She had the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen.  Strewn all about her were fabulous treasures.  She bid him welcome and prepared a feast for him, then asked:

“How did you travel so far? You are the first mere man to reach me.”

“I am no mere man.”  Tlepsh replied.  “I am one of the gods.”

At this Lady Tree’s curiosity grew into love, and later that night she honored Tlepsh by lying with him.  Afterward, despite her noble treatment of him, Tlepsh arose from her bed, his yearning to fulfill his quest for the Narts even more intense than before.

"I must leave you, Lady Tree," he said.  “I must resume my quest to find what the Narts need to live, even if I must travel to the very edge of the earth itself.”

Lady Tree was distraught and begged:

“Stay and be my beloved.  My hair reaches up into the heavens, so that I know all the stars, and I shall give you knowledge of them.  My roots reach deep into the earth, so that I know all the life that springs therefrom, and I shall place in your arms all this life.  My trunk stands in the world, so that I know the earth has no edge, and I shall give you all the treasure that is on the surface of the earth.”

But Tlepsh rose from their bed, put on his steel shoes and his torque, donned his hat and took up his walking staff once more, and set off across the world.  He traveled vast distances, but in the end he had to abandon his quest.  Defeated, he returned to Lady Tree.

“Welcome, Tlepsh,” she said.  “What have you learned from your travels?”

“I have learned that the earth has no edge,” he replied.

“Yes, and what else?”

“That the human body is harder than the hardest steel.”

“Yes, and what else?”

“That the hardest road is the one traveled alone.”