A long time ago there lived a poor woman who possessed nothing in the
world except one son and four lambs. The boy took the lambs out to
graze every morning, and brought them home every night. One day it
happened that the lambs were grazing in a field not far from the
summer palace of the king, and the king's daughter came out to the
young shepherd and asked him to give her one of them. The boy refused,
saying, 'I cannot give you one, for my mother will scold me if I do,
as we have nothing in the world except these four lambs.' The
princess, however, had taken so great a fancy for a lamb that she
would not be refused, and at last said, 'Only let me have this one and
I will give you any price you like to ask.'
The boy, seeing that the princess would not go away without a lamb,
considered a little how he could get rid of her, and then he told her
that he would give her one if she would show him one of her shoulders.
To his great surprise the princess, without any hesitation, pushed her
mantle aside and showed him her bare white arm, and he noticed that on
the shoulder there was a mark like a star. He was obliged now to give
her one of his lambs, and when he went home in the evening he told his
mother that he had fallen asleep at noon, and that when he awoke, one
of the lambs had vanished, and he could not find it anywhere.
Then his mother scolded him very much, saying, 'I see you will bring
me to the beggar's staff with your carelessness! To-morrow you must
take these three lambs out to graze very early, and look well about
for the lost one. And if you don't find it you had better never let me
set eyes on you again.'
At dawn the next day the boy took the three lambs to graze in the same
field, and sat down to consider how he could get back the lamb he had
lost. At noon, when no one was about, the king's daughter came out of
the palace and said to him, 'Young shepherd, give me another lamb, and
ask what you please in return.' But the boy answered, 'No! I dare not
give you another; I have suffered enough for the one I gave you
yesterday! So please go and bring me my lamb back.'
This the princess refused to do, and said, 'It is quite useless to
speak of such a thing. But tell me, did you notice anything particular
on my shoulder?'