So the two set out upon their way. The eldest found a shovel and took it with him, and it did him good service. For when they got to the Moon they found the door locked. Then they dug under the door and went in. They found only the Moon-mother at home, and of her they inquired if such-and-such a Vila lived there.
The Moon-mother answered, “She lives in the Sun. How will you get there? But see, here is a spider; she shall spin you a chain that will reach from here to there.”
The spider went to work, spun a chain, and fastened it to the lock of the Sun-door. So the brothers set out upon this bridge; but while they were on the way the Sun came home, opened the door, and snapped the chain in two. So the brothers fell off, and very luckily they tumbled into their god-father’s cabbage-garden. So they felt no harm, but went home and told their adventures.
Then the stupid brother set out. He found an ancient crone and begged her to show him the way to the Moon. The old crone told him it was not very hard to go there, and gave him a bucketful of down. So he seated himself in the bucket and flew up to the Moon.
He entered the house and asked if a certain Vila lived there who looked so-and-so. The Moon-mother answered, No, she lived in the Sun. So he flew up to the Sun, arrived there safely, and carefully hid his bucket in the cellar in the coolest place he could find, that it might not be melted by the heat.
Meantime the Sun came home and asked, “What is your wish?”
“I seek such-and-such a Vila.”
The Sun brought her out and gave her to him, and he seated himself beside her in the bucket and set out.
When they were half-way home the Sun came out to see how the travellers were getting on; and he shone on them so scorchingly that all the down was melted, the bucket lost its balance, and the youth and the Vila fell down to earth and were caught in a tree. They cannot go down, for under the tree sits an old wizard sorting out a capful of human hairs. But the Vila slipped softly down the tree and put the wizard to sleep. Then the youth clambered down and took the Vila home.
They reached his father’s house, where he told all his adventures; but the Vila was invisible to every one but her rescuer, so that no one believed his story. Then the Vila began to weep, and the brothers said, “Good! now we believe that she is here, but just where she is we do not know.”