When the evil Witch of the Summits imprisoned the seven Princesses in the seven castles of the seven mountains, guarded by seven falcons, seven ogres and seven dragons, no one thought they would ever return alive. However, years later, the brave Sir Pentin joined a veteran band of noble knights to ride to the Great Summits, defeat the falcons, ogres and dragons, and liberate the Princesses.

The knights entered each castle to rescue the young ladies. These places were so cold and dark that the Princesses looked almost dead. The brave knights wondered what kind of terrible evil there must be in the witch's black heart to have imprisoned the Princesses there. When liberated, the young girls were enormously grateful to their rescuers, since life in those cells was the emptiest and most boring one could ever imagine. Smiling, they listened to the knights recount their deeds, and they fell in love with their bravery and fearlessness.

But on arriving at the final castle, which looked no different from the others, they discovered a beautiful interior, wonderfully decorated and maintained, filled with light and colour. One could even hear beautiful background music, as though this was some magical place. And when they ran to rescue the seventh Princess from her alcove in the highest tower, as they had done with the others, they didn't find her there. They searched everywhere for her until, following the magical music, they ended up in a small living room. They found no magic there, but sat in the room was a joyful Princess skillfully playing a harp.

Nothing disconcerted the knights more than the young girl’s happy and enthusiastic attitude. She was cultured, ingenious, elegant, and had a special gift for the arts. Unlike the other Princesses, in whom the effect of their imprisonment was easily visible, the last Princess seemed to have lived a much more active and interesting life. Yet, after much questioning and inquiry, the knights could only conclude that she had been equally imprisoned and solitary as the others.

Surprised, they searched the palace, looking for an explanation, until they arrived at the library. Many books were missing, and only then did they realise the reason: the whole of the rest of the castle was full of books. On each table and piece of furniture you could easily find a book of some sort. The Princess had never stopped reading!

And so it was that she had managed to learn and live so many experiences that it seemed, to her, that she had never been imprisoned at all. She had lived her incarceration busy with so many activities that she had never once been bored.

The return journey was certainly a strange one. The Princesses – apart from the final one – turned out to be so boring and uninteresting that none of the knights was able to return their love. On the contrary, all the knights were very taken by the young Clara, who, not being carried away by the knights’ deeds or the gleam of their armour, was able to choose her true love, at her leisure, much later on.

But then, that’s a whole other story.