A long time ago, in a land far away ruled by a tyrannous king, there lived a poor, young man of 18 named Jacob. Jacob worked night and day just to make enough money to feed himself. He had no one else to look after, which saddened and relieved him. He wished for a family, but he also knew he wasn't able to support one. The King of the land demanded a tax of 60% of all profits made by any persons in the area. Jacob knew full well that he could have been making a fortune if not for that one law. He knew the king was greedy and used the money poorly by buying jewels from travelers instead of helping the people who were forced to look up to him.

When Jacob was not working the fields or selling his produce at the market, he dreamed. He dreamed himself with a beautiful wife, wonderful children, an easy life for all of them, and no taxes to pay. They all lived in peace in a lovely cottage by the road and bought food plentifully. His children would laugh and play all day, and when they grew, would marry their loves and live just as peacefully as they had when they were young. There would be so many smiles, so many laughs simply floating around in the air at all times. He saw himself grinning warmly at his wife, and she would smile back. The children would run up and hug their parents...

But suddenly, Jacob would be jolted back to reality by a neighbor going by in a carriage. He would turn to see his small, brown shack and his field full of dirt needing to be plowed then finally, would sigh and get back to work.

His dreams were crushed further when he read a notice in the market one morning after selling some goods. It read, "All taxes in the kingdom are hereby increased to 75% by order of the King. This order is to go into effect immediately."

Jacob could not believe it. He barely made enough now to eat regularly, if he gave anymore he would surely die.

He ran from the market in a mad frenzy. Anger swelled in his heart as one thing ran through his mind, 'They have no right to do this.'

Running and running, he passed by neighbors who waved, but he no longer saw them. He ran through the streets and then out of town and down a dirt road. He reached his home, then quickly passed it without a second glance. At the end of the dirt road was a thick, dark forest, but Jacob kept going. Finally, he reached a small stream and, unable to go any farther, stopped to catch his breath.

He kicked the dirt violently, clenching his teeth, then tried to calm himself down. Unfortunately, all he could think about was how to get out of paying the taxes. There seemed no way, though, because someone would surely find out how much money he had and he would be arrested. God knows what the king would do to someone disobeying the tax law.

"If I were king, such rules would not exist," Jacob thought out loud, then almost laughed at the idea. Him, King? It was impossible. But things would be good if he were king, he decided. Everything would be pleasant. It would be perfect.

Exhausted from his run, Jacob walked to the stream and dropped his hand in to drink. He then splashed some water over his face and rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, he spotted something shining in the water. He leaned in to saw a piece of gold partly hidden under the dirt at the bottom of the stream, glistening in the sunlight.

Jacob once again dipped his hands into the cool, clear water, this time pulling out the shimmering piece of gold.

A ring.

It was solid gold, with tiny etches on the sides of leaves and flowers swirling around it.

Jacob grinned. He would be able to get plenty of food after selling this, at least a year's worth. Hopefully, he thought, by then someone will have kicked that tyrant off the throne.

He instinctively slipped the ring onto his finger. The moment it touched the bottom of his knuckle, there was a huge flash of light and Jacob was thrown against the ground. But his hand was raised into the air by itself. He gazed up at his hand wide eyed, and saw that there was a white light coming from the ring an gathering together just above the water.

The light slowly took shape to a person. Jacob could almost tell it was a woman. His eyes burned from the light, but he still stared, trying to make out her face.

Finally, the stream of light coming from the ring ceased and his hand fell. The woman floated above the water. She wore all white and held her hands in front of her as if waiting for something. Jacob only stared in amazement.

"Greetings, Jacob Crowl," The white lady said, her voice echoing off the trees and bouncing back to Jacob's ears.

He stuttered, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

The lady smiled. "You have the ring, therefor I know everything about you."

"What?" Jacob asked, confused. "What's going on?"

"I will now grant you one wish, Jacob. Any wish you desire."

Jacob raised an eyebrow. "A wish?"

"A wish." The lady repeated.

At first, Jacob was afraid. He had heard stories of genies who offered wishes, but changed them around to ultimately do more harm than good. There were also tales of oracles that gave false information in order to mess things up instead of help.

But he had a wish, something he knew would help the kingdom and himself.

"You would grant me any wish?" Jacob asked cautiously.

"You have but to name it."

"It would not be turned around? Into something horrible, something I don't want?"

"Your wish would be granted as you state it, but there will be a price."

Jacob's heart sank. "What price?"

"The price varies as the wish and the wishmaker. Name your wish and I will tell you the sacrifice you must make in order to attain it."

Jacob took a deep breath. He knew his wish...was it worth it? He sighed and nodded to himself.

"I wish...to be king, and rule over this entire kingdom!" He called out, then squeezed his eyes shut, afraid of what may happen.

When he opened them again he was in a beautiful room with marble walls and a stained glass ceiling. The floor was painted in patterns of angels floating around, accented with the light shining through the glass on the ceiling and walls. There were two white staircases curving around the sides of the room and meeting at the top where a tall white door with brass knobs stood.

Jacob's breath caught in his throat as he looked around the room. He had never been anyplace except his own shack and in town, much less the castle, which he was sure he was at now.

A voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"You will have your wish, but the price will be great."

Jacob tore his mind from the beauty to think about what she said. "What is it?"

"You will have but one child. A boy that will not live to see his 18th birthday."

"I will have a child," Jacob whispered, still amazed at what was happening. He would really have a child! A prince.

He slowly cleared his mind to think about the last thing the white lady had said. He won't live to see his 18th birthday. In Jacob's mind, his first reaction was, 'If I have a child, he will live long and happily. This white lady cannot stop that.'

"Is it agreed, Jacob Crowl?" She asked patiently.

Jacob nodded. "It is agreed."

Suddenly, the world was turned upside down. Jacob immediately became the king, and it was known to everyone. They saw nothing different about him being king, as if he was supposed to be, or they didn't know what was going on. Jacob was the only one who knew the truth of the wish.

He lived in the castle. Its beauty lived through him every day as he wandered the halls just to gaze at the ceiling. He wore expensive clothing and was washed and groomed, and never did any work. When the day came to talk about taxes with his royal council, he remembered why he asked for the kingdom in the first place, and starting the day after, taxes were 5% of all profits. The kingdom truly loved him after that.

He eventually married a beautiful woman named Annora, with long blond hair and blue eyes from a faraway kingdom and united the two to become an even greater king. He loved Annora very much, and cherished his time with her. She knew he was different, and she was happy with him.

As promised, Jacob had a son. He named the boy Andre. Happiness filled Jacob's heart at seeing his child, but soon he was sad again, for Annora had died only hours after Andre's birth.

Jacob was heartbroken by this news, and quickly ran from the castle, as he did many years ago when he discovered he would not be able to live.

He ran all the way to the river once again and stopped, thoughts running through his head. He finally realized, the white lady said that he could only have one child. The only thing that could stop him from having more was not having a wife to birth them. He was then furious at the white lady, and took the ring, which she came from, that he had always worn, and cast it back into the stream. Jacob regained his composure and walked back to the castle.

Many years past and Andre grew bigger and bigger. Jacob always kept the white lady's price in the back of his head. He loved his son, and would give anything to keep him safe.

Andre was taught many things that most princes weren't usually taught, since his father was different from most kings. He was taught to farm as well as to fight, and was well educated in money matters. He learned of his mother from the others in the castle, seeing as his father refused to speak of her. He was a happy child through much of his young life, until a time, when the white lady's price had to be taken seriously.

On Andre's 17th birthday, his father told him something he was very shocked to hear. They were both walking outside the castle on the royal grounds toward a tall tower.

"Andre, my son," Jacob said, sounding almost sad.

"Yes, father? Is something wrong?" Andre replied.

"I'm afraid so. I have to ask you to do something that sounds odd, but is only for your own good."

Andre looked at him in askance.

Jacob pointed up to the tower. "I have arranged a living quarter up in the tower for you. You will live there for one year. You will be fed well by the staff, and we will send the maids to take you clean cloths and anything else you may need. But you have to stay up there. Do you understand?"

Andre stopped and looked into his father's eyes. He searched them as if looking straight into his soul, and after a few moments, he finally nodded and turned away.

"Very well, father," Andre said calmly. He knew that Jacob must have had a reason for him to do this, and trusted his father completely.

Jacob nodded slowly, looking relieved. Andre began climbing the tower.

The room in the tower was about 20 X 20 feet, which was small compared to the room inside of the castle, but Andre found it to be livable, and quite cozy. It held a bed covered in the finest fur and silk blankets so he could be cool in the summer and warm in the winter. Across the room was a large dresser full of all his clothes. There was a desk on the third side with a pen and parchment for writing when he felt it necessary, and just above the desk was a small round window that looked out above the kingdom. On the opposite side of the room was the same type of window looking out upon a forest of green trees and next to that window stood a bookcase filled with all kinds of books. Andre loved to read. As he looked around the room after just coming up from the stairs winding down through the tower, he thought that it wouldn't be so bad living up there.

And so, for a great many months, Andre stayed in the tower, never visited by anyone. He was fed by a basket that was pulled up to the window next to the bookcase, and another one in the other window lifted clothes up and down to be washed and worn again. There was a guard below this window as well, always watching and waiting for something unexpected to happen.

At first, Andre was quite lonely, but he began to write about having a friend with him, and he felt better. He remembered that his father knew what he was doing, and he had to trust him.

After four months in the tower, Andre began to get very restless. It was the end of the summer and after it being so hot outside and cool in the tower, it was becoming nice outside and he wished for nothing more than to leave and take a walk through the woods. It looked so lovely out there. He had even almost forgot about walking for so long, since the room was not that large, and the walking distance was never more than a few feet.

Finally, he couldn't stand it anymore. He didn't wish to disobey his father, but the tower was becoming more like a prison to him everyday. He decided to leave, and quickly came up with a plan.

Gathering some of his clothes and some saved up leftover food, Andre slipped out the window in the dead of night and slid down the food rope, falling onto the ground.

The ground felt good beneath his feet, but he did not stay long for the guard on the other side of the tower that his father had set up may have heard his feet touch the ground, so Andre quickly took off into the woods.

In a small clearing in the middle of the woods, he stopped and began to follow through with his plan.

First, he made a calendar out of a stick. He cut notches in it to count the days, weeks, and months that went by. Then, he made tools and planted crops. It took two weeks to finish making the tools, and he was fueled only by the saved food, not including the pieces of vegetables that he planted for more food later.

When the tools were complete, he began building a small cottage. It wasn't the best, and it was quite simply with only one room, one window, and a door, but he was proud of his work. The house was finished in another two weeks.

After Andre's food supply from the tower ran out, and the vegetables had not grown yet, he began to hunt. He caught rabbits, squirrels, and mostly small animals, once in awhile snagging a bear and using it's fur for more clothes or blankets. But the animal meat soon became boring and he decided to do something different.

One day, he wanted to go fishing. Near the clearing was a small, clear stream. Quickly rigging a fishing pole out of tree bark and a wooden hook, he flung it into the water and waited for his meal.

This too became boring after he couldn't catch anything, so his eyes wandered around and stopped on something very interesting to him. He took a closer look into the water and noticed a piece of gold sticking out from the sand. Andre dipped his hands in and pulled it out.

A ring.

It was etched with leaves around the edges and glimmered in the sunlight, obviously solid gold.

He smiled slightly and put the ring into his pocket, not knowing what else to do with it.

Many months passed and spring came. Andre's garden bloomed with vegetables. He no longer had to eat only meat, but he now boiled the animal meat with potatoes or carrots to give it more flavor. He ate well, and was happy. After that, he didn't have to hunt quite as much, so he spent more of his free time wandering the forest and looking at all the beautiful trees that towered over everything.

All the while, Andre had counted the notches in his calendar stick, and he knew when he had to go back. He could not stay in the woods forever, no matter how much he wanted to, for he loved his father and his kingdom, and he knew it would one day be his responsibility to rule it.

The day came sooner than he had expected. So, the night before his 18th birthday, Andre left his little cottage, and all the rest of his vegetables. He left the clearing, and the stream, and everything he had loved for those eight months, and he made his way back home.

He knew getting back into the tower wasn't easy. Knowing his father, he figured Jacob would have probably tightened the security by now, since he seemed to get more cautious as time went by. He would have to be careful.

Andre trudged through the woods, wearing his bearskin coat, since it was a cold night. When he finally made it to the edge where the tower was, he stopped, and climbed a large tree just across from it. He swung a thick birch bark rope he had made long ago with a wooden hook on the end and caught a hold of the food window. Slowly and carefully, he began his climb across the rope. He was sure it could hold him. He had spent days making it as thick and tight as possible just for this moment.

All the sudden, voices echoed down below. Andre heard people shouting. He panicked and began to move faster, his legs wrapped around the top of the rope.

The shouts continued, and he made out what they were saying.

One man cried, "Up there! Look! It's the killer!"

Another bellowed, "Quick, call upon the king! He must be stopped!"

Andre's heart was beating wildly. He didn't know what they were talking about, but he knew that they thought he was the enemy. He rushed across the rope. Now he was so close to the window, he could make up piles of uneaten food that had gathered on his desk while he was away.

Something whooshed past his face! They were shooting at him! Arrows flew from all over the royal grounds, and people continued to yell and scream about the murderer in the sky.

All Andre's thoughts suddenly vanished as he felt a twinge in his arm and then a wave of indescribable pain rush through his body. He cried out, still holding onto the rope, but feeling weaker with every second. He slowly turned his head and saw the arrow going through his shoulder. He could no longer hold onto the rope, and the pain was blinding.

As if in slow motion, he felt himself slipping away, not only from the rope, but from consciousness as well. His mind slowed down and his pain stopped.

Andre landed on the ground.

Slowly, the guards that had been shooting walked over to the body laying in the grass. At first they let out a triumphant cry, then one of them turned the body around and they all gasped. They had killed their prince, the very person they had been protecting.

King Jacob walked tall and proud across the grounds toward the crowd of guards. He knew he could beat the white lady, and he was right. His guards took down the killer and his son was safe. He couldn't help but smile proudly at himself.

The guards cleared the way and let the king pass. They all had sorrowful looks on their faces. This didn't phase the king and his glory. But when the last of the guards cleared and he saw the perpetrator, his heart stopped.

He stood and stared at the face of his last family. His last hope for happiness.

Something glinted on the ground nearby that caught Jacob's eye. He slowly walked over to it and kneeled down to pick it up. Just as the time reached midnight, on the day of Prince Andre's 18th birthday...

A ring.