Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a young girl called Ciarella. Now Ciarella was like every other young girl in the land. She went to school, hung out with her friends and dreamt of becoming a princess.
Just because she wanted to be a princess didn't excuse her from having to help her parents out at home. So she did her chores every day and, in return, her father gave her pocket money at the end of the week. But being just 9 years old, she never saved any of it and instead bought lots of pretty pink things and bags of sweets.
But one day, that happy, carefree life came to an end. The most awful thing happened: her father died. Ciarella and her mother were very sad and didn't know what to do.
It got worse. They discovered that Ciarella's father didn't plan for their future because he always thought he had plenty of time. Because of this, Ciarella and her mother were left with nothing.
There was no money to buy food or clothes and her mother had to pick up odd jobs here and there. They had to leave their home and move into a smaller one to save money.
There were no more treats, there was no more pocket money and Ciarella hardly saw her friends anymore because she always had to help her mother out at home.
Every month, they struggled to scrape together enough money to pay for Ciarella's school fees, the rent, the electricity, the water bills and everything else they needed.
They had to sell their horse and cart.
Ciarella missed her happy, carefree life. Her life was so hard now. She was always hungry and her clothes no longer fit. But as she watched her mother grow more tired and more worried as each day went by, she made a promise.
"When I grow up, I am going to make sure we have enough money that we never have to worry about it any more," she vowed. "I will take care of my mother and we will have enough food to eat. And sometimes I will be able to buy us treats."
The only problem was, she didn't know where to begin. Even though her parents loved her very much, they had never taught her about money and how important it was to save it.
One day, she was sitting by the pond near her house and dreaming about being a rich princess when, all of a sudden, a frog appeared beside her.
Now this was no ordinary frog. But Ciarella didn't know that. At first she thought that she had to kiss it and her dream of becoming a princess would finally come true.
But like every smart 9-year-old girl, she knew that nothing happened if you kissed a frog. Besides, this frog had really bad breath.
The frog looked at her and tried to clear its throat. But all that came out was a loud croak. And then it spoke.
"Hello, Ciarella," it said in a deep voice. Ciarella was so shocked that she fell off the rock she was sitting on. "My name is Wilfred von Wimple," the frog said. "Back when I was a human, I was an evil banker who took money from the poor and gave it to the rich."
Ciarella just stared. She didn't know what to say, which was a good thing because Wilfred was on a roll.
"As punishment, Alanis Greenfinger, the fairy who takes care of the bankers and the banks, decided that I had to spend some time as a frog and teach one person about smart money management before I could be a human again.
"But everyone runs away from me. So I have been stuck like this for five long years and have even missed the financial crisis. But from what I hear, that is a good thing; at least Alanis Greenfinger can't blame this banker for that mess."
Ciarella couldn't believe her ears. Maybe Wilfred was the answer to her problems. Perhaps she could learn from him about how to save money so she and her mother would never have to worry again.
"Hello, Wilfred," she said. "Nice to meet you." And then she started to tell him her story, about how her father had died and that there was no money for her and her mother to live on.
"First, you have to work out your budget," Wilfred told Ciarella. "That means you have to write down everything you have to pay for every month and how much it costs.
"Then you have to work out what you have left over and how much you can save from that. It probably won't be much at first, but every little bit helps.
"When you save your money, you have to put it in a bank account. That way you can watch it grow, which is a lot of fun, believe me. And then, with all the money you have saved, that is your safety net in case you ever end up in a situation like this again.
"When you get older, you can take that money and use it to buy a house or pay for your college education. You could keep it in a special account and even use it for when you are too old to work any more.
"If you manage to save enough money, you and your mother will be OK."
And with that, Wilfred began to change back into a human because Ciarella had learnt a valuable lesson from him.
Today, Ciarella and her mother have enough money in the bank for their future. And now they are saving to buy back their horse and cart.
And Wilfred? Well, after he borrowed some money from Ciarella for his horse-and-cart fare home, he decided he didn't want to be a banker anymore.
These days, you'll find him running a charity for children, where he's excelling at taking money from the rich and giving it to the poor - much to the delight of Alanis Greenfinger.
