There is a fairy tale about a prince cursed to take the form of a swan during the light of day. For many, it is merely a fairy tale to tell children as they fall asleep, warm and safe in their beds. I was the same, thinking it was merely a bedtime story my mother would tell me and my younger sister before bed. I can remember it almost exactly as she would tell it.

"Once upon a time, in a land far away, there lived a king and a queen, who had a son and daughter. They lived a peaceful life, the crown prince studying and training to take over the throne when his father would eventually step down from the throne, and the young princess studying to become the crown princes adviser.

But unknown to anyone, the young princess wanted the throne for herself and would do anything to get it. So without letting anyone know of her devious plan, she met with a powerful warlock who had an old grudge against the king and devised a plot to curse her brother and turn him into a swan. Only the curse wasn't exactly perfect. Despite it working in turning her brother into a swan, he was able to transform back every night so long as he got the light of the moon to touch and shine upon his wings.

Even though her curse didn't work completely, the princess was able to be rid of her brother by taking him deep into the Wyldwood, a place he would not be able to leave safely as hunters stalked it during the days and vicious beasts prowled the dark forest during the nights.

Once she had done this, she made it look as though the prince had been kidnapped and killed by a country that bordered the once peaceful kingdom. Outraged at the accusations, they declared war upon the kingdom and the fighting began. The years went by and the fighting stopped enough to only be a bitter tension between the two lands.

The princess during that time had taken the throne and ruled with an iron fist. She had nearly forgotten her brother and about the curse. But unknown to the princess, the warlock, having seen the destruction brought on by the princess and his curse, made a change as the curse could not be removed by any magical force. Despite his old grudge with the old king, the change made it possible that the curse could be removed by someone making the prince a shirt of nettles. But as no one ever ventured so far into the Wyldwood, it seemed hopeless that the curse would be lifted from the seemingly doomed prince. But one day a stranger appeared and found the long lost prince.

Seeing this as an opportunity to regain his lost freedom, the prince explained his curse and how it could be lifted to the stranger. Upon hearing the story, the stranger, who wanted to set everything right and be rid of the cruel queen that ruled them, set to work to make the shirt. It took many days and nights, and many cuts that fell upon the hands of the stranger, to finish but once done, the shirt fit perfectly and the curse was broken entirely. The prince was finally free to leave the Wyldwood and take back his rightful place on the throne.

The prince thanked the stranger and promised to repay the stranger for their kindness. Setting off to his old home, the prince planned to confront his sister about her treacherous betrayal and to take back the throne that was rightfully his. When he finally made it to the castle and into the throne room where his sister sat in the throne, the old king and queen sitting on plush chairs behind her along with her council, he revealed himself. After telling his tale to the shocked council and his parents, his sister was taken away, kicking and screeching like a banshee, to the dungeons. The prince then took his rightful place on the throne and stopped the war that his sister had caused with her selfishness. He set about fixing his kingdom and repaid the stranger. And everyone, well except the sister who now resided within the dungeons, lived happily ever after."

When she would finish her tale, mother would always kiss my sister and I on our foreheads and wish us goodnight before blowing out the candle and leaving the room. As I would lay in my bed, falling asleep to the sound of my sisters soft breathing, I would dream of cursed princes, evil sisters and the black wings of a swan. Never did I believe that the fairy tale my mother told us would one day happen to me.

Perhaps the fairy tale of the cursed prince that mother told us wasn't such a fairy tale at all.