“The Sun King, astonished at these words, hesitated to grant such a remarkable request, but the Princess threw herself at her father’s feet, and added her pleadings to the Prince’s. Finally the Sun King reluctantly consented; but the other suitors smiled broadly among themselves, as they heard the words, for no matter what the Prince might do they believed he never could show more skill or wisdom than they had already displayed. “Having bowed smilingly to the King and kissed Kuldah’s hand, Prince Minio turned to his competitors and said: ‘I have made a close study of the Sun’s fire, and I am convinced that, no matter where this fire is sent, it will continue to burn and hold its remarkable glint and its quickening power. It will never be extinguished, but glow brilliantly for ever. Therefore, my experiment in skill to-day shall be made from it alone; it will serve my purpose better than anything else.’ So saying, he picked up a huge bowlder from the Fire Mountain nearest him. The stone was so big that it seemed impossible for any one to lift it. But the Prince gathered it up in his arms with a terrific effort, and balancing it perfectly threw it far out into the heavens. It bounded away and rolled into space with tremendous force, making a whirring noise as it dashed along. Again and again he lifted out the big rocks and tossed them off in the distance. It seemed as if he would never tire of this remarkable exhibition of strength. Hundreds and thousands of the brilliantly burning stones went whizzing through space, before the eyes of the astonished spectators. Yet he continued, calmly throwing more and more stones, until the heavens fairly gleamed with millions of burning lights. Thus were the star fires first kindled, and they were truly a magnificent sight, even to the Sun people, accustomed as they were to splendid spectacles. “As the Prince predicted, the stars have never lost their brilliancy, the Sun’s power to warm and enliven all creatures has proved very strong and lasting, and those splendid, flaming signals light the turquoise-blue skies every night, even to this day. “Finally, Prince Minio selected with great care seven superb stones, even brighter than the rest, and threw them not quite so far from the Sun. In this way they felt the Sun’s influence more strongly; though they flew to a good distance they always revolved about their old home. Whizzing and whirling continually, yet never flying away from the Sun, they appeared to the spectators to be the prettiest of all the stars in the sky. Then the Prince, turning to the Princess, who was bewildered with the joy of his brilliant success, bade her choose from the seven stars the one that should be their home. She chose what she thought the loveliest of all the seven, and they named it the Earth!