Chapter 1

There was once a beautiful kingdom of stone and grass. In this kingdom on a hill sat a grand ivy-covered castle of red, and here lived a prince. One day when the prince was a small boy he came across a magpie with it's leg caught in some wire. Upon untangling the wire the magpie granted the boy a wish (for magpies have special powers over those who see them). The prince was very excited for he could think of many things to wish for! He could wish that he was less shy, or that he had blonde hair, or that he could know everyone in the whole kingdom and never be afraid.

But then he thought, "maybe I can change these things myself without magic. I ought to wish for something for other people," and he thought some more and then he made his wish. "I wish for the power to make people happy." he said firmly and the magpie gave a slight nod of its head and leapt up and off in a flash of black and white and was gone.

When the prince told his friend, a princess, what had happened she thought he must have fallen asleep and dreamt it. "Did you salute the magpie or raise your hat to it?" she asked him, "it's bad luck otherwise," but the prince thought that the magpie was so beautiful it must be good, and anyway what bad luck could come of such a selfless wish?