Page:Segnius Irritant or Eight Primitive Folk-lore Stories.pdf/61



was once a region, gloomy and dark as the grave, for in it the divine sun never cast its rays. But there was there a king, and this king had a horse with a sun on its forehead, and this Sun-horse of his he had led through the dark region, from one end to the other, that the people might exist; and from this horse light flashed in all directions wherever they led him, as if it had been the loveliest day.

All at once this Sun-horse vanished. Darkness worse than that of night rolled over the whole region, and nothing could scare it away. Unheard-of terror spread among the subjects, dreadful misery began to weigh them down, for they could neither work at anything nor fashion anything, and such confusion arose among them that everything was turned upside down. And so, to prevent the dissolution of his kingdom and the general ruin, the king set out with all his army to look for the Sun-horse.

Through dense darkness, here, there and everywhere, he at last somehow groped his way to the boundary of his kingdom. Through dense primeval mountains the divine light at last began to break forth from the next region, as if at dawn sunrise were emerging from densely packed masses of cloud. In these same mountains the king and his army arrived at a poor and lonely cottage. He enters to enquire where he is, what it all means, and so forth. By the table sat a fellow diligently reading in a large open folio. When the king bowed, he raised his eyes, returned the greeting, and got up. His whole figure proclaimed that he was not a man like other men, but that he was a seer.

“I have just been reading about thee,” he said to the king; “how that thou goest in search of the Sun-horse. Harass not thyself further, for thou wilt not get him; but rely on me, I will discover him for thee.” “And i’ faith right royally will I reward thee, good man,” responded the king. “I reck not of any recompense; return home, thou and thy army; there there is need of thee; only leave me one servant.”