Once upon a time, a King lived with his beautiful queen. Not only was she the most beautiful woman in all of the land, but she had the prettiest long, golden hair. Sadly, the queen was ill and was about to die. Before she died she begged her husband, "if you marry again, don't marry anybody as beautiful as me, and nobody with beautiful golden hair like mine." The King promised her this, right before she died.
The King was devastated by the loss of the queen, and could not even think about remarrying. But, his councillors told him he would have to marry again so they could have a queen. They told him that he would have to start looking, because it wasn't right without a queen on the throne. He sent his servants all over the world to try to find a woman that was even half as beautiful as his late wife. But sadly, nobody could find a woman like her. Even the prettiest ones they could find did not have the long, golden hair like the queen. All of the servants came home one by one giving the bad news to the king.
The King had a daughter that was just as beautiful, with the same hair as her mom. When she grew up, the King realized she looked exactly like the queen and was suddenly violently in love with her. He told his councillors what he thought to be good news, but they were horrified! They told him that this was forbidden by god, and he could not marry his daughter. But, the king was stubborn and didn't listen. He was determined.
The king's daughter was also shocked by the news. She thought of a way to get out of the situation, without directly telling her dad it was a horrifying idea. She told him they could marry if he bought her three dresses. The first: as gold as the sun, the second: as silver as the moon, and the third: as bright as the stars. She also told him he must give her a mantle of a thousand different kinds of fur and hair joined together, and one of every kind of animal in his kingdom must give a piece of his skin for it. She assumed these requests would be impossible, and he would give up the idea. But, the king was determined. He did everything she asked for, and prepared a wedding for the next day. She was mortified, and ran away from him.
Bibliography: Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm
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