Once upon a time, in a faraway land, lived a king with seven daughters. One sunny day, he called them all together and asked, “My dear daughters, how much do you love me?” The six oldest answered, “Father, we love you as much as candy and yummy treats!” But the seventh and youngest daughter smiled and said, “Father, I love you as much as salt!”

The king was super happy with his six oldest daughters, but he got really angry at his youngest. “What did you say?” he shouted. “You only love me as much as you love salt?” He called his helpers and said, “Get a comfy chair ready! Take my youngest daughter far away into the forest!”

The helpers did what they were told. When they reached the forest, they put the comfy chair down under a big tree and left. The princess called after them, “Where are you going? Please stay! My father didn’t tell you to leave me alone in the forest!” “We’ll be right back,” the helpers said. “We’re just going to get a drink of water.” But they went back to the king’s fancy house.

The princess waited in the comfy chair under the tree. It was getting dark, and the helpers hadn’t come back. She was very scared and started to cry. “The tigers and wild animals will eat me!” she whispered. Finally, she fell asleep for a little while. When she woke up, she found a plate of food and a little water in her comfy chair. It was like magic! She ate the food and drank the water, and then she felt a little better. “Maybe God sent me this food and water,” she thought.

She decided to stay in her comfy chair for the night. “Maybe the tigers and wild animals will come and eat me,” she thought, “but if they don’t, I’ll try to leave this forest tomorrow and go to a different country.”

The next morning, she climbed out of her comfy chair and started walking. Deeper and deeper into the forest she went, until she came to a beautiful palace. It didn’t belong to her father; it belonged to another king. The gate was closed, but she pushed it open and went inside. She looked all around and thought, “Wow, this is a beautiful house, and the garden and pool are so pretty!”

Everything was beautiful, but there were no helpers or anyone else around. She went into the house and looked in all the rooms. In one room, she saw a dinner all ready to eat, but nobody was eating it. Finally, she found a room with a fancy bed. On the bed lay the king’s son, covered with a blanket. She pulled the blanket off, and she saw that he was very handsome, but he looked like he was sleeping forever. His body was covered in tiny needles.

She sat down on the bed and stayed there for a whole week, without eating, drinking, or sleeping, pulling out the needles. Then, a man walked by and said, “I have a girl here that I want to sell.” “I don’t have any money,” said the princess, “but if you’ll sell her to me for my gold bracelets, I’ll buy her.” The man took the bracelets and left the girl with the princess, who was happy to have her. “Now I won’t be all alone,” she thought.

Every day and night, the princess sat and pulled out the needles, while the girl helped around the palace. After two more weeks, the princess had pulled out all the needles from the king’s son’s body, except for the ones in his eyes.

Then, the princess said to her helper girl, “I haven’t had a bath in three weeks! Get a bath ready for me, and while I’m bathing, sit by the king, but don’t take the needles out of his eyes. I want to do that myself.” The helper girl promised not to pull out the needles. She got the bath ready, but when the princess went to bathe, she sat down on the bed and pulled the needles out of the king’s eyes!

As soon as she did that, he opened his eyes and sat up. He thanked God for bringing him back to life. Then, he looked around and saw the helper girl and said to her, “Who made me well and pulled all the needles out of my body?” “I did!” she answered. Then, he thanked her and said she would be his wife!

When the princess came from her bath, she found the king alive and sitting on his bed, talking to her helper. She felt very sad, but she didn’t say anything. The king said to the helper girl, “Who is this girl?” She answered, “She’s one of my helpers.” And from that moment on, the princess became a helper girl, and her helper girl married the king. Every day, the king thought, “Can this beautiful girl really be a helper? She’s much prettier than my wife!”

One day, the king decided, “I’m going to fly to another country for vacation!” He called his wife, the fake princess, and told her he was going to another country. “What would you like me to bring you when I come back?” She answered, “I want beautiful dresses, clothes, and shiny jewels!”

Then, the king said, “Call the helper girl and ask her what she wants me to bring her.” The real princess came, and the king said to her, “I’m going on vacation! What would you like me to bring you when I get back?”

“King,” she answered, “if you can bring me what I want, I’ll tell you what it is. But if you can’t get it, I won’t tell you.” “Tell me what it is!” said the king. “Whatever it is, I’ll bring it to you!” “Okay,” said the princess. “I want a sun-jewel box!”

Now, the princess knew all about sun-jewel boxes and that only fairies had them. And she knew what would be inside hers if the king could get one for her, even though these boxes sometimes have different things inside.

The king had never heard of such a box and didn’t know what it looked like. So, he went to every country, asking everyone he met what a sun-jewel box was and where he could get it. After a long search, he was very sad. “I promised the helper I’d bring her a sun-jewel box, and now I can’t find one! What am I going to do?” he thought.

Then, he went to sleep and had a dream. In his dream, he saw a forest, and in the forest, a wise man who slept for twelve years and then stayed awake for twelve years. The king thought this man could give him what he wanted. When he woke up, he said to his guards and helpers, “Stay here until I come back. Then we’ll go back home.”

He got on his horse and rode to the forest he had seen in his dream. He rode and rode until he found it. There, he saw the wise man sleeping. He had been asleep for almost twelve years. He was covered in leaves, grass, and mud. The king started taking off all the grass, leaves, and mud. Every day for two weeks, he cleared them away from the wise man.

When the wise man woke up, he saw that there was no mud, grass, or leaves on him. He was very happy and said to the king, “I’ve slept for twelve years, and I’m as clean as I was when I went to sleep! The last time I woke up, I was covered in dirt and mud, grass and leaves, but this time, I’m clean!”

The king stayed with the wise man for a week, taking care of him and doing everything for him. The wise man was very happy with the king and said, “You’re a very good man! Why did you come to this forest? You’re a great king. What could you want from me?” “I want a sun-jewel box,” answered the king. “You’re such a good man,” said the wise man, “that I’ll give you one!”

Then, the wise man went to a beautiful well and climbed down to the bottom. There was a house where the red fairy lived. She was called the red fairy not because her skin was red, but because everything around her was red—her house, her clothes, and her country. She was happy to see the wise man and asked him why he had come to see her. “I want you to give me a sun-jewel box,” he answered. “Okay,” said the fairy, and she brought him one with seven small dolls and a little flute. “Only the person who wants this box can open it,” said the fairy to the wise man. “She must open it when she’s all alone and at night.” Then, she told him what was in the box.

The wise man thanked her and took the box to the king, who was so happy and bowed many times to the wise man. The wise man told him that only the person who wanted the box should open it, but he didn’t tell him anything else the fairy had said.

The king started his journey home. When he reached his helpers and guards, he said they could go back home because he had found the box he wanted. When he arrived at his palace, he called the fake princess, his wife, and gave her her silks, shawls, dresses, and jewels. Then, he called the helper girl—the real princess—and gave her her sun-jewel box. She took it and was happy to have it. She bowed to him many times and went away with her box, but she didn’t open it yet because she knew what was inside and that she had to open it at night and all alone.

That night, she took her box and went to a big, empty field in the forest all by herself and opened it. She took out the little flute, put it to her lips, and started to play. Suddenly, the seven little dolls flew out. They were all little fairies! They took chairs and carpets from the box and arranged them in a big tent that appeared out of nowhere. Then, the fairies gave her a bath, combed her hair, and put on her fancy clothes and shoes. But the princess just kept crying. They brought a chair and placed it in front of the tent and made her sit in it. One of them took the flute and played it, and all the others danced in front of the princess and sang songs for her. But she still cried and cried. Finally, at four o’clock in the morning, one of the fairies said, “Princess, why are you crying?” “I took all the needles out of the king, except for the ones in his eyes,” said the princess, “and while I was bathing, my helper girl, whom I had bought with my gold bracelets, pulled them out. She told the king that she had pulled out all the other needles and brought him back to life, and that I was her helper. She took my place and is treated like the princess, and the king married her, while I have to do a helper’s work and am treated like a helper.” “Don’t cry,” said the fairies. “Everything will be okay soon.”

When morning was near, the princess played the flute, and all the chairs, sofas, and fairies became tiny and went into the box, and the tent disappeared. She closed the box and took it back to the king’s palace. The next night, she went out to the forest field again, and everything happened like the night before.

A woodcutter was coming home late from work and had to walk by the field. He was surprised when he saw the tent. “I walked by here a while ago,” he said to himself, “and I didn’t see any tent here.” He climbed a big tree to see what was going on. He saw the fairies dancing in front of the princess, who was sitting outside the tent. He saw how she cried, even though the fairies did everything they could to make her happy. Then, he heard the fairies say, “Princess, why are you crying?” And he heard her tell them how she had healed the king and how her helper girl had taken her place and made her a helper. “Don’t worry, don’t cry,” said the fairies. “Everything will be okay soon.” Near morning, the princess played her flute, and the fairies went into the box, and the tent disappeared. The princess went back to the palace.

The third night was the same as the other two. The woodcutter came to watch, and he climbed into the tree to see the fairies and the princess. Again, the fairies asked her why she cried, and she gave the same answer.

The next day, the woodcutter went to the king. “Last night and the night before,” he said, “as I was coming home from work, I saw a large tent in the forest. In front of the tent sat a princess who did nothing but cry, while seven fairies danced in front of her or played instruments and sang songs to her.” The king was very surprised and said to the woodcutter, “Tonight, I’ll go with you and see the tent, the princess, and the fairies.”

When it was night, the princess went out quietly and opened her box in the field. The woodcutter brought the king, and the two men climbed into a tree and watched the fairies as they danced and sang. The king saw that the princess who was sitting and crying was his own helper girl. He heard her tell the fairies all she had done for him and everything that had happened to her. So, he climbed down from the tree and went up to her, and took her hand. “I always thought you were a princess, not a helper girl,” he said. “Will you marry me?”

She stopped crying and said, “Yes, I will marry you!” She played her flute, and the tent disappeared, and all the fairies, sofas, and chairs went into the box. She put her flute in it, just like she always did before closing the lid, and went home with the king.

The helper girl was very upset and angry when she found out the king knew everything. But the princess was very kind to her and never treated her badly.

The princess sent a letter to her mother, saying, “I’m going to marry a great king! You and my father must come to my wedding, and bring my sisters with you!”

They all came, and her father and mother liked the king very much and were happy that their daughter was marrying him. The wedding took place, and they stayed with her for a while. For a whole week, she gave their helpers and guards delicious food cooked with salt. But to her father, mother, and sisters, she only gave food cooked with sugar. They got so tired of the sweet food that they couldn’t eat it anymore. At the end of the week, she gave them a dinner cooked with salt. Then, her father said, “My daughter is wise, even though she’s so young and the youngest of my daughters. I know now how much she loved me when she said she loved me like salt. People can’t eat their food without salt. If their food is cooked with sugar one day, it has to be cooked with salt the next day, or they can’t eat it.”

After this, her father, mother, and sisters went home, but they often came to visit their little daughter and her husband.

The princess, the king, and the helper girl all lived happily together.