Long, long ago, deep in the misty rainforests of Malaysia, lived a princess. She was known as Putri Gunung Ledang, or the Princess of Mount Ophir (which is much easier to say, don't you think?).

Mount Ophir was a giant mountain that lay across the border separating the states of Melaka and Johor. The Princess of this mountain was a strange and magical girl, with such great powers that she could transform herself into thirty different people. She could be an old woman one moment, a beautiful young girl the next. She could switch from servant to child to queen without even taking a breath. Many men were fascinated at the thought of such an interesting girl. Someone like her would never be boring, would she? Several wanted to marry her, and countless others had tried already, but she refused them all.

A few suitors had given up when they saw how tricky the journey was to visit her, for the princess's palace was built on the very summit of Mount Ophir. The steep slopes leading up to it were covered with dense jungle. Many princes had already tried to reach the princess, but had failed. One or two were taken by tigers, known to roam the slopes by day. The people who lived by the mountain believed that the tigers might be the princess in one of her disguises.

Others just weren't fit enough to climb such a steep slope and gave up half way huffing and puffing heavily. Still others took one look through their royal telescopes and did not even attempt to begin the trek.

It just so happened that the Sultan Mahmud Shah of Melaka was looking for an extraordinary girl to be his bride. His wife had died just a few months earlier, leaving him sad and lonely, with a baby son to care for. He had heard tales of this princess, and the stories fascinated him. He thought that she sounded enchanting, and he decided to see if she would be interested in him.

He also heard that the princess could be rather awkward. Not wanting to leave his son for any length of time, he asked his best friend, Hang Nadim, a favour.

"To save me some time, would you go up there first? Go and ask her if she would consider marrying me, the Sultan Mahmud Shah of Melaka. If she seems enthusiastic, I'll definitely go up there in person next week."

Hang Nadim prepared well for the trip, as he wanted to do his very best for his friend. With the help of the Sultans advisors, he arranged for a team of horses. On the first horse he hung bags filled with glittering gold coins. On the second he placed bags overflowing with fine, flowing fabrics. The third carried baskets of gorgeous gem-stones, and in the fourth basket he placed succulent hand-made sweets cooked by the Sultan's own palace chefs.

With the horses laden down with these goodies, and six servants to help him, he set off on the journey to find the princess.

Hang Nadim, his horses and his six servants struggled through the tough terrain. They stopped to rest, halfway. Suddenly, an old woman appeared in front of them. She was horribly ugly, with straggly black hair, a truly awesome nose, and eyebrows like furry tarantulas. She was leaning on a stick. She pointed the stick up the mountainside.

"I've been sent here to guide you," she croaked.

As she spoke, a pathway lit up in front of them. It glowed in the dark, showing the way to the top of the mountain. Hang Nadim wondered if this was the princess in one of her many disguises. But by the time he turned to take another look at her, she had already vanished.

The group struggled on, eager to get to the top in case the light went out. As they reached the palace, the main doors swung open. Dragging their weary bodies inside, they saw the princess. She was sitting on a throne draped with shimmering royal red velvet. Hang Nadim threw himself at her feet.

"Salaam, Princess!" he greeted her. "My name is Hang Nadim. My closest friend is Sultan Mahmud Shah of Melaka. He is a very busy man, but has heard so much about you that he thinks he wants to marry you. He has sent me here to meet you, and to see if you are interested in meeting him too. He has sent you all these gifts."

As Hang Nadim spoke, the servants brought the gifts and laid them in front of the princess. She stood with her arms folded and a very haughty expression on her face.

"The Sultans gifts don't impress me," she said. "I've seen better things than this. And expensive presents certainly don't prove love. If he is so keen on me, he must complete three tasks. Listen hard because you will have to remember everything I tell you: First, he must build a bridge of solid gold between his kingdom and mine. Then I can visit him whenever I want. Second, he must bring me seven trays of mosquito hearts, because they are the most difficult things to catch, and they bite me all night long. Lastly, I want a cup of blood taken from his son's right hand. These tasks must all be done by a week from today. Then I will decide if he is worth marrying or not."

With that, the princess stood up and left the room. The exhausted men were shown to a side room where food and drink had been prepared, with enough beds for them all. They knew that early the next morning they would have to return to the Sultan with the Princess's extraordinary message.

The next day before dawn, the servants and horses followed Hang Nadim back down the mountain to the Sultan's palace. Hang Nadim went straight to see his friend.

"Welcome back—and so soon!" said the Sultan. "And what's the news? When will she marry me?"

Hang Nadim told him of the princess's demand for a golden bridge. The Sultan clapped his hands in excitement.

"I knew she would ask for something interesting," he shouted, "Now, I must think carefully. Where will I get all this gold from?"

"The quickest way is to collect it from your people," suggested Hang Nadim. "They won't like it, of course, but if you tell them that it is for the Sultan's marriage, they might be more willing.

"But there's another task too. She wants seven trays of mosquito hearts."

The Sultan laughed. "She is playing games," he said. "That's easy. Anything else?"

"Well," Hang Nadim hesitated, not really wanting to tell him about the third task, "She wants a cup of blood taken from your son's right hand."

The Sultan's face fell. "What? That's too much to ask. It's madness. I'll complete the first two tasks and then I'll ask her again. She can't possibly be serious about that."

Without wasting any more time, the Sultan gave orders for all the soldiers in his army to tour the country, asking every family to hand over its gold, by order of the Sultan. He asked for the best zoologists to catch mosquitoes without squashing them, and remove their hearts.

The finest engineers and goldsmiths were brought to the Palace to design the bridge. As the gold rolled in, labourers worked day and night. Some smelted the gold, others laid the foundations, and others cleared a space through the jungle. For six days and six nights one thousand workers toiled non-stop, until at last the bridge was completed. Everyone agreed that it was beautiful. Not only that, but the princess would now be able to come and go across the bridge as often as she liked. The seven trays of mosquito hearts were ready and waiting. The only thing missing was the cup of blood.

The night before he was going to travel to meet the princess, the Sultan went into the room where his son was sleeping peacefully. He was just a baby, six months old. Taking a whole cup of blood from him would certainly kill him. The Sultan knew that he could never, ever do such a thing. No princess was worth that kind of sacrifice.

As he sat with his head in his hands, a glowing light filled the room. A beautiful young woman stood in this light. As he watched, she changed into an old hag with spider-like eyebrows, then into a tiger, then back into a beautiful woman again.

She spoke. "I am the princess of Mount Ophir. I am happy that you can't kill your son for me. That shows you are a good man. But, it also means that you can't finish the tasks I set for you, so I won't marry you."

As she finished speaking she began to change again. She turned into thirty different women in quick succession, each one more beautiful than the last, until finally she vanished.

Sultan Mahmud breathed a sigh of relief. How could he have been so silly as to want to marry someone with such awesome powers? He shuddered at the thought. How could he ever trust anyone like that? She really was quite mad.

The story of the princess and her strange demands spread like wildfire. Since then, no prince dared to ask to marry her, and she spent the rest of her life alone. In fact, no-one really knows what happened to her after that. The gorgeous golden bridge was soon over-run by the same jungle that covers Mount Ophir. And the Sultan never remarried, and spent the rest of his life happily caring for his son.