Once upon a time...

There was a Peasant's daughter called Eaman who lived in a hut in the shadows of a
great black mountain. The hut was very small and very cold, because the Peasant
was very poor and his wife spent every penny he earned on cakes and trifles and
wine.

One winter's day, the Wicked King came to the hut and called upon the Peasant to
come out.

'I have come for my rent,' King Leo informed the Peasant.

'Please, sir,' the Peasant begged the King. 'I have no money left to pay you. May I
pay you next month?'

'Certainly not!' King Leo said angrily. 'If you cannot pay me now, I will take your
daughter instead. She will make a fine wife for my son.'

'No!' Eaman sobbed, for the Wicked King's son, the Ugly Prince, was a foul and evil
man.

King Leo paid Eaman no mind. 'I will return in one week for my money or your
daughter,' he informed the Peasant. 'If neither is forthcoming, I will send my soldiers
to remove you from this place.'

After the Wicked King Leo had left, Eaman could not stop crying. She did not want to
marry the Ugly Prince, but if she refused, her family would have nowhere to live. For
she knew that her father was too poor to pay the King.

'Oh!' cried Eaman. 'What can I do?'

Just then, a single tear fell from her cheek and landed upon a Ugly Caterpillar
crawling on the ground, and all at once the Ugly Caterpillar changed into a Beautiful
Butterfly.

'You must go to the Starmaker's palace at the top of the mountain,' the Butterfly
said to Eaman. 'You must sing for him, and he will make you rich beyond your
wildest dreams.'

'But I cannot sing,' Eaman said.

The Butterfly flew into the air and landed briefly upon Eaman's lips, and then, with a
tiny flutter of its beautiful wings, it was gone. And when Eaman opened her mouth
and sang, it was the sweetest sound you've ever heard.

'The Butterfly was right!' she cried happily. 'I can sing!'

And so Eaman set off up the great black mountain to find the Starmaker's palace.
The mountain was steep and treacherous, and there were thick dark forests where
wolves and goblins and all manner of frightening creatures dwelled. But Eaman
sang to herself as she travelled, and the beauty of her voice sent all the wild beasts
to sleep.

After some time, she came upon a Mysterious Goblin who was munching on berries
from the Lie Bush and spinning wool.

'You sing very well,' the Goblin said to Eaman with a mysterious smile. 'I think I shall
make you my wife, Alice, and you will cook Lie berry pie for me forever.'

And with a sudden spring, he spun his wool around Eaman's ankles so that she
could not escape.

'My name's not Alice and I will not marry you, you vile thing' she said to him. 'I am
going to sing for the Starmaker, and he will make me the richest girl in the world.
And then I will not have to marry anyone'

The Goblin laughed. 'You will never meet the Starmaker. I have trapped you here
and will only let you go if you guess my name from my riddle. And it is
unguessable.'

'Tell me your riddle,' Eaman declared, 'I know I can solve it'.

The Goblin recited his riddle in a singsong voice:

"My first is in sugar and also in sweet,

My second's a legume, tasty to eat,
My third is myself, my fourth's an old chick,
My fifth's in an apple and also a brick,
My sixth just repeats what my fourth said above,
My seventh's a thousand, you will be my love,
My eighth's simply fifty, my ninth is a breeze,
If you follow my meaning you'll find it with ease.
My whole is a strange name, of that there's no doubt,
But though berries may lie, the truth it will out.
You may call me a thing but I swear I'm a man,
Now come and find me. That is, if you can."
Eaman thought for a moment. 'What an odd name,' she thought to herself, 'though
it does describe him rather well.' She spoke the Goblin's name aloud. He howled,
and let her go.

Eaman said "I've never even liked the taste of Lie berry, thing!" and ran off up the
mountain.

After running and running through the thick dark forests, Eaman came at last to the
Walls of the Starmaker's Kingdom. The walls were high and made of stone, and the
only way through them was by means of a great wooden gate.

The gate was guarded by a Wily Sorcerer.

'Do you wish to enter the Starmaker's Kingdom?' the Sorcerer said to Eaman.

'Oh, yes,' she replied.

'Then you must solve a riddle,' the Sorcerer said.

'But why?' cried Eaman.

'For only the wisest may enter the Starmaker's Kingdom,' the Sorcerer answered,
gazing into her eyes. 'That is why. Now listen, here is my riddle: If you are six feet
away from the gate to the Starmaker's Kingdom, and with every step you take you
move half the distance to the gate, how many steps will it take for you to reach the
gate?'

As Eaman looked back at the Sorcerer, she thought of her mother and father,
shivering in the cold of winter, and she thought how sad she would be if she were
married to the Ugly Prince ...

And, with those thoughts in mind, she said to the Sorcerer, 'I will never reach the
gate. For if I only move half the distance with every step, then I will always have
half the distance remaining no matter how small the number.'

'You are, indeed, wise enough to enter the Starmaker's Kingdom,' said the Sorcerer,
moving to one side. 'You may proceed.'

And, step by step, Eaman walked through the great wooden gate and entered the
Starmaker's Kingdom.

When she came to the Starmaker's palace, a wonderful golden building at the top of
the mountain, the Starmaker was waiting for her. He was a stern old man with long
white hair and a shiny silver cape.

'Sing for me,' he demanded.

Eaman sang, and her voice was as golden as the palace itself.

The Starmaker nodded his head in approval. 'Do you wish to become rich beyond
your wildest dreams?'

'Oh, yes!' replied Eaman.

'Then you must stay here for ever,' he said. 'You must stay with me in my palace
and never set foot beyond the door. You must obey me at all times. And you must
never again speak to anyone else. Do you understand?'

'But what about my poor mother and father?' Eaman said.

'I will see to it that they keep their home,' the Starmaker assured her. 'But only if
you agree to my terms. Your mother and father will be safe, but you can never see
them again.'

Eaman thought for a long time, trying to decide what to do, and eventually she said
to the Starmaker, 'I will do as you say.'

Epilogue
The Starmaker kept his word. He invited Kings and Queens from all around the world
to hear Eaman sing, and she did indeed become very rich. She wore fabulous
dresses and the finest gold jewellery, and she ate the richest food and slept in the
softest beds. But it did not make her happy. For the Starmaker was a charmless
man, and he worked her very hard and treated her very harshly. But, worst of all,
Eaman had no one to talk to. She had no one to share her riches with. And although
her father was very poor and her mother very greedy, she began to miss them
terribly. Yet despite all her sadness, and despite her terrible loneliness, Eaman
carried on singing. For she knew that she was accustomed now to her life of comfort
and riches, and she knew that she could never go back to her poor little hut in the
shadows of the great dark mountain. It would make her too sad, even sadder than
she was in the palace.

So she carried on singing, and she carried on wearing fabulous dresses and fine
gold jewellery, and she carried on eating the richest food and sleeping in the softest
beds ... and as far as anyone knows, she is still singing her sad songs to this day.

The End

If you like, you can personalise your tale by changing t