At first the King would not believe this , but after a long , long time , they prevailed with him , and he crept on tip-toe to the door , peeped through , and saw the youth on his knees , with his hands clasped together before a picture which was hanging on the wall . ` Open the door ! ' cried the King , but the youth did not hear . So the King called to him again , but the youth was praying so fervently that he did not hear him this time either . ` Open the door , I say ! ' cried the King again . ` It is I ! I want to come in . ' So the youth sprang to the door and unlocked it , but in his haste he forgot to hide the picture . When the King entered and saw it , he stood still as if he were in fetters , and could not stir from the spot , for the picture seemed to him so beautiful . ` There is nowhere on earth so beautiful a woman as this ! ' said the King . But the youth told him that she was his sister , and that he had painted her , and that if she was not prettier than the picture she was at all events not uglier . ` Well , if she is as beautiful as that , I will have her for my Queen , ' said the King , and he commanded the youth to go home and fetch her without a moment 's delay , and to lose no time in coming back . The youth promised to make all the haste he could , and set forth from the King 's palace . When the brother arrived at home to fetch his sister , her stepmother and step-sister would go too . So they all set out together , and the man 's daughter took with her a casket in which she kept her gold , and a dog which was called Little Snow . These two things were all that she had inherited from her mother . When they had travelled for some time they had to cross the sea , and the brother sat down at the helm , and the mother and the two half-sisters went to the fore-part of the vessel , and they sailed a long , long way . At last they came in sight of land .
` Look at that white strand there ; that is where we shall land , ' said the XXXXX , pointing across the sea .
brother gold hands haste helm picture time wall way woman