[Fortunately, she really likes telling stories. Especially fairy tales. Especially significant ones. And especially on her anniversary.]

Well, the story goes that once upon a time in a faraway kingdom, an adventuresome king found himself lost in a dark wood. He walked and walked, but he was terribly turned-around by the end of it, and things were getting dark and it was so deep into the wood that trying to find a way out alone was really just a bit hopeless. And when he realized that, the king began to despair a bit, because he was a widower and had seven beloved children waiting for him at home, and the thought of never seeing them again and leaving them without a father was simply too dreadful to bear.

But he kept walking, determined to find a way free somehow, and after some time he came across an old woman waiting by the path. He greeted her with grace and poise, because he was a mannerly king even in the worst of moments, and when he did the old woman asked if he was lost in the wood. When he said he was, she offered to show him the way out, on the condition that he would take her daughter for his wife.

And what do you suppose he did?