r
to death.

But in the hut her mother was waiting for her return, and as she grew
impatient she said to her husband: 'Get out the horses, old man, to go
and fetch her home; but see that you are careful not to upset the
sledge and lose the chest.'

But the doggie beneath the table began to bark, saying:

'Your daughter is frozen quite stiff and cold,
And shall never have a chest full of gold.'

'Don't tell such wicked lies!' scolded the woman. 'There's a cake for
you; now say:

"_Her_ daughter shall marry a mighty King."'

At that moment the door flew open, and she rushed out to meet her
daughter, and as she took her frozen body in her arms she too was
chilled to death.

_THE DEATH OF THE SUN-HERO_[27]

Many, many thousand years ago there lived a mighty King whom heaven
had blessed with a clever and beautiful son. When he was only ten
years old the boy was cleverer than all the King's counsellors put
together, and when he was twenty he was the greatest hero in the whole
kingdom. His father could not make enough of his son, and always had
him clothed in golden garments which shone and sparkled like the sun;
and his mother gave him a white horse, which never slept, and which
flew like the wind. All the people in the land loved him dearly, and
called him the Sun-Hero, for they did not think his like existed under
the sun. Now it happened one night that both his parents had the same
extraordinary dream. They dreamt that a girl all dressed in red had
come to them and said: 'If you wish that your son should really become
the Sun-Hero in deed and not only in name, let him go out into the
world and search for the Tree of the Sun, and when he has found it,
let him pluck a golden apple from it and bring it home.'

When the King and Queen had each related their dreams to the other,
they were much amazed that they should both have dreamt exactly the
same about their son, and the King said to his wife, 'This is clearly
a sign from heaven that we should send our son out into the world in
order that he may come home the great Sun-Hero, as the Red Girl said,
not only in name but in deed.'

The Queen consented with many tears, and the King at once bade his son
set forth in search of the Tree of the Sun, from which he was to pluck
a golden apple. The Prince was delighted at the prospect, and set out
on his travels that very day.

[Footnote 27: From the _Bukowinaer Tales and Legends_. Von Wliolocki.]