he and his men would hide in the forest of Merther and the kings men could never find them to arrest them.
Day after day Haralds tax collectors would travel thoughout the kingdom collecting harsh taxes from the poor and day after day; Simon the shapeshifter and his outlaws would rob them and give back the money to the people.
But King Harald had a daughter whose name was Thronwy, a beautiful raven haired maid who was deeply unhappy because her father wanted her to marry a prince from an Eastern land across the sea called Prince Calispan who she did not love.
Fortunately, Thronwy had a magic key given to her by her late mother that  made a doorway appear in any wall and used that to escape her fathers castle and run off into the forest.
And while she was there she saw a beautiful white stag and was amazed when it came close and allowed her to pet it.
Then she started to tell the stag all her troubles; how sad she was at having to marry Prince Calispan.
But then, as she was pouring out her heart to the stag, suddenly Thronwy saw a snake in the grass at her feet that bit her upon the ankle and made her cry out in pain and when she did, suddenly the white stag turned into a man; Simon the Shapeshifter
At first she was frightened of him but then, picking a purple flower that was nearby, he placed its head softly like a kiss upon the snakebite and the bite was instantly healed.
"Thank you", she said, seeing how he had healed her, "You've saved my life".
"Its the purple healer", he said, talking about the flower, "They say it can heal any wound that its petals touch".
But though she was grateful to him  she still wanted to know why he had disguised himself as a stag and deceived her.
Then he told her who he was and he also tried to explain to her how cruel and evil her father was; telling her terrible stories about what had happened to peasants who hadn't been able to pay his taxes.
At first she wouldn't believe it because, inspite of his harshness towards her, she loved her father.
And so Simon took her to see one of the villages that her fathers soldiers had burned to the ground and the villagers showed her the graves of those people who had been killed simply because they could not pay their taxes.
But then, because she looked saddened by seeing such cruelty, Simon took her to see a special secret place beside a waterfall where fairies lived and the fairies gave her a ring from a hoarde of ancient treasure.
After that, she agreed to use her magic key to open a doorway for Simon in the castle walls, asking he and his men to wait just beyond the castle moat for her to give them a signal.
However, no sooner had she returned to her fathers castle when she was told to go and meet Prince Calispan who had arrived to see the woman he was supposed to marry.
Unfortunately, Prince Calispan, knowing all kinds of foreign magics, looking deep into the Princess's eyes could read her mind and, discovering her plan to help Simon the shapeshifter alerted her father.
Then her father, thinking for some time, said to her, "You will go on with your plan and open a doorway for Simon the Shapeshifter and his men to enter the castle but when they do, my men will be waiting to kill them".
And so the Princess was forced to open a doorway in the castle wall with her magic key and signal to a waiting Simon and his men.
When they turned themselves into hawks however and flew across the moat and in through the door, the kings men were standing by with nets to catch them and swords to kill them with and, as they turned back into their human forms, the princess was left to weep over them.
As she was kneeling and weeping however, the princess noticed a purple flower sticking out of the tunic of Simon the shapeshifter and recognizing it as the flower that heals all wounds with only a touch, she placed it upon the wounds of Simon and his men and, immediately they were healed and their lives saved.
Then springing up, they overcame the soldiers who had attacked them.
After that Simons men turned themselves into ants and, crawling past castle guards, lowered the castle drawbridge allowing all of his men to enter.
A fierce battle ensued which Simons men won but when the battle was over Simon looked around and couldn't see Princess Thronwy anywhere.
Prince Calispan had made off with her you see; unrolling a magic flying carpet and flying off with her on it.
Turning himself into a hawk, Simon the Shapeshifter flew up into the sky looking for the princess and seeing her upon the flying carpet, he swooped down and landed upon it.
Desperately Simon and Prince Calispan struggled and, in an attempt to escape, Calispan pushed the princess off the flying carpet and she went plummeting towards the ground.
Simon the shapeshifter turned himself into a hawk again and swooped down after her but the hawk was too small to catch the princess with its talons and stop her from falling.
Just then, however, the ring upon the princess's finger; the ring that the fairies had given her started to glow brightly and suddenly there was a giant swarm of fluttering fairies all around and underneath her pushing her back upwards.
Infact the fairies lifted her back up onto the flying carpet and it was Prince Calispan who was then knocked off of the carpet and went plummeting to his doom.
After that, Simon the Shapeshifter and Princess Thronwyn returned to King Ironheart's castle and the tyrannous king was imprisoned for his crimes and, because they had fallen in love, the Princess and Simon were married and lived happily ever after.