The Ice Bird

There was once a little cottage where a woman lived. She had two happy young granddaughters, Sally and Polly .
Sally was a helpful and obedient child, while Polly liked best of all to dress up in frilly outfits all day long, and never help her grandmother with anything. Polly declared that she was the most beautiful girl in the world, and that one day a fairytale prince would come to fetch her.

One year the winter was particularly hard, and the snow covered the little cottage right to the eaves. Then a little bird came and perched in front of the cottage. He was made all of ice, and he sang so sadly and beautifully that your heart would feel like it would break. "Poor thing," said Sally. "He must have been put under the ice queen's spell. We shall set him free!" She and her sister ran out and Polly took the bird in her hands. "Brrrr, how cold he is!" she cried, and threw the bird in the snow. He sang so sadly that tears came to Sally's eyes. She took the bird into the cottage , lay down in her bed , and gently clutched the poor creature to her heart . He chilled like ice, and Sally seemed to be turning into an icicle herself, but in the end she fell asleep.

When she woke up in the morning, a handsome prince was sitting next to her bed. "Thank you for setting me free," he said. "You warmed me at your heart , and for that I shall never leave you." And so it was not the lazy Polly, but the helpful Sally who married a prince when she grew up.

~The End

This little knight shall take you back!