He burst the door open , and pushed aside the nurse , who tried to stop him , and there he saw his daughter . She was the loveliest young princess , red and white , like milk and blood , with clear blue eyes and golden hair , but right in the middle of her forehead there was a little tuft of brown hair . The princess went to meet her father , fell on his neck and kissed him , but with that she said , ' O father , father ! what have you done now ? to-morrow I must die , and you must choose one of three things : either the land must be smitten with the black pestilence , or you must have a long and bloody war , or you must as soon as I am dead , lay me in a plain wooden chest , and set it in the church , and for a whole year place a sentinel beside it every night . ' The king was frightened indeed , and thought she was raving , but in order to please her , he said , ` Well , of these three things I shall choose the last ; if you die , I shall lay you at once in a plain wooden chest , and have it set in the church , and every night I shall place a sentinel beside it . But you shall not die , even if you are ill now . ' He immediately summoned all the best doctors in the country , and they came with all their prescriptions and their medicine bottles , but next day the princess was stiff and cold in death . All the doctors could certify to that and they all put their names to this and appended their seals , and then they had done all they could . The king kept his promise . The princess 's body was lain the same day in a plain wooden chest , and set in the chapel of the castle , and on that night and every night after it , a sentinel was posted in the church , to keep watch over the chest . The first morning when they came to let the sentinel out , there was no sentinel there . They thought he had just got frightened and run away , and next evening a new one was posted in the church . In the morning he was also gone . So it went every night . When they came in the morning to let the sentinel out , there was no one there , and it was impossible to discover which way he had gone if he had run away . And what should they run away for , every one of them , so that nothing more was over heard or seen of them , from the hour that they were set on guard beside the princess 's chest ? It became now a general belief that the princess 's ghost walked , and ate up all those who were to guard her chest , and very soon there was no one left who would be placed on this duty , and the king 's soldiers deserted the service , before their turn came to be her bodyguard . The king then promised a large reward to the soldier who would volunteer for the post . This did for some time , as there were found a few reckless fellows , who wished to earn this good payment .
But they never got it , for in the XXXXX , they too had disappeared like the rest .
left morning names night pestilence right seals tuft war year