When she came out of the fainting fit into which she had fallen in her terror , her sisters tried to comfort her , saying : ` How can you believe such nonsense ? When did it ever happen that a king 's daughter married a pig ? ' ` What a baby you are ! ' said the other sister ; ` has not our father enough soldiers to protect you , even if the disgusting creature did come to woo you ? ' The youngest Princess would fain have let herself be convinced by her sisters ' words , and have believed what they said , but her heart was heavy . Her thoughts kept turning to the book , in which stood written that great happiness waited her sisters , but that a fate was in store for her such as had never before been known in the world . Besides , the thought weighed on her heart that she had been guilty of disobeying her father . She began to get quite ill , and in a few days she was so changed that it was difficult to recognise her ; formerly she had been rosy and merry , now she was pale and nothing gave her any pleasure . She gave up playing with her sisters in the garden , ceased to gather flowers to put in her hair , and never sang when they sat together at their spinning and sewing . In the meantime the King won a great victory , and having completely defeated and driven off the enemy , he hurried home to his daughters , to whom his thoughts had constantly turned . Everyone went out to meet him with cymbals and fifes and drums , and there was great rejoicing over his victorious return . The King 's first act on reaching home was to thank Heaven for the victory he had gained over the enemies who had risen against him . He then entered his palace , and the three Princesses stepped forward to meet him . His joy was great when he saw that they were all well , for the youngest did her best not to appear sad . In spite of this , however , it was not long before the King noticed that his third daughter was getting very thin and sad-looking . And all of a sudden he felt as if a hot iron were entering his soul , for it flashed through his mind that she had disobeyed his word . He felt sure he was right ; but to be quite certain he called his daughters to him , questioned them , and ordered them to speak the truth . They confessed everything , but took good care not to say which had led the other two into temptation . The King was so distressed when he heard it that he was almost overcome by grief . But he took heart and tried to comfort his daughters , who looked frightened to death .
He saw that what had happened had happened , and that a thousand words would not alter matters XXXXX a hair 's - breadth .
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