When my son told me that he had been staying in an enchanted castle, I wanted to know all the details, of course! The castle was inside a mountain, and everything in the castle had been covered in black. The chairs, tables, benches, and also the three princesses who lived there; they were all covered in black.

The black princesses told my son that if he stayed with them for a year, he would free them from their enchantment They allowed him to come and visit me, but he had to go back. The year wasn’t yet over.

I said, “Take a candle with you, and hold it up over them while they’re sleeping. You’ll see who they really are.” I didn’t trust them, you see.

How can one trust anything that is enchanted?

Distrustful Mother in The Three Black Princesses, Grimms. Painting by Frederic Leighton.