Long ago, a young girl went with her mother to pick berries for her father who was hard at work. But the forest greeted them with a dark, cold silence, the bushes empty.

   Yet, determined to find the berries, the girl broke free from Mother’s grasp and vanished into the trees.

   Mother’s worried cries faded fast as the girl ran on; over vine, and under branch and into the forest deep. Feeling strange eyes upon her, the girl recalled Mother’s scary bedtime tales and her throat became bone dry.

Then the Bat Lord appeared! 

He greeted her warmly and bit his own wing.

“Come, child. Get rid of your thirst,” he said.

So she drank the thick, dark liquid and smiled with joy. 

Passing through a graveyard, menacing storm clouds loomed and the air turned bitingly cold. 

The girl was shivering in her thin clothes.

Then a Dark Weaver appeared, and with a click of his fingers, crafted mist into a beautiful dress.

“Come, child, warm yourself,” he said.

So she clothed herself and smiled with joy.

Across waters deep and ominous she went, hoping a boat she found would carry her home. 

But hunger’s grip tightened and her heart grew heavy.

Then the Fish King appeared and offered one of his many fins.

“Come, child. Eat your fill.”

So the girl ate and smiled with joy once more.