The Princess In The Moonlight

Dame Fortune spins her wheel and some she blesses with good fortune and others with ill fate.
For example, once a little girl named Tyrolina was born with legs so twisted and withered that she could not walk and had to sit in a wheelchair.
But then her mother, hearing that the moon fairies sailed down to Earth at night in a ship of silver and danced around a nearby lake, went to the lake one night and asked the moonfairies to help her daughter.
Sadly they said that their magic, because it was moonmagic could only work at night but, they said, at night the little girls legs would return to normal; her wheelchair would become a shining silver coach with six grey mares that would drive itself and she would wear a beautiful silver ball gown, diamond slippers and a diamond crown just like a princess.
And, though her days were often glum, at nighttime the girl was always very happy because she was able to run and play and dance around outside, under the moon.
Unfortunately, then one day her mother died and her father married an awful woman who looked down on her because she couldn't walk and had 2 ugly daughters who constantly bullied her and tried to twist up and wither the self-confidence inside of her.
And when the father too died, her stepmother and stepsisters started to treat her even more badly, locking her away in the cellar at the bottom of some stairs that she couldn't climb and they told her that she was an ugly cripple who no one would ever love; infact they said she would have been better off not being born.
Fortunately, the evil stepmother and her daughters did not know about the magic gift that Tyrolina had been given and, every night, when the moon and stars were bright, Tyrolinas legs becoming unwithered and untwisted and her dowdy, ragged clothes turning to a silver ball gown with diamond crown and slippers, she would climb the cellar stairs and sneak out of the house where her magic silver coach would be waiting and, driving itself, the coach would take her wherever she wished to go.
And one day, while Tyrolina was visiting the lake that her mother had taken her to as a child, to look at the reflection of the moon in its waters, the prince of the realm, who had been carousing with his palace guards late into the night saw her standing by the edge of the lake and, amazed by her silver and diamond costume and her silver coach asked her,
"Who are you? Are you a princess from some foreign land?".
Shyly Tyrolina replied, "No my name is Tyrolina and my parents, while not poor by any means, were not of the nobility".
"Then how is it that you dress in a princess's garb and have a silver coach fit for royalty", asked the Prince.
But Tyrolina said that there were somethings she could not say and then, excusing herself, she ran back to her silver coach and, to the amazement of the prince, he saw the door of the coach open up for her to enter and then, when the door had closed behind her, he saw the coach drive off by itself.
Instantly, the prince became obsessed by Tyrolina, determined to find out who she was and see her again.
Unfortunately when he mentioned the girl to his parents or his ministers they all thought that he had merlely imagined his encounter with her.
But then, because he took to visiting the lake often, he saw Tyrolina again several times and, though she would not tell him anything more about herself than her name, gradually he began to fall in love with her and even told her so on one occasion.
Unfortunately, Tyrolina was sure that if the Prince ever discovered the truth about her, that she was confined to a wheel chair for most of the day, he would fall out of love with her and so she decided never to visit the lake again.
But when the Prince stopped seeing the mysterious girl at the lakeside, he started to become lovelorn and heartbroken.
"How will I ever find her?", he wondered, "What if I never see her again?".
And to make matters worse the Princes parents started to become impatient for him to marry.
"It is customary", they said, "For a prince regent to hold a royal ball and to invite to it all the eligible young ladies of the kingdom so as to choose his princess from among them".
"But my heart already belongs to Tyrolina", he said.
"You mean that girl you saw in a dream?", they asked, remembering when he had told them about her.
"It was not a dream", he replied.
But his parents refused to listen and so the royal ball was arranged and, on the night of the ball, even Tyrolinas stepmother and stepsister got dressed up in their finest ballgown to go and try to win the hand of the prince.
"Ofcourse Tyrolina can't come", said her Stepmother to her daughters, laughing as they left for the ball, "For there's dancing at a royal ball and Tyrolina can't dance; she can't even walk".
But then, after her stepmother and stepsisters had left, Tyrolina changed magically into her Princess's silver costume and her wheelchair turning into her magic silver coach she too went to the Royal Ball and when the Prince saw her enter, though there were scores of other you ladies there, it was as if there was no one else in the room but her.
Immediately, he went up to her.
"You came", he said, "I'd hoped you would".
Then he asked her dance and, as the orchestra played a waltz, they danced  round and round the ballroom.
And seeing the mysterious stranger, her Stepmother and Stepsisters all thought that she looked like Tyrolina but that she couldn't be her because she was dancing.
However, knowing that the magic only worked at night and would wear off when the night was over and hoping to get home before her stepmother and stepsisters, Tyrolina made her excuses to the prince saying that she must leave.
"But how will I find you again", he asked, "I don't know where you live".
"You mustn't find me again", she said, sadly, tearing herself  away from the Prince, "We must never see each other again".
Then, running out of the palace, she got back into her Silver coach and returned to the home of her stepmother.
But then just as, thinking that he would never see Tyrolina again, the Prince was about to weep in despair he looked down and saw that he was still holding one of Tyrolinas long, silver gloves.
"It must have been pulled off when she tore her hand from mine", he thought.
But then, something even more miraculous happened for then the glove, because it was magical like Tyrolinas gown and coach, turned itself into a white dove.
And, borrowing the horse of a palace guard, the prince followed the dove through the streets of the city until finally it led her to the house of Tyrolinas stepmother.
When he knocked upon the door, however, and her stepmother answering, he asked her if a girl named Tyrolina lived there, her stepmother lied and said that only she and her two daughters lived there.
But then the dove that had been perched above the door flew inside the house and the Prince, following the bird, pushed his way inside, saying that he didn't believe the stepmother.
Then the dove perched upon the handle of the cellar door and the Prince, opening it, followed the dove down into the cellar.
But then he saw Tyrolina sitting in her wheelchair and was distressed.
"Tyrolina", he said, "What happened to you?".
"Nothing happened", said Tyrolina, "I was born this way".
Then Tyrolina told the Prince all about how she had been born with legs that were twisted and withered and about the magical gift that the moonfairies had given her.
"I'd hoped that you would never see me like this", she said, "That you would never find out that I was crippled. Now I supposed you will not love me anymore".
But the Prince knelt infront of her.
"I am in love with you, Tyrolina", he said, "And I will always be in love with you".
But then he said that he had to return to the palace to inform them that he had found the woman he wanted to marry but that he woulf be back soon with a coach and horses for them both.
After he had left however; Tyrolinas stepmother, who had overheard Tyrolina talking to the prince, began to blaze with a jealous rage and, locking the cellar door and getting her daughters out of bed and telling them to collect up all their jewellery, she started to set fire to the house.
"It is a beautiful house", she said, "It will be sad to lose it but it will be worth it to stop Tyrolina getting the life that should have gone to I and my daughters".
Then, standing outside in the street they watched as the house started to blaze.
Fortunately, the prince saw the light and smoke of the fire in the distance and worrying, he turned his horse around and rode as quickly as he could back to the stepmothers house and, seeing the house ablaze, he immediately rushed into it and, breaking down the cellar door, rushed down its steps.
Then, lifting Tyrolina out of her wheelchair he carried her back up the steps and out of the house to safety.
After that the Stepmother and her daughters, for setting fire to the house with Tyrolina inside it, were locked away in the royal dungeons forever and then, only a few days later, Tyrolina and the Prince were married with Tyrolina in a beautiful silver wedding gown and a golden and jewelled wheelchair like the throne of a queen and they both lived happily ever after.