There was a town, in a valley. And this town was called Psyche. A nice prosperous town, with it's mayor, called Intelligence, it's store-keepers Memory and Pride, and it's beggars Self-esteem, Ego and Self-respect. High in the mountains, though, was a dragon with three heads, each with a name except the last - Doubt and Instability. The dragon would periodically come down from the mountain and gnaw away at one of Psyche's townspeople.

Now and then a wandering minstrel called Humour would come along, bringing his wife, Care, with him. There had been, somewhere in the history of the town, a baker called Common-sense, but he had left long ago and was only spoken of when the subject of legends arose.

At the start of this story, the beggar, Ego, decided to leave to newer lands and was not seen for a long time. It was a few months after that that a princess came to the town, announcing herself as Love. Unfortunately for the townspeople though, a new baby had been born and christened Timidity. The minstrel, Humour, would joke about Love, but would have to listen to his wife when she said it was dangerous to taunt those of higher station.

Around this time, Memory and his wife Vision set out to make themselves a network of stores around the country, only staying in Psyche for a few months at a time before setting out again. Then, a nice enchantress came to the valley, helping people and telling poignant stories. She was called confidence, but by this time the princess had moved on to the next town. Fortunately, Memory was there and met her before he returned to Psyche. Intelligence and Pride then spoke to Confidence and she, with them, went to the princess to ask her to return to the town.

The big dragon came down the mountain soon after they had left. Doubt ate the mayor, Intelligence, and it was a long time before a new mayor was elected. Instability ate the remaining beggars Self-esteem and Self-respect. The third head only caught two arms - those of Humour and Vision, because it was slow. Bloated now, the dragon returned to it's mountain cave. Vision later died from an infection. Memory mourned the loss of his wife for a few months before seeing a specialist who said that he should take a new wife. There being no beggars in Psyche now, Ego returned and had a good career ahead of him

The princess took good care of the town, making it organised and even stopped the three headed dragon coming down the valley. Then, one day, the princess got a message from her father, the king, and had to return home. The town fell into disarray and the dragon began rampaging again. Care, who had not been well after the death of her husband, could not escape and lost an arm to the dragon, whilst Ego lost both legs. Confidence, the enchantress, had mysteriously disappeared and, with the leaving of the princess, would probably not return.

The townspeople thought about appealing to the princess to return, but they liked her and decided that their problems were not hers and if she did not return they would respect that and fend for themselves.

The dragons three heads became fat during this spree; Instability became so large that he grew an extra head of his own which he christened Madness; Doubt became fat also, but to a lesser extent. The third head was slow to catch people but he also put on weight.

And the people continued to look after themselves, but not as well as they had under the princess who had cared and looked after them.