“I must have a queen,” he tells me, “But I have scoured the kingdom and no earthly woman has the purity of heart or grace of soul to be worthy. You must make me a bride.” I am the greatest sorcerer and craftsman in the kingdom and I tell him I can do this thing. So I work. I spend a year travelling throughout the kingdom, stopping in every city, town and village. I spread my search further, through neighbouring kingdoms until I have travelled to the corners of the earth and back. I visit every quarry I can find in every land, inspecting the quality of their stone. From these I select the hundred best and have them send the finest, purest block of marble to my workshop. It takes years for all the blocks to arrive, but my king is patient and his wealth and power limitless. I examine each of the hundred blocks, putting aside any with the slightest impurity or imperfection. Eventually, from the hundred blocks I find one which is perfect, unblemished in any way, the whitest, smoothest marble in the world, and with this block I begin my task.
