Old Stories.

So I was going through my day when suddenly I recalled something I read a while ago and it refuses to get out of my head. The General gist of the story was as follows:

There once was a kingdom that was plagued by a race of mist/fog-like beings (Fairies?) whenever the sun would go down.

The only thing that could ward them off were a special type of tree, so the king of the country surrounded his castle with them.

However, this allowed the Fog/Mist-People to essentially cover the kingdom, forcing the King to leave to seek help.

At some point in the story there were only four people left in the castle, the King's children, his major-domo (who had more clothes than he knew what to do with) and the children's horrid caretaker.

The Mist-People promisted to leave a boat by the river to allow one person to escape if they chopped down one of the trees keeping them out.

The caretaker tried to get the Major-Domo to do it but he refused, so she cut down the tree herself and sailed away, never to be seen again.

As the Fog rolled in the children and the Major-Domo sealed the castle as best they could, tearing the Major-Domo's clothes to shreds to block any holes they could find.

While the Children slept, the Major-domo explored the castle. Just before Sunrise, he was horrified to discover that they had forgotten to block a keyhole and that the mist was seeping in, trying to open the door.

Without hesitating, the Major-Domo threw himself against the door, blocking the keyhole with his body. However, even as he did so, he felt a sudden chill cut through him like a knife.

When the children awoke the following morning, it was to the sound of trumpets heralding their father's return with an army. As they raced down the stairs to greet him, they found the Major-Domo's body lying against the door, dead, with nary a mark on him.

If anyone has ever heard of this story, or something similar, please let me know and give me the title, as I'd really like to read it again.