THE SUN 41

“Tell me what brings you here from such a distance,”
she went on.

“The king would not have me for his son-in-law, unless
J first got him three golden hairs from the head of Déde-
Vsévéde. So he sent me here to fetch them.”

The Fate laughed. “ Déde-Vsévede indeed! Why, I am
his mother, it is the shining sun himself. He is a child at
morning time, a grown man at midday, a decrepit old man,
looking as if he had lived a hundred years, at eventide.
But I will see that you have the three hairs from his head ;
I am not your godmother for nothing. All the same you
must not remain here. My son is_a good lad, but when
he comes home he is hungry, and would very probably order
you to be roasted for his supper. Now I will turn this empty
bucket upside down, and you shall hide underneath it.”

Plavacek begged the Fate to obtain from Déde-Vsévede
the answers to the three questions he had been asked.

“T will do so certainly, but you must listen to what he
says.”

Suddenly a blast of wind howled round the palace, and
the Sun entered by a western window. He was an old man
with golden hair.

“YT smell human flesh,” cried he, “I am sure of it.
Mother, you have some one here.”

‘Star of day,” she replied, “‘whom could I have here that
you would not see sooner than I? The fact is that in your
daily journeys the scent of human flesh is always with you,
so when you come home at evening it clings to you still.”

The old man said nothing, and sat down to supper.
When he had finished he laid his golden head on the Fate’s