V is for the Vampire Princess

Yes. I went there.
Vampires are in this year, right?
(Also known to werewolves as "hunting season")

Today's princess is brought to you from Hungary, and before you ask yes, this is a real folktale.

Tragedy strikes the royal families. Two brothers, competing for the hand of the same princess, end up destroying each other, and the princess, who by the way was in love with one of them, dies of grief. Every night after that she crawls out of her crypt and tears whoever is nearby to ribbons and shreds. And there is always someone nearby, not just for dramatic effects, but also because the King ordered guards to stand outside the crypt all day and night. A waste of money and good fighting men if you ask me.
Well, a young man comes along and offers to stand guard for a bushel of gold a night. That's a lot of money, but the King agrees none the less, because keeping his word about the guards has cost him too many good men already, so he is open for volunteers.
The young man soon realizes he is in over his head. Fortunately for him he finds an old beggar who offers to help him survive the night if he is willing to split the spoils.
What ensues from here is three nights of very creepy things. Every night at eleven the princess crawls out of her coffin and goes shrieking through the cathedral looking for someone to kill. Every night the young man finds a hiding place and barely escapes with his life when the clock strikes midnight and the princess has to go back to being dead. The third night he hides in her coffin, and when she has to go back into it he just yells "occupied!" until midnight has passed, and lo and behold, she turns human (and alive) once again.
Ta-da!

Great story for Halloween. Read it in English here!