One day, on a beautiful island lived a man. This man was no richer than a king or poorer than a peasant but normal like everyone else. Unfortunately, he was running out of money and he needed some for food because of last winter's storm which wiped out all of his crops for the future year.
That wasn't all he wanted; for up on a hill a few miles away, there lived a princess which he would like to marry. She was beautiful and rich. The man-Gerald-figured that if he would marry her, then all of his problems would be forgotten. Gerald had a second thought. Why would the princess want to marry him? He knew that someone like the princess would never agree to marry Gerald just like that. He would have to please her in order to get her hand in marriage.
But one day, Gerald gathered up all of his courage, put his best clothes on, picked some flowers and went off to see the princess. While he was walking near the beach, Gerald came upon a fish out of the water. Gerald decided that it was dead so he kept on walking. As soon as he started walking, Gerald heard a voice saying, “Help me, help me!”. He didn't know what it was until he looked at the fish. “Help me get back into the water,” he said. So Gerald decided to throw the fish in the water. “Thank you,” said the fish, “Now take one of my scales and when you are in trouble, burn it. Help will come.” Gerald didn't know what else to do so he plucked a scale from the fish. Right when he left, he thought he saw a glimpse of an eye, reflecting off the water. Gerald didn't know what it was so he kept on walking.
About halfway from the hill where the castle stood, Gerald noticed an injured eagle there lying on the ground. It had an arrow stuck into it. Apparently, someone shot it down and left. Gerald knew what happened because the eagle spoke to him. “Help me, help me,” it said. Gerald then took the arrow out of the eagle and it thanked him. “Thank you,” said the eagle, “Now take one of my feathers and when you are in trouble, burn it. Help will come.” Gerald then pulled a feather out of the eagle and watched it soar away. Just as he was looking at it, Gerald noticed the eye again in the sky.
When Gerald reached the hill of the castle he came upon a fox. “Help me, help me,” said the fox. “What's wrong?” asked Gerald. “My tooth hurts.” Said the fox, “Can you pull it out for me?” Gerald pulled out his tooth and the fox thanked him. “Thank you,” said the fox, “Now take a tuft of hair from me and when you are in trouble, burn it. Help will come.” So Gerald took some hair from the fox and when saying goodbye to it, Gerald noticed the glimpse of the eye in the fox's eye. Gerald turned around but no one was there.
Finally Gerald reached the top of the hill where the castle stood. When he got up to the gates, he asked the guards if he could see the princess. The guards saw the flowers he was holding and decided that Gerald was related to the princess. They let Gerald in to the castle and showed him how to get where the princess was. When Gerald got there he was so overjoyed to see the princess in real life. She really was beautiful. When Gerald asked for her to marry him she had a test for him before she would marry him. “I will give you three chances to hide from me anywhere on this island,” said the princess, “If I can't find you then I will marry you. However, if I find you three times then I will cut off your head.” The princess then showed Gerald her magic spy glass. “This spy glass allows me to see anything on this island,” said the princess, “If you can prove me wrong, I will marry you.” Gerald was a little bit frightened about what the princess might do to him but in the end, he accepted.
When Gerald left the castle, he panicked. He didn't know where to hide. Then he remembered the eagle's feather and burned it. After he burned it, a big eagle swooped down in front of him. “Hide me,” said Gerald. So the eagle grabbed Gerald with its talons and flew to its nest on the top of a mountain where Gerald buried himself inside of the nest. Meanwhile, the princess took out her spy glass and looked for Gerald. She had found the mountain where he hid and found some of his hair sticking out of the nest. When Gerald went back to the castle he was confident that the princess didn't find him. “I found you. You were at the top of a mountain under an eagle's nest,” said the princess, “You have only two more chances.” Gerald wondered if her spy glass really was magic.
Soon after he left the castle, Gerald then burned the fish scale. A big shark came up from the water. “Hide me,” said Gerald. So the shark told Gerald to go inside of his mouth. Then the shark swam to the deepest depths of the sea. Meanwhile, the princess took out her spy glass and looked for Gerald. She was sure she couldn't find him until she looked at a shark when he was about to eat a fish. There on the shark's tooth, was a thread from Gerald's shirt. Gerald was certain that the princess couldn't have found him in the water. But the princess then told Gerald where he was at the bottom of the sea inside of a shark. “If I find you one more time, then I will chop off your head,” said the princess.
Gerald couldn't believe it. The spy glass really was magic. He was getting really nervous trying to figure out to where hide when he then remembered to burn the fox's hair. Then the fox emerged out of the forest. “Hide me,” said Gerald. The fox told Gerald to follow him. The fox then dug a hole under the hill and under the princess' room. Meanwhile-above them-the princess took out her spy glass and looked for Gerald. Gerald could hear her talking. “Not in the sky,” said the princess, “not in the water. Not on the earth?” The princess then threw the spy glass on the floor and it shattered, leaving a crack in the floor. Gerald was so happy. The princess didn't find him and now he would marry her. While Gerald was thanking the fox for his hiding place, the princess heard something. She slammed her foot into the crack on the floor and stuck her head inside of the hole. The princess stared right at Gerald and said, “I found you.”
