The queen had then to tell him this much of the story , that it had been foretold that it would cause great sorrow and misfortune if either he or she got a sight of the child until it had completed its fourteenth year . This was a long time to wait . The king longed so much to get a sight of his daughter , and the queen no less than he , but she knew that it was not like other children , for it could speak immediately after it was born , and was as wise as older folk . This the nurse had told her , for with her the queen had a talk now and again , but there was no one who had ever seen the princess . The queen had also seen what the wise woman could do , so she insisted strongly that her warning should be obeyed . The king often lost his patience , and was determined to see his daughter , but the queen always put him off the idea , and so things went on , until the very day before the princess completed her fourteenth year . The king and the queen were out in the garden then , and the king said , ` Now I ca n't and I wo n't wait any longer . I must see my daughter at once . A few hours , more or less , ca n't make any difference . ' The queen begged him to have patience till the morning . When they had waited so long , they could surely wait a single day more . But the king was quite unreasonable . ` No nonsense , ' said he ; ` she is just as much mine as yours , and I will see her , ' and with that he went straight up to her room . 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 XXXXX the country , and they came with all their prescriptions and their medicine bottles , but next day the princess was stiff and cold in death .
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