“I have not seen a more beautiful woman than this.” The king murmured inspite of himself.
Finally the brother told the king that the portrait belonged to his sister and that he had painted her. The brother also told the king that his sister was prettier than the picture.
“I will have her as my queen.” The king announced firmly.
He commanded the brother to go back to his own place and bring his sister to the king’s palace as soon as possible.
The brother followed the orders of the king and he came back home.
When the brother arrived home his stepmother and step sister insisted that they also wanted to come and see the king. The brother found no way to avoid this and so all of them set out together to go to the king’s palace.
The girl had inherited a casket and a dog from her own mother.
The dog was called Little Snow.
The girl put all the gold that she had in her casket.
It so happened that they had to go back to the king's palace, they had to cross a sea. So they went on a ship.
At the ship the brother was at the helm. The mother and the two sisters were in the fore-part of the vessel and they kept sailing for a long time.
Finally they saw land.
The brother who was at the helm, pointed at the land across the sea to his sister. “Look at that white patch of land. That is where we will land.”
The sister was far off on the other side of the ship and she could not hear the words of the brother.
“What is my brother saying?” The sister asked her step mother and her step sister.
The stepmother was very cunning and she replied immediately. “Your brother said that you are to throw your casket into the sea.”
The sister did not think how ridiculous the words were and she just nodded. “If that is what my brother says I must do I will do it.”
And after those words the sister flung her casket into the sea.
Adapted from Norwegian Folktales
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