Preview: features goat fairies!

Once upon a time, a young girl lived with her father, who was a goatherd. In the afternoons, she would watch the goats while her father went to the nearby village to sell milk and cheese. One day, the alpha goat seized the hem of the girl's dress in his teeth and started taking her towards the forest. The girl was alarmed, and pulled away, ripping the corner of her dress. But, she did not tell her father about the goat's strange behavior. The next day, the entire herd surrounded the girl and forced her to go into the forest. She heard chiming bells, and a voice whispered that she should not fear the forest, because her lunch would be turned into three magic loaves. As the girl entered the forest, she felt the air grow cold as the ancient trees loomed overhead, hiding the entire sky. The girl stumbled and fell into a stream, where her dress dissolved. The alpha goat rang his bell, and she was suddenly on dry land again, but covered in fur like a goat's.

A road lay before her, and the goats hurried ahead. The girl quickly lost sight of the herd, and the sound of their bells faded away. She walked along the road until it disappeared into a muddy swamp. The girl threw down one of the loaves, and it grew and grew until she could sit on the top. The magic loaf floated across the swamp, and the girl started down the road again. She was getting tired of walking when she heard loud chittering and looked up to see thousands of red-eyed squirrels jumping from tree to tree. So she crumbled the second loaf and threw it behind her as she ran. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw that every crumb had turned into an acorn and the squirrels were fighting over the nuts. She walked onward, until the air grew colder and it started to snow. The girl was very cold, so she put the last magic loaf on her head. It spread like rolled dough and soon she was wrapped up warm like a dumpling.

The alpha goat come out of the forest and before the girl's eyes turned into a richly dressed boy. He told the girl that he was a prince of the goat fairies, who had a vast kingdom over the mountains, and that she had been selected to become his wife. She had proven her worth in the forest, and as soon as she grew old enough, the prince would come take her away. He gave her a bracelet braided of gold, silver, and copper wires as his token. The girl found herself at the edge of the forest, alone. As she walked towards home, a crow landed in front of her. The crow told her that the kingdom of birds was much prettier than the goat fairy city, and that if she gave him the bracelet, he would give her jewels. The girl remembered how her goats gave her milk and wool, but that the crows often tried to steal her lunch, and she refused. Then the crow reminded the girl that she was furry now, and asked if her father would still let her into their home. The girl realized that her father had always worried more about the livestock than his daughter, and figured that wouldn't much mind. She sent the crow on his way, but he dropped a thistle seed that turned into a thicket of thorns around her. Her hair and fur caught on the thorns, and were painfully torn away, but she pushed through and emerged wearing clothes instead of fur.

Spinning the bracelet on her wrist, the girl saw three dragonflies hovering. They were gold, silver, and copper colored, and they spoke in tiny voices. One said that food would be plentiful. One said that all who met the girl would be kind to her. One said that no one near her would become sick. These sounded like very good things to the girl, but she wondered whether she should go back home to wait for the goat fairy prince or whether she could find the magic kingdom herself. She was thinking so hard about the magic kingdom that she fell off the path and started tumbling down a ravine. But, instead of falling to the ground, she floated like a dandelion seed and landed on the roof of the village church. The bell-ringer saw her there, and brought a ladder so she could climb down. When her foot touched the ground, she heard familiar bells, and saw that her goats were all in the churchyard. The girl thanked the bell-ringer, and walked with her goats back to her home. Once she was out of sight of the villagers, she put her hands on the ground, and turned into a bonny young goat. The walk up to her home was much easier on four feet.

The bell-ringer told everyone about the miracle of the goat-herd's daughter, and the villagers wondered if she had been touched by faires. From that time on, the girl spent her afternoons wandering with her herd, and her evenings helping any villagers who came to see her. On her sixteenth birthday, she woke up in the magic kingdom with her goat fairy prince.