A merchant had three daughters. Before a journey, he asked what gifts they wanted. The eldest wanted pearls, the second wanted jewels, but the youngest, Lily, said, "Dear father, bring me a rose."
It was winter, and roses were hard to find. On his way home, the merchant found a strange castle. One side of the garden was covered in snow, but the other side was full of beautiful flowers. He picked a rose for Lily, but suddenly a lion jumped out.
"You stole my rose!" the lion roared. "I will eat you unless you give me the first thing that meets you when you get home."
The merchant was sad because he knew Lily always ran to meet him. When he reached home, Lily was indeed the first to run out to meet him. She told her father, "You must keep your word. I will go to the lion."
But the lion was actually an enchanted prince. During the day, he and his servants were lions, but at night, they became humans again. Lily married the prince, and they lived happily in the castle and soon had a child.
One day, Lily went home for her sister’s wedding. The prince went with her, but he warned her: "If a single ray of light touches me, I will turn into a dove for seven years."
During the wedding, a tiny ray of light from a torch fell on him through a crack in a door. In an instant, he turned into a white dove. He told Lily, "I must fly around the world for seven years. I will drop white feathers to show you the way. Follow them to set me free."
Lily followed the feathers for seven years. When the feathers disappeared, she asked the Sun and the Moon for help. They could not see the dove, but they gave her a magic box and a magic egg. Finally, the South Wind told her, "Your prince is a lion again. He is by the Red Sea fighting a dragon."
Lily rushed to the Red Sea. With a magic branch from the South Wind, she helped the lion defeat the dragon and become human again. The dragon also turned back into a princess, who immediately put the prince under a spell and flew away with him on a huge flying creature called a griffin.
Lily followed them to a distant palace. She gave the rival princess the golden dress from the Sun's box and the golden chickens from the Moon's egg in exchange for a chance to speak to the prince. He woke up from the princess’s spell and recognized his wife.
They escaped together on the griffin’s back. Halfway across the sea, Lily dropped a magic nut that the South Wind had given her, and a large tree grew out of the water so the griffin could rest. They reached home safely, found their child, and lived happily ever after.