There was an old farmer that had three daughters. The eldest two were fair, but the youngest was by far the fairest of the three, in both body and spirit. The elder daughters forced the youngest do most of their work.

One day a disheveled man appeared on their doorstep, his clothes were soiled and his cape was ripped and rent in places.

"It is a ruffian, eager to steal what little we have." The eldest sister said at the sight of the man.

"We barely have enough for ourselves, we can't be feeding the world." The middle daughter said.

"We cannot turn away a traveler in need. The man looks near faint on our porch. If it needs be, let him have my milk and bread for tonight and I'll have none. Only let him come in and rest his feet a bit." The Youngest said with tears I her eyes, for her heart was as pure as her beauty.

The elder sisters huffed and said, "So be it."

So the youngest let him in and fed her milk and bread from her own plate, and washed his face and hands, and laid out her father's old clothes that he might change into in. Then she fetched the wood and stoked the fire up so that the man might warm his feet. She was surprised to see the man talking to her father, whom her sisters left propped up in an old rocking chair because he was infirm with old age.

To see the man speaking kindly to her father and regaling him with stories of his many travels moved her heart toward him and she blushed mightily when she handed him a cup of tea.

He took it gratefully. "What is your name, my charitable host?"

"Alana, for I was the much beloved by my mother before she passed."

The man smiled a smile that went beyond his mouth, but into his eyes as well. He bowed down on one knee and put a golden ring on her finger. "May name is Frederick and I am the prince of this land. Through my many travels, I have not found a beauty of heart nor form as of yours. Will you honor me with your hand, fair maid?"

The oldest sister's did not believe him and demanded a sign.

Frederick laid a silver dagger onto the lap of the farmer. The prince bowed himself on one knee and asked if Alana would marry her and she said yes. They were soon married and everyone was happy.

They lived many a happy year together, never leaving one another's side until the time of the harvest moon when Frederick would go off hunting by himself and he forbade her to follow him.

The elder sisters visited Alana one day and when they saw the richness of the castle envy was kindled deep in their hearts.

"Sister dear," They began one night when Frederick was gone from the hunt, "doest thou not notice how strangely ye husband hunts? He has neither hound nor steed nor companions, but hunts with only a spear and a bow. What mortal hunter can set out with such meager tools and yet load an ass down with game that he has killed?" Alana was quiet, for secretly these things she wondered as well.

"Have ye noticed not that he hunts during the harvest moon? Perhaps he is a shape shifter?" The elder sister's said. They slid the silver dagger into her hand, the same one that Frederick had given their father. Then they departed from her and went back home.

Alana waited until moon fully rose over the hills before she set off after him. She wandered deep into the woods and finally came into a clearing. In the midst of a clearing she saw an enormous wolf and at the wolf's feet was her husband's cloak. She gripped the dagger, but her strength failed her. She fell upon her knees before the beast and bared her slim wrist to its teeth, "If this is your curse dear husband, then let me share in it as well as you have given me the happiest days of my life and I could not bear to be apart from you." The wolf leaped forth and tore her throat out, leaving her blood to soil the ground.

With a roar of grief her husband comes into the clearing and with one swift thrust of his spear he kills the wolf, for he was a mighty huntsman. He held Alana's still form in his arms as his tears wetted her hair. "Oh my wife, my lovely foolish wife! I begged ye that ye allow me to depart for a time, for I feared for thee life. Now my heart breaks at the loss of ye, as never before."

Then seeing that the dagger was the same that he had given her father as a dowry, his wrath kindled up greatly. He took a magic ring from his pocket, a ring that a Genie had promised him would grant him one wish. "For the wickedness that was whispered in my wife's ear, I will be avenged." He places the ring upon his finger and it burns red as embers in the dark night. "Once more will I hunt, with the wiles and cunning of that which slew my beloved."

At once he assumed the form of a ravenous wolf and he bounded off, tearing the wicked sister's limb from limb, quieting their lying lips forever. His passion spent, he covered Alana's body with the flowers of monkshood and there he died of a broken heart, with one last howl to heaven.

The gods looked upon the sorry sight and the tale stung their heart. "From this day forward, the monkshood's flowers will bow their faces in sorrow, and be filled with hidden poison, as was the tragic love of these two." Forever after, the monkshood was called by another name, Wolfs bane.