Page:Wonder Tales from Tibet.djvu/202

166 agony, and the Khan was nigh distracted to see her suffering so.

"Tell me, my love, tell me!" he begged. "No matter what it is, you shall have it! You have my sacred promise!"

"Your son," whispered the wicked woman, "Sunshine has worked an evil charm upon me, and I shall surely die this night if his heart's blood is not given me!"

The Khan shrank from his wife in horror. He loved his eldest child more than life itself, and to kill him would be impossible. Nevertheless, something must be done quickly. "The queen," he thought, "is mad; she must be humored, and there is my kingly word which must not be broken. I will have a goat killed, and its heart given her, and when she is well again, she will be as glad as I that I thus deceived her!" So he drew near the queen and spoke reassuringly to her:

"My love, your life is more precious to me than that of many sons! You shall have the heart's blood of Sunshine this very