‘Ah, thought Nobody. A secret chamber. As soon as Nobody’s husband was over the horizon on his white horse, the first door she opened was the one with the small golden key. She entered the forbidden room and looked around, suspecting trickery of some kind. She examined the shelves, looked carefully at the two large glass bottles – one labelled The Water of Life, the other, The Water of Death. She peered into the barrel of tar and saw the emerald ring but she looked beyond it too, only to see her sisters’ faces staring up at her from the oily depths. Nobody reached for The Water of Life and poured it into the barrel. Only when she had shaken out the very last drop were her sisters returned to her, rubbing their eyes as if they had been fast asleep. She told them all that had happened before pouring The Water of Death into the now empty bottle labelled The Water of Life.

‘When the man returned, the trio of sisters were waiting for him. They threw him off his horse and fled, taking their mother’s ring and all the man’s other treasure with them. The man, injured and furious, stumbled down to his private chamber where he took up the bottle labelled The Water of Life. He drank swiftly and deeply and, within moments, he was dead. The three sisters returned home, joyful to be reunited, joyful too to have reclaimed their mother’s precious emerald ring. Their father soon recovered his health and, shortly afterwards, word reached them that his distant cousin had died. The throne the farmer had once ruled from was left empty but there was one, they all agreed, who had earned the right to take it. And so it was that Nobody, the youngest of the sisters, became queen of all the lands, ruling wisely, kindly and always wearing the Emerald of Wisdom.’

Natalya pauses for a moment, reaches into her pocket to pull out the sea-smooth round pebble of green glass she had found on the beach the previous day. ‘But look,’ she whispers to the three attentive faces. ‘Before I leave, I must entrust you with something very special. You must promise to take great care of it.’

‘The Emerald of Wisdom!’ cries the youngest child and three pairs of hands reach out to take it.

‘Careful, careful!’ says Natalya. ‘You must share it between you fairly! Now, sleep awhile and see what stories your dreams will bring.’