Hello, my name's Nix from Little Angel Theatre,
and today I'm going to tell you a story called 'The Tinderbox' which is an old old word for a matchbox.
Now 'The Tinderbox' starts off as two stories.
The first one is about a very silly King.
One day a fortune-teller came to his palace and made a prophecy,
that the king's daughter, the Princess, wouldn't marry a Prince.
The King was very upset about it, because he was very traditional
and thought Princesses should only marry Princes and not normal people, like you and me.
He locked his daughter away in a tower, and declared in a very silly voice
"Well, you'll stay locked away for ever and ever, and then nobody will ever see you.
So then nobody will be able to steal you away. So there."
His wife, the Queen, was very cross with the King.
"Let her out this minute! You're being very silly".
But the King was too silly to listen, and hid the key away
so that the Queen couldn't let the Princess out even though she wanted to.
The Queen was so cross that she left the palace and went to live in the woods.
Where she spent her days trying to think of a plan to rescue the Princess.
So that was the first story. The second story is a little bit longer.
It's about a young man who was on his way home through the woods one day,
when he met a woman, who was standing under a beautiful tree.
She stopped the young man as he went to walk by, and asked him if he'd like to be rich.
"Of course" said the man, laughing, "who wouldn't?"
"In that case" she said, "I'll tell you a secret"
"If you climb up into this tree there's a secret staircase that winds all the way down the trunk and underground."
"At the very bottom you will find a hall burning with 100 lamps and in that hall you'll see three doors".
"Behind the first door you'll find a room with a trunk in the middle of the floor."
"Guarding it is a dog with eyes as big as teacups. Don't mind him - his bark is worse than his bite."
"Inside the trunk you'll find as much copper as you can carry."
"If silver suits you better go into the second room."
"On the chest in this room there sits a dog with eyes as big as dinner plates."
"Don't mind him - his bark is worse than his bite."
"Inside the trunk you'll find as much silver as you can carry."
"Perhaps gold is more your taste. If so, go into the third room."
"You'll find another dog. His eyes are as big as bicycle wheels."
"Don't mind how fierce he looks - his bark is worse than his bite."
"Inside the trunk you'll find huge pieces of gold, as much as you can carry."
"What do you want in return?" asked the young man, "do you want a share of the copper, silver or gold?"
"Oh no no" said the woman, "all I ask is that you pick up an old tinder box"
"that I left in the tree when I was much younger."
"I'm too old to climb in there myself now. I'm so pleased you came by."
The young man decided that he would climb into the tree.
He had to wriggle and jiggle down the trunk, but soon he found himself in a hall burning with the 100 lamps,
with three doors leading off from it.
Behind the first door he saw the copper.
Behind the second door he found the silver.
And behind the third and final door he found the gold the woman had spoken of.
Soon his rucksack was full to the brim.
On his way out through the hall he saw the old tinderbox and picked it up for the woman, as she had asked.
But when he clambered down from the tree, the woman was nowhere to be found.
So that was the second story. So how do these two stories come together?
The young man continued on his way. He walked for miles through the woods.
And where should he arrive? [SCREACHING BRAKES]
But in the kingdom from the first story, with the silly King and the Princess locked in a tower.
On his first day the young man spent some of his riches on a newspaper.
Which told the whole story of the silly King from beginning to end.
The young man felt so sorry for the Princess.
On his second day he spent some of his riches on delicious food, all kinds of fancy meals.
But he couldn't enjoy them, because he kept imagining the Princess
being locked away in a tower forever and ever, not being able to eat whatever she fancied.
On his third day he spent the rest of his riches on lots of wonderful things.
Things he'd always seen in shop windows, but would never have been able to buy.
But still, even all of these expensive things didn't seem to make him happy.
He just couldn't stop thinking about how unfair it was that the Princess was locked away,
just because the King was so silly.
As darkness fell, the young man realised he'd forgotten to buy any matches.
But then he remembered the tinderbox that he'd taken from the tree.
He opened it and struck a match.
And goodness me! Suddenly, in a puff of smoke, the three dogs from the secret tree were in front of him.
There was the one with eyes as big as teacups.
There was the one with eyes as big as dinner plates.
And there was the one with eyes as big as bicycle wheels.
They were magic dogs, called by the tinderbox.
"Woof. Do you want more gold from the tree? We can fetch it."
"Woof. Do you want something from halfway across the world? We can fetch it."
"Woof. We're very good at fetching stuff."
"Can you bring me something that's locked away?" asked the young man.
"Oh yes, we're very magic. Woof", said one of the dogs.
He looked a bit surprised by the question, but maybe it was just because his eyes were as big as teacups.
"Can you bring me the Princess who's locked away in the tower just down the road?"
The dogs barked and disappeared.
The young man waited anxiously.
But in the blink of an eye they were back with the Princess.
"Thank you so much for rescuing me", she said to the young man.
"I hated being in that tower. My father is so silly, he'll never think to check whether I'm still inside."
"I can go off and have adventures now, with my mum. Do you want to come?"
The young man was very taken with the Princess.
She was so friendly, and seemed very sparkly.
So they set off for the woods where the Queen lived.
The young man picked up the tinderbox, and the three dogs trotted after them.
When they reached the Queen's house, she was sitting in the garden.
"It's you!" cried the young man, "it was you who told me the secret of the tree"
"and then disappeared before I could give you the tinderbox."
"It was", agreed the Queen, "I'm so glad you rescued my daughter. I'd hoped you would."
And then the three - the Queen, the Princess and the young man
climbed onto the backs of the dogs with unusual eyes.
And the six of them started out on an adventure, far away from the silly King.
The End.