{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_21678/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_21678","id":"gutenberg_21678","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/21678","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Fairy tales -- Brazil"],"text":"E-text prepared by Barbara Tozier, Bill Tozier, and the Project Gutenberg\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustrations.\n      See 21678-h.htm or 21678-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/6/7/21678/21678-h/21678-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/1/6/7/21678/21678-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nTALES OF GIANTS FROM BRAZIL\n\nby\n\nELSIE SPICER EELLS\n\nAuthor of \"Fairy Tales from Brazil\"\n\nWith Illustrations by Helen M. Barton\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \"O Fishes of the river, have you seen my own dear\nmother?\"]\n\n\n\n\nNew York\nDodd, Mead and Company\n1918\nCopyright, 1918\nby Dodd, Mead and Company, Inc.\n\nVail-Ballou Company\nBinghamton and New York\n\n\n\n\nFOREWORD\n\n\nBrazil is the land of the giant among all the rivers of the world. It\nis the land of giant fruits and giant flowers. Of course it is the\nland of giant stories too.\n\nYears ago when the Portuguese settlers came to Brazil they brought\nwith them the folk-tales of the old world. Just as European grass\nseed, when planted in our Brazilian gardens, soon sends forth such a\nrank, luxuriant growth that one hardly recognizes it as grass, so the\nold Portuguese tales, planted in Brazilian soil, have grown into new\nforms.\n\nThe author gratefully acknowledges her indebtedness to the Brazilian\nstory tellers to whose tales she has listened, and to the collection\nof Dr. Sylvio Romero, \"Contos Populares do Brazil,\" from which some of\nthe \"giant tales\" have been adapted.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n  CHAPTER\n\n     I  THE PRINCESS OF THE SPRINGS\n\n    II  THE FOUNTAIN OF GIANT LAND\n\n   III  THE BOY AND THE VIOLIN\n\n    IV  THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS\n\n     V  THE LITTLE SISTER OF THE GIANTS\n\n    VI  THE FOREST LAD AND THE WICKED GIANT\n\n   VII  HOW THE GIANTESS GUIMARA BECAME SMALL\n\n  VIII  THE ADVENTURES OF A FISHERMAN'S SON\n\n    IX  THE BEAST SLAYER\n\n     X  THE QUEST OF CLEVERNESS\n\n    XI  THE GIANT'S PUPIL\n\n   XII  DOMINGO'S CAT\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS\n\n\n  \"O Fishes of the river, have you seen my own dear mother?\"\n\n  The youngest prince watched the lemon tree carefully every day\n\n  He saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he had ever\n        dreamed of\n\n  There in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen\n\n  The giant's daughter, Guimara, was very much pleased with D. Joao\n\n  Immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared\n\n  With the lovely princess borne safely upon the butterfly's wings,\n        the prince swiftly escaped\n\n  The next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to\n        the king\n\n\n\n\nTALES OF GIANTS FROM BRAZIL\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nTHE PRINCESS OF THE SPRINGS\n\n\nOnce, long ago, the Moon Giant wooed the beautiful giantess who dwells\nin the Great River and won her love. He built for her a wonderful\npalace where the Great River runs into the sea. It was made of\nmother-of-pearl with rich carvings, and gold and silver and precious\nstones were used to adorn it. Never before in all the world had a\ngiant or giantess possessed such a magnificent home.\n\nWhen the baby daughter of the Moon Giant and the Giantess of the Great\nRiver was born it was decreed among the giants that she should be the\nPrincess of all the Springs and should rule over all the rivers and\nlakes. The light of her eyes was like the moonbeams, and her smile was\nlike moonlight on still waters. Her strength was as the strength of\nthe Great River, and the fleetness of her foot was as the swiftness of\nthe Great River.\n\nAs the beautiful Spring Princess grew older many suitors came to sing\nher praises beneath the palace windows, but she favoured none of them.\nShe was so happy living in her own lovely palace with her own dear\nmother that she did not care at all for any suitor. No other daughter\never loved her mother as the Spring Princess loved the Giantess of the\nGreat River.\n\nAt last the Sun Giant came to woo the Spring Princess. The strength of\nthe Sun Giant was as the strength of ten of the other suitors of the\nfair princess. He was so powerful that he won her heart.\n\nWhen he asked her to marry him, however, and go with him to his own\npalace, the Spring Princess shook her lovely head. \"O Sun Giant, you\nare so wonderful and so powerful that I love you as I never before\nhave loved a suitor who sang beneath my palace window,\" said she, \"but\nI love my mother, too. I cannot go away with you and leave my own dear\nmother. It would break my heart.\"\n\nThe Sun Giant told the Spring Princess again and again of his great\nlove for her, of his magnificent palace which would be her new home,\nof the happy life which awaited her as queen of the palace. At length\nshe listened to his pleadings and decided that she could leave home\nand live with him for nine months of the year. For three months of\nevery year, however, she would have to return to the wonderful palace\nof mother-of-pearl where the Great River runs into the sea and spend\nthe time with her mother, the Giantess of the Great River.\n\nThe Sun Giant at last sorrowfully consented to this arrangement and\nthe wedding feast was held. It lasted for seven days and seven nights.\nThen the Spring Princess went away with the Sun Giant to his own home.\n\nEvery year the Spring Princess went to visit her mother for three\nmonths according to the agreement. For three months of every year she\nlived in the palace of mother-of-pearl where the Great River runs into\nthe sea. For three months of every year the rivers sang once more as\nthey rushed along their way. For three months the lakes sparkled in\nthe bright sunlight as their hearts once more were brimful of joy.\n\nWhen at last the little son of the Spring Princess was born she wanted\nto take him with her when she went to visit her mother. The Sun Giant,\nhowever, did not approve of such a plan. He firmly refused to allow\nthe child to leave home. After much pleading, all in vain, the Spring\nPrincess set out upon her journey alone, with sorrow in her heart. She\nleft her baby son with the best nurses she could procure.\n\nNow it happened that the Giantess of the Great River had not expected\nthat her daughter would be able to visit her that year. She had\nthought that all the rivers and lakes, the palace of mother-of-pearl,\nand her own mother heart would have to get along as best they could\nwithout a visit from the Spring Princess. The Giantess of the Great\nRiver had gone away to water the earth. One of the land giants had\ntaken her prisoner and would not let her escape.\n\nWhen the Spring Princess arrived at the beautiful palace of\nmother-of-pearl and gold and silver and precious stones, where the\nGreat River runs into the sea, there was no one at home. She ran from\nroom to room in the palace calling out, \"O dear mother, Giantess of\nthe Great River, dear, dear mother! Where are you? Where have you\nhidden yourself?\"\n\nThere was no answer. Her own voice echoed back to her through the\nbeautiful halls of mother-of-pearl with their rich carvings. The\npalace was entirely deserted.\n\nShe ran outside the palace and called to the fishes of the river, \"O\nfishes of the river, have you seen my own dear mother?\"\n\nShe called to the sands of the sea, \"O sands of the sea, have you seen\nmy darling mother?\"\n\nShe called to the shells of the shore, \"O shells of the shore, have\nyou seen my precious mother?\"\n\nThere was no answer. No one knew what had become of the Giantess of\nthe Great River.\n\nThe Spring Princess was so worried that she thought her heart would\nbreak in its anguish. In her distress she ran over all the earth.\n\nThen she went to the house of the Great Wind. The Giant of the Great\nWind was away, but his old father was at home. He was very sorry for\nthe Spring Princess when he heard her sad story. \"I am sure my son can\nhelp you find your mother,\" he said as he comforted her. \"He will soon\nget home from his day's work.\"\n\nWhen the Giant of the Great Wind reached home he was in a terrible\ntemper. He stormed and raged and gave harsh blows to everything he\nmet. His father had hid the Spring Princess in a closet out of the\nway, and it was fortunate indeed for her that he had done so.\n\nAfter the Great Wind Giant had taken his bath and eaten his dinner he\nwas better natured. Then his father said to him, \"O my son, if a\nwandering princess had come this way on purpose to ask you a question,\nwhat would you do to her?\"\n\n\"Why, I'd answer her question as best I could, of course,\" responded\nthe Giant of the Great Wind.\n\nHis father straightway opened the closet door and the Spring Princess\nstepped out. In spite of her long wanderings and great anguish of mind\nshe was still very lovely as she knelt before the Giant of the Great\nWind in her soft silvery green garments embroidered with pearls and\ndiamonds. The big heart of the Giant of the Great Wind was touched at\nher beauty and at her grief.\n\n\"O Giant of the Great Wind,\" said the Spring Princess, as he gently\nraised her from her knees before him, \"I am the daughter of the\nGiantess of the Great River. I have lost my mother. I have searched\nfor her through all the earth and now I have come to you for help. Can\nyou tell me anything about where she is and how I can find her?\"\n\nThe Giant of the Great Wind put on his thinking cap. He thought hard.\n\"Your mother is in the power of a land giant who has imprisoned her,\"\nhe said. \"I happen to know all about the affair. I passed that way\nonly yesterday. I'll gladly go with you and help you get her home.\nWe'll start at once.\"\n\nThe Giant of the Great Wind took the Spring Princess back to earth on\nhis swift horses. Then he stormed the castle of the land giant who had\nimprisoned the Giantess of the Great River. The Spring Princess dug\nquietly beneath the castle walls to the dungeon where her mother was\nconfined. You may be sure that her mother was overjoyed to see her.\n\nWhen the Spring Princess had led her mother safely outside the castle\nwalls she thanked the Giant of the Great Wind for all he had done to\nhelp her. Then the Giantess of the Great River and the Spring Princess\nhastened back to the wonderful palace of mother-of-pearl set with gold\nand silver and precious stones, where the Great River runs into the\nSea. As soon as she had safely reached there once more the Spring\nPrincess suddenly remembered that she had stayed away from her home in\nthe palace of the Sun Giant longer than the three months she was\nsupposed to stay according to the agreement. She at once said good-bye\nto her mother and hastened to the home of the Sun Giant, her husband,\nand to her baby son.\n\nNow the Sun Giant had been very much worried at first when the three\nmonths had passed and the Spring Princess had not come back to him and\nher little son. Then he became angry. He became so angry that he\nmarried another princess. The new wife discharged the nurses who were\ntaking care of the tiny son of the Spring Princess and put him in the\nkitchen just as if he had been a little black slave baby.\n\nWhen the Spring Princess arrived at the palace of the Sun Giant the\nvery first person she saw was her own little son, so dirty and\nneglected that she hardly recognized him. Then she found out all that\nhad happened in her absence.\n\nThe Spring Princess quickly seized her child and clasped him tight in\nher arms. Then she fled to the depths of the sea, and wept, and wept,\nand wept. The waters of the sea rose so high that they reached even to\nthe palace of the Sun Giant. They covered the palace, and the Sun\nGiant, his new wife, and all the court entirely disappeared from view.\nFor forty days the face of the Sun Giant was not seen upon the earth.\n\nThe little son of the Spring Princess grew up to be the Giant of the\nRain. In the rainy season and the season of thunder showers he rules\nupon the earth. He sends upon the earth such tears as the Spring\nPrincess shed in the depths of the seas.\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nTHE FOUNTAIN OF GIANT LAND\n\n\nLong ago there lived a king who was blind. He had employed all the\nwise physicians in the kingdom, but all to no avail. Not one of them\ndid a single thing to restore his lost eyesight.\n\nOne day a little old woman came to the door of the palace begging\nalms. She said to the servant at the door, \"I wish to say a word to\nthe king who is blind. I know a sure cure for his blindness.\"\n\nThe servant led the little old woman into the king's presence. He was\nsitting upon the royal throne with his royal crown upon his head, but\nhis blind eyes were bandaged and his royal face was sad because he\ncould no longer see the bright sunlight shining upon the deep blue sea\nfrom the window of the palace, nor the lords and ladies of the court\nbefore him in their gorgeous garments of purple and cloth of silver\nand cloth of gold, nor of the face of the queen.\n\n\"O royal majesty,\" said the little old woman as she bowed low before\nhim, \"there is only one thing in the whole world which will restore\nyour lost eyesight. It is the water of the fountain of Giantland.\nBathe your eyes in that water and your lost eyesight will be restored\nat once.\"\n\n\"How can I obtain this wonderful water?\" asked the king. \"Giantland is\na long distance from my kingdom and I do not know the way there.\" The\nking, the queen, and all the courtiers held their breaths to listen to\nthe reply of the little old woman.\n\n\"Your Majesty will need to build a strong fleet to sail up the great\nriver which leads to Giantland,\" she said. \"The expedition will need\nas its leader a prince with a brave heart, for there will be many\nperils on the way to test his mettle. The fountain of Giantland is at\nthe summit of a long steep rocky mountain, and it can be reached only\nby a prince who ascends the mountain looking neither to the right nor\nto the left. All along the way stand huge giants ready to enslave one\nthe moment he stops looking straight ahead. If one should succeed in\nclimbing the mountain the fountain is there at the summit, but it is\nguarded by a dragon. One can approach it only when the dragon is\nasleep. Many princes have tried this quest and all have failed. If you\nshould be able to send a prince brave enough and wise enough to\nsucceed, there at the top of the mountain he will find a little old\nwoman who will tell him whether or not the dragon is asleep.\"\n\nWith these words the little old woman withdrew from the royal\npresence. The king pondered over her advice. Then he sent for the\nthree princes and told them the story.\n\n\"O my father, I am brave and wise,\" said the eldest prince as soon as\nhe had heard his father's words. \"I will go upon this quest. I will\nbring you a bottle of the water of the fountain of Giantland that your\nsight may be restored.\"\n\nThe king ordered a great fleet to be prepared to sail up the river to\nGiantland. He collected an enormous sum of money to provide for the\nprince. The whole kingdom buzzed with preparation for the journey.\n\nThe prince planted an orange tree in the palace garden and said to his\nyounger brother, \"Keep close watch of this tree. If its leaves begin\nto wither you will know that some evil has befallen me. Come to my\naid.\"\n\nThe eldest prince set out with a great fleet and his pockets lined\nwith gold. He anchored in many harbors along the way. The prince was\nvery fond of gaming and there were many opportunities to play. Before\nhe had reached Giantland he had lost the golden linings from his\npockets.\n\nAfter the prince had sailed up the great river which leads to\nGiantland he saw the steep rocky mountain towering before him. He set\na bottle for the water of the fountain of Giantland carefully upon his\nhead and slowly ascended the steep path. He kept his eyes fixed\nstraight ahead.\n\nSoon, however, he heard giant voices shouting at him. From the corners\nof his eyes he could see giant forms along the pathway. He forgot that\nhe must look neither to the right nor to the left.\n\nThe moment the prince turned his eyes a giant immediately seized him\nand made him his slave. \"You shall be my slave for ever and a day,\"\nsaid the giant, \"unless you have gold enough in your pockets to pay\nyour ransom.\" The prince had no gold.\n\nAt home in the palace garden the leaves of the orange tree which the\neldest prince had planted began to wither. His younger brother noticed\nit at once and went to the king. \"O my father,\" said he, \"I know that\nmy brother has fallen into trouble. I must go to his aid.\"\n\nThe king at once prepared another great fleet. He provided the prince\nwith even more gold than his brother had taken with him. Every one in\nthe whole kingdom did his best to hasten the preparations.\n\nIn the palace garden the prince planted a lemon tree and called the\nyoungest prince into the garden. The youngest prince was playing with\nhis dogs. He was a mere boy. \"Keep close watch of this lemon tree\nwhile I am away,\" said the prince. \"If its leaves begin to wither you\nwill know that I am in trouble. Come to my aid.\"\n\nThe prince sailed up the great river which leads to Giantland. He\nanchored at many harbors and took part in many _festas_. By the time\nhe had reached Giantland he had spent all his gold.\n\nAt home in the palace garden the youngest prince watched the lemon\ntree carefully every day. He watered it and pruned it. He took\nsplendid care of it.\n\n[Illustration: The youngest prince watched the lemon tree carefully\nevery day]\n\nWhen at last the prince set out to climb the mountain which leads to\nthe fountain of Giantland he felt very brave and very wise. He climbed\nsteadily on and on, looking neither to the right nor to the left, even\nthough he heard the voices of the giants shouting at him, and from the\ncorners of his eyes could see the giant forms along the pathway.\n\nSuddenly he heard the voice of his own brother, the eldest prince,\nweeping as the giant gave him blows. At that sound he forgot all about\nlooking straight ahead.\n\nThe moment the prince turned his eyes from the pathway straight ahead\nof him a giant seized him and made him his slave. \"You shall be my\nslave for ever and a day,\" said the giant, \"unless you have gold\nenough to pay your ransom.\"\n\nAt home in the palace garden his little brother was watching the lemon\ntree. The very moment its leaves began to wither he noticed it and ran\nat once to the king. \"O my father,\" he cried as soon as he was in the\nking's presence. \"My brother is in trouble. I must go to his aid.\"\n\n\"You, my son, are only a lad,\" said the king. \"How can you succeed\nwhen your two older brothers have failed? I cannot bear to let you go.\nYou are all I have left. I prefer to remain blind the rest of my days.\nO, why did I ever listen to the story the little old woman told me\nabout the water of the fountain of Giantland?\"\n\nThe youngest prince begged so hard to go that at length his father\ngranted his request and prepared a fleet for him. He gave him all the\ngold he could collect in the kingdom.\n\nThe prince set out with brave heart. He sailed on his way steadily\nalthough at every harbour there were voices which bade him linger.\nThere were games and feasting and fair maidens.\n\nSoon the youngest prince had reached Giantland. Above him rose the\nrough steep rocky mountain. Before he started to make the ascent he\nfirst stuffed cotton in his ears. Then he carefully placed upon his\nhead a bottle to fill with the water of the fountain of Giantland.\n\nHe climbed up the steep mountain looking neither to the right nor to\nthe left. Through the cotton in his ears he could faintly hear the\ngiant voices calling him. From the corners of his eyes he could see\nthe giant forms along the pathway. He resolutely kept his eyes fixed\nstraight ahead and steadily climbed upward though the path was very\nrough and full of stones. The cotton in his ears prevented him from\nhearing the voices of his two brothers crying out when the giants beat\nthem.\n\nAt length the lad was in sight of the fountain at the summit of the\nmountain. The little old woman was standing in the path, watching his\nascent. As soon as he came near to her he took the cotton out of his\nears so that he might hear what she had to say to him.\n\n\"You have arrived at a safe moment,\" the little old woman told him.\n\"The dragon is asleep.\"\n\nThe little old woman helped the prince fill the bottle with water from\nthe fountain. Then she said, \"The dragon which guards the fountain is\nan enchanted princess. No prince has ever before been brave enough and\nwise enough to reach this spot. In a year and a day from this moment\nher enchantment will be broken. Come again and claim her as your\nbride.\"\n\nThe little old woman gave the prince a ring, and the prince drew a\nring from his own finger and gave it to the little old woman. \"When\nthe enchantment is broken put my ring upon the finger of the\nprincess,\" he said. \"Expect me back in a year and a day. I'll be sure\nto come.\"\n\nThe prince made his way back down the steep slope of the mountain,\nguarding his bottle full of the water of the fountain of Giantland\nwith the utmost care. When he was half way down the mountain he saw\nhis two brothers standing in his path.\n\n\"_Viva_,\" cried they. \"You have been successful. You have a bottle\nfull of the water from the fountain. Now if you also have your pockets\nfull of gold you can pay our ransom and we will return with you to our\nfather's kingdom.\"\n\n\"My pockets are still lined with gold which my father gave me,\" said\nthe youngest prince. \"Help yourselves. It is yours if it can serve\nyou.\" There was more than enough money to pay the ransom of his two\nolder brothers.\n\nWhen they were sailing down the great river towards home the two older\nbrothers plotted against the youngest prince. \"Come,\" said one to the\nother. \"How can we let our father know that it was our little brother\nwho succeeded in this quest? Let us cast our brother ashore. Then we\nwill go together to our father with the water from the fountain of\nGiantland. When his sight is restored we will share his blessing and\nthe honors of the kingdom. We will claim no knowledge of our youngest\nbrother.\"\n\nThis is what the two eldest princes did. The youngest prince was cast\nashore when he was asleep. After many long weary wanderings he found\nrefuge in the hut of a poor fisherman and hired out to work for him.\n\nThe king's eyesight was restored immediately when he had bathed his\neyes in the water from the fountain of Giantland. The two princes were\ngiven all the honors of the kingdom. The whole kingdom, however,\nmourned the loss of the little prince. The king and queen never gave\nup hoping that he would come back to them. The queen carefully laid\naway all the clothes which had belonged to the youngest prince so that\nthey would be ready for him if he should return to the palace. Every\nday she shook them out with loving care, so that the _baratas_ and\nwhite ants would not eat holes in them.\n\nA year and a day flew swiftly by. The huge dragon which had guarded\nthe fountain of Giantland escaped from her enchantment and was\nrestored to the form of a beautiful princess.\n\nThe little old woman and the princess watched and waited for the\nreturn of the prince according to his promise. \"Some evil must surely\nhave befallen the lad,\" said the little old woman. \"Let us go in\nsearch of him. I know he was a lad who would not break his word.\"\n\nThe little old woman and the beautiful princess who wore the prince's\nown ring upon her finger came to the palace of the king. When the king\nhad listened to the story they told, the guilty princes were called\nbefore him. They were forced to confess their evil deed. They were\nimmediately thrown into prison. The anger of the whole kingdom was\nkindled against them.\n\nThen the king and the queen and all the court sailed in their swiftest\nships to the place where the little prince had been cast ashore. The\nlittle old woman and the beautiful princess who wore the prince's own\nring upon her finger went with them. At length after much searching\nthey found the fisherman's hut and the prince working for the\nfisherman.\n\nThe king and the queen and all the court wept tears of joy when they\nbeheld the youngest prince alive and well. The queen wept again when\nshe noticed the poor rough clothing which the prince was wearing. She\nhad brought with her the prince's favourite suit of cloth of gold\nwhich she had laid away carefully. When the prince put it on it was a\ntrifle tight and a little bit too short for him, as he had grown so\nmuch in the year. Nevertheless he looked very handsome in it when he\nstood before the beautiful princess and claimed her as his bride.\n\nThe fisherman was greatly astonished at all the proceedings, for he\nhad never dreamed that it was the king's son who had been working for\nhim all the year and sleeping on a mat at his side on the floor of his\nrude hut.\n\n\"He may be a prince, but he is the most faithful lad who ever worked\nfor me,\" said the fisherman.\n\n\"He is indeed a prince,\" cried the courtiers, \"and the bravest, most\nfaithful prince which any land in all the world ever boasted of.\"\n\n\"His princely deeds have proven to all the world that he is fit to\nreign as king over our fair land when I no longer live,\" said the king\nas he gave the prince and the beautiful princess his royal blessing.\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nTHE BOY AND THE VIOLIN\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who had an only son. When the man\ndied the son was left all alone in the world. There was not very much\nproperty--just a cat and a dog, a small piece of land, and a few\norange trees. The boy gave the dog away to a neighbour and sold the\nland and the orange trees. Every bit of money he obtained from the\nsale he invested in a violin. He had longed for a violin all his life\nand now he wanted one more than ever. While his father had lived he\ncould tell his thoughts to his father, but now there was none to tell\nthem to except the violin. What his violin said back to him made the\nvery sweetest music in the world.\n\nThe boy went to hire out as shepherd to care for the sheep of the\nking, but he was told that the king already had plenty of shepherds\nand had no need of another. The boy took his violin which he had\nbrought with him and hid himself in the deep forest. There he made\nsweet music with the violin. The shepherds who were near by guarding\nthe king's sheep heard the sweet strains, but they could not find out\nwho was playing. The sheep, too, heard the music. Several of them left\nthe flock and followed the sound of the music into the forest. They\nfollowed it until they reached the boy and the cat and the violin.\n\nThe shepherds were greatly disturbed when they found out how their\nsheep were straying away into the forest. They went after them to\nbring them back, but they could find no trace of them. Sometimes it\nwould seem that they were quite near to the place from which the music\ncame, but when they hurried in that direction they would hear the\nstrains of music coming from a distant point in the opposite\ndirection. They were afraid of getting lost themselves so they gave up\nin despair.\n\nWhen the boy saw how the sheep came to hear his music he was very\nhappy. His music was no longer the sad sweet sound it had been when he\nwas lonely. It became gayer and gayer. After a while it became so gay\nthat the cat began to dance. When the sheep saw the cat dancing they\nbegan to dance, too.\n\nSoon a company of monkeys passed that way and heard the sound of the\nmusic. They began dancing immediately. They made such a chattering\nthat they almost drowned the music. The boy threatened to stop playing\nif they could not be happy without being so noisy. After that the\nmonkeys chattered less.\n\nAfter a while a tapir heard the jolly sound. Immediately his threetoed\nhind feet and fourtoed front feet began to dance. He just couldn't\nkeep them from dancing; so he, too, joined the procession of boy, cat,\nsheep, and monkeys.\n\nNext the armadillo heard the music. In spite of his heavy armour he\nhad to dance too. Then a herd of small deer joined the company. Then\nthe anteater danced along with them. The wild cat and the tiger came,\ntoo. The sheep and the deer were terribly frightened, but they kept\ndancing on just the same. The tiger and wild cat were so happy dancing\nthat they never noticed them at all. The big snakes curled their huge\nbodies about the tree trunks and wished that they, too, had feet with\nwhich to dance. The birds tried to dance, but they could not use their\nfeet well enough and had to give it up and keep flying. Every beast of\nthe forests and jungles which had feet with which to dance came and\njoined the gay procession.\n\nThe jolly company wandered on and on until finally they came to the\nhigh wall which surrounds the land of the giants. The enormous giant\nwho stood on the wall as guard laughed so hard that he almost fell off\nthe wall. He took them to the king at once. The king laughed so hard\nthat he almost fell off his throne. His laugh shook the earth. The\nearth had never before been shaken at the laugh of the king of the\ngiants, though it had often heard his angry voice in the thunder. The\npeople did not know what to make of it.\n\nNow it happened that the king of the land of giants had a beautiful\ngiantess daughter who never laughed. She remained sad all the time.\nThe king had offered half his kingdom to the one who could make her\nlaugh, and all the giants had done their very funniest tricks for her.\nNever once had they brought even a tiny little smile to her lovely\nface. \"If my daughter can keep from laughing when she sees this funny\nsight I'll give up in despair and eat my hat,\" said the king of the\nland of giants, as he saw the jolly little figure playing upon the\nviolin and the assembly of cat, sheep, monkeys and everything else\ndancing to the gay music. If the giant king had known how to dance he\nwould have danced himself, but it was fortunate for the people of the\nearth that he did not know how. If he had, there is no knowing what\nmight have happened to the earth.\n\nAs it was, he took the little band into his daughter's palace where\nshe sat surrounded by her servants. Her lovely face was as sad as sad\ncould be. When she saw the funny sight her expression changed. The\nhappy smile which the king of the land of giants had always wanted to\nsee played about her beautiful lips. A gay laugh was heard for the\nfirst time in all her life. The king of the land of giants was so\nhappy that he grew a league in height and nobody knows how much he\ngained in weight. \"You shall have half my kingdom,\" he said to the\nboy, \"just as I promised if any one made my daughter laugh.\"\n\nThe boy from that time on reigned over half of the kingdom of giants\nas prince of the land. He never had the least bit of difficulty in\npreserving his authority, for the biggest giants would at once obey\nhis slightest request if he played on his violin to them. The beasts\nstayed in the land of the giants so long that they grew into giant\nbeasts, but the boy and his violin always remained just as they were\nwhen they entered the land.\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nTHE MOST BEAUTIFUL PRINCESS\n\n\nLong ago there was a king who was very ill. He wanted a hare killed to\nmake him some broth. His only son, the prince, set out to find one. As\nthe prince walked along the path to the forest a pretty little hare\nran out of the hedge and crossed his path. He at once started in\npursuit. The hare was a very swift runner. The prince followed her\ninto the deep forest. Suddenly the hare ran into a hole in the ground.\nThe prince kept in sight of her and soon found to his dismay that he\nwas in a big cave. At the very rear of the cave there was the most\nenormous giant he had ever seen in his life.\n\nThe prince was terribly frightened. \"Oh, ho!\" said the giant in such a\ndeep savage voice that the cave echoed and re-echoed with his words.\n\"You thought you'd catch my little hare, did you? Well, I've caught\nyou instead!\"\n\nThe giant seized the prince in one of his enormous hands and tossed\nhim lightly into a box at one end of the cave. He put the cover on the\nbox and locked it down with a big key. The prince could get only a\ntiny bit of air through a little hole in the top, and he thought that\nhe never could live. Hours passed. Sometimes the prince slept, but\nmore often he lay there thinking about his sick father and what he\ncould ever do to get out of the box and back once more to his father's\nside.\n\nSuddenly he heard the key turn in the lock. The cover was lifted, and\nhe saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he had ever seen\nor dreamed of. \"I am the hare you followed into the cave,\" said she\nwith a smile. \"I am an enchanted princess and, though I have to take\nthe form of a hare in the daytime, at night I am free to resume my own\nshape. You got into this trouble following me into the cave and I am\nso sorry for you that I am going to let you out.\"\n\n[Illustration: He saw standing before him the most beautiful maiden he\nhad ever dreamed of]\n\n\"You are so beautiful that I could stay here for ever and gaze into\nyour lovely eyes,\" said the prince.\n\n\"You would see only a hare in the daytime,\" replied the princess. \"It\nis not always night. Besides, the giant may return at any moment. He\njust went out on a hunting trip because he thought that you would not\nmake a sufficiently big supper for him. Don't be foolish. I'll show\nyou the way out of the cave and then you must hurry home as fast as\npossible.\"\n\nThe prince thanked her for all her great kindness to him and acted\nupon her advice. He went home by the nearest path, but when he reached\nthe palace his father was already dead. The palace was wrapped in\nmourning.\n\nThe prince was so overcome with grief that he felt that he could not\nkeep on living in the palace. After his father's funeral he went away\nas a wanderer. He changed clothes with a poor fisherman whom he met by\nthe river, for he did not wish to be recognized as the prince.\n\nDressed as a poor fisherman he wandered from one kingdom to another.\nHe caught fish for his food, and he soon recognized the fact that the\nnet which the fisherman had given him as part of his outfit was a most\nwonderful net. The biggest fish in the sea could not break through.\n\"This net must have the special blessing of _Nossa Senhora_ upon it,\"\nsaid the prince.\n\nIn the course of his wanderings the prince arrived at a city where a\ngreat _festa_ was being held. The palace was decked with gay banners.\nEvery afternoon the messenger of the king rode up and down the city\nstreets proclaiming, \"The princess of our kingdom is the most\nbeautiful princess in all the world.\"\n\nThe prince remembered the beautiful princess who had let him out of\nthe giant's cave. \"Surely this princess cannot be as beautiful as\nshe,\" said the prince. \"I am going to see this princess with my own\neyes and find out.\"\n\nAccordingly the prince went to the palace gate to watch for the\nprincess. Soon she came to the balcony and leaned over the railing.\nShe was very beautiful, but her nose was just a tiny bit crooked. She\ndid not compare at all with the princess of the cave.\n\n\"This princess is not by any means the most beautiful one in the\nworld,\" said the prince dressed as a fisherman. \"I know where there is\na princess who is much more beautiful.\"\n\nThe people standing by heard him. His words were at once reported to\nthe royal guards. They seized him roughly and took him to the king.\n\n\"So you are the fisherman who says that my daughter is not the most\nbeautiful princess in the world?\" said the king sternly. \"You say, I\nhear, that you know a princess who is much more beautiful. I am a just\nking or else I should order that you be put to death immediately. As\nit is, I'll give you the chance to prove what you say. If you are\nunable to fulfil your boast and show me this princess who in the\nopinion of my court is more beautiful than my daughter, you shall lose\nyour life. Remember that you will have to bring her here to my court\nto have her beauty proven.\"\n\n\"Thanks, your majesty,\" said the prince. \"If you will allow me two\nweeks to fulfil the contract, and if you'll prepare a _festa_ for the\nnight two weeks hence, I'll endeavour to present the most beautiful\nprincess in the world to your assembled court.\"\n\nThe king was astonished at the fisherman's words, for he had not\nthought that a poor fisherman like him knew many princesses. However,\nhe allowed him to depart in search of the princess.\n\nThen the prince hurried home and once more walked toward the forest by\nthe same path he had gone the day he went in search of the hare for\nhis father's broth. He soon found the place where the hare had crossed\nhis path, and he did his best to remember the course they had followed\nas he pursued her into the forest.\n\nIn the forest he saw evidences of what looked like a flood. The water\nhad washed away every trace of the entrance of the cave. He dug and\ndug at the place where he thought it ought to be. He found nothing\nwhich seemed like the cave's entrance.\n\nHe dug and dug at a new place near by and soon he found his way barred\nby a massive door. The entrance to the cave was securely shut by it.\nThe prince knocked at the door with all his might.\n\nSoon the door was opened a tiny bit and the face of a little old woman\nlooked out. \"I am the _ama_ of the princess,\" she said. \"I think you\nare the prince she was expecting to return to deliver her from all the\nterrible calamities which have befallen her.\"\n\n\"What has happened to my beautiful princess who saved my life?\" asked\nthe prince. \"I am indeed the prince, but I am surprised that you\nshould recognize me in my fisherman's garb.\"\n\n\"The princess told me that I would know you by the smile in your\neyes,\" replied the old _ama_. \"I did not look at your clothes at all.\nI looked at your eyes. You have the smile in them though your face is\nsad. Come into the cave, and I will tell you all that has happened.\"\n\nWhen the prince was inside the cave she hastily barred the door and\nsaid, \"When the giant returned he was terribly angry at the princess\nbecause she had let you escape. He seized her roughly and put her into\nthe box in your place. The princess had thrown away the key to the box\nwhen she let you out; and, search as he would, the giant was unable to\nfind it again anywhere. That made him even angrier than before. All\nday he sits on the top of the chest when the princess is in the form\nof the hare. At night when he goes away he causes a great river to\nflow around the entrance to the cave. He has placed a huge fish as\nguard to the entrance. This fish swims up and down before our door and\ncalls out such vile names at the princess, that, when she is in her\nown form, she stays in the box and stuffs cotton in her ears. You got\nhere just as the giant had left. The water must have risen as soon as\nyou were inside our door. I hear the fish now.\"\n\nEven as she spoke the prince heard the voice of the fish. It said such\nterrible words that the prince was glad that the princess was in the\nbox with cotton in ears. \"You get into the box with the princess,\" he\nsaid to the _ama_. \"I am a good swimmer and I am going to open the\ndoor and swim out. The box is made of wood that will float; so, inside\nof it, you and the princess will float out to safety.\"\n\n\"How will you ever swim past this terrible fish?\" asked the old _ama_.\n\n\"Do not fear,\" replied the prince. \"I have with me a net which is so\nstrong that the biggest, fiercest fish in the world cannot break it. I\nwill catch the fish in it. Just wait and you will see. In the meantime\ntake the cotton out of the ears of the princess and tell her that I am\nhere. Quiet her fears and stay in the box for a few moments.\"\n\nThe old _ama_ got into the box as the prince had commanded. Then he\nunbarred the great door. The fish swam at him fiercely, but the prince\nquickly entangled him in his strong net. Holding him fast in the net,\nthe prince swam up to the surface of the water and was soon on the\nbank of the raging river. Then he killed the fish and scaled it and\nput the scales in his pocket.\n\nThe box had floated up to the surface of the water as the prince had\nsaid it would. The prince threw his net over it and drew it to land.\nThe _ama_ and the beautiful princess stepped out. The princess was so\nlovely that the prince fell upon his knees before her. The sight of\nher great beauty almost blinded his eyes.\n\n\"I knew all the time that you would come back again,\" said the\nprincess. \"I knew that you would deliver me from my troubles, but you\nhave been a long time getting here.\"\n\nThe prince told the princess all that had happened to him. \"You saved\nmy life from the giant,\" said he. \"I am very glad to have had an\nopportunity to save your life for you. Now I must ask you to again\nsave my life.\" Then he told about the _festa_ at which he must display\nthe most beautiful princess in the world or forfeit his life.\n\n\"I'll gladly go to the _festa_ with you,\" said the princess. \"It is\nfortunate that it is held at night.\"\n\nThe Princess and her _ama_ travelled quickly with the prince to the\nkingdom which claimed to possess the most beautiful princess in the\nworld. It was already the night of the appointed _festa_ when they\narrived. The king's army was drawn up to slay the prince. No one\ndreamed that the poor fisherman would be able to bring any princess at\nall with him, much less a beautiful one. The prince hid the princess\nin the box which the old _ama_ carried on top of her head.\n\nWhen the poor fisherman stood before the king with an old _ama_\nstanding by his side, a great laugh ran through the king's court. \"We\nknew that the fisherman would never be able to bring a princess more\nbeautiful than our own lovely princess,\" said the courtiers one to\nanother. \"But see what he has brought in her place!\" Then they laughed\nand laughed until they could hardly stand.\n\nThe king's soldiers stepped forward to seize the fisherman to put him\nto death. \"Grant me just one moment more of life,\" begged the prince.\n\nThe king nodded his head and the prince put his hand into the pocket\nof his fisherman's coat. He pulled out a handful of silver scales. The\nmost beautiful silvery cloud filled the room.\n\n\"Just a moment more,\" begged the prince. Then he pulled a handful of\ngolden scales from out his pocket. The most beautiful golden cloud\nfilled the room.\n\n\"Please just another little minute,\" asked the prince and he pulled\nout a handful of jewelled scales from his pocket. The most wonderful\nsparkling cloud of jewels fell about them. As the cloud cleared away\nthere stood the most beautiful princess any one had ever seen or\ndreamed of between the old _ama_ and the prince in the fisherman\nclothes.\n\nThe soldiers drew back. The king looked at the floor and so did all\nthe courtiers. \"You have won your wager,\" said the king when he could\nfind his voice. \"Our daughter is not the most beautiful princess in\nthe whole world. I see myself that her nose is a tiny bit crooked.\"\n\nThe prince and princess and the old _ama_ went back to the prince's\nown kingdom where the wedding of the prince and princess was\ncelebrated with a great feast. From the moment that the fish scales\nfell upon the princess her enchantment was broken and she never became\na hare again. She and the prince lived together happily in the\nprince's palace, and the giant never troubled them again, though they\nwere always careful to keep away from the forest.\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nTHE LITTLE SISTER OF THE GIANTS\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a little girl who was very beautiful. Her\neyes were like the eyes of the gazelle; her hair hid in its soft waves\nthe deep shadows of the night; her smile was like the sunrise. Each\nyear as she grew older she grew also more and more beautiful. Her name\nwas Angelita.\n\nThe little girl's mother was dead, and her father, the image-maker,\nhad married a second time. The step-mother was a woman who was\nrenowned in the city for her great beauty. As her little step-daughter\ngrew more and more lovely each day of her life she soon became jealous\nof the child. Each night she asked the image-maker, \"Who is more\nbeautiful, your wife or your child?\"\n\nThe image-maker was a wise man and knew all too well his wife's\njealous disposition. He always responded, \"You, my wife, are\nabsolutely peerless.\"\n\nOne day the image-maker suddenly died, and the step-mother and\nstep-daughter were left alone in the world. They both mourned deeply\nthe passing of the kind image-maker.\n\nOne day as they were leaning over the balcony two passers-by observed\nthem, and one said to the other, \"Do you notice those beautiful women\nin the balcony? The mother is beautiful, but the daughter is far more\nbeautiful.\" The step-mother had always been jealous of the daughter's\nloveliness, but now her jealousy was fanned into a burning flame. The\nwise image-maker was no longer there to tell her that she was\npeerless.\n\nThe next day the mother and daughter again leaned over the balcony.\nTwo soldiers passed by and one said to the other: \"Do you observe\nthose two beautiful women in the balcony? The mother is beautiful, but\nthe daughter is far more beautiful.\" The step-mother flew into a\nterrible rage. She now knew that it was true as she had long feared.\nThe girl was more beautiful than she. Her jealousy knew no bounds. She\nseized her step-daughter roughly and shut her up in a little room in\nthe attic.\n\nThe little room in the attic had just one tiny window high up in the\nwall. The window was shut, but Angelita climbed up to open it in order\nto get a little air. The next afternoon she grew weary of the\nconfinement of the little room, so she dug a foothold in the wall\nwhere she could stand and look out of the window. Her step-mother was\nleaning over the balcony all alone when two _cavalheiros_ passed by.\nOne said to the other, \"Do you observe the beautiful woman in the\nbalcony?\" \"Yes,\" replied the other. \"She is a beautiful woman, but the\nlittle maid who is kept a prisoner in the attic is far more\nbeautiful.\"\n\nThe step-mother became desperate. She ordered the old negro servant to\ncarry the girl into the jungle and kill her. \"Be sure that you bring\nback the tip of Angelita's tongue, so that I may know that you have\nobeyed my order,\" she said.\n\nAngelita was very happy to be taken out of the little attic room, and\nset out for a walk with the old negro with a light heart. They walked\nthrough the city streets and out into the open country. Soon they had\nreached the deep jungle. \"Where are we going?\" the girl asked in\nsurprise.\n\n\"We are taking a walk for our health, _yayazinha_,\" replied the old\nnegro.\n\nSoon they were so far in the jungle that the path was entirely\novergrown. No ray of light penetrated through the deep foliage.\nAngelita became frightened. \"I'll not go another step if you do not\ntell me where you are taking me,\" she said as she stamped her little\nfoot upon the ground.\n\nThe old negro burst into tears and told Angelita all that her\nstep-mother had commanded. \"I could not hurt one hair of your lovely\nhead, much less cut off the tip of your little tongue, _yayazinha_,\"\nsobbed the old man.\n\nAngelita stood still and thought. \"Go back to my step-mother,\" she\nsaid to the old man. \"On the way you will see plenty of dogs. Cut off\nthe tip of a little dog's tongue and carry it home to my step-mother.\"\n\nThis is what the old negro did. The step-mother believed him and\nthought that he had slain her step-daughter according to her command.\n\nAngelita, in the meantime, wandered on and on through the jungle. The\nbig snakes glided swiftly out of her path. The monkeys and the parrots\nchattered to keep her from being lonely. She wandered on and on until\nfinally she came to an enormous palace. The front door was wide open.\nShe went from room to room, but the palace was entirely deserted.\nThere was not a neat, orderly room in the entire palace.\n\n\"I can make these lovely rooms neat and clean,\" said Angelita. \"They\nsurely need some one to do it!\" She found a broom and went to work at\nonce. Soon the whole palace was in order once more. Everything was\nclean and bright.\n\nJust as Angelita was finishing her task she heard a great noise. She\nlooked out of the door, and there were three enormous giants entering\nthe house. She had never dreamed that giants could be so big. She was\nfrightened nearly to death and scrambled under a chair as fast as she\ncould.\n\nWhen the giants came into the house they were amazed to find\neverything in such splendid order. \"This is a different looking place\nfrom what we left,\" said the biggest giant.\n\n\"What dirty, disorderly giants we have been, living here all by\nourselves,\" said the middle-sized giant. \"I just realize it, now that\nI see what our house looks like when it is neat and clean.\"\n\n\"What kind fairy could have done all this work while we were away?\"\nsaid the littlest giant, who was not little at all, but almost as big\nas his enormous brothers.\n\nThe three giants fell to discussing the question. They could not guess\nhow their house could have been made so clean. Their voices were so\nvery kind, in spite of being so loud and heavy, that Angelita decided\nshe dare come out from under the chair and let them see who had done\nthe work for them. She quickly crawled out from her hiding place.\n\n\"What lovely fairy is this?\" asked the biggest giant, looking at her\nkindly. He thought that she really was a fairy.\n\n\"This is the loveliest fairy I ever saw in all my life,\" said the\nmiddle-sized giant.\n\n\"How did such a lovely fairy ever happen to find our dirty, disorderly\npalace?\" asked the littlest giant who was not little at all.\n\nAngelita told the three giants her story. Her beauty and her sweet\nways completely entranced them.\n\n\"Please live with us always here in our palace in the jungle and be\nour little sister,\" said the biggest giant, and the middle-sized giant\nand the littlest giant, speaking all at once. Their three big deep\nvoices all together made a noise like thunder.\n\nAngelita lived in the palace with the three giants after that. Every\nday when they went out to hunt she would take the broom and make the\npalace neat and clean. They called her \"little sister\" and loved her\nwith all their big giant hearts.\n\nAll was well until a little bird went and told Angelita's step-mother\nthat she was alive and living in the depths of the jungle with the\nthree giants. When the step-mother heard about it she was so angry\nthat she thought she could never be happy as long as Angelita was\nliving in the world. She consulted a wicked witch as soon as she could\nfind her shawl.\n\nThe wicked witch gave the step-mother some poisoned slippers. \"These\nwill cause the immediate death of any person who puts them on,\" said\nthe wicked witch. Then she showed the step-mother just how to reach\nthe palace where Angelita lived in the depths of the jungle with the\nthree giants.\n\nAngelita's step-mother followed the directions which the witch had\ngiven her and easily found the giants' palace. Angelita was so happy\nliving with the giants and keeping house for them that she had\nforgotten what fear was like. She was not frightened at all when she\nheard some one clap hands before the door one day when the giants were\naway. She went to the door; and, though she was very much surprised to\nsee her step-mother, she invited her into the house. Her step-mother\ngave her a loving embrace and kissed her upon both cheeks. \"Dear\nchild, it is a long time since I have seen you,\" she said. \"I have\nbrought you a little gift to show you that I have not forgotten you.\nIt is only a poor, mean little gift, but it is the best I could\nbring.\"\n\nAngelita was touched at her step-mother's gift and accepted it with\nhearty thanks. As soon as her step-mother had gone she untied the red\nribbon around the package and opened it. Inside was a pair of leather\nslippers. Angelita looked at the little slippers. They were like the\nslippers which her dear father, the image-maker, had once brought home\nto her. \"How kind it was in my step-mother to bring these slippers to\nme,\" she said as she put them on.\n\nAs soon as the slippers were on Angelita's feet, she fell dead just as\nthe wicked witch had promised the step-mother she would do. Her\nstep-mother was watching through the window, and when she saw Angelita\ndead she hurried home in joy. \"Now I, alone, am the peerless beauty,\"\nshe said.\n\nWhen the three giants came home to dinner they knew at once that there\nwas something wrong. There were dirty tracks on the floor and dirty\nfinger prints upon the door. \"Who made these dirty marks?\" said the\nbiggest giant.\n\n\"What has happened to our dear little sister that she has not cleaned\nthem away?\" asked the middle-sized giant.\n\n\"I am afraid there is something wrong with little sister,\" said the\nlittlest giant who was not little at all.\n\nThey clapped their big hands before the door, but no smiling little\nsister ran to meet them. They entered the big hall of the palace with\na bound. There in the middle of the floor lay Angelita, just as she\nhad fallen when she put on the poisoned slippers which her step-mother\nhad given her.\n\n\"What evil, has befallen our dear little sister?\" said the biggest\ngiant.\n\n\"Who could have slain our little sister whom we loved so much?\" said\nthe middle-sized giant.\n\n\"Who will keep house for us now that our dear little sister is dead?\"\nasked the littlest giant.\n\nThen the biggest giant and the middle-sized giant and the littlest\ngiant all began to sob so loud that it shook the earth. \"Our dear\nlittle sister is dead! What shall we do! What shall we do!\"\n\nThe giants could not go into the city to give their little sister\nChristian burial, but they built a beautiful casket out of silver and\ncarried it to the path which led to the city. Then they hid themselves\nto watch and make sure that some one found it to carry to the burying\nplace.\n\nSoon a handsome prince passed by on horseback. He noticed the silver\ncasket at once and opened it. The girl whose still form lay inside was\nthe most beautiful maid he had ever gazed upon. \"This dead maid is my\nown true love,\" he said and he carried the silver casket home to his\nown palace.\n\nHe commanded that no one should enter the room where he placed the\nsilver casket, and this aroused the curiosity of his little sister at\nonce. At the very first opportunity she slipped into the room. She\nopened the casket and was surprised to see the beautiful quiet maid.\n\"You are very lovely,\" she said to the still form, \"all except your\nslippers. I think they are very ugly.\" With these words she pulled off\nthe leather slippers.\n\nAngelita gave a deep sigh, opened her beautiful eyes, and asked for a\ndrink of water.\n\nThe little sister called the prince at once. When he saw Angelita was\nreally alive he could hardly believe the good fortune. He asked that\nthe wedding night be celebrated immediately.\n\nAngelita begged that she might go back into the deep jungle and invite\nthe three giants to the wedding. The biggest giant, the middle-sized\ngiant, and the littlest giant who was not little at all, came to the\nwedding feast. After that they visited their little sister often at\nher new home; and, when she had children of her own, it was the\nfunniest sight one ever saw to see the biggest giant hold the tiny\nbabes upon his knee.\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nTHE FOREST LAD AND THE WICKED GIANT\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who took his wife and tiny baby son\ninto the deep forest to make their home. With his own hands he built\nthe house out of mud, and he made for it a thatched roof from the\ngrass of the forest. For food they depended upon the fruits of the\nforest and the beasts which they killed in the hunt. They lived like\nhermits, seeing no one.\n\nAs the baby son grew into a large strong boy he learned from his\nfather all the secrets of the forest. He grew wise as well as strong.\nFrom his mother he heard stories of their former life in the great\ncity which had been their home before they went to live in the forest.\nThese were the tales he loved to hear best of all. Very often when his\nfather went out into the forest to hunt the boy would beg to remain at\nhome with his mother. While his father was away she would sit on the\nground before their hut and unfold to the boy all her memories of\ntheir old life.\n\n\"Father,\" said the lad one day after his father had returned from his\nhunting trip, \"I am tired of living here in the forest all by\nourselves. Let us return to the city to live.\"\n\n\"Your mother has been telling tales to you,\" replied his father. \"I\nwill see to it that she never mentions the city to you again. We left\nthe city to save our lives. Let me never hear from you another word\nabout returning to the city.\"\n\nAfter that the lad was made to accompany his father when he went out\nhunting. There was no more opportunity to hear the tales he loved from\nhis mother's lips. Nevertheless he hid away in his mind all that his\nmother had told him of their old life; and at night, when the fierce\nstorms in the forest or the sound of the wild beasts would not let him\nsleep, he often lay awake upon his mat on the floor of the hut,\npondering over the stories she had told.\n\nAt last the father grew sick of a fever and died. Now that the lad and\nhis mother were left alone in the forest the lad said, \"Come, let us\nreturn to our home in the city. Let us not stay here alone in the\nforest any longer. I must live in my own life the tales you have told\nme of the _festas_ and the dancing, the great tournaments, and the\nsongs at night under the balconies of the fair maidens.\"\n\nThe lad's request was so urgent that his mother could not have refused\nhim, even if she, in her own heart, was not longing for a return to\nthe life of the city. Accordingly, they took all their possessions,\nwhich consisted only of a horse and a sword, and set out for the city.\n\nThe lad and his mother reached the city at nightfall. They went from\none street to another, but saw no living being. They knocked and\nclapped their hands before all the doors of the city, but no one\nresponded. At last they reached the street where their old home had\nbeen. The lad was delighted to see what a big handsome house it was.\n\"No wonder my mother longed to return to a home like this,\" he\nthought. \"How could she ever have endured the rude hut in the depths\nof the forest?\"\n\nThe doors of the beautiful house stood wide open. The lad and his\nmother entered, and passed from one room to another. His mother saw\none room after another with everything unchanged. She recognized one\nobject after another just as she had left it. There was one room in\nthe house which was securely barred on the inside, however.\n\nThe lad and his mother spent the night in their old home. In the\nmorning they again walked about the deserted streets of the city. They\nsaw no one and heard no living sound. It was like a city of the dead.\nThey grew hungry at length; and the lad went outside the city to seek\nfor food in the forest, according to the custom which he had known all\nhis life.\n\nThe mother returned to her old home to await the coming of her son. As\nsoon as she went upstairs she saw that the barred door was wide open.\nThere in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had ever seen. The\ngreat halls of the house were high, but the giant could not stand up\nin them without stooping.\n\n[Illustration: There in the hall stood the most enormous giant she had\never seen]\n\n\"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?\" roared the giant in\nsuch a terrible voice that the house trembled.\n\nThe woman who had lived so many years in the forest was not easily\nfrightened. \"Who are you and what are you doing in my house?\" she\nshouted at the giant in the loudest tones she could muster.\n\nOne might have expected that the giant would have killed her\ninstantly, but on the contrary her bold answer pleased him\nexceedingly. He laughed so hard that he had to lean against the wall\nto keep from falling.\n\n\"So you think that this is your house, do you?\" said the giant as soon\nas he could regain his voice. \"Well, I'll tell you what we can do. I\nlike you, and we can share this house if you will consent to be my\nwife.\"\n\n\"I am not alone,\" said the lad's mother as soon as she could recover\nfrom her surprise sufficiently to find words. \"My son is with me and I\nam expecting him any moment to return from the forest whither he has\ngone to procure food for us.\"\n\n\"I can dispose of your son very quickly, just as I have destroyed all\nthe inhabitants of this city,\" said the giant with a frown.\n\n\"You cannot dispose of my son so easily as you may think,\" replied his\nmother. \"He has grown in the deep forest and is very strong, far\nstronger than the city dwellers. Besides his great strength, he is\nsurrounded by the magic circle of his mother's love.\"\n\n\"I do not know what the magic circle of a mother's love is like,\" said\nthe giant. \"I don't remember having seen one anywhere. Nevertheless I\nlike you, and because I like you I will endeavour to dispose of your\nson as painlessly as possible. I believe you say you are expecting him\nany moment. Just lie down here and pretend that you are sick. When the\nboy comes in tell him that you have a terrible pain in your eyes. As\nyou have lived long in the forest you will know that the best remedy\nfor a pain in your eyes is the oil of the deadly _cobra_ of the\njungle. Send the lad out into the jungle to obtain this oil for you,\nand I promise you he will never return alive. I'll go back into my\nroom and bar the door so the boy will never see me, but I shall listen\nthrough the wall to know whether you carry out my command.\"\n\nAt that very moment they heard the lad's footsteps and his gay voice\nat the door. The giant went inside his room and barred the door. The\nlad's mother lay down with a cloth over her eyes, moaning in loud\ntones. \"The giant little knows the strength and skill of the lad whose\nmother I am,\" she said to herself as she smiled amidst her moans and\ngroans.\n\n\"O dear little mother, what evil has befallen you during my absence?\"\nasked the boy as he entered the room.\n\nHis mother complained of the pain in her eyes just as the giant had\ninstructed. \"The only thing which will cure me of this terrible\naffliction is the oil of the _cobra_,\" she said.\n\nThe boy well knew the dangers which attended securing the oil from the\ndeadly _cobra_ of the jungle, but never in his life had he disregarded\na request from his mother. He at once set out for the jungle; and, in\nspite of the perils of the deed, he succeeded in obtaining the oil\nwhich his mother had requested.\n\nOn the way back to the city, the boy met a little old woman carrying a\npole over her shoulder from which there hung, head downward, several\nlive fowls which she was taking to market. It was really the Holy\nMother herself who had come to aid the lad in answer to his mother's\nprayer.\n\n\"Where are you going, my lad?\" asked the old woman. The boy told his\nstory and showed the precious oil which he had obtained from the\n_cobra_. \"The day is coming, the day is coming, my lad, when you will,\nin truth, need the _cobra's_ oil,\" said the little old woman. \"But\nthat day is not today. Today hen's oil will serve your purpose just as\nwell. You may kill one of my hens and use the hen's oil, but leave the\n_cobra's_ oil with me so that I may keep it safely for you until the\nday when you will require it.\"\n\nThe boy heeded the advice of the little old woman and killed one of\nher hens. He left the _cobra's_ oil with her and took the hen's oil in\nits place to his mother. Because his mother had nothing at all the\nmatter with her eyes, the hen's oil cured them just as well as the\n_cobra's_ oil. There was no one who knew the difference, except the\nboy and the little old woman.\n\nWhen the boy had gone out the giant came in from his own room and\nsaid, \"In truth your son is a brave lad. I did not dream that he would\nhave the courage to go in search of the oil of the deadly _cobra_,\nmuch less succeed in his quest.\"\n\n\"You do not know the great love we bear each other,\" said the lad's\nmother.\n\n\"I am going to demand a new proof of your son's strength and skill,\"\nsaid the giant. \"Tomorrow you must complain of the pain in your back\nand send the boy in search of the oil of the porcupine to cure it.\nThis is my command.\"\n\nThe next day the woman had to complain of a pain in her back just as\nthe giant had commanded. There was nothing else which she could do.\nThe boy at once went in search of a porcupine, and succeeded in\nslaying one and getting the oil.\n\nOn his way back to the city the lad again met the little old woman who\nwas really _Nossa Senhora_. \"Leave the oil of the porcupine with me,\nmy son,\" said she when she had heard his story. \"I will keep it for\nyou until the morrow when you will have great need of it. Today hen's\noil will serve your purpose just as well.\"\n\nBecause the boy's mother had nothing at all the matter with her back\nshe was cured with the hen's oil which the boy brought, just as easily\nas if it had been the porcupine's oil. The giant came out of his room\nand said, \"In truth, lad, you are a boy of great skill and strength.\"\n\nThe boy had not seen the giant before and he was very much surprised.\nBefore he even had time to recover from his amazement the giant had\nseized him and bound him securely with a great rope. \"If you are\nreally a strong boy you will break this rope,\" said the giant. \"If you\nare not strong enough to break it I shall cut you into five pieces\nwith my sword.\"\n\nThe boy struggled with all his might to break the great rope. It was\nno use. He was not strong enough. The giant stood by laughing.\n\nWhen the lad's mother saw that he could not break the rope she fell\nupon her knees before the giant and cried, \"Do what you will to me,\nbut spare my son!\"\n\nThe cruel giant laughed at her request. When she saw that she could\nnot keep him from slaying the boy, she said, \"If you will not grant my\nlarge request I beg that you will listen to just a tiny, tiny, little\none. When you cut my son into five pieces do it with his father's\nsword which he has brought with him from the little hut in the forest\nwhere we used to live. Then bind his body upon the back of his\nfather's horse which he brought with him out of the forest and turn\nthe horse loose, so it may travel, perchance, back to the forest from\nwhich I brought my lad to meet this terrible death.\"\n\nThe giant did as she requested, and the horse bore the slain boy's\nbody along the road to the forest. Outside the city they met the\nlittle old woman who was really _Nossa Senhora_. She took the parts of\nthe lad's body and anointed them with the porcupine's oil. Then she\nheld them tight together. They stayed securely joined. \"Are you\nlacking anything,\" she asked the boy.\n\nThe boy felt of his legs, his arms, his ears, his nose, his hair. \"I\nam all here except my eyesight,\" he said. The little old woman\nanointed his eyes with the _cobra's_ oil. His sight was immediately\nrestored. Then he knew that the little old woman was indeed the Holy\nMother. She vanished as he knelt to receive her blessing.\n\nThe boy in his new strength quickly hastened back to the city. It was\nnight and the giant was asleep. He seized his father's sword and\nplunged it into the giant's body. The giant turned over without\nawakening. \"The mosquitoes are biting me,\" he muttered in his sleep.\n\nThe boy saw the giant's own enormous sword lying on the floor. It was\nso heavy he could barely lift it, but mustering all his strength he\ndrove it into the giant's body. The giant died immediately.\n\n\"The magic circle of a mother's love, with the Holy Mother's help,\nwill guard a lad against all perils,\" said the boy's mother when she\nheard her son's story and saw the giant lying dead.\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nHOW THE GIANTESS GUIMARA BECAME SMALL\n\n\nOnce upon a time a prince called D. Joao went hunting with a number of\ncompanions. In the deep forest he became separated from his comrades\nand soon found out that he was lost. He wandered about for a long\ntime, and at last he spied what looked like a mountain range in the\ndistance. He journeyed toward it as fast as he could travel, and when\nhe got near to it he was surprised to find out that it was really a\nhigh wall. It was the great wall which bounds the land of the giants.\nThe ruler of the country was an enormous giant whose head reached\nalmost to the clouds. The giant's wife was nearly as enormous as he\nwas, and their only child was as tall as her mother. Her name was\nGuimara.\n\nWhen the giant saw D. Joao he called out, \"O, little man, what are you\ndoing down there?\" D. Joao narrated his adventures to the giant, and\nthe giant said, \"Your story of your wanderings interests me. It is not\noften that little men like you pass this way. If you like you may live\nin my palace and be my servant.\" D. Joao accepted the giant's offer\nand stayed at the palace.\n\nThe giant's daughter Guimara was very much pleased with D. Joao. He\nwas the first little man she had ever seen. She fell deeply in love\nwith him. Her father, however, was very much disgusted at her lack of\ngood taste. He preferred to have a giant for a son-in-law. Accordingly\nhe thought of a plot to get D. Joao into trouble.\n\n[Illustration: The giant's daughter, Guimara was very much pleased\nwith D. Joao]\n\nThe next day he sent for D. Joao to appear before him. \"O little man,\"\nhe said to him, \"they tell me that you are very proud of yourself and\nthat you are boasting among my servants that you are able to tear down\nmy palace in a single night and set it up again as quickly as you tore\nit down.\"\n\n\"I never have made any such boast, your majesty,\" replied D. Joao.\n\nHe went to Guimara and told her about it. \"I am an enchantress,\" said\nGuimara. \"Leave it to me and we will surprise my father.\"\n\nThe very next night Guimara and D. Joao tore down the giant's palace\nand set it up again exactly as it was before. The giant was greatly\nsurprised. He suspected that his daughter had meddled with the affair.\n\nThe next day he sent for D. Joao and said to him, \"O little man, they\ntell me that you say that in a single night you are able to change the\nIsle of Wild Beasts into a beautiful garden full of all sorts of\nflowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre.\"\n\n\"I never said any such thing, your majesty,\" replied D. Joao.\n\nHe told Guimara about it and she said that it would be great fun to\nescape from her room that night and make over the Isle of the Wild\nBeasts into a lovely garden.\n\nAccordingly Guimara worked hard all night long helping D. Joao to make\nthe Isle of the Wild Beasts over into a garden full of all sorts of\nbeautiful flowers and with a silvery fountain in the centre. The king\nwas greatly surprised to see the garden in the morning and he was very\nangry at Guimara and D. Joao.\n\nGuimara was so frightened at her father's terrible wrath that she\ndecided to run away with D. Joao. She counselled him to procure the\nbest horse from her father's stable for them to ride.\n\nAt midnight Guimara crept out of her room and ran to the place where\nD. Joao was waiting for her with the horse, which travelled one\nhundred leagues at each step. They mounted the horse and rode away.\n\nEarly the next morning the princess Guimara was missed from the royal\npalace. Soon it was discovered that D. Joao was gone too, and also the\nbest horse from the stables. The giant talked over the matter with his\nwife. She told him to take another horse which could travel a hundred\nleagues a step and go after them as fast as he could. The giant\nfollowed his wife's advice, and soon he had nearly caught up with the\nfugitives, for they had grown tired and had stopped to rest.\n\nGuimara spied her father coming and turned herself into a little\nriver. She turned D. Joao into an old negro, the horse into a tree,\nthe saddle into a bed of onions, and the musket they carried into a\nbutterfly.\n\nWhen the giant came to the river he called out to the old negro who\nwas taking a bath, \"O, my old negro, have you seen anything of a\nlittle man accompanied by a handsome young woman?\"\n\nThe old negro did not say a single word to him, but dived into the\nwater. When he came out he called the giant's attention to the bed of\nonions. \"I planted these onions,\" he said. \"Aren't they a good crop?\"\n\nThe bed of onions smelled so strong that the giant did not like to\nstay near them. The butterfly flew at the giant's eyes and almost into\nthem. He was disgusted and went home to talk it over with his wife.\n\n\"How silly you were,\" said the giant's wife. \"Don't you see that\nGuimara had changed herself into a river and had changed D. Joao into\nan old negro, the horse into a tree, the saddle into a bed of onions,\nand the musket into a butterfly? Hurry after them at once.\"\n\nThe giant again went in pursuit, promising his wife that next time he\nwould not let Guimara play any tricks on him. The next time that\nGuimara saw her father coming she thought of a new plan. She changed\nherself into a church. She turned D. Joao into a _padre_, the horse\ninto a bell, the saddle into an altar and the musket into a mass-book.\n\nWhen the giant approached the church he was completely deceived. \"O,\nholy _padre_,\" he said to the priest, \"have you seen anything of a\nlittle man, accompanied by a handsome young woman, passing this way?\"\n\nThe _padre_ went on with his mass and said:\n\n  \"I am a hermit _padre_\n  Devoted to the Immaculate;\n  I do not hear what you say.\n  _Dominus vobiscum_.\"\n\nThe giant could get no other response from him. At last he gave up in\ndespair and went home to talk things over with his wife.\n\n\"Of all stupid fools you are the most stupid of all,\" said his wife\nwhen she had heard the tale. \"Don't you see that Guimara has changed\nherself into a church, D. Joao into a priest, the horse into a bell,\nthe saddle into the altar, and the musket into the mass-book? Hurry\nafter them again as fast as you can. I am going with you, myself, this\ntime, to see that Guimara does not play any more tricks on you.\"\n\nThis time the fugitives had travelled far when Guimara's parents\novertook them. They had almost reached D. Joao's own kingdom. Guimara\nthrew a handful of dust into her parents' eyes, and it became so dark\nthat they could not see. Guimara and D. Joao escaped safely into his\nown kingdom.\n\nWhen they had started out on the journey, Guimara had said, \"O, D.\nJoao, whatever happens, don't forget me for one single minute. Think\nof me all the time.\" He had promised and he had remembered her every\ninstant on the journey. However, when they reached his own kingdom, he\nwas so happy to see home once more after all his adventures that he\nthought he had never before been so happy in all his life. After one\nhas been living in Giantland it is very pleasant to get home where\nthings are a few sizes smaller and a bit more convenient. Then, too,\nit was very pleasant for him to see all his friends again. He was so\nhappy at being home that, just for one little minute, he forgot all\nabout Guimara.\n\nWhen D. Joao remembered Guimara he turned around to look at her. When\nhe saw her he could hardly believe his eyes. Instead of being a tall,\ntall giantess with her head up in the clouds, she reached just to D.\nJoao's own shoulder. D. Joao was so surprised that he had to sit down\nin a chair and be fanned. He couldn't say a single word for eighteen\nminutes and a half--his breath had been so completely taken away.\n\n\"It is a good thing that you happened to think of me just as soon as\nyou did,\" remarked Guimara. \"I was getting smaller and smaller. If you\nhad neglected to think of me for another minute I should have faded\naway entirely and you would have never known what had become of me.\"\n\nWhen Guimara became small she lost her power as an enchantress\nentirely. Her lovely eyes were always a trifle sad because D. Joao had\nforgotten her that one little minute. She never went back to Giantland\nbut reigned as queen of D. Joao's kingdom for many years.\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nTHE ADVENTURES OF A FISHERMAN'S SON\n\n\nLong ago there was a man and woman who lived in a little mud hut under\nthe palm trees on the river bank. They had so many children they did\nnot know what to do. The little hut was altogether too crowded. The\nman had to work early and late to find food enough to feed so many.\nOne day the seventh son said to his father, \"O, father, I found a\nlittle puppy yesterday when I was playing on the bank of the river.\nPlease let me bring it home to keep. I have always wanted one.\"\n\nThe father consented sadly. He did not know how to find food for the\nchildren, and an extra puppy to feed seemed an added burden. He went\nto the river bank to fish that day with a heavy heart. He cast his net\nin vain. He did not catch a single fish. He cast his net from the\nother side with no better luck. He did not catch even one little\n_piabinha_.\n\nSuddenly he heard a voice which seemed to come from the river bed\nitself, it was so deep. This is what it said: \"If you will give me\nwhatever new you find in your house when you go home I will give you\nfisherman's luck. You will catch all the fish you wish.\"\n\nThe man remembered the request which his seventh son had made that\nmorning. \"The new thing I'll find in my house when I get home will be\nthat puppy,\" said the man to himself. \"This will be a splendid way to\nget rid of the puppy which I did not want to keep anyway.\"\n\nAccordingly the man consented to the request which came from the\nstrange voice in the depths of the river. \"You must seal this covenant\nwith your blood,\" said the voice.\n\nThe man cut his finger a tiny bit with his sharp knife and squeezed a\nfew drops of blood from the wound into the river. \"If you break this\nvow the curse of the river giant will be upon you and your children\nfor ever and ever,\" said the deep voice solemnly.\n\nThe fisherman cast his net where the river giant commanded, and\nimmediately it was so full of fish that the man could hardly draw it\nout of the water. Three times he drew out his net, so full that it was\nin danger of breaking. \"Truly this was a fortunate bit of business,\"\nsaid the man. \"Here I have fish enough to feed my family and all I can\nsell in addition.\"\n\nAs the fisherman approached his house with his enormous catch of fish\none of the children came running to meet him. \"O father, guess what we\nhave at our house which we did not have when you went away,\" said the\nchild.\n\n\"A new puppy,\" replied her father.\n\n\"O no, father,\" replied the child. \"You have not guessed right at all.\nIt is a new baby brother.\"\n\nThe poor fisherman burst into tears. \"What shall I do! What shall I\ndo!\" he sobbed. \"I dare not break my vow to the river giant.\"\n\nThe fisherman's wife was heartbroken when she heard about the business\nwhich her husband had transacted with the river giant. However she\ncould think of no way to escape from keeping the contract which he had\nmade. She kissed the tiny babe good-bye and gave it her blessing. Then\nthe fisherman took it down to the river bank and threw it into the\nriver at the exact spot from which the deep voice had come.\n\nThere in the depths of the river the river giant was waiting to\nreceive the new born babe. He took the little one into his palace of\ngold and silver and mother-of-pearl with ornaments of diamonds, and\nthere the baby received excellent care.\n\nTime passed and the little boy grew into a big boy. At last he was\nfifteen years old and a handsome lad indeed, tall and straight, with\neyes which were dark and deep like the river itself, and hair as dark\nas the shades in the depths of the river. All his life he had been\nsurrounded with every luxury, but he had never seen a single person.\nHe had never seen even the river giant. All he knew of him was his\ndeep voice which gave orders in the palace.\n\nOne day the voice of the river giant said, \"I have to go away on a\nlong journey. I will leave with you all the keys to all the doors in\nthe palace, but do not meddle with anything. If you do you must\nforfeit your life.\"\n\nMany days passed and the lad did not hear the voice of the river\ngiant. He missed its sound in the palace. It was very still and very\nlonely. At last at the end of fifteen days he took one of the keys\nwhich the river giant had left and opened the door which it fitted.\nThe door led into a room in the palace where the boy had never been.\nInside the room was a huge lion. The lion was fat and well nourished,\nbut there was nothing for it to eat except hay. The boy did not meddle\nwith anything and shut the door.\n\nAnother fifteen days passed by, and again the lad took one of the\nkeys. He opened another door in the palace which he had never entered.\nInside the room he found three horses, one black, one white, and one\nchestnut. There was nothing in the room for the horses to eat except\nmeat, but in spite of it they were fat and well nourished. The boy did\nnot touch anything and when he went out he shut the door.\n\nAt the end of another fifteen days all alone without even the voice of\nthe river giant for company, the lad tried another key in another\ndoor. This room opened into a room full of armour. There were daggers\nand knives and swords and muskets and all sorts of armour which the\nboy had never seen and did not know anything about. He was very much\ninterested in what he saw, but he did not meddle with anything.\n\nThe next day he opened the room again where the horses were kept. This\ntime one of the horses,--the black one,--spoke to him and said, \"We\nlike hay to eat very much better than this meat which was left to us\nby mistake. The lion must have our hay. Please give this meat to the\nlion and bring us back our hay. If you will do this as I ask I'll\nserve you for ever and ever.\"\n\nThe boy took the meat to the lion. The lion was very much pleased to\nexchange the hay for it. The lad then took the hay to the horses. All\nat once he remembered how he had been told not to meddle with\nanything. This had been meddling. The boy burst into tears. \"I shall\nlose my life as the punishment for this deed,\" he sobbed.\n\nThe horses listened in amazement. \"I got you into this trouble,\" said\nthe black horse. \"Now I'll get you out. Just trust me to find a way\nout.\"\n\nThe black horse advised the boy to take some extra clothes and a sword\nand musket and mount upon his back. \"I have lived here in the depths\nof the river so long that my speed is greater than that of the river\nitself,\" said the horse. \"If there was any doubt of it before, now\nthat I have had some hay once more I am sure I can run faster than any\nriver in the world.\"\n\nIt was true. When the river giant came back home and found that the\nboy had meddled he ran as fast as he could in pursuit of the lad. The\nblack horse safely and surely carried the lad beyond his reach.\n\nThe black horse and his rider travelled on and on until finally they\ncame to a kingdom which was ruled over by a king who had three\nbeautiful daughters. The lad at once applied for a position in the\nservice of this king. \"I do not know what you can do,\" said the king.\n\"You have such soft white hands. Perhaps you may serve to carry\nbouquets of flowers from my garden every morning to my three\ndaughters.\"\n\nThe lad had eyes which were dark and deep like the depths of the\nriver, and when he carried bouquets of flowers from the garden to the\nking's daughters the youngest princess fell in love with him at once.\nHer two sisters laughed at her. \"I don't care what you say,\" said the\nyoungest princess. \"He is far handsomer than any of the princes who\nhave ever sung of love beneath our balcony.\"\n\nThat very night two princes from neighbouring kingdoms came to sing in\nthe palace garden beneath the balcony of the three princesses. The two\noldest daughters of the king were proud and haughty, but the youngest\nprincess had love in her heart and love in her eyes. For this reason\nshe was one whom all the princes admired most.\n\nThe lad from the river listened to their songs. \"I wish I looked like\nthese two princes and knew songs like theirs,\" said he. Just then he\ncaught sight of his own reflection in the fountain in the garden. He\nsaw that he looked quite as well as they. \"I too will sing a song\nbefore the balcony of the princesses,\" he decided.\n\nHe did not know that he could sing, but in truth his voice had in it\nall the music of the rushing of the river. When he sang even the two\nrival musicians stopped to listen to his song. The two older\nprincesses did not know who was singing, but the youngest princess\nrecognized him at once.\n\nThe next day a great tournament took place. The lad from the river had\nnever seen a tournament, but after he had watched it for a moment he\ndecided to enter. He went to get the black horse which had carried him\nout of the depths of the river and the arms he had brought with him\nfrom the palace of the river giant. With such a horse and such arms he\ncarried off all the honours of the tournament. Every one at the\ntournament wondered who the strange _cavalheiro_ could be. No one\nrecognized him except the youngest princess. She knew who it was the\nmoment she saw him and gave him her ribbon to wear.\n\nThe next day all the _cavalheiros_ who had taken part in the\ntournament set out to slay the wild beast which often came out of the\njungle to attack the city. It was the lad from the river who killed\nthe beast, as all the _cavalheiros_ knew. When they returned to the\npalace with the news that the beast had been slain, the king said,\n\"Tomorrow night we will hold the greatest _festa_ which this palace\nhas ever witnessed. Tomorrow let all the _cavalheiros_ who are here\nassembled go forth to hunt for birds to grace our table.\"\n\nThe next day the _cavalheiros_ went out to hunt the birds, and it was\nthe lad from the river who succeeded in slaying the birds. None of the\nother _cavalheiros_ were at all successful. The two neighbouring\nprinces who were suitors for the hand of the youngest princess made a\ncontract. \"We cannot let this stranger carry off all the honours,\"\nsaid one to the other. \"You say that you killed the beast, and I will\nsay that it was I who killed the birds.\"\n\nThat night at the _festa_ one prince stood up before the king and told\nhis story of slaying the beast, and the other prince stood up and told\nhow he had killed the birds. The other _cavalheiros_ knew that it was\nfalse, but when they looked around for the _cavalheiro_ who had done\nthe valiant deeds they could not find him. The lad from the river had\non his old clothes which he wore as a servant in the garden and stood\nat the lower part of the banquet hall among the servants.\n\nWhen the king had heard the stories of the two princes he was greatly\npleased with what they had done. \"The one who killed the beast shall\nhave a princess for a bride,\" said he, \"and the one who killed the\nbirds he too shall have a princess for his bride.\"\n\nThe youngest princess saw the lad from the river standing among the\nservants and smiled into his eyes. The lad came and threw himself\nbefore the king. \"O my king,\" said he, \"these stories to which you\nhave listened are false, as all these assembled _cavalheiros_ will\nprove. It is I who killed the beast and all the birds. I claim a\nprincess as my bride.\"\n\nAll the assembled _cavalheiros_ recognized the lad in spite of his\nchanged appearance in his gardening clothes. \"_Viva!_\" they shouted.\n\"He speaks the truth. He is the valiant one of us who killed the beast\nand the birds. To him belongs the reward.\"\n\nThe youngest princess had a heart filled with joy. The wedding feast\nwas celebrated the very next day. The river giant found out about it\nand sent a necklace of pearls and diamonds as a wedding gift to the\nbride of the lad whom he had brought up in his palace. The fisherman\nand his wife, however, never knew the great good fortune which had\ncome to their son.\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nTHE BEAST SLAYER\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man and his wife who were very poor. The\nman earned his living making wooden bowls and platters to sell and\nworked early and late, but wooden bowls and platters were so very\ncheap that he could barely support his family no matter how hard he\nworked. The man and his wife were the parents of three lovely\ndaughters. They were all exceedingly beautiful, and the man and his\nwife often lamented the fact that they did not have money enough to\neducate them and clothe them fittingly.\n\nOne day there came to the door of the poor man's house a handsome\nyoung man mounted on a beautiful horse. He asked to buy one of the\npoor man's daughters. The father was very much shocked at this\nrequest. \"I may be poor,\" said he, \"but I am not so poor that I have\nto sell my children.\"\n\nThe young man, however, threatened to kill him if he refused to do his\nbidding; so finally, after a short struggle, the father consented to\npart with his eldest daughter. He received a great sum of money in\nreturn.\n\nThe father was now a rich man and did not wish to make bowls and\nplatters any longer. His wife, however, urged him to keep on with his\nformer occupation. Accordingly he went on with his work. The very next\nday there came to his door another young man, even handsomer than the\nother, mounted upon even a finer horse. This young man made the same\nrequest that the other had done. He wanted to buy one of the\ndaughters.\n\nThe father burst into tears and told all the dreadful happenings of\nthe day before. The young man, however, showed no pity and continued\nto demand one of the daughters. He made fearful threats if the man\nwould not yield to his request, and the father became so frightened\nthat he at length parted with his second daughter. The first young man\nhad paid a great sum of money, but this one paid even more.\n\nThough he was now very rich the father still went on making bowls and\nplatters to please his wife. The next day when he was at work the\nhandsomest young man he had ever seen appeared riding upon a most\nbeautiful steed. This young man demanded the third daughter. The poor\nfather had to yield just as before, though it nearly broke his heart\nto part with his only remaining child. The price which the young man\npaid was so very great that the family was now as rich as it had once\nbeen poor.\n\nTheir home was not childless very long, for soon a baby son came to\nthem. They brought up the boy in great luxury. One day when the child\nwas at school he quarrelled with one of his playmates. This taunt was\nthrown in his face: \"Ah, ha! You think your father was always rich, do\nyou? He is a rich man now, it is true, but it is because he sold your\nthree sisters.\" The words made the boy sad, but he said nothing about\nthe matter at home. He hid it away in his mind until he had become a\nman. Then he went to his father and mother and demanded that they\nshould tell him all about it.\n\nHis parents told the young man the whole story of the strange\nexperiences through which they had obtained their wealth. \"I am now a\nman,\" said the son. \"I feel that it is right that I should go out into\nthe world in search of my sisters. Perhaps I might be able to find\nthem and aid them in some way. Give me your blessing and allow me to\ngo.\"\n\nHis father and mother gave him their blessing, and the young man\nstarted out to make a search through all the world. Soon he came to a\nhouse where there were three brothers quarrelling over a boot, a cap,\nand a key. \"What is the matter?\" asked the young man. \"Why are these\nthings so valuable that you should quarrel over them?\"\n\nThe brothers replied that if one said to the boot, \"O Boot, put me\nsomewhere,\" the boot would immediately put him anywhere he wished to\ngo. If one said to the cap, \"O Cap, hide me,\" immediately the cap\nwould hide him so he could not be seen. The key could unlock any door\nin the whole world. The young man at once wanted to own these things\nhimself, and he offered so much money for them that at last the three\nbrothers decided to end their quarrel by selling the boot, the cap,\nand the key and dividing the money.\n\nThe young man put the three treasures in his saddle bag and went on\nhis way. As soon as he was out of sight of the house he said to the\nboot, \"O Boot, put me in the house of my eldest sister.\"\n\nImmediately the young man found himself in the most magnificent palace\nhe had ever seen in his life. He asked to speak with his sister, but\nthe queen of the palace replied that she had no brother and did not\nwish to be bothered with the stranger. It took much urging for the\nyoung man to gain permission from her to relate his story; but, when\nshe had once heard it, everything sounded so logical that she decided\nto receive him as her brother. She asked how he had ever found her\nhome, and how he had come through the thicket which surrounded her\npalace. The young man told her about his magic boot.\n\nIn the afternoon the queen suddenly burst into tears. Her brother\nasked what the trouble was. \"O dear! O dear! What shall we do! What\nshall we do!\" sobbed the queen. \"My husband is King of the Fishes.\nWhen he comes home to dinner tonight he will be very angry to find a\nhuman in his palace.\" The young man told her about his magic cap and\ncomforted her fears.\n\nSoon the King of Fishes arrived, accompanied by all his retinue. He\ncame into the palace in a very bad temper, giving kicks and blows to\neverything which came in his way, and saying in a fierce, savage\nvoice, \"_Lee, low, lee, leer_, I smell the blood of a human, here. I\nsmell the blood of a human, here.\"\n\nIt took much persuasion on the part of the queen to get him to take a\nbath. After his bath he appeared in the form of a handsome man. He\nthen ate his dinner, and when he had nearly finished the meal his wife\nsaid to him, \"If you should see my brother here what would you do to\nhim?\"\n\n\"I would be kind to him, of course, just as I am to you,\" responded\nthe King of the Fishes. \"If he is here let him appear.\"\n\nThe young man then took off the magic cap by which he had hidden\nhimself. The king treated him most kindly and courteously. He invited\nhim to live for the rest of his life in the palace. The young man\ndeclined the invitation, saying that he had two other sisters to\nvisit. He took his departure soon, and when he went away his\nbrother-in-law gave him a scale with these words: \"If you are ever in\nany danger in which I can help you, take this scale and say, 'Help me,\nO King of the Fishes.'\"\n\nThe young man put the scale in his saddle bag. Then he took out his\nmagic boot and said, \"O Boot, put me in the home of my second sister.\"\nHe found his second sister queen of even a more wonderful palace than\nhis eldest sister. Her husband was King of Rams and treated the newly\nfound brother of his queen with great consideration. When the young\nman had finished his visit there the King of Rams gave him a piece of\nwool saying, \"If you are ever in any peril in which I can help you\npull this wool and ask help of the King of Rams.\"\n\nWith the aid of his magic boot the young man went to visit the home of\nhis youngest sister. He found her in the most magnificent palace of\nthem all. Her husband was King of Pigeons. When the young man departed\nhe gave him a feather telling him if he was ever in any danger that\nall he had to do was to pull the feather and say, \"Help me, O King of\nthe Pigeons.\"\n\nAll three of the young man's brothers-in-law had admired the power of\nhis magic boot and they had all advised him to visit the land of the\nKing of Giants by means of it. After having left each of his three\nsisters full of happiness in her costly palace he felt free to act\nupon this advice, so by means of his magic boot he again found himself\nin a new country.\n\nHe soon heard on the street that the King of the land of Giants had a\nbeautiful giantess daughter whom he wished to give in marriage if she\ncould be persuaded to choose a husband. She was such a famous beauty\nthat no one could pass before her palace without eagerly gazing up in\nhopes of seeing her lovely face at the window. The giant princess had\ngrown weary of being the object of so much attention, and she had made\na vow that she would marry no one except a man who could pass before\nher without lifting his eyes.\n\nThe young man became interested when he heard this and at once rode\npast the palace with his eyes fixed steadily on the ground. He did not\ngive a single glance upward in the direction of the window where the\nbeautiful giant princess was watching him. The princess was overcome\nwith joy at the sight of the handsome stranger who appeared as if in\nresponse to her vow. The king summoned him to the palace at once and\nordered that the wedding should be celebrated immediately.\n\nAfter the wedding the giant princess soon found out that her husband\ncarried his choicest treasures in his saddle bags. She inquired their\nsignificance and her husband told her all about them. She was\nespecially interested in the key. She said that there was a room in\nthe palace which was never opened. In this room there was a fierce\nbeast which always came to life again whenever it was killed. The\ngiant princess had always been anxious to see the beast with her own\neyes, and she suggested that they should use the key to unlock the\ndoor of the forbidden room and take a peep at the beast.\n\nHer husband, however, gave her no encouragement to do this. He decided\nthat it was too risky a bit of amusement; but one day when he had gone\nhunting with the king and court the princess was overjoyed to find\nthat the magic key had been left behind. She at once picked it up and\nopened the forbidden door. The beast gave a great leap, roaring out at\nher, \"You are the very one I have sought,\" as he seized her with his\nsharp claws.\n\nWhen her husband and father returned from their hunting trip they were\nvery much worried to find that the princess had disappeared. No one\nknew where she was. After searching through the palace and garden all\nin vain they went to the place where the beast was always kept. The\nprince recognized his magic key in the door, but the room was empty.\nThe beast had fled with the giant princess.\n\nOnce more the young man made use of his magic boot and soon was by the\nside of the princess. The beast had hidden her in a cave by the sea\nand had gone away in search of food. The giant princess was delighted\nto find her husband whom she had never expected to see again and\nwanted to hasten away from the cave with him at once.\n\n\"You have got yourself into this affair,\" said her husband. \"I can get\nyou out again, I think, but I believe that it is your duty to at least\nmake an effort to take the beast's life. Perhaps when he comes back to\nthe cave you can extract from him the secret of his charmed life.\"\n\nThe princess awaited the return of the beast. Then she asked him to\ntell her the secret of his charmed life. The beast was very much\nflattered to have the giant princess so interested in him, and he told\nit to her at once. He never thought of a plot. This is what he said:\n\"My life is in the sea. In the sea there is a chest. In the chest\nthere is a stone. In the stone there is a pigeon. In the pigeon there\nis an egg. In the egg there is a candle. At the moment when that\ncandle is extinguished I die.\"\n\nAll this time the prince had remained there, hiding under his magic\ncap. He heard every word the beast said. As soon as the beast had gone\nto sleep the prince stood on the seashore and said: \"Help me, O King\nof the Fishes,\" as he took out the scale which his brother-in-law had\ngiven him. Immediately there appeared a great multitude of fishes\nasking what he wished them to do. He asked them to get the chest from\nthe depths of the sea. They replied that they had never seen such a\nchest, but that probably the sword-fish would know about it.\n\nThey hastened to call the sword-fish and he came at once. He said that\nhe had seen the chest only a moment before. All the fishes went with\nhim to get it, and they soon brought the chest out of the sea. The\nprince opened the chest easily with the aid of his magic key, and\ninside he found a stone.\n\nThen the prince pulled the piece of wool which his second\nbrother-in-law had given him and said, \"Help me, O King of the Rams.\"\nImmediately there appeared a great drove of rams, running to the\nseashore from all directions. They attacked the stone, giving it\nmighty blows with their hard heads and horns. Soon they broke open the\nstone, and from out of it there flew a pigeon.\n\nThe beast now awoke from his sleep and knew that he was very ill. He\nremembered all that he had told the princess and accused her of having\nmade a plot against his life. He seized his great ax to kill the\nprincess.\n\nIn the meantime the prince had pulled the feather which his third\nbrother-in-law had given him and cried, \"Help me, O King of the\nPigeons.\" Immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared attacking the\npigeon and tearing it to pieces.\n\n[Illustration: Immediately a great flock of pigeons appeared]\n\nJust as the beast had caught the princess and was about to slay her,\nthe prince took the egg from within the slain pigeon. He at once broke\nthe egg and blew out the candle. At that moment the beast fell dead,\nand the princess escaped unharmed.\n\nThe prince carried the giant princess home to her father's kingdom and\nthe king made a great _festa_ which lasted many days. There was\nrejoicing throughout the whole kingdom because of the death of the\nbeast and because of the safety of the lovely princess. The prince was\npraised throughout the kingdom and there is talk of him even unto this\nvery day.\n\nThe prince had cut off the head of the great beast and the tip of its\ntail. The head he had given to the king, but the tip of the tail he\nkept for himself. The beast was so enormous that just the tip of its\ntail made a great ring large enough to encircle the prince's body. One\nday, just in fun, he twined the tip of the beast's tail around his\nwaist. He immediately grew and grew until he became a giant himself,\nalmost as tall as the king of the land of giants, and several leagues\ntaller than the princess. It is not strange that a man who became a\ngiant among giants should be famous even until now.\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nTHE QUEST OF CLEVERNESS\n\n\nOnce long ago there lived a king who had a stupid son. His father sent\nhim to school for many years hoping that he might learn something\nthere. His teachers all gave him up as hopelessly stupid, and with one\naccord they said, \"It is no use trying to teach this lad out of books.\nIt is just a waste of our valuable time.\"\n\nAt length the king called together all the wisest men of his kingdom\nto consult with them as to the best way to make the prince wise and\nclever. They talked the matter over for a year and a day. It was the\nunanimous opinion of the wise men of the kingdom that the lad should\nbe sent on a journey through many lands. In this way he might learn\nmany of the things which his teachers had not been able to teach him\nout of books.\n\nAccordingly the prince was equipped for his journey. He was given fine\nraiment, a splendid black horse upon which to ride, and a great bag\nfull of money. Thus prepared, he started forth from the palace one\nbright morning with the blessing of the king, his father, and of all\nthe wise men of the kingdom.\n\nThe prince journeyed through many lands. In one country he learned one\nthing, and in another country he learned another thing. There was no\ncountry or kingdom so small or poor that it did not have something to\nteach the prince. And the prince, though he had been so insufferably\nstupid at his books, learned the lessons of his journey with an open\nmind.\n\nAfter long wanderings the prince arrived at a city where there was an\nauction going on. A singing bird was being offered for sale. \"What is\nthe special advantage of this singing bird?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"This bird, at the command of its owner, will sing a song which will\nput to sleep any one who listens to it,\" was the reply.\n\nThe prince decided that the bird was worth purchasing.\n\nThe next thing which was offered for sale was a beetle. \"What is the\nspecial advantage of this beetle?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"This beetle will gnaw its way through any wall in the world,\" was the\nreply.\n\nThe prince purchased the beetle.\n\nThen a butterfly was offered for sale. \"What is the special advantage\nof owning this butterfly?\" asked the prince.\n\n\"This butterfly is strong enough to bear upon its wings any weight\nwhich is put upon them,\" was the answer.\n\nThe prince bought the butterfly. With his bird and beetle and\nbutterfly he travelled on and on until he became lost in the jungle.\nThe foliage was so dense that he could not see his way, so he climbed\nto the top of the tallest tree he saw. From its summit he spied in the\ndistance what looked like a mountain; but, when he had journeyed near\nto it, he saw that it was really the wall which surrounds the land of\nthe giants.\n\nA great giant whose head reached to the clouds stood on the wall as\nguard. A song from the singing bird put this guard to sleep\nimmediately. The beetle soon had gnawed an entrance through the wall.\nThrough this opening the prince entered the land of the giants.\n\nThe very first person whom the prince saw in the land of the giants\nwas a lovely captive princess. The opening which the beetle had made\nin the wall led directly to the dungeon in which she was confined.\n\nThe prince had learned many things on his journey, and among the\nlessons he had learned was this one: \"Always rescue a fair maiden in\ndistress.\" He immediately asked what he could do to rescue the\nbeautiful captive princess.\n\n\"You can never succeed in rescuing me, I fear,\" replied the princess.\n\"At the door of this palace there is a giant on guard who never\nsleeps.\"\n\n\"Never mind,\" replied the prince. \"I'll put him to sleep.\"\n\nJust at that moment the giant himself strode into the dungeon. He had\nheard voices there. \"Sing, my little bird, sing,\" commanded the prince\nto his singing bird.\n\nAt the first burst of melody the giant went to sleep there in the\ndungeon, though he had never before taken a wink of sleep in all his\nlife.\n\n\"This beetle of mine has gnawed an entrance through the great wall\nwhich surrounds the land of the giants,\" said the prince to the\ncaptive princess. \"To escape we'll not have to climb the high wall.\"\n\n\"What of the guard who stands on top of the wall with his head\nreaching up to the clouds?\" asked the princess. \"Will he not spy us?\"\n\n\"My singing bird has put him to sleep, too,\" replied the prince. \"If\nwe hurry out he will not yet be awake.\"\n\n\"I have been confined here in this dungeon so long that I fear I have\nforgotten how to walk,\" said the princess.\n\n\"Never mind,\" replied the prince. \"My butterfly will bear you upon his\nwings.\"\n\nWith the lovely princess borne safely upon the butterfly's wings the\nprince swiftly escaped from the land of the giants. The giant on the\nwall yawned in his sleep as they looked up at him. \"He is good for\nanother hour's nap,\" remarked the prince.\n\n[Illustration: With the lovely princess borne safely upon the\nbutterfly's wings, the prince swiftly escaped]\n\nThe prince returned to his father's kingdom as soon as he could find\nthe way back. He took with him the lovely princess, and the singing\nbird, and the gnawing beetle, and the strong-winged butterfly.\n\nHis father and all the people of the kingdom received him with great\njoy. \"Never again will the prince of our kingdom be called stupid,\"\nsaid the wise men when they heard the account of his adventures. \"With\nhis singing bird and his gnawing beetle and his strong-winged\nbutterfly he has become the cleverest youth in the land.\"\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nTHE GIANT'S PUPIL\n\n\nLong years ago there lived a little boy whose name was Manoel. His\nfather and mother were so very poor that they could not afford to send\nhim to school. Because he did not go to school he played all day in\nthe fields on the edge of the forest where the giant lived.\n\nOne day Manoel met the giant. The giant lived all alone in the forest,\nso he was very lonely and wished he had a little boy like Manoel. He\nloved little Manoel as soon as he saw him, and after that they were\ntogether every day. The giant taught Manoel all the secrets of the\nforests and jungles. He taught him all the secrets of the wind and the\nrain and the thunder and the lightning. He taught him all the secrets\nof the beasts and the birds and the serpents.\n\nManoel grew up a wise lad indeed. His father and mother were very\nproud of him and so was his kind teacher, the giant.\n\nOne day the king's messenger rode up and down the kingdom with a\nmessage from the king's daughter. The king's daughter, the beautiful\nprincess of the land, had promised to wed the man who could tell her a\nriddle she could not guess. All the princes who had sung of love\nbeneath the palace window had been very stupid. The princess wished to\nmarry a man who knew more than she did.\n\nWhen Manoel heard the words of the messenger he said to his father and\nmother, \"I am going to the palace to tell a riddle to the princess. I\nam sure I can give her one which she cannot guess.\"\n\n\"You are an exceedingly clever lad, I know, my son,\" replied his\nmother, \"but there will be many princes and handsome _cavalheiros_ at\nthe palace to tell riddles to the princess. What if she will not\nlisten to a lad in shabby clothing!\"\n\n\"I will make the princess listen to my riddle,\" replied Manoel.\n\n\"What riddle are you going to ask the princess?\" asked Manoel's\nfather.\n\n\"I do not know yet,\" replied the lad. \"I will make up a riddle on the\nway to the palace. I am going to start at once.\"\n\nThe kind giant who had been the lad's friend gave him his blessing and\nwished him luck. The lad's mother prepared a lunch for him to carry\nwith him. His father sat before the door and boasted to all the\nneighbours that his son was going to wed the king's daughter. Manoel\ntook his dog with him when he went on his journey, because he wanted\nsome one for company.\n\nManoel journeyed on and on through the forests and jungles and after a\ntime he had eaten all the lunch his mother had given him when he went\nfrom home. When he became hungry he spent his last _vintem_ for some\nbread from a little _venda_ in the town he passed through. He went on\nto the forest to eat the bread, and before he tasted of it himself he\ngave a piece to his dog. The dog died immediately. The bread was\npoisoned.\n\nEven as Manoel stood by weeping for his faithful dog, three big black\nbuzzards flew down and devoured the dead beast. They fell dead\nimmediately. Just then the lad heard voices, and soon he saw seven\nhorsemen approaching. The men were robbers, and though they had much\ngold in their pockets they had no food. \"I am hungry enough to eat a\ndead buzzard,\" said the captain of the robbers. The robbers greedily\nseized the three buzzards and devoured them at once. The seven men\nimmediately died from the poison.\n\n\"The buzzards stole the body of my dog, so they became mine,\" said\nManoel. \"The seven robbers stole my three buzzards, so they became\nmine, too.\" He took all the gold from the pockets of the seven robbers\nand dressed himself in the garments of the captain of the robbers\nbecause they were finest. He mounted the horse of the captain of the\nrobbers because that was the best horse.\n\nThe lad rode on toward the palace of the king. After a time he became\nthirsty and pushed the horse into a gallop. The horse became covered\nwith sweat, and with the horse's sweat he quenched his thirst. Soon he\narrived at the royal palace.\n\nDressed in the robber's fine garments and mounted upon the robber's\nfine horse, Manoel had no difficulty in being admitted to the palace.\nHe was taken at once before the princess to tell his riddle.\n\nThe princess saw in Manoel's eyes all the secrets of the forests and\njungles which the kind giant had taught him. \"Here is a youth who will\ntell me a riddle which will be worth listening to,\" said the princess\nto herself. All the princes and _cavalheiros_ from all the\nneighbouring kingdoms had told her such stupid riddles that she had\nbeen bored nearly to death. She could always guess the answers, even\nbefore she had heard the end of the riddle.\n\nThis is the riddle which Manoel told the princess:\n\n  \"I went away from home with a pocket full;\n  Soon it became empty;\n  Again it became full.\n  I went away from home with a companion;\n  My pocket-full killed my companion;\n  My dead companion was the slayer of three;\n  The three killed seven.\n  From the seven I chose the best;\n  I drank water which did not fall from heaven.\n  And here I stand\n  Before the loveliest princess in the land.\"\n\nThe princess listened to the riddle carefully. Then she asked Manoel\nto say it all over again. The princess thought and thought, but she\ndid not have a good guess as to the answer to the riddle.\n\nNo one in all the palace could understand Manoel's riddle. \"You have\nwon my daughter as your bride,\" said the king, after he had used all\nhis royal wits to solve the riddle and could not do it.\n\nWhen Manoel explained his riddle to the princess, she said, \"_Nossa\nSenhora_ herself must have sent you to me. I never could have endured\na stupid husband.\"\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nDOMINGO'S CAT\n\n\nOnce upon a time there was a man who was very poor. He was so poor\nthat he had to sell one thing after another to get food to keep from\nstarving. After a while there was nothing left except the cat. He was\nvery fond of his cat, and he said, \"O, Cat, let come what will, I'll\nnever part with you. I would rather starve.\"\n\nThe cat replied, \"O good master Domingo, rest in peace. You will never\nstarve as long as you have me. I am going out into the world to make a\nfortune for us both.\"\n\nThe cat went out into the jungle and dug and dug. Every time he dug he\nturned up silver pieces. The cat took a number of these home to his\nmaster so that he could purchase food. The rest of the pieces of\nsilver the cat carried to the king.\n\nThe next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried them to the\nking. The next day he carried pieces of diamonds.\n\n[Illustration: The next day the cat dug up pieces of gold and carried\nthem to the king]\n\n\"Where do you get these rich gifts? Who is sending me such wonderful\npresents?\" asked the king.\n\nThe cat replied, \"It is my master, Domingo.\"\n\nNow the king had a beautiful daughter. He thought that this man\nDomingo must be the richest man in the whole kingdom. He decided that\nhis daughter should marry him at once. He made arrangements for the\nwedding through the cat.\n\n\"I haven't any clothes to wear at the wedding,\" said Domingo when the\ncat told him that he was to marry the daughter of the king.\n\n\"Never mind about that. Just leave it to me,\" replied the cat.\n\nThe cat went to the king and said, \"O King, there has been a terrible\nfire in the tailor shop where they were making the wedding garments of\nmy master, Domingo. The tailor and all of his assistants were burned\nto death, and the entire outfit of my master Domingo was destroyed.\nHasn't your majesty something which you could lend him to wear at the\nwedding?\" The king sent the richest garments which his wardrobe\nafforded. Domingo was clothed in state ready for the wedding.\n\n\"I have no palace to which to take my bride,\" said Domingo to the cat.\n\n\"Never mind. I'll see about it at once,\" replied the cat.\n\nThe cat went into the forest to the great castle where the giant\ndwelt. He marched straight up to the big giant and said, \"O Giant, I\nwish to borrow your castle for my master Domingo. Will you not be so\nkind as to lend it to me a little while?\"\n\nThe giant was very much insulted. \"No, indeed, I'll not lend my castle\nto you or your master Domingo or anybody else,\" he shouted in his most\nterrible voice.\n\n\"Very well, then,\" replied the cat. He changed the giant to a piece of\nbacon in the twinkling of an eye and devoured him on the spot.\n\nThe palace of the giant was a very wonderful palace. There was one\nroom decked with silver, and one room decked with gold, and one room\ndecked with diamonds. A beautiful river flowed by the garden gate.\n\nAs Domingo and his bride sailed down the river to the garden gate in\nthe royal barge, they saw the cat sitting in the window singing. After\nthat they never saw him again. He disappeared in the jungle and went\nto make some other poor man rich. Perhaps he will come your way some\nday. Who knows? \"_Quem sabe?_\" they say in Brazil.\n\n\n\n\nTHE END\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's note:\n\n    The drawn-on caption for the illustration \"The giant's\n    daughter, Guimara, was very much pleased with D. Joao\"\n    spells the young man's name \"D. Joao.\" The illustration\n    is the only place this spelling occurs.","title":"Tales of Giants from Brazil","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":22021}