“The Death of the Sun-Hero.” The Yellow Fairy Book, edited by Andrew Lang, London, New York, Bombay: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1906, pp. 213-215.

Tale Summary

Thousands of years ago there lived a mighty king and his wonderful son, whom he doted on. The boy dressed in golden garments, and had a white horse who flew like the wind. He was loved by all, and called the Sun-Hero. One night his parents shared a dream that a girl dressed in red told them their son should go search for the Tree of the Sun and after finding it should pluck a golden apple and bring it home. They took this as a sign from heaven, and sent their son to search for the tree of the Sun. On the ninety-ninth day of his travels he found an old man who gave him directions to the Tree of the Sun, and after another ninety-nine days he arrived at a golden castle. The door opened by itself and the prince rode in and found a great meadow where the Tree of the Sun grew. When he reached up to pick a golden apple, suddenly the tree grew taller and the fruit was out of his reach. He heard someone behind him laughing and turned around to see the Red Girl, who told him that before he can pluck a golden apple he must guard the tree for nine days and nine nights, protecting it from two black wolves who wanted to harm it, and if he failed the Sun would kill him. She left and two black wolves appeared which he fought off.  This happened many times for seven days and nights, when the white horse spoke to the Sun-Hero, and told him that he had been given as a gift by a Fairy to his mother in order to serve him. He then said that if he fell asleep, and the wolves harm the tree, the Sun would kill him, but the fairy foresaw this and put the world under a spell preventing  the Sun from killing him. He warned that the fairy forgot one person who would surely kill him if he fell asleep, so he much must watch and keep the wolves away. On the eighth night his strength failed and he fell asleep, and awoke to a woman in black who said that he had failed. She revealed herself as the mother of the Sun and commanded that he leave, and also pronounced the sentence of death upon him for calling himself the Sun-Hero but not deserving that title. The prince rode home and confided only in his mother about what happened and she assured him that the Fairy had protected him. After a time the prince forgot about his adventure and married a beautiful princess, but one day while he was out hunting and came by a stream to drink, a crab swam up and tore out his tongue with its claws. On his deathbed the woman in black again appeared and told him how the Sun found someone not under the fairy spell to kill him after all, and a similar fate would overtake anyone who wrongfully assumed they could bear the title of the Sun.