ing up.

'Don't you know me _now_?' asked she.

'No, I don't know you--I don'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 on the forehead of the princess. He
staggered back as if he had been struck, then a curious feeling took
hold of him, which he had never felt before, and falling on his knees
before the Sister of the Sun he implored her to give up all thought of
the peasant boy, and to share his throne. But she only laughed, and
said she had a finer throne of her own, if she wanted to sit on it,
and that she was free to please herself, and would have no husband but
the boy whom she would never have seen except for the king himself.

[Illustration: THE KING FALLS IN LOVE WITH THE SISTER OF THE SUN]

'I shall marry him to-morrow,' ended she; and ordered the
preparations to be set on foot at once.

When the next day came, however, the bridegroom's father informed the
princess that, by the law of the land, the marriage must take place in
the presence of the king; but he hoped his majesty would not long
delay his arrival. An hour or two passed, and everyone was waiting and
watching, when at last the sound of trumpets was heard and a grand
procession was seen marching up the street. A chair covered with
velvet had been made ready for the king, and he took his seat upon it,
and, looking round upon the assembled company, he said:

'I have no wish to forbid this marriage; but, before I can allow it to
be celebrated, the bridegroom must prove himself worthy of such a
bride by fulfilling three tasks. And the first is that in a single day
he must cut down every tree in an entire forest.'

The youth stood aghast at the king's words. He had never cut down a
tree in his life, and had not the least idea how to begin. And as for
a whole forest----! But the princess saw what was passing in his mind,
and whispered to him:

'Don't be afraid. In my ship you will find an axe, which you must
carry off to the forest. When you have cut down one tree with it ju