ONCE UPON A TIME in the very beginning of spring, there was a lovely princess living in a large castle. Her mother and father were the king and queen of the kingdom, and they loved their daughter dearly. They gave her the best of the best and spared no expense for her supreme comfort.
But the princess was sad. However much riches and gold that she had, she was not content. She wanted to find true love and explore the lands like the many merchants and travelers that came to trade from the sea and far away to bring back trinkets for their children and partners to see. Their tales made her very happy, but she was never allowed to go outside, for outside was a dangerous place for princesses to wander.
The princess wished upon all of the stars in the sky that she would be allowed to travel one day and marry someone who kept the desire to journey also. A fairy passing by heard her cries and visited her in daybreak before the servants came to wake her.
"Dearest child, of what reason do you wish to be set free from the throne?" the fairy had appeared before her bedside.
"I wish that I may journey throughout the lands and find a place that truly makes my home!" pleaded the princess.
"I will grant your wish," the fairy replied to her kindly, "but you must first adhere to these edicts, if only you will promise not to cry or tell a word about what I say."
The overjoyed girl could almost not speak, for she feared she might cry tears of joy. "Oh, yes, I promise that I will obey!"
The fairy smiled down at her. "Very well, then, child. Here is the first: before you may be let outside of the castle, you must first find true love. If you cannot, your wish will not come true. The second: the king and queen must never find out of what you plan, or they will surely stop you. Here is the third and the final: you will have strictly one year to do all that you must. You will bide here for the rest of your years if you cannot find the one on the midnight of the day you turn of age at seventeen years."