Once upon a time there was a princess named Adarine. Adarine was as clever as a fox, as funny as a kookaburra, and as lovely as the sun. She liked nothing more than to spend her days studying in her bed, her brown hair falling in curls around her bronze shoulders as she leaned over some arcane tome. And when she wanted a break from her studies, she would go to her workshop in the castle and invent new devices to improve the lives of her people.

Her father, the king, however, desperately wanted her to marry. Princes from every land came through the castle to seek her hand, and though she indulged her father by meeting with them, in the end she always turned them down. Princes and marriage, it seemed, could not interest her in the way her studies did, and the king loved and respected his daughter too much to force her into a marriage she did not want.

And so it went until one day, a new prince named Ragavan visited their castle. As Adarine was getting ready for the usual royal dinner with her suitor, her maidservants told her how he seemed to be not as fancy or as rich as the other princes. Apparently, Adarine thought to herself, her father was scraping the bottom of the barrel, and hopefully soon she’d run out of princes to reject and could focus entirely on her true passions.

Soon after, everyone was sitting in the great hall around a great table piled high with every delicious food you can imagine (and many more you cannot). When Adarine saw Ragavan, she noticed that his clothes were clean but not as rich or decorated as those of the other princes. He spoke with intelligence and courtesy, but with a bit more humility than might be right for a prince. All this Adarine noticed, but not much else, as Ragavan was not a person who commanded attention, and she had her studies on her mind.

At the end of the dinner, Ragavan and his party stood up to leave the castle. As he was finishing his goodbyes, the king called out, “Prince Ragavan, you have come seeking the hand of my daughter, haven’t you? Surely you have some gift you can give her as a token of your affection?”

Ragavan looked embarrassed — it was obvious that he hadn’t thought this far. But after a moment’s thought, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a small figure of a horse carved of ebony wood. He went to the princess and held it out to her, saying, “Princess, please accept this small figurine. It has been mine since I was a boy, and I cherish it deeply. So too would I cherish you were you to consent to be my wife.”

Adarine was not impressed. Other princes had given her jewels and elephants and all manner of delicacies, and here this prince was giving her a child’s toy. But she accepted the gift graciously and thanked Ragavan for his visit.

When she got back to her room, the princess put the toy on her dresser and began preparing for bed. As soon as she turned her back on the dresser, however, she heard a ‘whoosh’ and quickly turned back. There in front of her was a real, living black horse. The princess was frightened at first, but the horse’s gentle eyes calmed her, and indeed it seemed to be asking her to get on its back.

So she mounted the horse, and as soon as she had gotten comfortable on its back, the horse started trotting toward the balcony. And then just as there was about to be no more balcony to walk on, it leaped into the air! For this was no normal horse, but a flying horse. After Adarine got over her initial fear, all night long she and the horse flew above her homeland, seeing all the world from a new vantage.

Eventually they landed back on her balcony and the princess went to bed. In her dreams she saw magic horses and all kinds of other wonders, but when she woke, the horse was gone and in its place was the same ebony figurine that Ragavan had given her the night before.

That day, dinner could not come soon enough. Adarine knew she had to ask Ragavan about the horse and figure out what had happened the night before. But when everyone had finally sat down to the table, it seemed like she could not get a word in edgewise. When she at last was able to ask the prince about the horse, he only smiled and said he was glad she liked the gift, as if toys turning into flying horses was the most normal thing in the world.

That night, as Ragavan was taking his leave of the king’s hospitality, the king had to remind him again to give a gift to his prospective bride. Again Ragavan seemed embarrassed. But he picked up from the table the cup he had been drinking from at dinner and offered it to the princess, saying, “I brought this from my father’s lands to your table, and it has served me well throughout the journey. So too would I serve you, if you were to be my wife.”

The king’s disappointment was clear. With gifts like this, there was no way Adarine would accept Ragavan as her husband. Adarine, too, seemed a bit surprised to be offered a plain old cup as a gift. But as before, she had the grace to accept the gift without disdain.

When she got back to her room, Adarine put the cup next to the horse on her dresser. As she was getting ready for bed, she called her maid to her room, since she wanted to have some water to drink before going to sleep. The maid came, but when Adarine asked for some water, the maid paused for a moment. “But princess,” she said timidly, “there is a glass of water on your dresser there already.”

Adarine looked at her dresser. Sure enough, the cup that Ragavan had given her, which had to have been empty before, was now filled with water. Surprised, she thanked the maid and sent her on her way. Then she drank the water from the cup and found it to be the most refreshing and pure water that she had ever had.

After she drained the cup, she was still thirsty, but no sooner had she opened her mouth to call the maid than the cup was full again. Obviously this was no normal cup! She spent many hours examining it and although it would always fill up, — usually with water but once, when she was getting hungry, with delicious foods — she could not for the life of her figure out how it worked.

The next day was the last day of the customary three days of courtship. But the princess could not wait for dinner. She told her father to call Ragavan in for lunch instead. The king looked crestfallen. Clearly, he thought, the princess just wanted to get this whole thing over with.

Ragavan and his party came to the castle for a delicious lunch in the royal gardens. But try as the princess might, she could not get Ragavan to explain the secret of the ever-filling cup. Like the night before, he just smiled and said he was glad that she enjoyed his present. Adarine was growing increasingly frustrated. She had to know how these wonders worked, and, she admitted to herself, she had to know more about the man to whom these things seemed so commonplace.

Aside from the frustration about the cup, the lunch passed pleasantly. Ragavan seemed genuinely interested in the people of Adarine’s kingdom, and she found herself enjoying his kind and humble manner. As lunch was ending, Ragavan stood up to take his leave of the party. This time, however, he seemed to have remembered to bring a gift. One of his attendants came and handed him a black box about the size of a man’s fist.

“Princess,” he said, holding the box out to her, “I know we have spoken but briefly in these three days, and decisions about marriage should not be made lightly. I ask that you take this gift and consider our future for yourself this evening. For my part, in our time together I have seen that you are wise, kind, and passionate. Nothing would make me happier than to stand by your side as your husband. I can only hope that you feel the same.”

With that, he handed her the box and left the castle.

For the rest of the day and long into the night, Adarine puzzled over the box. It had no hinges that she could see, yet when she shook it she could tell that it was hollow and there was something inside. She tried poking and prodding at it, tried prying it open, and even tried all the magic words she could think of, but could not open it. At last she went to sleep, exhausted. All the other gifts had been wonderful and magical. How could Ragavan’s last gift be just a box that wouldn’t open?

The next morning, Adarine called Ragavan to the castle. He appeared with a smile on his face. But Adarine was not smiling just yet. She wanted answers.

“Ragavan,” she said, “it is not right that a man keep secrets from his wife. If I am to marry you, you must first prove that I can trust you. Explain to me the secrets of the horse and the cup, so that I can know that you are not some dark wizard or other charlatan.”

“Princess,” Ragavan replied, “your words ring true, and I will answer to your request. The ebony horse is, as I said, a toy from my childhood. It only reveals its living form to those who are open to seeing the world from a fresh point of view; to all others it is merely a toy. That it showed itself to you proves that you are a wise woman, capable of seeing many perspectives.”

“The cup is the cup of desires, and it fills with whatever its owner wishes. Had you been cruel, it would have filled with fire, and had you been greedy it would have filled with gold. That in your hands it filled with water and good foods proves that you are pure of heart.”

Adarine considered these answers. It all made sense, but there was still something missing…

“What of the box?” she asked, holding it out in front of her. “All night I tried to open it, with no result. Will you open it for me?”

Ragavan smiled and stepped closer. He put his palm on top of the box in Adarine’s outstretched hand, his fingers barely touching her wrist.

“This box is the box of my heart,” he said, “and like all hearts it cannot be opened by force or magic. A heart can only be opened by its owner. As you ask, so I open it for you.”

With that, he lifted his hand and the box popped open. Adarine looked inside and sure enough there was a glowing red heart there, pulsing quickly as if its owner was nervously anticipating an answer.

“Now that I have laid bare my secrets and given you my heart,” Ragavan said, the princess still looking down in wonder at the box. “Adarine, will you marry me?”

Adarine felt the heart in her chest pounding to match the one in her hands. She knew her answer.

“Yes,” she whispered.