Once there was a king whose queen had beautiful golden hair. She was so lovely that no one else on earth was like her. When she became very sick and was about to die, she said to the king, "Promise me that you will only marry someone who is as beautiful as I am and has the same golden hair." The king promised, and then she died.
For a long time, the king was very sad. However, his advisers said, "The King must marry again so we can have a queen." Messengers looked everywhere, but they could not find anyone as beautiful as the late queen.
The king had a daughter who looked exactly like her mother and had the same golden hair. One day, the king said to his courtiers, "I will marry my daughter. She is the image of my dead wife." The courtiers were shocked. "That is a terrible sin!" they cried.
The daughter was also terrified. She hoped her father would change his mind, so she made a plan. She said, "Before I marry, I must have three dresses. One must be gold like the sun, one silver like the moon, and one bright like the stars. Also, I want a coat made from a thousand different types of fur."
She thought this was impossible, but the king’s workmen made the three dresses. Then, his hunters collected fur from every animal in the kingdom to make the coat. When the gifts were ready, the princess knew she had to run away. At night, she took a golden ring, a golden necklace, and a golden brooch. She packed her three magic dresses into a tiny nutshell, covered her face and hands with soot to look dirty, and put on the fur coat.
She traveled all night and eventually fell asleep in a hollow tree in a large forest. The next day, the king who owned that forest was hunting. His dogs found her. The hunters said, "There is a strange animal in the tree. It has a thousand different types of fur!"
When they caught her, the girl cried, "I am a poor child with no parents. Please have pity on me!"
The hunters laughed and said, "You can work in the kitchen. We will call you Cat-Skin." They took her to the palace and gave her a dark room under the stairs. She had to do all the dirty work: cleaning the ashes, carrying wood, and plucking birds.
One day, there was a grand ball at the castle. Cat-Skin asked the cook, "Can I go and watch for a little while?" The cook agreed but told her to be back in half an hour. Cat-Skin went to her small room, washed the soot from her face, and took off the fur coat. She put on her dress that shone like the sun.
When she entered the ballroom, she looked like a princess. The king danced with her and thought she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But when the dance ended, she disappeared. She ran back to her room, put on her fur coat, and blackened her face again.
Back in the kitchen, she made the king’s soup and secretly dropped her golden ring into the bowl. When the king finished his soup, he found the ring and asked the cook who made it. The cook admitted it was Cat-Skin. The king questioned her, but she only said, "I am a poor girl."
This happened two more times. For the second ball, she wore the silver dress and dropped her golden necklace into the soup. For the third ball, she wore the dress of stars. This time, the king secretly put a ring on her finger while they danced.
When the third ball ended, Cat-Skin stayed too long. She didn't have time to wash off all the soot or change properly. She threw on her fur coat and ran to the kitchen. However, she forgot to blacken one of her fingers.
When the king found his golden brooch in the soup, he called for Cat-Skin. He saw her white finger and the ring he had given her. He grabbed her hand, and as she tried to get away, her fur coat opened. The starry dress sparkled underneath.
The king tore off the fur coat. Her golden hair fell down, and everyone saw that she was a beautiful princess. The king said, "You are my bride, and we will never be apart." They were married soon after and lived happily ever after.