In a small home deep in the woods, a poor woodcutter struggled to take care of his family. One day, a massive White Bear appeared and offered the family a life of comfort and wealth. In exchange, the youngest daughter had to leave with him. Wanting to help her parents, she agreed. The White Bear brought her to a beautiful castle where she lived in luxury. Yet something strange happened every night. While she slept, a mysterious man came to lie beside her and always left before dawn, so she never once saw his face.
After some months, the White Bear allowed her to visit her family but warned her not to speak alone with her mother. If she disobeyed, both she and the White Bear would suffer greatly. Despite this warning, her mother pushed her to reveal the truth about her strange life. Worried and confused, the mother convinced her daughter to take a candle and look at the man who visited her at night. That same evening, the girl lit the candle and discovered that her nighttime visitor was not a bear at all but a remarkably handsome prince.
As she admired him, a drop of hot wax fell onto his forehead. The prince woke instantly and looked at her with sadness. He explained that he had been cursed by an evil witch. If she had waited one full year without trying to see his face, he would have been freed forever. But because she broke the rule, he was now forced to travel to a distant place called the castle East of the Sun and West of the Moon to marry the witch’s daughter. Before she could speak, the prince and the entire castle vanished, leaving her alone in the dark.
Heartbroken but determined, the girl set out on a long and uncertain journey to find the prince. She walked across endless forests, climbed freezing mountains, and crossed icy lands without knowing where she was going. Along the way, she met three elderly women living in remote, lonely places. Although she had nothing to offer, she treated each woman with kindness, and in return, the first woman gave her a golden comb, the second gave her a delicate golden spinning wheel, and the third gifted her a shining golden loom. All three women told her that only the North Wind was strong enough to reach the distant castle where the prince was being held. When she finally found the North Wind, it listened to her story and agreed to help. It carried her across roaring oceans and freezing skies and set her down at the foot of a steep glass hill where the prince lived under the witch’s control.
When she reached the top and saw the prince preparing to marry the witch’s daughter, she knew she had to act quickly. She traded the golden comb for one night outside his chamber, but the witch secretly gave him a powerful sleeping potion, so he never heard her calling his name. The next day, she exchanged the golden spinning wheel for another night, and again, the witch drugged him into a deep sleep. On the third night, she offered the golden loom, the most valuable of all her treasures. This time, the prince accidentally spilled the sleeping potion before drinking it, and when he heard her trembling voice through the darkness, he finally woke. In that moment, he understood everything she had endured, how far she had traveled, and how deeply she loved him.
The prince quickly formed a plan. He challenged the witch’s daughter to wash the wax stain from his shirt, claiming that only his true bride could clean it. Both the witch and her daughter failed. When the youngest girl tried, the stain disappeared immediately, proving her innocence, loyalty, and love. This act broke the curse once and for all, and the witch lost her power completely.
With the spell gone, the prince and the girl escaped the castle together. They traveled back to his kingdom, grateful for everything they had overcome. Their courage and devotion brought them back together, and they lived the rest of their lives in peace and happiness.