But all the same,
she has forgotten one person, who will certainly kill you if you
fall asleep and let the wolves damage the tree. So watch and
keep the wolves away.'
Then the Sun-Hero strove with all his might and kept the black
wolves at bay, and conquered his desire to sleep; but on the
eighth night his strength failed him, and he fell fast asleep.
When he awoke a woman in black stood beside him, who said: 'You
have fulfilled your task very badly, for you have let the two
black wolves damage the Tree of the Sun. I am the mother of the
Sun, and I command you to ride away from here at once, and I
pronounce sentence of death upon you, for you proudly let
yourself be called the Sun-Hero without having done anything to
deserve the name.'
The youth mounted his horse sadly, and rode home. The people all
thronged round him on his return, anxious to hear his adventures,
but he told them nothing, and only to his mother did he confide
what had befallen him. But the old Queen laughed, and said to
her son: 'Don't worry, my child; you see, the Fairy has protected
you so far, and the Sun has found no one to kill you. So cheer
up and be happy.
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