So this king is getting old, and he has three beautiful daughters. A blonde, brunette and a redhead. None have found a suitable suitor, and the king is worried that he'll die without a male heir. So he puts the word out to all the princes in neighboring kingdoms to come and court his daughters. He has one condition for marriage. They have to swim the moat, defeat the moat monster and if he survives he can choose which daughter he wants to marry.

Many princes travel to the kingdom and try. And many princes get killed by the moat monster. So many die that all the remaining princes decide its not worth risking their lives for more land and title.

So the king gets desperate. He puts the word out in his kingdom that the contest is open to commoners as well. Soon the moat monster is getting fed once or twice a day. Every man who tries, fails. And every man who fails, dies.

Eventually all the men in the kingdom that were brave enough to try have been killed. So the king announces that he will take suitors from outside his kingdom, and they don't have to be royal blood this time.

There are a few more commoners that try, none of them are able to defeat the moat monster. Finally the king is on his death bed, and a commoner arrives from far to the north.

He swims the moat and defeats the moat monster. The king, who has been wheeled out to watch this challenger says "Well done, well done! My son, which of my daughters will you take as your queen?"

The stranger from the north says "I'll take you, my lord."

The king says "Me? You can't marry me! I'm a man!"

















Told you at the beginning it was a fairy tale.