Millie lived with her old mother in a little cottage on the outskirts of a forest. Millie had no idea that her mother was actually a witch who had stolen her from the palace years ago!
The witch hated Millie’s parents. One night, the witch flew in through a window and vanished with the baby. Whenever the King’s men came near the cottage looking for the baby, the witch would turn Millie into a rose bush.
Millie grew up into a pretty young lady, quite unaware that she was really a princess. She always wondered why her mother transformed her into a rose bush when the soldiers came.
“They are not good men!” explained the witch, “If they see you, they will kidnap you.”
But there was one thing that even the witch could not hide. The roses were deep red and so fragrant that everyone who passed the cottage stopped to smell them.
One day, a Prince from a neighbouring kingdom came to visit the King and the Queen. He went hunting with some of the soldiers attending him.
The witch saw him from the window and turned Millie into a rose bush. The Prince stopped outside the cottage sniffing the fragrant roses. He asked the soldiers about them and was told of the rose bush in the cottage.
Getting off his horse he went to the door of the cottage and asked the old woman for a drink of water. When she went in, he quickly plucked a rose and hid it in his coat.
That night, he heard someone sobbing in his room. The sound was coming from his coat. He picked it up and the rose fell out. It was wet with tears.
He was surprised and put the rose into a little cup of water. But it kept sobbing. “What is the matter?” asked the astonished Prince.
The rose told him she was a part of Millie who was turned into a rose bush whenever the soldiers came. The Prince decided to investigate the mystery.
He went in disguise the next day and watched the old woman through the window. She was talking to Millie who had a bandage on her hand.
“If the King’s men come again, you must hide. They cannot pluck any more roses or you will die!” said the old woman.
‘So, it’s something connected with the King’s men!’ thought the Prince. Chatting with the people in the palace, he learnt how the King’s daughter had been kidnapped years ago.
‘Now I understand!’ thought the Prince, ‘Millie must be the princess who had been kidnapped.’
That night, he went hunting with the soldiers and the witch promptly turned Millie into a rose bush. The Prince waited till the witch was busy. Then he yanked up the rose bush by the roots and rode fast to the palace. There, he put the rose bush into a beautiful pot and told the King the whole story.
The King had the witch arrested next morning, and made her turn the rose bush back into Millie. The witch was imprisoned in the dungeon. Princess Millie married the Prince and lived happily thereafter.
