Once there was a princess whose parents had died, so she lived with her aunt and uncle, who were also a king and queen but were cold and selfish. Unlike them, the princess, whose name was Rosella, was as kind-hearted as she was beautiful and brave. The only thing that she liked about living in their palace was that the Queen was a powerful sorceress, so Rosella had a chance to learn some magic. She studied a lot, and soon became quite a good witch in her own right—being careful to use her spells only for good.One day her uncle the king fell ill and broke out in spots. Even the queen, with all her evil sorcery, could not cure him. So the king called all the doctors of the country together and told them: "If you cure me, you shall have half my kingdom. If you do not cure me, you will all lose your heads." The doctors put their heads together and muttered, but none of them knew a cure. "So!" said the king. "Then off with your—" "Wait, wait!" said the oldest doctor. "There is one remedy. You will have to take a bath in ... er, ah ... in the blood of ... er ... some prince of nobler birth than your own!" "Very well," said the king, and commanded his Royal Admiral to take the whole Navy seeking for a prince of nobler birth than his own. "And in the meantime," the king said to his guards, "put a lock on the doctors' chamber, and sharpen the executioner's axe, just in case the remedy does not work." "Are you crazy?" the other doctors whispered to the oldest as they were led away by the guards. "Who ever heard of a remedy like that?" "I made it up," the oldest doctor whispered back. "At least we get to keep our heads while he is seeking such a prince. Let us hope it takes a very long time!" But as luck would have it, in the very first week of searching, the Admiral's ship met with a finely-rigged ship from a kingdom far away, which flew a royal flag and had a royal seal painted on its hull; and the young man standing on the deck commanding the sailors appeared as quite noble as could possibly be required. "A fine specimen!" said the Admiral. "Capture him—but do not spill a drop of his blood!" They signalled their other ships, the fleet surrounded the foreign ship. The strange prince fought bravely but was at last captured, and brought back in chains to the palace, to stand before the King and the whole group of doctors. "What shall we do now?" the doctors whispered to the oldest doctor. "The prince's blood cannot really cure the king. As soon as the king tries it, we will lose our heads." "Ah, well, er." The oldest doctor examined the prince. "This one might serve. Provided that he is well-fattened first. Feed him on pies and cakes for at least, er, six months." "Are you all mad?" shouted the prince, whose name was Antonio. "Release me at once!" "Oh, yes, and. Er." The doctor backed away and whispered to the king: "This prince's blood is much too hot. His temper must cool. Tell him some nice story. Play some nice music. Give him ... the princess Rosella.... Er. For at least six months. Then call me again.... good day!""Very well," the king whispered back. He had Antonio's chains cut off at once, and lied: "My sailors made a mistake. I had asked them to invite you here to meet my niece Rosella, to see if she would like you for a husband. I hope you will stay here as her guest for a few weeks." Rosella was very surprised to hear this. But as soon as she and Antonio saw each other, they liked each other very much, so both of them agreed to the visit. In a hidden courtyard behind the old palace, open to the sky and full of overgrown flowering trees and vines, her uncle the king shut them up together. He had two tiny cottages built, one for Rosella and one for Antonio, and closed out all news of the outside world. There Rosella and the prince spent many happy days among the fountains and birds, learning each other's language, teaching each other to play foreign musical instruments, and laughing. Then one day when they were feeding the bright-colored birds, Rosella decided to practice her spell of understanding animal speech, and heard the birds saying: "Such a nice prince ... what a pity he has not long to live...." "What!" said Rosella. The birds, who were always flying in and out of the halls of the palace and hearing gossip, told her the whole scheme; and Rosella told the prince. "I will get you out of here," she added, "and you can escape to your own kingdom." "You must come with me," Antonio said. "You will be safe there, and later we can be married." Rosella agreed, and they kissed to seal the plan. That night Rosella climbed out of the garden, put on sturdy clothes, took a pair of jeweled swords that bore her royal crest, and went to town and hired a ship. "Wait at the dock ready to sail," she told the captain. "When a man comes carrying one of these swords, treat him well and obey him as you would me." Then she made her way through the dark t...