Once upon a time...
there was a Peasant's daughter called Biggette who lived in a hut in the shadows of a great black mountain. The hut was very small and very cold, because the Peasant was very poor and his wife spent every penny he earned on cakes and trifles and wine.
One winter's day, the Wicked King came to the hut and called upon the Peasant to come out.
'I have come for my rent,' King Bigger informed the Peasant.
'Please, sir,' the Peasant begged the King. 'I have no money left to pay you. May I pay you next month?'
'Certainly not!' King Bigger said angrily. 'If you cannot pay me now, I will take your daughter instead. She will make a fine wife for my son.'
'No!' Biggette sobbed, for the Wicked King's son, the Ugly Prince, was a foul and evil man.
King Bigger paid Biggette no mind. 'I will return in one week for my money or your daughter,' he informed the Peasant. 'If neither is forthcoming, I will send my soldiers to remove you from this place.'
After the Wicked King Bigger had left, Biggette could not stop crying. She did not want to marry the Ugly Prince, but if she refused, her family would have nowhere to live. For she knew that her father was too poor to pay the King.
'Oh!' cried Biggette. 'What can I do?'
Just then, a single tear fell from her cheek and landed upon a Dirty Caterpillar crawling on the ground, and all at once the Dirty Caterpillar changed into a Golden Butterfly.
'You must go to the Starmaker's palace at the top of the mountain,' the Butterfly said to Biggette. 'You must sing for him, and he will make you rich beyond your wildest dreams.'
'But I cannot sing,' Biggette said.
The Butterfly flew into the air and landed briefly upon Biggette's lips, and then, with a tiny flutter of its golden wings, it was gone. And when Biggette opened her mouth and sang, it was the sweetest sound you've ever heard.
'The Butterfly was right!' she cried happily. 'I can sing!'
And so Biggette set off up the great black mountain to find the Starmaker's palace. The mountain was steep and treacherous, and there were thick dark forests where wolves and goblins and all manner of frightening creatures dwelled. But Biggette sang to herself as she travelled, and the beauty of her voice sent all the wild beasts to sleep.
After some time she came upon a Wise Old Poet sitting beside a stream.
'You sing very well,' he said to Biggette with a wise old smile. 'Perhaps you would care to sit with me for a while and sing for me while I write my verse?'
He was so old that Biggette felt great pity for him. 'Forgive me, sir,' she said. 'But I have no time to sit with you. For I am going to sing for the Starmaker, and he will make me rich. And then I will not have to marry the Ugly Prince.'
The Poet shook his wise old head. 'The Starmaker may indeed make you rich, but he will never make you wise. I am the only one who can make you wise.'
'You?' Biggette exclaimed. 'How can you make me wise?'
The Poet looked sadly upon her. 'It takes time to find wisdom, my dear. You must stay with me here beside the stream and we will listen to the silence of the world together, and I will teach you how to see the things that cannot be seen.'
Biggette shook her head. 'Thank you, kind sir,' she said. 'But I have no time to spare.'
And then, with a grateful bow of her head, she carried on up the mountain.
After running and running through the thick dark forests, Biggette came at last to the Walls of the Starmaker's Kingdom. The walls were high and made of stone, and the only way through them was by means of a great wooden gate.
The gate was guarded by a Wily Sorcerer.
'Do you wish to enter the Starmaker's Kingdom?' the Sorcerer said to Biggette.
'Oh, yes,' she replied.
'Then you must solve a riddle,' the Sorcerer said.
'But why?' cried Biggette.
'For only the wisest may enter the Starmaker's Kingdom,' the Sorcerer answered, gazing into her eyes. 'That is why. Now listen, here is my riddle: If you are six feet away from the gate to the Starmaker's Kingdom, and with every step you take you move half the distance to the gate, how many steps will it take for you to reach the gate?'
As Biggette looked back at the Sorcerer, she thought of her mother and father, shivering in the cold of winter, and she thought how sad she would be if she were married to the Ugly Prince ...
And, with those thoughts in mind, she said to the Sorcerer, 'I will never reach the gate. For if I only move half the distance with every step, then I will always have half the distance remaining no matter how small the number.'
'You are, indeed, wise enough to enter the Starmaker's Kingdom,' said the Sorcerer, moving to one side. 'You may proceed.'
And, step by step, Biggette walked through the great wooden gate and entered the Starmaker's Kingdom.
When she came to the Starmaker's palace, a wonderful golden building at the top of the mountain, the Starmaker was waiting for her. He was a stern old man with long white hair and a shiny silver cape.
'Sing for me,' he demanded.
Biggette sang, and her voice was as golden as the palace itself.
The Starmaker nodded his head in approval. 'Do you wish to become rich beyond your wildest dreams?'
'Oh, yes!' replied Biggette.
'Then you must stay here for ever,' he said. 'You must stay with me in my palace and never set foot beyond the door. You must obey me at all times. And you must never again speak to anyone else. Do you understand?'
'But what about my poor mother and father?' Biggette said.
'I will see to it that they keep their home,' the Starmaker assured her. 'But only if you agree to my terms. Your mother and father will be safe, but you can never see them again.'
Biggette thought for a long time, trying to decide what to do, and eventually she said to the Starmaker, 'I will do as you say.'
Epilogue
Then she died.
