The youth had his sword ready , and in another second the three heads were bobbing on the water . Guiding his boat till he was beside them , he stooped down and snipped off the ends of the tongues , and then rowed back to the other bank . Next morning he carried them into the royal kitchen , and when the king entered , as was his custom , to see what he was going to have for dinner , the bridegroom flung them in his face , saying : ` Here is a gift for you in return for the services you asked of me . ' And , opening the kitchen door , he fled to the ship . Unluckily he missed the way , and in his excitement ran backwards and forwards , without knowing whither he was going . At last , in despair , he looked round , and saw to his amazement that both the city and palace had vanished completely . Then he turned his eyes in the other direction , and , far , far away , he caught sight of the ship with her sails spread , and a fair wind behind her . This dreadful spectacle seemed to take away his senses , and all day long he wandered about , without knowing where he was going , till , in the evening , he noticed some smoke from a little hut of turf near by . He went straight up to it and cried : ' O mother , let me come in for pity 's sake ! ' The old woman who lived in the hut beckoned to him to enter , and hardly was he inside when he cried again : ' O mother , can you tell me anything of the Sister of the Sun ? ' But the woman only shook her head . ` No , I know nothing of her , ' said she . The young man turned to leave the hut , but the old woman stopped him , and , giving him a letter , begged him to carry it to her next eldest sister , saying : ` If you should get tired on the way , take out the letter and rustle the paper . ' This advice surprised the young man a good deal , as he did not see how it could help him ; but he did not answer , and went down the road without knowing where he was going . At length he grew so tired he could walk no more ; then he remembered what the old woman had said . After he had rustled the leaves only once all fatigue disappeared , and he strode over the grass till he came to another little turf hut . ` Let me in , I pray you , dear mother , ' cried he . And the door opened in front of him . ` Your sister has sent you this letter , ' he said , and added quickly : ' O mother ! can you tell me anything of the Sister of the Sun ? '
` No , I know nothing XXXXX her , ' answered she .
At If behind down for into of on with without