And Hero was amazed, and timidly asked her: "Who are you, and
why do you weep?" And she replied: "O Hero, I am the Goddess of
the Earth, and now my lord, this virtuous King Shudraka, is going
to die in three days. How shall I find another such master? So I am
distracted with grief, and I lament."

When Hero heard this, he was frightened and said: "Goddess, is
there any remedy for this, any way in which the king might be
saved?" And the goddess answered: "There is just one remedy, my
son, and it is in your hands." And Hero said: "Goddess, tell me
quickly, that I may adopt it at once. What good would life be to us
otherwise?"

Then the goddess said: "My son, there is no other man devoted to
his master as you are: so you may learn how to save him. There is
a temple to the Dreadful Goddess built by that king near his
palace. If you sacrifice your son to her at once, then the king will
not die. He will live another hundred years. If you do it this very
night, then the blessing will come, not otherwise."

And Hero, the hero, replied: "Then I will go, Goddess, and do it
this moment." And the Goddess of the Earth said: "Good fortune
go with you," and she vanished. And the king, who had followed
secretly, heard it all. So he still followed to find out how Hero
would behave.

But Hero went straight home, woke his wife Virtue, and told her
all that the Goddess of the Earth had said. And his wife said: "My
dear, if so much depends on it, wake the boy and tell him." Then