With the golden hen under his arm he presented himself before the king , and told his adventures , and how he was going to have for a wife a princess so wonderful and unlike all other princesses , that the star on her forehead could turn night into day . The king listened silently , and when the boy had done , he said quietly : ` If I find that your story is not true I will have you thrown into a cask of pitch . ' ` It is true -- every word of it , ' answered the boy ; and went on to tell that the day and even the hour were fixed when his bride was to come and seek him . But as the time drew near , and nothing was heard of the princess , the youth became anxious and uneasy , especially when it came to his ears that the great cask was being filled with pitch , and that sticks were laid underneath to make a fire to boil it with . All day long the boy stood at the window , looking over the sea by which the princess must travel ; but there were no signs of her , not even the tiniest white sail . And , as he stood , soldiers came and laid hands on him , and led him up to the cask , where a big fire was blazing , and the horrid black pitch boiling and bubbling over the sides . He looked and shuddered , but there was no escape ; so he shut his eyes to avoid seeing . The word was given for him to mount the steps which led to the top of the cask , when , suddenly , some men were seen running with all their might , crying as they went that a large ship with its sails spread was making straight for the city . No one knew what the ship was , or whence it came ; but the king declared that he would not have the boy burned before its arrival , there would always be time enough for that . At length the vessel was safe in port , and a whisper went through the watching crowd that on board was the Sister of the Sun , who had come to marry the young peasant as she had promised . In a few moments more she had landed , and desired to be shown the way to the cottage which her bridegroom had so often described to her ; and whither he had been led back by the king 's order at the first sign of the ship . ` Do n't you know me ? ' asked the Sister of the Sun , bending over him where he lay , almost driven out of his senses with terror . ` No , no ; I do n't know you , ' answered the youth , without raising his eyes . ` Kiss me , ' said the Sister of the Sun ; and the youth obeyed her , but still without looking up . ` Do n't you know me NOW ? ' asked she . ` No , I do n't know you -- I do n't know you , ' he replied , with the manner of a man whom fear had driven mad . At this the Sister of the Sun grew rather frightened , and beginning at the beginning , she told him the story of his meeting with her , and how she had come a long way in order to marry him . And just as she had finished in walked the king , to see if what the boy had said was really true .
But hardly had he opened the door of the cottage when he was almost blinded by the light that filled it ; and he remembered what he had been told about the star XXXXX the forehead of the princess .
At If before for into of on that to under