‘Bind away, mother.’
She made a thick silken cord, and bound his fingers behind his back. He tugged, and grew red in the face; he tugged again, he grew blue; he tugged the third time, he grew black.
And she cried, ‘Come, dragon, and cut his throat.’
The dragon came to him. ‘Well, what shall I do to you now?’
‘Cut me all in bits, and put me in the saddle-bags, and place me on my horse. Thither, whence he carried me living, let him carry me dead.’
He cut him in pieces, put him in the saddle-bags, and placed him on the horse. ‘Go, whence thou didst carry him living, carry him dead.’
The horse went straight to the Moon. The Moon came out, and saw him, and took him in, and called Wednesday, and called Friday; and they laid him in a big trough, and washed him brawly, and placed him on a table, and put him all together, bit by bit; and they took the water of healing, and sprinkled him, and he became whole; and they took the water of life, and sprinkled him, and he came to life.
‘Ah! I was sleeping soundly.’[13]
‘You would have slept for ever if I had not come.’
‘I will go, sister, to my mother.’