He answers, “No;” that he has not seen it, but that the sun makes longer journeys than he, and of greater extent, and that he would do better to go to him.
He goes off again, on, and on, and on, with his horse, whom he nourished as he could, and begging for himself. At length he arrives at the sun’s house. He finds an old woman, who said to him,
“Where do you come from? Be off from here! Do you not know that my son eats all Christians?”
He said to her, “No! I will not go away. I am so wretched that I do not care if he does eat me.”
And he tells her how he has lost everything; that he had a house, which had not its equal, with beams of gold and tiles of diamonds, and all the ornaments of gold and precious stones; and that he had been going about looking for it so long a time, and that there was no man so wretched as he. This woman hides him. The sun comes out and says to his mother—
“I smell the smell of a Christian, and I must eat him.”
The mother tells him that it was an unfortunate man who had lost his all, that he had come to speak to him, and begs him to take pity on him. He tells her to bring him out. Then the young man comes and asks the sun if he has seen a palace which has its equal nowhere, with its laths of gold and its tiles of diamonds, and the rest of gold and silver. The sun says to him:
“No, but the south wind searches everything that I cannot see. He enters into every corner, he does, and if any one ought to know he will know.”
Our poor man then sets off again, feeding his horse how he could and begging for himself, and he comes at length to the house of the south wind.[23] He finds an old woman carrying water, and who was filling a great many barrels. She said to him:
“What are you thinking of to come here? My son eats up everything when he arrives hungry and furious. You must beware of him.”