The Princess Who Wished For Snow

Long ago, in the Sultanate of Rum. A princess named Abdulina was told by her father, the Sultan that, because he needed an heir, she must choose an eligible man to be her husband but the princess did not want to marry anyone; she was content being young, single and free and so she told her father that she would only marry a man who could bring her snow.
"Snow?", asked her father, dismayed, "But Rum is a hot, dry, desert land, my dear. How can any man bring you snow here?".
But the princess was adamant that she would never marry a man unless he could bring her snow.
"Just like I've seen in Christmas cards", she said.
And so, after her wishes were made known to her people, suitors from far and wide, princes and nobles; generals and famous men, tried to do as the Princess had requested; they gathered snow from mountains and snowy regions of the Earth and sealed the snow in all manner of containers to try and keep it cool but every time a suitor arrived at the Princess's palace bearing another container the snow within it had always melted away.
One day, however, a man named Agrab, a small landowner and camel merchant, who also wished to marry the princess, heard a tale of a magic Star shaped talisman in an icy cave in the cold far north that could grant any wish and convinced his younger brother, Akbar to go with him to get the talisman.
The talisman was protected by a gauntlet of steel angels you see and Agrab was very cowardly and weak  but his brother was strong and brave.
"Since Akbar is such a good warrior I shall let him run the gauntlet of Angels for me and when he has and has brought back the talisman safely, I shall use it to turn him to stone and return with it to the princess Abdulina , then when I have conjured up snow for her she will have to marry me", he thought.
And just as he had planned when the two men reached the cave, his brother bravely ran through the gauntlet of angels; steel skinned and golden winged angels with scowling faces and blazing eyes and he was hit by an angel with a spiked club that tore his flesh; he was burned by an angel with a torch of heavenly fire; he was whipped by an angel with a scourge; he was struck by the arrow of an angel with a bow and he was stabbed by an angel with a trident but, finally, though severely injured almost to the point of dying, he came through the gauntlet, collapsing in front of a golden tree shaped box containing the magic talisman and thrusting his hand inside the box and touching the talisman he wished for all his injuries to be healed and, after panting with exhaustion, he struggled back onto his feet then he wished to go back to his brother.
But then, when he returned to his brothers side, Agrab asked to look at the talisman and when, taking it out of the tree shaped box, he handed it to him, Agrab wished for Akbar to be turned to stone and with a startled cry and a look of terror his brother was transformed into a statue, then he wished himself to the palace of the princess and, using the power of the talisman, when he was presented to the king and his daughter, he made it snow over the desert city of Rum.
And it was an amazing sight to behold; snow covered the dunes of the desert; snow capped the humps of camels; snow fell upon the minarets and domes of the Sultans palace and, as it did, throughout the sultanate was heard the jingling of magical bells.
"Just like on a Christmas card", said Princess Abdulina, looking up at the falling snow with a glow of wonder in her eyes.
And because the Princess had promised to marry any man who could bring her snow and because she was someone who always believed in keeping her word she agreed to marry Agrab and, that very night, he was crowned Prince Agrab of Rum.
But Agrab was a wicked and cruel tyrant of a prince who did not really love the princess at all and she was not happy being married to him.
Many times he would boast to her about how he had gone through the gauntlet of Angels and all the pains and wounds he had suffered to win the magic talisman but, knowing what a terrible man her husband was she started to doubt that he could have done something so brave.
And, one night, while her husband lay asleep after becoming drunk she touched the talisman that hung around his neck and silently wished,
"Show me the truth about how my husband came by you, oh talisman".
At once, within her head, she saw a vision of what had truly happened, how her husband had got his brave brother Akbar to win the talisman before turning him to stone and so she made another silent wish for Akbar to be restored to life and then a third that he become her husband.
As she was making the third wish, however, Agrab woke up and caught her with her hand on the talisman and, because she refused to tell him what she had wished for, he had her locked away in a dungeon.
But now Akbar, restored to life, was wondering what to do when he noticed, at his feet, the golden tree shaped box that the talisman had been kept in and picking it up he also saw that upon one of its faces was written these words in Arabic, "One of two brothers that never shall be kept apart".
And, thinking about the words, he decided to go looking for his brother for, in truth, Akbar was such a kind soul that he even forgave Agrab for turning him to stone.
And when he got back to his homeland, discovering that Agrab had become its king, he went to the royal palace and saying at the palace gates that he was the kings brother, asked to see him.
Now, when Agrab heard that his brother had returned he was worried but he reassured himself,
"I have the talisman, so what harm can my brother do to me. When I see him I shall just wish him into stone again, or worse, turn him into a crawling serpent with no teeth or a scorpion without a sting".
And when Akbar was presented by a guard to his brother Agrab said,
"I do not know how you were restored to life, my brother, but you were a fool to come here because now I will just use the power of my talisman to destroy you and this time I'll make sure you never come back".
And saying this, touching the talisman, Agrab brought forth from it a flock of ravens with beaks and talons of steel to tear Akbar apart.
And hearing the wild, hungry screeching of the ravens and the thunder of their flapping wings as they converged upon him like a tidal wave of shadow, Akbar grew terrified.
But as he was cowering, suddenly the lid of his tree shaped box opened wide and out of it flew a loudly twittering cloud of a thousand robins with beaks and talons of gold but also real fire burning in their red breasts and the fire of the robins melted the beaks and claws of the ravens and set fire to their wings so that they were forced to flee, flying up and out of a chimneystack.
But then seeing his ravens destroyed, Agrab growled with annoyance.
"So", he said, "I see that you have a magical trinket of your own. Well I won't waste anymore time playing games with you, little brother. Its time that you learned who between us really is the more powerful".
And, turning into a thing of black smoke and lightning like the evilest and blackest of djinns, his brother became a giant; so tall infact that his head cracked the palace dome above him like an eggshell, bursting up into the sky and looking down at Akbar he laughed, his laughter echoing like thunder off of the palace walls.
But then, as Agrab was about to smash his brother with a gigantic fist, the fist casting a large, boulder like shadow upon him, suddenly Akbar wished in his heart that he could have the talisman that his brother was wearing and when he did, to Agrabs amazement, it flew from around his neck, breaking loose from its chain and, as if drawn by a powerful magnet, fixed itself to the top of the tree shaped box; then the star shaped talisman began to glow bright white just like a real star in the Christmas eve sky and all over the tree shaped box bright lights of every colour started to light up and twinkle like the lights upon a modern christmas tree and, just then, Akbar realised what the words upon the box had meant, that the box and the talisman were "two brothers" and that they could not be kept apart.
But then, Akbar, pointing the box towards Agrab made two wishes.
His first wish, because he still loved his brother, was that Agrab would become a nice, kind person who would see the error of his ways but sadly, though it was a thing of immense power, even the talisman could not change an evil heart into a good one and, drawing a giant dagger of lightning from a pocket of dark cloud, Agrab only brought the lightning dagger down upon him; hate blazing like two flaming comets in his enormous eyes.
So then Akbar wished that his brother should be turned into a Christmas tree and, in an instant, before Agrab could strike him with the point of his blade, he shrank from a mountainous thing made of thundercloud into a bright, bristling evergreen tree wrapped in tinsel and hung with bells and baubles with a large, flashing star upon its top.
"Atleast now", he said to his brother, sighing, "You will bring joy to people instead of sadness".
But then he freed Princess Abdulina from her dungeon and she and he were married and instead of snow, confetti rained from the skies, accompanied by the magic sound of  wedding bells and then they both lived happily ever after.