Once upon a time in a far away land there were two kingdoms. Now the rulers of these two lands were very good kings. These good kings were close friends so they

built their castles right next door to each other. One of the good kings had a very mischievous little son and the other good king had a very mischievous little daughter.

The prince and the princess had the most wonderful times playing together. One day the princess was pretending to be a grand queen with chests of ruby jewelry (You

see, the princess loved rubies. In fact, the only gem she loved more was diamonds). The prince was pretending to be her knight in shining armor. He was kneeling

before Her Majesty (as proper knights do) when all of a sudden he looked up, grinned, and tugged a handful of the princess’ long curly hair. Now if there was one thing

the princess hated, it was to have the prince pull her hair. “You cannot be my knight any more!” the princess declared angrily. “You can’t say that because I’m going to

marry you when we grow up,” he cried. She glared at him and said, “I wouldn’t marry you, you old hair-puller, unless – until rubies turn into diamonds!” And with that

the little princess flounced out of the room. Well, as time went on, the prince and princess grew up as children do. The prince was going away as a representative of his

kingdom. Before he left he gave the princess a small box to open upon his departure. When the prince on his spirited white horse was out of sight, the princess hastily

opened the neatly wrapped box. Inside lay the most beautiful ruby ring she had ever seen! She slipped it on her finger and thought of her childhood playmate, now

grown and on official business. How she missed him already! Months passed and no word came from the prince. Then horrible news came. The prince had been

captured by a gang of bandits! The long months turrned into years and sometimes the princess was so lonely and so sad that she would go to the garden where she

and the prince had played as children. One such day she was so occupied with her thoughts that she did not notice the stranger following her until someone said, “My,

what a pretty ring.” The princess whirled around, the glanced quickly at her ruby ring (which she had never taken off). Before she realized what was happening the man

grabbed her wrist, yanked the precious ring off her slender finger, and darted into the forest. The princess knew it would be useless to chase the thief, so she sat down

on a log and cried. She soon felt a gentle tap on her shoulder and looking up saw a tall bedraggled woodsman. Startled by his disheveled appearance and distraught

from her ordeal, the princess turned quickly to run. "Wait, don't be afraid," the man implored hurriedly as he gently grasped her elbow. You look upset. Is there

something I can do to help?” he asked kindly. “Oh, I wish you could,” she said. “A thief just stole the ruby ring that my best friend gave me when he…” With these words

she started sobbing again. The man said, “Don’t cry, go on home, trust me.” Then he started off in the direction the princess indicated the thief had taken. The princess,

thinking she would never see the ring again, slowly walked back to the castle. She went to her old playroom and dreamed about the time she and the prince had played

queen and knight. She smiled thinking of her declaration never to marry him until rubies turned into diamonds. A knock sounded at the door and in scurried her maid,

followed by the tall man. The princess sank into a chair and offered a seat to the woodsman as well. Instead he bowed, just as a knight would have done then looked

up and gazed tenderly into her face. “Why…” she said. “It can’t be!” The princess stared at the woodsman in amazement as he slipped the beautiful ruby ring back on

her finger. She glanced at the ring then back at the woodsman. It was the prince!! When she looked back at the ring, the ruby slowly turned into a gorgeous, sparkling

diamond, flashing colors into the air. The prince, grinning, reached up and tugged a handful of her long, curly hair; and this time the princess didn’t even mind at all.