Once there was a girl called Navia. She had blonde hair and blue eyes and perfect, rosy skin. She lived with her aunt, a simple washerwoman. They were very poor, but they were happy with their lives.

On her twelfth birthday, when Navia was out gathering wild roses from the woods, a man with the legs of a crow and eyes that glowed like the moon stepped out of the leaves.

"You are beautiful." the man said.

Navia laughed and replied, "Beauty does not fill stomachs."

"There, you are wrong." laughed the man. "Nothing is out of reach for a beautiful woman. Her charm ensures her wishes granted, in the end."

"Then I wish for my beauty to bring my loved ones happiness." Navia crossed her arms. "Can it do that?"

"Yes." the man smiled, "It most definitely can."

The man disappeared back into the leaves and Navia returned home. But, when she went to comb the leaves and burrs from her hair, all accumulated from the forest, she found the fallen strands of her hair turning to gold. When she realised this, she cried tears of joy, and every tear turned into a pure white pearl. In her excitement, she sliced her thumb on one of the roses she had collected. Her blood, rather than staining her tunic, gathered and crystallized into deep red diamonds.

When she joyfully shared this news with her aunt, the older woman took a knife and cut off all her beautiful hair.

Navia didn't mind - hair could grow back after all, and they needed money. She loved her aunt, and if her looks could bring her happiness, then she wouldn’t object.

With the gold, they bought a large manor in the capital and filled it with luxuries. Her aunt took to wearing fabulous gowns, a different one for every day. Navia covered her bare head with an exquisitely crafted white bonnet and a dark, curled wig.

Soon, the King caught wind of a beautiful woman with locks of gold, tears of pearl and veins of flowing diamond. Wanting to obtain her, he arranged a marriage between her and his son, the Prince.

Navia was to become a princess, and she was delighted. On the day of the wedding, she vowed to love her husband and make him happy.

But the prince had seen his fair share of lovely women and did not love his new wife. No matter how hard she tried to please him, he did not smile.

The princess, in her despair, cried tears of sadness. But when the prince saw pearls fall from her deep blue eyes, his lips widened into the grandest, most charming smile she had ever seen. So the princess cried for the prince, and the prince held her hand and told her no one had ever made him happier. She wanted to make him happy, even when her eyes turned red and constantly ached. She covered her face with a veil and pretended not to see when the prince gave a courtesan a necklace of her pearls.

It didn't matter. Flesh heals, but heartbreak doesn't.

The princess grew to love her country. When she had no hair left for her dear aunt, and no tears to cry for her husband, she walked along the bustling market streets and talked with the people. She grew fond of the children, who played in the fountains and the alleyways. Whose laughter and tears were for pure and simple emotions, and whose eyes glittered so brightly and hair grew so messily.

The slums where she walked were poor, housing largely the jobless and destitute. The children starved, but they had no money to buy food and no work to earn money.

So the princess went to the streets with a knife and cut open her wrist. She spilled crimson diamonds from her veins and gave them to the people.

They cried and thanked her. They took her blood and exchanged it for food, but it wasn't enough.

The princess kept giving her blood, and the people rose in wealth. Her skin became marred with jagged white scars, so she covered her body with a long white cloak. Still, they came to her, to the figure in white, and asked her for more.

And even as her wounds were healing, even as she covered her bald head with a bonnet and wig, her bloodshot eyes with a veil, her marred skin with a cloak, she gave them more.

Then, one day, when her aunt came to her, and said, "Navia, my dear. Your dear aunt is running a bit low on funds. Won't you be generous and lend her some of your gold?"

Then the prince came to her, and said, "Navia, my love. Your husband promised someone a gift, but he's running a bit low on jewels. Won't you be generous and lend him some of your pearls?"

Then the people came to her, and said, "Navia, our lady. Your people have used up all the money you gave us, and soon we will starve again. Won't you be generous and lend them some of your diamonds?"

And the lady in white replied; "I have nothing left to give

And the greedy people changed. Suspicion turned to anger, and anger into rage.

"You have provided for us time and time again!" they roared. "Your hair is gold, your tears are pearls, and in your veins flow diamonds! How could you have nothing left to give!?"

"Take off your bonnet! Take off your veil! You wear these to hide your possessions, you are hiding what you have!"

"Give me time!" she cried. "Hair grows again, tears flow again and blood spills again, but you cannot replace a life!"

But they were blinded by greed and didn't hear her. As she looked upon them again, these people she loved, she felt her heart shatter and all affection flow away. Why did she love them in the first place? How did she love these creatures?

"It is too late now." said the man with eyes that glowed like the moon, watching from afar. "You loved others, but not once did you ever love yourself."