This news terrified him so much that he determined never to let his daughter be married , for he thought it was better to have no grandson at all than to be killed by his grandson . He therefore called his workmen together , and bade them dig a deep round hole in the earth , and then he had a prison of brass built in the hole , and then , when it was finished , he locked up his daughter . No man ever saw her , and she never saw even the fields and the sea , but only the sky and the sun , for there was a wide open window in the roof of the house of brass . So the Princess would sit looking up at the sky , and watching the clouds float across , and wondering whether she should ever get out of her prison . Now one day it seemed to her that the sky opened above her , and a great shower of shining gold fell through the window in the roof , and lay glittering in her room . Not very long after , the Princess had a baby , a little boy , but when the King her father heard of it he was very angry and afraid , for now the child was born that should be his death . Yet , cowardly as he was , he had not quite the heart to kill the Princess and her baby outright , but he had them put in a huge brass-bound chest and thrust out to sea , that they might either be drowned or starved , or perhaps come to a country where they would be out of his way . So the Princess and the baby floated and drifted in the chest on the sea all day and night , but the baby was not afraid of the waves nor of the wind , for he did not know that they could hurt him , and he slept quite soundly . And the Princess sang a song over him , and this was her song : `` Child , my child , how sound you sleep ! Though your mother 's care is deep , You can lie with heart at rest In the narrow brass-bound chest ; In the starless night and drear You can sleep , and never hear Billows breaking , and the cry Of the night-wind wandering by ; In soft purple mantle sleeping With your little face on mine , Hearing not your mother weeping And the breaking of the brine . '' Well , the daylight came at last , and the great chest was driven by the waves against the shore of an island . There the brass-bound chest lay , with the Princess and her baby in it , till a man of that country came past , and saw it , and dragged it on to the beach , and when he had broken it open , behold ! there was a beautiful lady and a little boy . So he took them home , and was very kind to them , and brought up the boy till he was a young man . Now when the boy had come to his full strength the King of that country fell in love with his mother , and wanted to marry her , but he knew that she would never part from her boy . So he thought of a plan to get rid of the boy , and this was his plan : A great Queen of a country not far off was going to be married , and this king said that all his subjects must bring him wedding presents to give her . And he made a feast to which he invited them all , and they all brought their presents ; some brought gold cups , and some brought necklaces of gold and amber , and some brought beautiful horses ; but the boy had nothing , though he was the son of a princess , for his mother had nothing to give him . Then the rest of the company began to laugh at him , and the King said : `` If you have nothing else to give , at least you might go and fetch the Terrible Head . '' The boy was proud , and spoke without thinking : `` Then I swear that I will bring the Terrible Head , if it may be brought by a living man . But of what head you speak I know not . ''
Then they told him XXXXX somewhere , a long way off , there dwelt three dreadful sisters , monstrous ogrish women , with golden wings and claws of brass , and with serpents growing on their heads instead of hair .
So above across after in of on that though whether