Emily appends an old Irish tale about the kingdom of Burre, where the queen’s youngest son, a half-Folk prince, releases the queen’s three golden ravens to improve his own chances of inheriting. Their loss spreads sorrow and disorder through the land, and among the kingdom’s misfortunes is a serving girl cursed with extreme clumsiness. After her poor adoptive mother dies, the serving girl cannot keep work and finally finds a place in the remote castle of the duchess, the queen’s sister.

The duchess gives the serving girl ordinary household tasks, but the serving girl only creates worse messes. Each morning, however, the damage has been miraculously repaired and improved by the oíche sidhe, invisible faerie housekeepers who cannot bear disorder. Because the duchess and her family see only the sparkling results, they believe the serving girl is exceptionally talented and grow more attached to her, even when the house’s strange improvements become increasingly excessive and uncanny.

The serving girl gradually realizes that the overworked oíche sidhe are becoming enraged with her, especially when invisible blows begin striking her as she works. Seeking a cure, she visits an old witch, who reveals that the curse comes from the royal family through the youngest prince and that only he can undo it. When the royal family is due to visit, the serving girl deliberately ruins her dress so the oíche sidhe will transform it. Wearing the resulting bizarre gown, she attracts the prince at once, and he insists on marrying her.

The serving girl expects marriage will force the prince to lift her curse, but the plan fails. At the wedding feast, she spills gravy on the magnificent bridal work of the oíche sidhe, and the housekeepers finally break. They swarm into view and beat her with their mops until she splits apart and returns to her true form: one of the queen’s missing golden ravens. Freed, she flies away, while the prince, now obsessed with finding her, learns magic, turns himself into a raven, and begins an endless search for his lost golden bride.