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Greek and Roman Mythology
This is the story of a vain queen, a princess who gets caught in her mom's problem, and a hero who was in the right place at the right time. Hold on, this will make sense shortly.
Queen Cassiopeia was the ruler of Ethiopia and the mother of the princess Andromeda. Cassiopeia was rather vain of her daughter's looks, and bragged that her child was more beautiful than the sea nymphs. Well, we all know what happens to mortals when they brag about being better than the gods, right? Sure enough, Neptune had a fit and sent a massive serpent to devour the Ethiopians. The horrified Ethiopians ran to an oracle who told them they could only be saved if Andromeda was fed to the serpent. Heartbroken, King Cepheus ties his child to the rocks on the coast of his country.
Now you're probably wondering when the hero comes in. Well here he is. Andromeda is hanging on the cliff when along comes Perseus, who had just killed the gorgon Medusa and was carrying her vile head when he spotted our damsel in distress. He fell instantly in love with her and decided to save her. He waited for the serpent to arive, and when it did, he froze it with Medusa's eyes! He then choped the beast's head off and freed Andromeda. The King and Queen had the two married, and the newly weds set off.