Once upon a time there was a faraway land inhabited by fairies, witches, enchanted beings, princes and princesses. This was a long time ago. The place still exists and it is possible to find remains of those days. The castles were sold to hotel chains and if you are willing to spend a small fortune, you may as well rent a room for the night. The princes and princesses disappeared. Some we decapitated, others sold their royal titles and had to get jobs. The enchanted beings migrated deep into the forest. I don't know what became of the witches. They probably ran away to the cities. As for us, fairies - we stayed here. This region is located on the southwest side of Germany and although it has been quite devastated since those days, it still can be called a forest. It is known as the Black Forest.

The story I am about to tell took place in the seventeenth-century and at that time the main characters were nothing more than three young ladies, like so many others. Nowadays Talia and Annette are well known for their gruesome nicknames: Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella. The third one - Snow White - had such a weird Christian name to start with that nobody bothered in giving her a nickname.

Today's generation thinks of these princesses as piteous beings. Snow White became the most popular outdoor garden statue, eternally surrounded by preppy dwarfs. Annette fell victim to psychoanalysts and was made into a syndrome. Talia had the worst luck of all, immortalized as the stereotype of female submission. After reading this historical document you will invariably notice the inconstancies between the real personalities of these three princess and the versions that were spread aloof.

I know the truth because I lived it myself and because I am in charge of their correspondence. A correspondence that lasted four years and includes hundreds of letters! I was kind enough to select the most interesting ones, which go from August of 1696 to February of 1697. Annette was then seventeen years old. Talia was about to turn sixteen and Snow White, the youngest, was fourteen. The letters I left aside made reference to irrelevant matters such as wining about family life, daydreaming about princes, tricks for enchanting wild animals and on Talia's case, tons of pages of unfair babble regarding fairies. I also took the trouble to type-write them. I can make out their clumsy handwriting because I used to read the letters before delivering them. It was part of my job.

The correspondence began when, by a game of destiny they were prohibited from ever meeting again. Talia, Annette and Snow White became friends when they were nothing more than babies, therefore, they used to say they had always been friends. This lack of precision is typical of babies that grow-up together. They never question the true origin of their friendship.

Talia, as we all know, was cursed by a fairy on the day of her baptism: at her sixteenth birthday she would prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die. Her father, the king of Liebenstein, took several measures in order to protect his daughter. He was a skeptic man and believed that if he were cautious enough, he would be able to avoid the prophecy. He ordered that from that day on the seven fairies that were present at the baptism party should chaperone the princess, day and night. This meant that we had to move-in to Libenstein and remain living with her for the next sixteen years. He also demanded that all spinning wheals of the kingdom be burnt. Such was done and an immense crisis on the textile industry followed. Consequently, several other curses fell upon the princess. But these, for being sent by humans, we refuted quite easily. As a last measure, the king ordered that whenever Talia left her room she was to wear a pair of iron threaded gloves. This she did until the age of eight. After much whinnying the king suspended the gloves.

And as if all these restrictions weren't enough, the king announced that until she turned sixteen, Talia was not allowed to leave the castle grounds.

Due to this incident, the only occasion for the three friends to get together was when Snow White and Annette went to Libenstein.

These visits took place regularly, for despite the curse, the king and the queen did all they could for Talia to be raised as a normal child. And so it could have been if Snow White and Annette, each one for different personal reasons, had not been rejected by their families.

Snow White was about ten years old when her mother - who we referred to as "Your Majesty", as she told us to - stopped bringing her to Liebenstein. It was as if Snow White had vanished. "Your Majesty" was such an enigmatic and strange mannered women, that nobody had the courage to ask her what had happened to her little girl. There were rumors that she was a witch and the less we asked, the better. I knew Snow White was alive. This I knew by intuition. But the conditions in which she lived were impossible to foresee.

As for Annette's absence, there was an obvious reason: her father's second marriage. I consider the human species very difficult to comprehend. But men are particularly undecipherable. Annette's father, for instance, was a rich merchant in Munich, very influent in local politics. And yet, he couldn't have made a worst choice for a second wife. Annette's stepmother was a horrid women in all possible aspects. She was a widow and brought along two despicable, arrogant young ladies. The first thing she did, when she moved into Annette's house, was to put an end to her freedom, and this meant forbidding any visits to Liebenstein.

Talia was so accustomed to being stranded in the castle that she didn't think much when her two best friends stopped visiting her. She would maintain the friendship by writing letters to them. I believe that Talia considered their misfortunes as a fatality that every princess goes through. Two envelopes were tied to my back and I as if I were some sort of carrier pigeon I was pushed from the window.

When I arrived at Annette's, I was amazed to see in what pitiful shape she was. There were rumors that she had mingled a bit since she had been disinherited, but still, I was shocked to see her. Her hair was all tangled and the dress she had on... I rather not get into details. But I couldn't stare much because as soon as she saw me, she tucked me inside her apron's pocket, grabbed a chandelier and locked herself inside the pantry. For the first time in her life she talked to me. Before, like Talia, she ignored my existence. While she read the letter delivered by me, she would comment her miseries. From inside the pantry I could hear her stepmother's hysterical yelling. Annette said I wouldn't leave until she had an answer and frenetically wrote one. I tried escaping to catch some air. I was dying to see all of the house and meet her new stepsisters. But Annette was so desperate that she locked me inside a jar and when she finally let me out a heavy letter was tied to my back.

My next stop was Weitenburg. Snow White was looking great, rosy cheeks and very lively. As for her mental state, the same could not be said. She was speaking with birds. In fact, she kept long conversations with them. From the way she chirped before speaking human language I figured that it had been a while since the poor creature had chatted with a civilized being. Snow White was much kinder than Annette. She also requested that I took an answer letter, but at least she allowed me to wait in the garden. Oh, but how dreadfully slow was her writing! For each verse she composed, she made a little dance movement. I never understood why she insisted in the rhymes. Her vocabulary didn't get her too far. My agony was such that I whispered in her ear every possible word that popped into my head, regardless if it rhymed or not. Snow White always made use of an adjective and this way we made slow progress with her hideous poetry. I thought that the poetic style was to demonstrate the emotion she felt on receiving a letter from a dear friend. Soon I discovered that whatever the subject, Snow White always wrote that way.

When Talia received the answers, she hopped around her room as if she were corresponding with the queen of England. She spent the night writing new letters. At that age they told everything to each other, even the stupidest episodes were reported in full details. They repeated the same fibs innumerous times and when they had nothing more to say, they drew. I called for a meeting of all fairies and presented the problem. My colleagues agreed that something had to be done. We gathered a few wild animals and delegated the work. Snow White got a bird, for obvious reasons. Talia got the fastest rabbit we were able to find. Anxious as she was, she needed a swift fellow. The best we could get for Annette was a mouse. In her case, the messenger would have to make way into the fetid basement where she was living. Thus, thanks to Summer Ballad, Bridget and Frederic, the three friends could maintain their correspondence.