It was the custom for the bride-to-be to go to the future husband's land to be married, and also for the bride's Mother not to travel with her, so her eldest aunt agreed to go, takling with her her her own daughter. Forty camels were loaded with gifts for the Prince and his court, and the party set out.
As soon as they were a safe distance away, the aunt replaced the attendants with her own and forbade any servants to go near her niece. After three days with nothing but water served to her, the young Princess was very hungry and so begged for something to eat. When her aunt said she could only have it in return for the talisman arond her neck, the poor girl agreed. But all she got was a dried crust of bread. Two days later, she again begged for more, only to be told she would get nothing unless she gav up her eyes. The poor girl again consented and was given food. But the next night as the caravan halted for the night, she lead the poor blind girl to a clearing and left her there to her fate. The caravan itself proceeded the next morning.
Before arriving at their destination, the aunt counselled her daughter:
'Be sure not to walk in the grounds, smile, cry or smile or we are doomed. '
When the Prince went to meet his fiancee, he was dismayed to find such an illfavoured girl.
He cried angrily 'This is not the girl but another they have sent in her stead!'
But his father was afraid of a war with the other country, which he knew he could not win, so he made the young Prince agree to marry the girl.
Preparations were duly made and the Prince married the imposter Princess.