But there was one thing that really annoyed the little princess: although she saw a sunset every evening, she had never seen a sunrise in all her life. So one day, just before the Sun went down, she said to him, ‘I command you not to rise tomorrow morning until I get up!’

That night she went to bed in a particularly good mood, because everybody used to obey her every word, and she didn’t think the Sun could be any different. But when she got up the following morning, the Sun was way up in the sky again as every day before.

The little princess became very upset and started to shout and scream, but the Sun didn’t seem to be impressed by her performance at all.

That evening she ordered her servants to put strong chains around the Sun as he went down and not to release him before she would get up in the morning. But all the ropes and chains didn’t stop the Sun from sinking, and he dragged the servants along with him until they realised that their attempts were pointless and let go of the chains.

That night the little princess couldn’t sleep at all. ‘The Sun doesn’t love me,’ she sobbed, ‘and he’ll never let me see a sunrise as long as I live!’
She tossed her body from one side to the other, crumpled up her pillow and didn’t stop weeping until she heard the first birds starting their morning song. She got curious and opened the door to her balcony: it wasn’t night anymore, and she could see the gardens, the trees and the birds, but there was no sign of the Sun.
Only a little while later she recognised the brim of the Sun appearing at the horizon and slowly rising into the sky. And this was how the little princess saw her first and only sunrise; she thought it was nice, but not that it was worth getting up for so early in the morning, and so she never did it again.