There was once a skinny woman who worked in a marmer palace in Switzerland - as a cleaning maid. She was 21 years old and her name was Belle. She was blonde because of her Russian descent, though her dad was Italian.

She was skinny because she did not get enough to eat. But she seldom envied the fact that the twin princesses and the queen she worked for, Cordelia, Odina and the Queen Merciana ate cake for breakfast daily, with every lunch and after every supper.

About 6 kinds, to be exact. Lemon meringue blueberry, dark chocolate peppermint, raspberry white chocolate, etc.

But then, one day, while the cook and her helpers were preparing treats for a dinner party, Belle overheard one of them say: "Cake was going to be served at the party, of course. Queen Merciana doesn't care much fot dancing, but cake is something even 65 year olds can enjoy!" She laughed. "In fact, they say the type of cake they'e importing from Italy is a kind that can add decades to your life."

At first, Belle didn't believe any of this. She was shrewd and skeptical, and though it was only the early modern ages - 1780, to be exact, she didn't fall for every fairytale myth and absurd fable people were prone to believe in those times.

But on the evening of the famous dinner party - after the...