The Lost Prince

Once a poor man named Laucan played a game of Shibara against a witch named Chatria.
The man threw down his first shibara pot and it broke into 5 pieces.
But then the witch threw down her first shibara pot and it broke into seven pieces.
"Seven beats five", said the witch, sweeping the shibara fragments to the left with her broom before sweeping the money she had won to the right.
And the game did not get any better from there. Every pot that the witch threw down broke into more pieces than the poor mans pots.
Until finally the man had no money left to bet.
"I'll tell you what", said the witch, "I'll give you the chance to win back all the money I have won but, if you lose, you must give me the first thing you see when you reenter your house".
And so the man agreed and he swore upon the Hrathva, the demon that kills anyone who breaks a bargain or a promise.
Unfortunately, when he threw down his next pot, the witch won again.
But the man consoled himself,
"It doesn't matter if I have no money. I've still got my beloved daughter and what more wealth can a man ask for?".
Unfortunately, the moment the man reentered his house, his daughter Saffily was standing in the hallway and she was the first thing he saw.
"Oh god", said the man, "Why could it not have been a piece of furniture I looked upon or my dog that came to greet me but not my daughter".
"Whats wrong father?", asked his daughter, "You look as if you have seen your own headstone".
"I wish I had", said her father, "For that is something I'd sooner be parted with".
Then her father told her all that had happened and of the awful promise he had made to the witch.
"It is not binding is it father?", asked his daughter.
"Well, if the promise is not kept then the Hrathva, the demon that kills promise breakers will come for me and kill me", said her father, "But I am prepared to meet my end if that will spare you sorrow. I would rather have the devil dance upon my head than give you to that witch".
But Saffily loved her father too much to bear the thought of him suffering such a horrible fate and so she said, "No, father. You must keep your promise. I will go with the witch".
And the next day Saffily went to the house of Chatria and, seeing her approach, Chatria smiled as if she had always known Laucan's daughter would come to her.
And the witch was a terrible woman for she would treat Saffily as her personal slave; making her dress in clothes as ragged as cobwebs and live off scraps that even the witches pig turned up its snout at.
But then, one day, while the witch was away Saffily was looking through the witches window when she saw a prince throught it, wandering about.
However, when she went outside into the witches yard she could see no one.
"Thats strange", she said, coming back inside the house, "I saw him through the window and yet there is no one outside".
"That window does not just show the outside of the house", said an Angelette, a tiny white winged angel in a birdcage on the witches chest of drawers, "Its a magic window that shows other things far away".
"Well who was that that I saw?", asked Saffily.
"Prince Ferrin", said the Angelette, "A poor man who the witch sent to the lost place".
"Lost place?", asked Saffily, "Where is that?".
"It is somewhere in nowhere", replied Angelette, "A dark place where witches imprison people and from where there is no escape".
She saw the prince appear in the window again, searching as if in a fog.
"There must be a way out of here", she heard him say, "There must".
Saffily pressed her hand upon the window pane, touching the image of the prince.
"Is there no way to free him or help him?", asked Saffily, feeling terrible for the prince.
"The lost place is guarded by the demon Hrathva, himself and even if the prince could fight Hrathva he has no weapons", said the Angelette.
"Oh, if only I could send him weapons", said Saffily
The Angelette rubbed her halo as small as a candleflame in thought.
"Hmm?", she said, "Well it might be possible".
Then the Angelette plucked a white feather from her tiny wings and read tiny words that suddenly appeared upon it.
"Repeat these words after me", she said to Saffily, "May my kiss become a sword and my heart become a shield and all of the power of love may you wield".
And so Saffily repeated the words and, suddenly, within the magic window she saw a sword with a shining silver kiss shaped blade appear in the princes right hand and a shining golden and heart shaped shield appear in his left.
"Who has sent me these treasured gifts", she heard the prince say, "Whoever it is, my heart is theres forever".
But then she saw, appearing behind the prince and towering over him, the giant demon Hrathva.
And, just at the same moment, the Witch came home.
"Get away from that window", said the Witch seeing Saffily infront of the magic window, "Who said you could look through that?".
And the witch drew a heavy dark curtain across the window so that Saffily could not see the prince anymore.
"I'll teach you to meddle in my magic, little miss", said the witch, her long grey, braided pony tail wrapping itself around Saffilys throat and tightening, "Now I will kill you, make a scarecrow from your bones and feed the rest of you to the rooks"
But then suddenly, from behind the curtain that covered the magic window there was a sound like glass breaking and then a loud and powerful gust of wind blew the curtain open and when it did Prince Ferrin appeared in the room.
And seeing the witches pony tail wrapped around Saffilys throat he cut off the pony tail with a swipe of his sword, freeing Saffily.
But then the witch fired ten tiny bolts of lightning, one from each of her fingers, at the prince.
Fortunately, the prince had Saffilys golden heart shaped shield and, when he raised that, it repelled the witches lightning.
Then, with another swipe of his sword, he split the shrieking, screeching witch in two from the tip of her pointed witches hat to the hem of her long witches robes and the two halves became two black cats that, when they tried to scratch him, he kicked out of the witches door.
Then he helped Saffily untangle the witches pony tail from around her neck.
"You escaped from the lost place?", she asked him.
"With the help of the sword and shield that someone sent to me", replied the prince.
"They were my heart and my kiss", said Saffilly.
"Well then let me return your kindness", said the prince, "By giving you my heart and my kiss".
Then the prince kissed Saffily and when he did there was another loud and powerful gust of wind and all the pieces of the broken magic window flew back into place but now, instead of the lost place, she saw within it an image of she and the prince being married in a great cathedral.
"What is that?", asked Saffily.
"Your future", said the Angelette, flying free at last from her bird cage, "Its showing you your future together".
After that Saffily and Prince Ferrin lived happily ever after.