The Sunball gave me a daughter on the condition that after twelve years, he would have her back. But I wouldn’t let him have her! I shut all the doors and windows of my house, and I stopped up all the chinks and holes. I kept Letiko hidden away where the Sunball couldn’t see her. But I forgot to close up the keyhole, and the Sunball shot a ray into my house.

He took hold of my little girl and carried her away!

Mother of the Sunchild in The Sunchild, Grey Fairy Book. Painting by Egon Schiele.