{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_69746/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_69746","id":"gutenberg_69746","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/69746","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Giants -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"The Book of Friendly Giants\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: \u201cGood-by,\u201d he roared. \u201cAnd don\u2019t forget the giant\nRiverrath\u201d]\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n                               THE BOOK OF\n                             FRIENDLY GIANTS\n                             BY EUNICE FULLER\n                         WITH INTRODUCTORY VERSES\n                            BY SEYMOUR BARNARD\n                             AND DRAWINGS BY\n                           PAMELA COLMAN SMITH\n\n                        \u201c_Giants should always be\n                     brotherly with giants, but only\n                           with good giants._\u201d\n\n                                _Maxim of Pantagruel._\n\n                                 NEW YORK\n                           THE CENTURY COMPANY\n\n                           Copyright, 1914, by\n                             THE CENTURY CO.\n\n                        _Published, October, 1914_\n\n                           PRINTED IN U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn Defense of Giants\n\n\nSomehow or other, the giants seem to have got a bad name. No sooner is\nthe word \u201cgiant\u201d mentioned than some one is sure to shrug his shoulders\nand speak in a meaning tone of \u201cJack and the Beanstalk.\u201d Now, this is\nnot only unkind, but, on the giants\u2019 part, quite undeserved. For, as\neverybody who is intimate with them knows, there are very few of the\nBeanstalk variety.\n\nNo self-respecting giant would any more think of threatening a little\nboy, or of grinding up people\u2019s bones to make flour, than would a good\nfairy godmother. Giants\u2019 dispositions are in proportion to the size of\ntheir bodies, and so when they are good, as most of them are, they are\nthe kindest-hearted folk in the world, and like nothing better than\nhelping human beings out of scrapes.\n\nThe trouble is that many of the stories were written by people who do not\nreally know the giants at all, but are so afraid of them as to suppose\nthat giants must be cruel just because they are big. Every one else has\ntaken it for granted that the giants were big enough to take care of\nthemselves, and so nobody has bothered to look into the facts of the\ncase. Mr. Andrew Lang has given us a whole rainbow of books about the\nfairies, but no one seems ever to have written down the whole history of\nthe giants.\n\nThis is a pity, particularly since a great many people have had a chance\nto know the giants intimately. For in the old days the giants used to\nlive all over the world\u2014in Germany, and Ireland, and Norway, and even\nhere in our own country. And since they have moved back into a land of\ntheir own, they have sometimes come into other countries on a visit and a\nbrave Englishman, as you will see, once went to visit them.\n\nThe history of the giants is as simple as their good-natured lives. All\nthe giants came originally from one big giant family. And wherever they\nwent, they kept the same giant ways, and enjoyed playing the same big,\nclumsy jokes on each other.\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nContents\n\n\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n       I  THE GIANT AND THE HERDBOY                                      3\n\n      II  THE GIANTS\u2019 SHIP\n            PART ONE:\u2014HOW THE GIANTS WENT EXPLORING                     31\n            PART TWO:\u2014HOW THE GIANTS\u2019 SHIP WAS STOLEN                   43\n\n     III  HOW THE GIANTS GOT THE BEST OF THOR                           63\n\n      IV  THE CUNNING OF FIN\u2019S WIFE                                     87\n\n       V  HOW JACK FOUND THE GIANT RIVERRATH                           109\n\n      VI  THE GIANTS\u2019 POT                                              147\n\n     VII  THE GIANT WHO RODE ON THE ARK                                171\n\n    VIII  THE WIGWAM GIANTS                                            191\n\n      IX  THE GIANT WHO BECAME A SAINT                                 215\n\n       X  GARGANTUA\n            PART ONE:\u2014HOW GARGANTUA LEARNED HIS LATIN                  235\n            PART TWO:\u2014HOW THE BAKERS WISHED THEY HADN\u2019T                251\n\n      XI  THE MAN WHO WENT TO THE GIANTS\u2019 COUNTRY                      273\n\n     XII  THE GIANT WHO CAME BACK                                      305\n\n\n\n\nFull Page Illustrations\n\n\n                                                                      PAGE\n\n    \u201cGood-by,\u201d he roared. \u201cAnd don\u2019t forget the giant\n      Riverrath\u201d                                             _Frontispiece_\n\n    A fountain that shot up in a silver torrent                         11\n\n    A tremendous palace, all of ice                                     71\n\n    \u201cNo,\u201d said Granua, \u201cI\u2019m down in the valley, picking bilberries\u201d     93\n\n    The giants in the market-place                                     157\n\n    The little man stood on the edge of the chimney                    181\n\n    A tremendous canoe as high as a cliff, and filled with men who\n      seemed to touch the sky                                          195\n\n    \u201cGood day,\u201d said Offero. \u201cCan you tell me the way to the king\n      called Christ?\u201d                                                  223\n\n    He would make it trot or gallop                                    239\n\n    She could not dine without me                                      289\n\n    The trees brushed them                                             321\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: To All Believers]\n\nTo All Believers\n\n    Boys and girls, of those who rate\n    All things true if we believe them,\n    Knocking at your fancy\u2019s gate,\n    Here are giants; pray receive them:\n\n    Friendly folk from every clime,\n    With an honest glee about them;\n    (Ah, the once-upon-a-time!\u2014\n    What would it have been without them?)\n\n    Shambling fellows gray and old,\n    Mighty men of mighty merit;\n    Giants from the frost and cold,\n    And the land which we inherit:\n\n    Boys and girls, we bid you hark\n    While this genial host we rally;\u2014\n    Mad ones, glad ones laugh and lark;\n    Big as fancied, true to tally.\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nThe Giant and the Herdboy\n\n    \u201cWhere is your shepherd,\n    Little white sheep?\n    The moon is at midnight,\n    And sound is your sleep.\n    Where is your shepherd,\n    Little white band?\u201d\n    \u201cWith a great giant\n    In Giantland.\u201d\n\n           _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nI\n\nThe Giant and the Herdboy\n\n\nIvan, the herdboy, lay on the hillside watching the King\u2019s sheep. It was\ngrowing dark, but he did not start for home. For in all the world he had\nno home to go to. There was no one who belonged to him,\u2014neither father\nnor mother, nor brother nor sister, nor grandfather nor grandmother, nor\nso much as a stepmother. Even his best friends, the sheep, belonged to\nthe King.\n\nIvan took good care of them nevertheless; and got his black bread and\nwhite cheese to eat in return. Day and night he stayed with his flock\nout in the open field; and only when the storm beat down very wet did he\ncrawl into the little hut he had built at the edge of the forest.\n\nIt was not so very lonely after all. For there were ninety-nine sheep to\nkeep out of bogs and briers. And besides, there were ever so many good\ngames he could play by himself, vaulting over the bushes with his crook\nand playing little tunes on a reed.\n\nIt was only at the dead of night when he woke up to hear the wolves\nhowling, howling in the dark, and the icy shivers began to chase each\nother along his back, that he couldn\u2019t help wishing for a warm bed at\nhome, with a stout father sleeping nearby.\n\nBut the queer part was that whenever he thought what kind of father\nhe should like to have, he could think of nobody but the King himself\nmounted on his charger. And as for a mother, who could be better than\nthe Queen with her nice, motherly arms that hugged the little Princess\nAnastasia? When it came to a sister, Ivan could imagine no one more\nsatisfactory than the Princess herself with her whisking curls and her\nblue eyes that were roguish and friendly both at the same time. But that,\nof course, was out of the question. So he contented himself with naming\nthe softest, whitest, curliest lamb Anastasia, and let it go at that.\n\nBut to-night as he lay on the hillside he couldn\u2019t help thinking what fun\nit would be if the lamb Anastasia were really the Princess, and all the\nother sheep were boys and girls so that they could play hide-and-seek\ntogether among the rocks and bushes in the moonlight. But the sheep had\nlong since nestled down on the hill, and there was nothing for Ivan but\nto watch the moon as it came up and up behind the black mountain across\nthe valley. His eyes began to blink, and he felt himself slipping,\nslipping off to sleep.\n\n[Illustration: Ivan listened]\n\nA cry broke through the quiet pasture. Ivan started up. \u201cWolves!\u201d said\nhis heart. \u201cWolves! Wolves again!\u201d But it was not a fierce sound after\nall. Again it came, loud like a roar of temper wailing off into a moan.\n\nIvan listened. \u201cNo sheep could bleat like that,\u201d thought he. Nevertheless\nhe looked. There in the moonlight the nine-and-ninety woolly shapes shone\ndimly, huddled safely against the hill.\n\nOnce more the sound came, fairly bursting through the air. Ivan held his\nbreath. It was not the cry of animals but of men, of several men perhaps,\nshouting together. \u201cA party of hunters,\u201d thought Ivan, \u201clost in the\nforest!\u201d And he breathed again.\n\nPicking up his crook, he dashed off up the hill, along the edge of the\nwood. \u201cI\u2019m coming!\u201d he shouted. \u201cComing!\u201d But the hunters did not seem\nto hear. The same cry kept ringing through the trees ahead, louder at\nevery step he ran. It seemed directly opposite him now, somewhere in the\nforest. He turned in, feeling his way with his crook among the black\nshadows of the branches.\n\nThere was a crashing and stirring. The trees before him trembled. Ivan\nstopped and looked up. Full in the moonlight, half way to the treetops,\ngleamed the gigantic shoulder of a man. His head was bent, and he seemed\nto be sitting down, gazing intently at something near the ground. As he\nmoved his arm, the trees swayed and creaked.\n\nIvan crept nearer. Through an opening between the trees he could see the\ngiant\u2019s great hands fumbling over his foot. With a piece of fur he was\ntrying to stop a small cataract of blood that was bursting out from it.\nEvery now and then, in his clumsy efforts, he seemed to hurt himself\nmore, for he would throw back his head and give the same deafening howl\nIvan had heard before.\n\nIvan shivered. In all his life he had never seen a giant; and terrified\nas he was, he must have a good look at this one. Crouching, he stole\nthrough the shadow to a little thicket at the giant\u2019s side, and parting\nthe twigs, leaned eagerly forward. But he had reckoned too much on the\nbushes. Under his weight they cracked and bent, and snapped altogether.\nHis foot slipped, and losing his balance, he crashed through the brush at\nthe giant\u2019s very elbow.\n\nWith a swoop the giant grasped at him. But Ivan was too quick. He dodged\njust out of reach, and ran as he had never run before.\n\n\u201cLittle creature! Little creature!\u201d called the giant, \u201cdon\u2019t run away. I\nwon\u2019t hurt you. Come back, do come back and help me. If you will bind up\nmy foot for me, I will give you a reward.\u201d\n\nIvan\u2019s heart thumped. The giant could crush him in one of his great\nhands. But he was in pain, and he had a kindly face. It would be mean to\nleave him there alone.\n\n\u201cOh, little creature,\u201d moaned the giant again, \u201cdon\u2019t leave me. I promise\nI won\u2019t hurt you. Do come, do come.\u201d\n\nIvan turned. Stanchly he walked over to the giant\u2019s foot, and running his\nhand gently along the sole, picked the rocks and pebbles out of the great\ngash.\n\nThe giant sighed with relief. \u201cThank you!\u201d he said. \u201cI hurt it rooting up\nan oak-tree, and then I walked on it.\u201d\n\nIvan pulled off his blouse, and tore it into long pieces. Knotting them\ntogether, he made a strip five or six yards long. He laid it against the\nwound, and the giant drew it over the top of the foot where it was hard\nfor him to reach. Between them they made a neat, firm bandage of it, with\nall the knots on top.\n\nThe giant beamed. \u201cThat feels better,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd now, little herdboy,\nI will show you how a giant keeps his word. If you are not afraid to sit\nupon my shoulder, I will take you where no little creature has ever been:\nto see a giants\u2019 merrymaking. We are holding a wedding-feast now, and\nthere will be plenty of fun, you may be sure. Come, I will take good care\nof you.\u201d\n\nIvan picked up his crook. This would be more fun than hide-and-seek on\nthe hill. He was not in the least afraid, and he felt on good terms with\nthe giant already. \u201cI\u2019d _like_ to go,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cGood! Good!\u201d cried the giant, chuckling with the noise of a happy\nwaterfall. \u201cUp with you, then. Lean against my neck, and take tight hold\nof my long hair.\u201d And with that, he picked Ivan gently up and tucked him\nsnugly just below his right ear.\n\n[Illustration: The giants danced]\n\n\u201cWhy, you\u2019re too light! I can\u2019t feel you at all!\u201d he gurgled, as if it\nwere the best joke in the world. \u201cAnd I must fix it so that my brothers\ncan\u2019t _see_ you. Here is a belt for you. Put it on, and you will be quite\ninvisible.\u201d\n\nSo he handed Ivan a long piece of gray gauze, so fine that in the\nmoonlight he could hardly see it at all. Ivan tied it about his waist.\nAnd then although he pinched himself and knew quite well that he was all\nthere, he couldn\u2019t so much as see his own toes.\n\nAs for the giant, now that he could neither see Ivan nor feel his weight,\nhe began to be a little nervous. \u201cOnce in a while,\u201d he said, \u201cI wish\nyou\u2019d stand up and shout my name \u2018Costan\u2019 into my ear, so that I\u2019ll know\nyou haven\u2019t tumbled off. And now, are you ready? Hold tight, and we\u2019ll go\non.\u201d\n\nCostan raised himself, and strode off with a long, limping step through\nthe forest. To Ivan it was like being on a great ship at sea, going up\na long wave, and down. He felt that he might fall asleep if it were not\nsuch fun sitting there on Costan\u2019s shoulder and watching the treetops\nglide past the moon.\n\nThe trees grew fewer and fewer. Ivan swung around, and peered ahead,\nclinging to Costan\u2019s hair. They were coming to a great open space in the\nmidst of the forest, a meadow thronged with giants and giantesses. There\nseemed to be hundreds of them, dressed not like Costan in skins but in\nwonderful shimmering garments that blew about their shoulders like clouds\nof mist in the moonlight. In the center of them all was a huge fountain\nthat shot up in a silver torrent far above their heads.\n\nOne of the giants came running to meet Costan. \u201cOh, here you are!\u201d he\ncried. \u201cWe were afraid you weren\u2019t coming.\u201d And with that, he gave him a\nfriendly pat on the shoulder that nearly sent Ivan spinning off a hundred\nfeet or more to the ground.\n\nCostan explained about his hurt foot. \u201cI\u2019ll just sit and look on for\nto-night,\u201d he said, and chuckled to himself, thinking of Ivan.\n\n[Illustration: A fountain that shot up in a silver torrent]\n\nAnd so Ivan, safely nestled on Costan\u2019s shoulder, watched till his eyes\nstood out, as the giants danced and played giant games, chasing each\nother through the fountain, with a shower of spray like a whirling\nrainstorm. They wrestled, they leaped, they sang till all the trees\ntrembled.\n\n[Illustration: She pulled up a fir-tree]\n\nJust as the fun was at its liveliest, there was a mighty gurgle, and\nthe fountain, which had been casting itself so high into the air, sank\nsuddenly into the earth. The oldest giantess of all gathered her great\nfluttering robes about her, and striding to the edge of the forest,\npulled up a fir-tree with one wrench of her wrist.\n\n\u201cMidnight!\u201d whispered Costan.\n\nSilently the giants crowded about the uprooted tree.\n\n\u201c_Este tennes!_\u201d cried the giantess.\n\n[Illustration: They cut into the ground like huge knives]\n\nInstantly the giants seemed to flatten out. Their backs seemed to come\nforward, and their fronts to shrink back. Their arms, their legs, their\nheads, their bodies, grew thin as cardboard. They stood there like great\npaper-dolls, taller than the trees. One by one, they stepped into the\nhole where the tree had been, and cut their way down into the ground like\nhuge knives.\n\nCostan bent his ear. \u201cAre you there, little herdboy?\u201d he whispered.\n\n\u201cYes, Costan,\u201d cried Ivan.\n\n\u201cKeep tight hold, then,\u201d cautioned Costan, \u201cand don\u2019t be afraid. I\u2019m\ngoing to take you with me underground.\u201d\n\nAs the last giant vanished, Costan got up slowly and walked toward the\nhole. With every step, Ivan could feel him shrinking, until his shoulder\nwas nothing but a long, thin edge.\n\nThere was a quick moment of darkness, and suddenly they were in a hall\nshining from floor to ceiling with gold, and so vast that Ivan could\nnot see to the end of it. Down the center, around a long table sat the\ngiants, all in their natural shapes again.\n\nCostan slipped into the huge seat that was left for him, and the banquet\nwent merrily on. To Ivan, who never in all his life had had anything\nbut bread and cheese, with a little fruit sometimes and a sugar cake at\nChristmas, it seemed an impossible dream. There were grapes as big as the\noranges above ground, pheasants the size of eagles, and cakes and tarts\nand puddings as big around as the towers of the King\u2019s palace.\n\nBut Costan sat silent and uneasy. Then Ivan realized what was the matter:\n_Costan was not sure that Ivan was there_. Steadying himself with his\ncrook, Ivan scrambled up. Standing on tiptoe, he could almost reach the\ngiant\u2019s ear.\n\n\u201cCostan!\u201d he whispered, as loud as he dared, \u201cI\u2019m here,\u2014all safe.\u201d\n\nCostan beamed with relief, and fell to joking and eating with the rest.\nBut every now and then he would poise a tiny piece of cake or meat\ncarelessly above his right shoulder, where Ivan would make it disappear\nas completely as he had himself.\n\nAt last the oldest giantess rose in her place, to show that the banquet\nhad come to an end. Amid all the jollity and confusion Costan leaned over\nand took from the table a giant roll, as big to Ivan as a whole loaf of\nbread.\n\n\u201cHere!\u201d he whispered, below the scraping of the giant chairs. \u201cTuck this\nin your bag, little herdboy, as a reminder of a giant\u2019s promise. And\ndon\u2019t forget Costan in the world up above.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke, everything was suddenly lost in a whirl of darkness,\u2014the\ngiants, the hall and the feast, even Costan himself. The shouts and\nlaughter of the huge banqueters grew fainter and fainter till they faded\naway into silence.\n\nA sudden bleat made Ivan open his eyes. He was lying on the hillside near\nhis sheep, and the mountain across the valley glowed red in the sunrise.\n\n\u201cAnd so,\u201d thought Ivan sadly, \u201cit was a dream after all,\u2014the giants, the\nfountain, the banquet, and dear Costan as well.\u201d\n\nHe reached for his crook, and started back in amazement. For though he\ncould feel the handle tightly grasped in his fingers, it seemed to his\nstartled eyes that the crook suddenly rose up of itself and stood clearly\noutlined against the morning sky. As he stepped back, the crook sprang\nafter him. When he walked forward, the crook bobbed along by his side. He\ncould feel his hand upon it, but when he looked he could see plainly that\nthere was no hand there.\n\nIvan rubbed his eyes. Was he still dreaming then? But no, everything was\njust as usual,\u2014the sheep, the hillside and the morning sky. Was it he or\nthe crook that was bewitched? He looked down at himself in alarm,\u2014and saw\nnothing but the stones and grass of the pasture. _There was no Ivan to be\nseen_: no arms nor hands nor legs nor feet.\n\nA sudden thought came over him. He felt of his waist. Sure enough! It was\ntied about with gauze.\n\n\u201cThe invisible belt!\u201d he cried, and pulled it off.\n\nIn a twinkling there he was, arms, legs, hands, feet, just the same\nas ever. He folded up the long, wispy sash and stuck it into his bag.\nInside, his hand hit something hard and bulgy. It was the giant\u2019s\nroll,\u2014the great loaf Costan had given him.\n\nIt was past Ivan\u2019s breakfast time, and the sight of the tempting white\nbread made him hungry. He tried to break off a piece, but the great roll\nwould not so much as bend. He drew out his knife, but the harder he cut,\nthe firmer and sounder the loaf seemed to be. He could not even dent it.\n\nProvoked and impatient, he tried with his teeth. At the first bite, the\nhard crust yielded. Something cold and slippery struck his tongue and\nrolled out clinking on the ground.\n\nIvan stooped and stared. There at his feet lay a great round gold-piece\nas big as a peppermint-drop. In amazement he looked at the loaf in his\nhand. There was not a break anywhere. It was as smooth and whole as\nbefore. He bit again and again. Another gold-piece, and another, fell\nat his feet, as round and shining as the first. But the loaf remained\nunbroken.\n\nIvan\u2019s eyes almost started from his head. In all his life he had never\nseen a gold-piece before; and whatever he should do with so many he had\nnot the least idea. He might, of course, build a palace and live like a\nlord. But that would take him away from the sheep, and the King and Queen\nand Anastasia. On the whole, he decided he was much better as he was,\nwhere he could roll the gold-pieces down the hill and race after them to\nthe bottom.\n\nThen a splendid idea struck him. To-morrow was the Princess\u2019 birthday.\nFor a long time he had been wondering what he could give her. Here\nwas just the thing! What could be better than a heap of the pretty\ngold-pieces to play with? He sat down at once, and bit and bit at the\nloaf till he had enough of them to fill his bag to overflowing. Bag,\nloaf, belt, and all, he hid in his hut at the edge of the forest. Then he\nate his black bread and cheese and went back to his sheep, bounding over\nthe boulders for sheer happiness.\n\nAs soon as the sheep were settled for the night, he ran to the hut again.\nTying the magic belt about his waist, he took up the bag of gold-pieces\nand trudged off with them across the fields.\n\nIn the moonlight the palace towers rose straight and shining. Every\nwindow gleamed, darkly outlined. Ivan did not hesitate. He knew quite\nwell which one he wanted. It was the window of the Birthday Room, where\nonce every year all the servants and the shepherds were allowed to come\nto see Anastasia\u2019s presents. To-morrow, he thought, with a catch of his\nbreath, would be the day.\n\nThe bulky form of a guard broke the bright wall of the palace ahead. For\nan instant Ivan shrank back. Then with a smothered laugh he dashed across\nthe grass, underneath the man\u2019s very nose. The guard turned sharply. But\nthere was no one to be seen. Palace and park lay bright and still in the\nmoonlight.\n\nIvan had gained the palace wall. Just as he had remembered, a stout\nvine with the trunk of a small tree ran up the side to the very window\nof the Birthday Room. He tried it with his foot. It would not have held\na man, but it could bear Ivan even with a bag of gold. Breathless, he\nclimbed,\u2014so fast that the vine had barely time to tremble before he was\nat the top. At his shoulder the casement of the Birthday Room stood ajar.\nWith one tug he swung it open, and leaned across the sill.\n\nIvan gazed. On broad chests all about the room glimmered jewels and toys\nfor the Princess; and in the doorway stood a guard, erect and silent,\nwatching over them. Underneath the window, deep in shadow, was a low,\ncushioned seat.\n\n[Illustration: Every window gleamed]\n\nSomething jangled on the floor; and the guard stooped to pick up a knife\nfallen from his belt. Instantly, Ivan saw his chance. Holding his bag,\nbottom up, on the window seat, he loosened the strings, letting the gold\nfall in a heap in the black shadow. By the time the guard had adjusted\nhis belt again, Ivan was out of the window, climbing down the vine.\n\nNext morning, everything was a-buzz at the palace. The servants\nand shepherds, filing around the Birthday Room, barely glanced at\nthe gorgeous jewels. Every eye was fixed on a glittering pile of\ngold-pieces in a glass case. They were worth a king\u2019s fortune, people\nsaid. The Princess could buy with them anything in the world her heart\ndesired,\u2014castles or coaches, jewels or gowns. And the mystery of it was,\nno one knew who had sent them. They had suddenly appeared in the middle\nof the night. The whole court was alive with conjectures.\n\nIvan, filing by with the others, said never a word; but his heart thumped\nwith pride and happiness. Through a half-open door he could see Anastasia\nherself using four of the great round gold-pieces as dishes for her\ndolls. Ivan beamed. To-morrow, he decided, the Princess should have a\nbirthday as well as to-day.\n\nAs soon as it was dark, he hurried to his hut, drew out the magic\nloaf from its hiding-place, and bit and bit till he had a bagful of\ngold-pieces again. Then he put on his invisible belt and ran to the\npalace. Everything happened almost as before; and he got away, down the\nvine, and back to his sheep before any one was the wiser.\n\nOn the window-seat next morning the Princess found the shining heap.\nAnd if the court had been excited before, now it was in an uproar of\nastonishment. Hereafter, the King ordered, two guards should stand hidden\nbeside the window to discover who it was that brought the gold.\n\nSo night after night for a week Ivan left the gold-pieces. And morning\nafter morning the guards reported to the King that no one had been there.\nThe window, they said, had suddenly swung open; and a bag, jumping\nunaided from the sill, had emptied itself on the seat below, disappearing\nthrough the window as magically as it had come. At last the King, tired\nof the mystery, declared that he would watch himself.\n\nThe eighth night was dark and rainy, and Ivan slipped over the soggy\nground. When he got to the entrance of the park, he realized with a\ndreadful sinking of his heart that he had forgotten to put on the magic\nbelt. He turned to go back, but the thought of the dismal, stormy walk\nmade him suddenly bold. The palace-guards, he reflected, would be keeping\nclose to shelter, a night like this. He could easily escape them, and\ncrawl up the vine unsuspected. Once at the window, he had only to watch\nhis chance, pop in the gold, and fly back in the darkness to his sheep.\n\nSo Ivan kept on. He stole softly by the guard-house where the lazy\nsoldier lounged half asleep, and crept stealthily up the dripping vine.\nThe window swung open with a creak, and Ivan, frightened, crouched\nbreathless beneath the sill. Minutes passed. There was a stir behind one\nof the great curtains. The guard was moving. Now perhaps would be the\nbest time.\n\nIvan reached over and began emptying his bag. A heavy hand seized his\ncollar and dragged him bodily into the room. By the light of a flickering\nlantern Ivan found himself face to face with\u2014the King!\n\n\u201cIvan!\u201d exclaimed the King.\n\nThere was a pause, Ivan blushing like a culprit, with the empty bag\ntrembling in his hands.\n\nThe King frowned. \u201cTo think that you,\u201d he cried, \u201cmy best herdboy, whom I\nhave trusted, should come to steal the gold which a good fairy brings the\nPrincess! Well, you have given me good service before this, and I will\nnot treat you harshly now. But go, go at once, and never let me see your\nface again.\u201d\n\nAnd with that, he led him down a staircase and thrust him out into the\ndark.\n\nChoking and wretched, Ivan ran back to his hut. Gathering up his loaf and\nbelt, he crammed them into his bag, and started off into the world.\n\n\u201cGood-by, my sheep!\u201d he cried; and stooped to fondle the little lamb\nAnastasia.\n\n\u201cI suppose now,\u201d he reflected miserably, \u201cI shall have to be a great lord\nafter all.\u201d\n\nBy the time he got to the town, day was breaking. The rain had stopped,\nand rosy clouds floated across the eastern sky. A sunbeam slanted over\nthe roof tops, and shone into Ivan\u2019s face. He felt happier all of a\nsudden; and taking his loaf, he bit a dozen great gold-pieces out of it.\nThen wrapping it up in the magic belt so that no one could see it, he\nknocked at a cottage door. Inside, he found a warm breakfast, and dried\nhimself off by the fire.\n\nA dazzling scheme slowly unfolded in his mind. As soon as breakfast was\ndone, he went to the coachmaker and ordered a great gold coach; to the\ntailor and ordered a golden suit; to the hatter for a hat with golden\nplumes. And when the tradespeople heard the clink of his gold-pieces,\nthey were very glad to serve him, you may be sure.\n\nOnly the coachmaker demurred. \u201cA gold coach is nothing,\u201d said he,\n\u201cwithout a coat-of-arms on the door.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut I haven\u2019t any,\u201d said Ivan.\n\n\u201cNever mind!\u201d replied the coachmaker, \u201cI will make you one. How did your\ngood-luck begin?\u201d\n\n\u201cFrom a loaf of bread,\u201d said Ivan, \u201cand a giant.\u201d\n\nSo, the coachmaker painted and painted on the coach-door. When he had\nfinished, there was as fine a coat-of-arms as you would wish to see,\u2014a\nloaf of bread against a background of gold-pieces, and a giant standing\nup above.\n\n[Illustration: Ivan\u2019s coat-of-arms]\n\nThen six white horses with gold trappings were harnessed to the coach;\nand six servants in golden livery took their places,\u2014two riding ahead,\ntwo riding behind, and two sitting up very straight on the box. Ivan\nstepped inside, all dressed in his golden suit and the hat with the\ngolden plumes. Underneath his arm he carried the giant\u2019s loaf wrapped up\nin the magic belt. (But of course nobody could see that.)\n\n\u201cDrive to the King\u2019s palace!\u201d cried Ivan.\n\nSo they drove; and all the people along the way were so amazed at the\nmagnificence of the coach that they ran and told the King that some great\nprince was coming to visit him. The King dashed to put on his crown; and\njust as the coach drew up at the palace gate, he got seated on his throne\nwith all his court about him.\n\n[Illustration: So they drove]\n\nIvan walked up the great hall and bowed low. And all the courtiers bowed\nin return to the splendid young prince. Before the King could say a word,\nIvan threw back his head and told the story of the gold-pieces from\nbeginning to end.\n\nFor a moment the King was dumb with astonishment and remorse. Then he\nspoke. \u201cIvan,\u201d said he, \u201cI have done you a wrong. If there is anything I\ncan do to make it right, you have only to tell me.\u201d\n\nIvan beamed. \u201cThere is only one thing in all the world I want,\u201d he\ncried, \u201cand that is to have you for my father, the Queen for my mother,\nand Anastasia for my sister!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere is your real father?\u201d asked the King.\n\n\u201cAnd where is your real mother?\u201d asked the Queen.\n\n\u201cWhere is your real sister?\u201d cried Anastasia.\n\nBut to all these questions the herdboy gave a satisfactory answer. \u201cI\nnever had any,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cVery well then,\u201d cried the King. \u201cYou are ADOPTED! I will be your\nfather; the Queen shall be your mother; Anastasia shall be your sister.\nWhat is more, in five years and a day, when you are quite grown-up, you\nshall marry the Princess!\u201d\n\nBut by the time he got to that part Ivan and Anastasia were too much\nexcited to hear. The minute he finished they bowed and curtsied as\nwell-mannered children should, and ran into the courtyard to play\ntiddledywinks with the gold-pieces, over the bread.\n\nNevertheless, it turned out as the King had said, and in five years and a\nday, when they were quite grown-up, Ivan and the Princess were married.\nAnd ever after in the palace-treasury instead of heaps of gold-pieces for\nrobbers to steal, there was nothing but a single loaf of bread.\n\n                                        \u2014_Based on a Hungarian Folk-tale._\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nThe Giants\u2019 Ship\n\n    To The Giant Children\n\n    Giant children of the Norseland,\n    In a glad, tumultuous rally,\n    Skimming ice-peaked mountain-course land,\n    Crushing forests in the valley,\u2014\n\n    We who play in farm and town land,\n    Crowded streets and city spaces,\n    Envy you the Up-and-Down Land,\n    While you seek the level places.\n\n                            _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nII\n\nThe Giants\u2019 Ship\n\n\nPart One: How the Giants Went Exploring\n\nAfter the earth was newly washed by the Flood, nearly all the land of\nEurope lay flat and green under the sun. Except in one far corner there\nwas not a mountain nor a valley nor a hill nor a hollow, nor so much as\na little stream. The soft young grass stretched away and away, in a wide\nmeadow, as far as one could see.\n\nBut there was nobody there to look. For all the people there were, lived\nin the Up-and-Down Country, on a great forked point in the Far North. And\nthat was a very different kind of place, with mountains that went up and\nvalleys that went down, cliffs that rose and cascades that fell, and not\nso much flat land as a giant could cover with his pocket-handkerchief.\n\nBut the giant Wind-and-Weather, who lived there, did not mind that in the\nleast. He sat quite placidly on a mountain-top and looked through a kind\nof glass that he had, out over the sea. As for his wife, the giantess\nSun-and-Sea, nothing bothered her. She sat on a cliff and wove on a kind\nof loom that she had, back and forth, back and forth, with a noise like\nthe long ocean rollers on a fair day.\n\n[Illustration: Playing Follow-the-Leader down the long row of peaks]\n\nWhen it came to the children, they never sat at all. Like the country,\nthey were always going up or down,\u2014sliding down the mountains, scrambling\nup the waterfalls, or playing Follow-the-Leader, hoppety-skip,\nskippety-hop, straight down the long row of peaks that made their home.\n\nAnd when they all played together, it made rather a good game. For\nthere were fourteen of them, sturdy youngsters, each over a mile high,\nand growing fifty feet or so every day. Then too, they happened in\nthe jolliest way, for they came in pairs so that every one had his\ntwin. There were Handsig and Grandsig, Kildarg and Hildarg, Besseld and\nHesseld, Holdwig and Voldwig, Gr\u00fcnweg and Br\u00fcnweg, Bratzen and Gratzen,\nMutzen and Putzen,\u2014a boy and a girl, a boy and a girl, a boy and a girl,\nstraight down through.\n\nNow, one morning, with Handsig ahead and Putzen straggling somewhere\nbehind, they were all playing Follow-the-Leader, rather harder than\nusual. Handsig had rolled down peaks, and wriggled up, hopped on one foot\nand jumped on two, turned somersaults and splashed through waterfalls.\nAnd the whole line of them had come rolling, wriggling, hopping, jumping,\ntumbling, splashing after. Being put to it for something to do next,\nHandsig started on the dead run from peak to peak, straight along the\nmountain-tops.\n\nAll of a sudden he stopped short. Ahead of him were no more mountains,\nonly a straight drop thousands of feet to the sea. He had come, before\nhe knew it, to the end of the Up-and-Down Country. But that was not what\nmade Handsig stop so quickly. He had been to the end of the land before.\nIt was something beyond the water that attracted him,\u2014another country so\ndifferent from his that at first it did not seem to be land at all. There\nwas no up or down in it. It stretched flat and green as far as he could\nsee.\n\nHandsig waved his arms and shouted, \u201cOh, Kildarg, Hildarg, Besseld,\nHesseld, see the nice, green running-place!\u201d\n\nAnd all the other children, thinking it was still part of the game, waved\ntheir arms and shouted, \u201cOh, Kildarg, Hildarg, Besseld, Hesseld, see the\nnice, green running-place.\u201d\n\nBy that time Handsig had no doubt any longer. Without another word he\nplunged headforemost into the sea, and swam with all his might straight\nfor the wide meadow that was the rest of Europe.\n\nSplash! Splash! Splash! The other children dived after, and puffing,\nblowing, kicking, raced across the channel. Then hand in hand, fourteen\nin a row, they scampered pell-mell down across the plain where Germany is\nto-day.\n\nBut with swimming so hard and running so fast, poor Putzen was quite\nout of breath. It was so strange, too, to be going along on a level. It\ndid not pitch one forward; it did not hold one back. It was just the\nsame\u2014just the same, step after step after step. The twenty-six legs\nbeside Putzen did not stop for a minute; they beat along faster and\nfaster. Putzen hung on to Mutzen as best she could, but her legs would\nnot go and her breath would not come. And so, gasping and plunging, she\nsprawled headlong, pulling Mutzen after her.\n\nMutzen dragged down Gratzen, and Gratzen dragged down Bratzen; and so\nthey all tumbled till the land for miles around was a mass of upturned\nturf and sprawling giant children. Then Bratzen wailed, and Gratzen\nwailed; and Mutzen and Putzen who were at the bottom of the whole pile,\nwailed loudest of all; and the air was so full of large sounds that it\nseemed likely to burst.\n\nNow, Grandsig, who felt responsible as the oldest girl of the family,\nstarted to scramble up to quiet Mutzen and Putzen. As she did so, her\nhands dug into the soft, moist earth, and scratched up two good-sized\nhills. A happy idea struck her. \u201cKildarg! Hildarg!\u201d she cried. \u201cLook!\u201d\nAnd she burrowed into the earth again, scooping up handful after handful.\n\nKildarg sat up and wiped his eyes. Hildarg sat up and wiped her eyes.\nThen they both began to dig as if their lives depended on it. In a\ntwinkling, there were no more giant children piled on top of Mutzen and\nPutzen; and twenty-eight giant hands were scooping out valleys and piling\nup mountains of earth.\n\nHandsig and Grandsig made big mountains; Mutzen and Putzen made little\nones. Every single giant child piled up a whole range higher than he was\nhimself. Then, when all of them were done, there was such a patting and\na pounding as never was heard before, as the valleys were smoothed, and\nthe mountains molded into shape. There were sharp peaks and blunt peaks,\nsmooth peaks and rough peaks, single peaks, double peaks, triple peaks.\nAs for the valleys, they were of all sorts,\u2014straight and crooked, wide\nand narrow, long and short.\n\nGrandsig looked at it all, quite satisfied. \u201cOh, children,\u201d she cried,\n\u201cwe have made an Up-and-Down Country!\u201d\n\nThe other children looked. Sure enough! It was nothing but hills and\nhollows, hills and hollows, just as it was at home. And they all danced\nabout and cried, \u201cHooray! We have made an Up-and-Down Country.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cThere is your mast,\u201d said Wind-and-Weather]\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Handsig, \u201clet\u2019s run!\u201d\n\nSo all the children stepped out from between the mountains they had made,\nto run back again to the sea.\n\n\u201cBut oh!\u201d cried Kildarg, \u201cwhere is our nice green running-place?\u201d\n\nThe children gasped. Instead of their flat grass plot were miles and\nmiles of mudholes, hardening in the sun. As far as they could see, their\ngreen meadow was scarred with row after row of great black hollows,\u2014the\nmarks of their twenty-eight running feet.\n\nThat was too much for Putzen, and she sat down on one of her mountains\nand wept a whole lake into a valley. As for the other giantesses, they\ndid very little better, and even Grandsig wept a few giant tears, as she\ntried to think what they could ever do to get their running-place back\nagain.\n\n\u201cI know!\u201d she cried at last. \u201cWe\u2019ll go home and ask father to build us a\nship; and then we\u2019ll sail till we find another running-place.\u201d\n\nWhen a giantess starts to weep, she has so many tears and such large\nones, that it is very hard to stop. So, although the children set off\nat once for home, it was some time before Putzen, Gratzen, and Br\u00fcnweg,\nHesseld, Hildarg and Voldwig were smiling again. And their tears, in a\ngreat torrent, flowed after them, over the hubbles, around among the\nhollows, and out toward the sea.\n\nThey cried, in fact, so hard and so much that even to-day their tears\nare still flowing,\u2014for they gathered and gathered until they became the\nriver Rhine. As for the mountains the giant children built, they too are\nstill there. They hardened until they became quite firm and rocky, so\nthat nowadays in Switzerland people are continually climbing up and over\nthem. And the place where the giant children made, so to speak, the first\nmud-pies, has been called the Playground of Europe ever since.\n\n[Illustration: With as many trees as they could drag]\n\nWhen the children got home, there was old Wind-and-Weather sitting as\nusual on a mountain-top and looking through a kind of glass that he had,\nout to sea.\n\n\u201cOh, father,\u201d they cried, \u201cwe want a ship to sail the sea to find a\nrunning-place again.\u201d\n\nOld Wind-and-Weather was not disturbed in the least. He got up, put his\nglass into his pocket, and walked along the mountain-ridge. With one slow\nwrench, he pulled up by the roots a tree taller than he was himself.\n\n\u201cThere is your mast,\u201d said Wind-and-Weather.\n\nThen, Handsig and Grandsig pulled up big trees for beams to make the\nsides and keel; Mutzen and Putzen pulled up little trees for oars. And\nwith as many trees as they could drag, they all trooped after their\nfather down to the seashore.\n\nHalf-way down there was the giantess Sun-and-Sea, sitting as usual on a\ncliff and weaving on a kind of loom that she had.\n\n\u201cOh, mother,\u201d cried the children, \u201chelp us. We are building a ship to\nsail the sea to find a running-place again.\u201d\n\nSun-and-Sea was not disturbed in the least. She got up and took out of\nher loom a sheet longer than she was herself.\n\n\u201cThere is your sail,\u201d said Sun-and-Sea.\n\nWind-and-Weather took the sail down to the shore, and the children began\nsuch a hacking and planing and pounding as no shipyard has ever heard. In\njust a few hours of giant time, there was the great ship with the mast\nset and the sail rigged, ready to be launched.\n\nMutzen and Putzen climbed in and took their oars; and the others pushed\nand pulled until the boat, slipping and grating, shot out into the water.\nMutzen and Putzen, having nothing to christen it with, beat on the sides\nwith their oars and cried, \u201cWe name you _Mannigfual_!\u201d\n\n\u201c_Mannigfual!_\u201d echoed the other children. \u201cThe giants\u2019 good ship\n_Mannigfual_!\u201d\n\nThe children climbed in and took the oars. Wind-and-Weather took the\ntiller. And there they were, skipping along over the sea. When the wind\nblew against them, the children rowed and sang. When the wind blew with\nthem, they set the sail and strained their eyes to find a running-place\nahead across the water. As for Wind-and-Weather, no matter which way the\nwind blew, he sat and steered.\n\nNow, it must never be forgotten that giants\u2019 time is as big as they are;\nand half a year to them was scarcely more than a day. Our night and day\nthey did not bother about in the least, for their big eyes looked through\nthe dark as well as the light. Sunrise and sunset were no more to them\nthan the revolving of a lighthouse lamp to us. But the minute a half-year\nwas up, the giants\u2019 night began, and giant children felt then very much\nas ordinary children feel in the evening after eight o\u2019clock has struck.\n\n_Mannigfual_ had not sailed many hundred miles when the giants\u2019 night\ncame on. Mutzen and Putzen knew that it was coming, because their heads\nand their arms and their legs began to feel so very much in the way.\nSoon they lost track of their oars altogether, their heads bumped,\ntheir mouths dropped open, and there they were,\u2014fast asleep. Then\nGratzen yawned, and Bratzen yawned,\u2014all the rest even up to Handsig and\nGrandsig. But somehow or other they managed to keep on rowing.\n\nWind-and-Weather took out his glass and scanned the sea ahead. In a\nlittle while they all saw what he was steering for. It was land. A few\nminutes more, and they had dropped overboard the great cliff they had\nbrought for an anchor.\n\nWind-and-Weather picked up Mutzen and Putzen. With one against each\nshoulder, he stepped leisurely out and waded ashore. The children jumped\nafter, splashing and rubbing their eyes. Straight ahead was a wide\nvalley. Wind-and-Weather laid Mutzen and Putzen in that; and picking out\na convenient hill for a pillow, stretched himself across the landscape.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Handsig, looking around, \u201cI don\u2019t think much of this as a\nrunning-place!\u201d\n\nAnd quite right he was. For there was nothing flat or broad about it.\nThe whole country was broken up into little hills, little valleys,\nlittle fields, little forests. But Handsig might have spared his words,\nfor there was nobody to listen. So he fitted himself neatly between two\nhills, and snored as loudly as the others.\n\n\nPart Two: How the Giants\u2019 Ship Was Stolen\n\nNow, it happened that the giants had landed in the North of England,\nwhich even in that early time was inhabited by the race of men. And\nalthough there was only wilderness in the part where the giants had\nstretched themselves, a few miles down the shore was the cave of the\npirates, Dare-and-Do, Catch-and-Kill, Fear-and-Fly.\n\n[Illustration: Dare-and-Do, Catch-and-Kill, Fear-and-Fly]\n\nThe morning after the giants landed, Dare-and-Do was awakened unusually\nearly. Somewhere outside the dark of the cave, the air seemed full of\nrumblings and the noise of great waves beating on the beach. Dare-and-Do\nyawned irritably. He was wondering how their old long-boat was standing\nit, tied under the cliff. Drawing his dirk, he reached over and pricked\nhis comrades awake, after the pleasant custom of the cave.\n\n\u201cStorm!\u201d hissed Dare-and-Do.\n\nGroping and growling, the three pirates got up to look after their boat,\nand stumbled out\u2014into as fair and innocent a day as ever dawned off\nEngland. The thunderings kept on, but there was not a cloud in the sky.\nThe waves still pounded, but they burst white and glittering into the\nsunlight.\n\nCatch-and-Kill turned crossly. \u201cThe storm\u2019s over,\u201d he said.\n\nBut Fear-and-Fly stood where he was, pointing out to sea, and shaking\nfrom head to foot. \u201cSea-serpent!\u201d he gasped.\n\nThe others looked. There, a mile or so out at sea, stretched a great\nmonster, motionless and stiff. Was it after all a monster,\u2014the long,\nhigh, level wall, hiding the horizon, the great column in the center,\ntowering and towering until it was lost in the sky?\n\n\u201cSea-serpent!\u201d snorted Catch-and-Kill. \u201cIt\u2019s an island, a magic island.\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do peered, shading his eyes. Across that high column went a bar.\n\u201cYou\u2019re both wrong!\u201d he shouted. \u201cIt\u2019s all a ship,\u2014a great ship.\u201d\n\nNow, there was this to be said for Dare-and-Do. There was never a ship\nmade that he was afraid of. No matter what the size, his one idea was\nalways to capture it; and the bigger the better, for him. So, instead of\ncowering at the sight of the giants\u2019 ship, he rushed back to the cave for\nhis oars and a whole set of dirks and pikes.\n\n\u201cIt will make our fortune,\u201d he cried, \u201c\u2014our everlasting fortune!\u201d\n\nCatch-and-Kill headed off Fear-and-Fly, who was already making for the\nbushes, and dragged him down to untie the boat. Dare-and-Do took one oar,\nCatch-and-Kill the other; and, with Fear-and-Fly huddling astern, they\nset off at top speed. With every stroke of the oars the ship grew nearer\nand bigger. To Fear-and-Fly it seemed an unending stretch of wooden cliff\nahead. As they drew toward it, he saw that the side was nothing less than\na mountain, towering a thousand feet into the air. The sight made him\ndizzy. He threw himself down on the bottom and shut his eyes.\n\nThe others were rowing silently now. The boat slipped stealthily,\nstealthily, alongside the steep ship. Dare-and-Do crept to the prow and\nthrust his pike into one of the ship\u2019s enormous beams. It held. He passed\na rope over, and the boat was tied.\n\nWithout a moment\u2019s pause, he drew his knife, and began carving out\nfootholds in the massive wood,\u2014up, up, up the ship\u2019s side. As he carved,\nhe climbed, hand over hand, foot over foot, clinging like a fly to the\nprecipice.\n\nCatch-and-Kill did not hesitate. He fastened the boat\u2019s stern, as\nDare-and-Do had the prow. Stooping, he seized Fear-and-Fly by the collar,\nand dragged him forward along the bottom. With his free hand he pulled\nout his dirk and pointed with it, first at Dare-and-Do\u2019s steps, then at\nthe water. \u201cUp?\u201d he growled through his teeth. \u201cOr down?\u201d\n\nShaking and shrinking, Fear-and-Fly made the best of his way up the\nship\u2019s side. Catch-and-Kill followed at his heels, ready with a dirk to\nencourage him at the slightest hesitation.\n\nFinally Dare-and-Do reached the top. Leaning against the side, he could\nlook over into the great ship. Before him stretched, seemingly, a long,\nwide deck. He scanned it closely. As far as he could see there was not\na single soul. He listened. Not a sound but Fear-and-Fly\u2019s startled\nbreathing below.\n\n\u201cCrew\u2019s asleep,\u201d muttered Dare-and-Do.\n\nHe turned to the others. \u201cQuiet now,\u201d he warned, \u201cand follow me.\u201d\n\nWith dirks drawn the pirates clambered over the side and tiptoed\nstealthily across the deck. Dare-and-Do headed for the stern. His idea\nwas to make way with the crew before taking possession of the ship.\n\n[Illustration: \u201cUp? Or down?\u201d]\n\n\u201cDirks and daggers!\u201d he exclaimed. Before him opened a yawning abyss. The\ndeck had come abruptly to an end. Beyond the wide chasm began another\ndeck, made, seemingly, of a single, tremendous board.\n\nDare-and-Do turned and ran toward the prow. Again the deck stopped before\nan abyss, beyond which another deck began. He understood now. There\nwas no true deck at all,\u2014simply a succession of immense planks laid at\nintervals from side to side.\n\nFear-and-Fly groaned. \u201cOh! Oh! Oh!\u201d he screamed hoarsely. \u201cIt\u2019s a giants\u2019\nship, a giants\u2019 ship, and the decks are their rowing-seats.\u201d\n\nCatch-and-Kill scratched his dirk remindingly across Fear-and-Fly\u2019s\nthroat. \u201cSilence!\u201d he hissed.\n\nBut Dare-and-Do caught his hand. \u201cDirks and daggers!\u201d he cried. \u201cBut the\ncoward\u2019s right. It\u2019s a giants\u2019 ship. Look at the mast; look at the sail;\nlook at the tiller there, far above our heads! A giants\u2019 ship, and not\none of the crew aboard! They won\u2019t be back either, if _I_ know giants.\nThey\u2019ve landed somewhere for their six months\u2019 sleep. Here\u2019s luck, luck,\nluck at last. We don\u2019t have to capture the ship. We\u2019ve _got_ her!\u201d\n\nCatch-and-Kill looked up at the mammoth rigging. \u201cGreat luck!\u201d he\nsneered. \u201cGreat luck! A ship you can\u2019t move! A ship you can\u2019t steer! I\nsuppose _you\u2019ll_ set the sail; I suppose _you\u2019ll_ turn the tiller; I\nsuppose _you\u2019ll_ sail her to the Gold Lands!\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do came a step nearer. \u201c_Who wants the Gold Lands most?_\u201d he\nasked meaningly.\n\nCatch-and-Kill started. \u201cYou don\u2019t mean the King?\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cThree hundred builders, three hundred sailors, two hundred days,\u201d said\nDare-and-Do calmly, \u201cand there\u2019ll be enough gold for us all and a little\nto spare; eh?\u201d\n\n\u201cDaggers and dirks!\u201d cried Catch-and-Kill, making for the ship\u2019s side.\n\u201cLet\u2019s be off to ask him!\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do dashed after, but Fear-and-Fly (who was as anxious to be off\nthe ship as he was loth to climb on) was the first over the ship\u2019s rail\nand down into their boat.\n\n[Illustration: Waste-and-Want]\n\nStroke! Stroke! Stroke! Their oars flew through the water. In just half\nthe time it had taken them to come, the pirates went back to their beach.\nWithout stopping for food they ran over hill and dale, field and fen,\nbrook and bog, till they reached the King\u2019s castle.\n\nNow the king of the country at that time was a spendthrift named\nWaste-and-Want. Half his time he spent in running into debt, the other\nhalf in imploring his councillors to get him out.\n\nAt last one day his councillors came to him. \u201cYour Majesty,\u201d said they\npolitely, \u201cwe have the honor to report that the hundred and one means of\nescaping from debt which are recorded in history, have, in your case,\nbeen exhausted.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d roared the King. \u201cYou mean to say that you can\u2019t get me out this\ntime!\u201d\n\n\u201cAll methods,\u201d replied the councillors delicately, \u201chave been employed.\u201d\n\nThen the King was angry indeed. He vowed that the common people of his\nkingdom could help him better than that, and he issued a proclamation\npromising half his ships and half his kingdom to the person who should\nfind a new way to free him from debt. All who wished to try had but to\ncome to the castle and give the password, \u201cFortune favors Kings.\u201d But any\none who spoke the password and failed of his errand, was doomed to exile\non the sea.\n\nNow, exile of that kind did not frighten Dare-and-Do in the least. He\nshouted the password at the top of his lungs, and strode by the guard\nright into the King\u2019s castle.\n\nIn the great hall the King sat on his throne, doing problems in\narithmetic. But the trouble with the examples was that they were all in\nsubtraction.\n\nDare-and-Do bowed low. The King looked up and hastily put on his crown.\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d said Dare-and-Do, \u201cmay I make bold to ask you one\nquestion: Why is it that no ship yet has reached the Gold Lands?\u201d\n\nNow, it happened that the King had been thinking of that very matter\nhimself. So he answered right off, \u201cWhy, we\u2019ve never had one long enough,\nwe\u2019ve never had one strong enough, to stand the storms.\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do\u2019s eyes gleamed. \u201cJust so, Your Majesty,\u201d he said.\n\nThen he drew a step nearer the throne. \u201cBut what would you say,\u201d he\nasked, \u201cif I could give you a ship long enough and strong enough to stand\nany storm that ever blew?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d cried the King; and then: \u201cWhere?\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do told him about the giants\u2019 ship. Before he was half through,\nWaste-and-Want rushed down his throne-steps, bawling, \u201cGuards! Guards!\nGuards! Call together all the builders. Call together all the sailors.\nGet all the beams and boards in the kingdom!\u201d And when the King spoke in\nthat voice, the guards were not slow in obeying.\n\nBy the next morning every sailor and every builder in the kingdom was\nin line on the sea-beach. As for the piles of beams and boards, they\nstretched for miles and miles. All day long every sailboat and rowboat\non the coast plied back and forth, loaded down with beams and boards,\nsailors and builders. Then began a hammering and pounding, a planing and\njoining, that kept up five months and a day.\n\n[Illustration: In the pulley-blocks were little rooms]\n\nWhen it was over, even Dare-and-Do opened his eyes wide. From one end of\nthe ship to the other ran a smooth deck, bridging the great gaps between\nthe rowing-seats. At the stern was a high platform on which a hundred men\ncould stand abreast to turn the tiller. Up the mast ran a ladder; and in\nthe pulley-blocks were carved out little rooms where the sailors could\nrest from climbing, over night. To Dare-and-Do as captain, the King gave\nhis fastest horse, which could do the distance down the deck from stern\nto prow in a few hours.\n\nFinally everything was ready. The builders went ashore. The sailors\nranged themselves on board. A hundred hacked in turn at the anchor-rope.\nA hundred began to set the sail. A hundred began to turn the tiller.\nDare-and-Do galloped up and down the deck, shouting orders.\n\nAt last the anchor rope was cut. The sail flapped slowly out. The tiller\ncreaked. The wind blew and the ship started forward. All the people\nshouted, and as for King Waste-and-Want, he made a bonfire of all his\nbills on the beach.\n\nThe ship moved along at a terrible rate. But had it not been for losing\nsight of the shore, not a sailor on board would have known that it was\nstirring at all. Dare-and-Do walked his horse. The crew, in three shifts,\ntook turns eating dinner and holding the tiller. Catch-and-Kill and\nFear-and-Fly began to plan how the gold should be divided. An open sea,\nand the wind behind,\u2014what better luck could be desired?\n\n\u201cLand ahoy!\u201d the lookout\u2019s voice came down. And again, \u201cLand ahoy!\u201d\n\nDare-and-Do galloped forward. On both sides cliffs began to appear.\nEvery minute they seemed to grow closer and closer together. Dare-and-Do\nmeasured with his eye the width of the passage ahead. Then he thought\nof his ship. A ghastly fright seized him. Suppose the ship should not\nget through! It was too late to turn around. The channel was already too\nnarrow for that. But they must not go dashing on like this.\n\n\u201cTake in sail!\u201d screamed Dare-and-Do. \u201cTake in sail!\u201d\n\nNow, it had taken the crew a day and a night to set the sail; and\nalthough they raced to their posts when Dare-and-Do shouted his order,\nit was no easy task to pull the sail in. A hundred of them all together\ntugged and hauled with all their strength. Dare-and-Do drew a long\nbreath. The ship\u2019s prow was safely through the channel\u2014\n\nSmash! Shock! Shiver! Shake! The great ship stopped;\u2014stuck fast between\nthe cliffs that line the straits of Dover!\n\nIt happened that at the very moment when the ship was stopped so\nsuddenly, the giant Wind-and-Weather awoke, a little early, from his six\nmonths\u2019 sleep. He stretched his big arms and his big legs, and looked\nabout him. Seeing his children still asleep, he got up softly; and\nsitting down on a nearby hill, looked through a kind of glass that he\nhad, down across England.\n\n[Illustration: Looked through a kind of glass that he had, down across\nEngland]\n\nJust then there was a great stirring among the giant children. They\nbegan to wake up and stretch the sleep out of their cramped bodies.\n\n\u201cOh, father,\u201d wailed Mutzen and Putzen.\n\n\u201cOh, father,\u201d wailed all the others. \u201cOh, father, our ship is gone!\u201d\n\nOld Wind-and-Weather was not disturbed in the least.\n\n\u201cIndeed?\u201d he said.\u2014\u201c_I_ see it.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, where?\u201d cried all the children.\n\n\u201cOver the little hills, over the little valleys, over the little fields,\nover the little forests,\u201d said Wind-and-Weather, \u201cI see the mast against\nthe sky.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, _there_!\u201d cried Handsig, and \u201cThere!\u201d cried Grandsig, and \u201c_There!_\u201d\nthey all cried together.\n\nWith one leap they started, plunging down across England. From hill to\nhill, from valley to valley, over field, farm, and forest they raced,\nstubbing their toes against towns and jumping over villages when they\nhappened to see them. Wind-and-Weather strode along after them, a mile at\na step; and was at the seashore as soon as they.\n\nNow, the three hundred sailors aboard the giants\u2019 ship were hardly over\ntheir fright at having their big craft stuck between the cliffs when they\nwere thrown into a much greater panic at hearing the giants\u2019 footsteps\nbeating down across England. They huddled in the stern; they hid behind\nthe mast; they scuttled this way and that. They tussled and scrambled and\nscrimmaged and scratched, each one trying to get behind his neighbor.\nFinally, as they saw Wind-and-Weather\u2019s huge form bearing down upon them,\nevery mother\u2019s son of them took a wild leap and plunged recklessly into\nthe sea.\n\nDare-and-Do and Catch-and-Kill did not jump. They had been in plenty of\npanics before, and it was always their policy to stay by the ship. So,\nthey sat, one on Fear-and-Fly\u2019s head, the other on his feet, and waited\nthe coming of the giants.\n\n[Illustration: They plunged into the sea]\n\nWind-and-Weather\u2019s great eyes made them out at once. He picked them all\nup with one scoop of his big hand and stuffed them into his pocket. Then\nhe stepped into the ship. With a single kick he sent the platform under\nthe tiller flying a hundred miles across Europe. With a stamp of his foot\nhe smashed the decks between the rowing seats, one after the other.\n\n\u201cBut oh!\u201d cried Mutzen; and \u201cOh!\u201d cried Putzen; \u201cour ship is stuck\nbetween the rocks! How shall we ever get it out again?\u201d\n\n\u201c_I_ know!\u201d cried Grandsig. And putting her hands into her apron-pockets,\nshe drew out two immense cakes of soap, which she had brought to wash the\nchildren\u2019s faces.\n\nShe took one. Handsig took the other. And they went to work with a will,\nsoaping _Mannigfual\u2019s_ sides. Then Wind-and-Weather pulled and all the\nchildren pushed. The ship creaked and scratched; then slipped and slid\nstraight out into the English Channel. But the soap, which they put on\nrather thick, came off on the rocks, and that is why the cliffs of Dover\nhave ever since been white.\n\nWith a good wind it did not take long, I can tell you, for the giant\nchildren to sail up around the British Isles, back to the Up-and-Down\nCountry. There sat Sun-and-Sea just as usual, weaving on a kind of loom\nthat she had.\n\n\u201cOh, mother, mother!\u201d cried the children. \u201cSee what father has brought\nyou.\u201d\n\nWind-and-Weather held out the little men on the palm of his hand.\n\n\u201cThey are just what I need,\u201d said Sun-and-Sea, \u201cto keep my threads\nstraight.\u201d So she took the bold pirates Dare-and-Do and Catch-and-Kill,\nand set them on her loom.\n\nWind-and-Weather put Fear-and-Fly back into his pocket. \u201cFor,\u201d he said,\n\u201che can polish my glass for me and keep it bright.\u201d\n\nWhether the giant children ever found another running-place I cannot say.\nBut I fear not. For, years afterward, the great-limbed men who followed\nthe giants in the Up-and-Down Country, were still sailing the seas in\nsearch of new lands.\n\n                                                \u2014_Based on Norse legends._\n\n[Illustration: The cliffs of Dover have ever since been white]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nHow the Giants Got the Best of Thor\n\n    Swift as the tempest comes terrible Thor,\n    Heaving his hammer behind and before;\n    Roaming folk, homing folk, careful be ye!\n    Only the giants are stronger than he.\n\n                            _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nIII\n\nHow the Giants Got the Best of Thor\n\n\nIn the misty time when the gods walked about the earth, Thor, the\nstrongest of them all, set out one day for Giantland. In his hand he\ncarried his hammer which could batter down mountains; and around his\nwaist he wore his magic belt which made him twice as strong as before.\nFor he was going to humble the giants.\n\nIn spite of his wonderful strength, Thor was but little larger than a\nman; and the giants, by their very size, annoyed him. When he hurled his\nhammer through the clouds, the sky rocked, the sea shook, but the giants\ndid not tremble. And when his chariot-wheels struck out swift streaks of\nfire across the sky, they only smiled in their big way as if it were some\ngame of fireflies. Now he was bound to show them that however big the\ngiants might be, Thor was stronger, and that a little trembling now and\nthen might not be out of place.\n\nWith Thor went the hungry god Loki, and the swift runner Thialfi. All\nday long they walked together through sunny mists across the bare, green\nuplands, and just at nightfall they came to a wide moor. As far as they\ncould see, there was not a house, nor a shed, nor any kind of shelter.\nNot even a tree broke the soft horizon. Thialfi ran ahead; and Loki, who\nwas ravenous, walked furiously. Only Thor did not notice. He was planning\nhow he would put the giants in their place.\n\nIt grew darker and darker. The mist which had played about them all day\nin gentle clouds, rose in a damp, gray fog. It filled their throats and\ntheir eyes. They lost sight of Thialfi altogether. Loki stepped back,\ngroping to make sure that Thor was there behind him; and plunged on\nagain, sullen and dripping.\n\nSomewhere through the fog there came a shout. It was Thialfi far ahead.\n\u201cHalloo!\u201d he cried. \u201cHalloo-oo-oo! Shelter!\u201d\n\nThor and Loki answered, walking faster. Thialfi\u2019s voice was louder now,\nand plainer. \u201cHere!\u201d he cried. \u201cHere! Here!\u201d\n\nIt seemed as if they must be close upon him. But the fog ahead grew no\nbrighter. \u201cWhere is the house?\u201d shouted Loki. \u201cHasn\u2019t it a light?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: With Thor went hungry Loki and swift Thialfi]\n\nBut even as he spoke, they stumbled across a wide threshold. Above them\nthrough the thick grayness they could make out a low ceiling. They put\nout their hands, groping for the door-arch, and met only empty air.\nThere seemed to be no doorway at all; or rather, there was nothing _but_\ndoorway,\u2014a great entrance, like the mouth of a cave, as wide as the\nbuilding itself.\n\nThor struck his hammer on the floor. \u201cWho\u2019s here?\u201d he thundered. But\nthere was no reply,\u2014only soft echoes, \u201cHere\u2014here\u2014here!\u201d\n\nThialfi found them. \u201cThere is no one here,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve shouted\nbefore. It\u2019s a ruined palace, I think, with all one side gone. This part\nis a great hall; and beyond, there are five narrow wings. Come, I\u2019ll\nshow you.\u201d\n\nBut Thor and Loki yawned, tired out with their day\u2019s journey. And\nthrowing themselves down on the floor, they all three fell fast asleep.\n\nAbout midnight Thor started up. The floor trembled, and the whole palace\nquaked. The wide roof above them shook till it seemed ready to fall. Thor\nroused the others. \u201cRun into one of the wings,\u201d he cried. And picking\nup his hammer, he himself went to sit in the great doorway to guard the\nhouse.\n\nAll night long the strange rumblings continued. There would be a great\nheaving sound, a silence, and then another sound louder than before. Thor\nclutched his hammer and waited.\n\nAt dawn the noises suddenly ceased. The fog thinned, and Thor looked out\nacross the country. In the distance he could make out a bright hill, and\namid the shrubbery on the side, two lakes gleaming through the morning\nmists. He started to walk toward them when all at once the whole hill\nstirred.\n\nThor stopped, motionless with surprise. For a moment he could hardly\nrealize that what he had taken for a hill was a giant\u2019s head, and that\nthe lakes fringed with shrubbery were his eyes gleaming beneath his\nbushy brows. Even the rumblings were explained, for they were the\ngiant\u2019s snores.\n\nWhen the giant spied Thor, he laughed. \u201cWell, well, my little fellow,\nyou\u2019re an early riser!\u201d he cried. \u201cAnd perhaps you\u2019ve seen something of\nmy glove. I had it yesterday, and I must have dropped it about here last\nnight. Oho! There it is now!\u201d And with that, he stooped and picked up the\npalace.\n\n\u201cTake care!\u201d cried Thor, gasping. \u201cTake care! People inside!\u201d\n\nHe was just in time. Very gently, the giant took the glove by the fingers\nand shook Loki and Thialfi out into his tremendous hand.\n\nWhen the giant heard how they had mistaken his glove for a ruined palace,\nand the finger places for wings, he roared till the ground rocked, and\nThor had to skip about to keep his balance.\n\n\u201cHo! Ho! Ho!\u201d gasped the giant, wiping his eyes. \u201cThis is a rare meeting\nindeed. And now what do you say to some breakfast with the giant Skrymir?\u201d\n\nSetting Loki and Thialfi carefully on the ground, he untied a huge wallet\nwhich he had slung over his shoulder, and laid out small hills of bread\nand cheese in a wide semi-circle about him. The gods sat down opposite\nand opened their lunch-bag. A very merry breakfast they had of it. For\nbetween his tremendous mouthfuls, Skrymir told the biggest jokes in the\nworld.\n\nFinally he got up, and shaking out of his lap three or four crumbs, the\nsize of an ordinary loaf, said that he was ready to start along. \u201cAnd\nwhere are _you_ bound?\u201d he asked.\n\nThor told him a little sheepishly.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s my direction too,\u201d said Skrymir good-naturedly. \u201cCome along with\nme; I\u2019ll show you the road and carry your bag.\u201d\n\nAnd picking up their wallet with his thumb and forefinger he tucked it\ninto a corner of his big one, which he tied up securely and slung again\nover his shoulder.\n\nSo they set off, Skrymir walking as slowly as he could, and the gods\nrunning like terriers at his great heels in a desperate effort to keep up\nwith him.\n\nAt nightfall they stopped under a towering oak-tree, and Skrymir seeming\nsuddenly tired out, stretched himself full length upon the ground. But\nLoki, who since breakfast had thought of nothing but supper, cried out to\nhim that he had their bag.\n\nSleepily, he took his big wallet from his back and laid it on the ground\nbeside them. \u201cTake anything from it you wish,\u201d said he; and, with that,\nfell fast asleep.\n\nIn a minute Loki had climbed to the top of the sack and begun to tug at\nthe huge ropes that bound it. Thialfi sprang after him. But the harder\nthey pulled, and the redder and hotter they grew, the more firmly the\nknots seemed to stay in place. Then Thor, tightening his magic belt,\nleaped up and pulled too. But the knots remained as securely tied as\nbefore.\n\n\u201cSkrymir! Skrymir!\u201d shouted Loki.\n\nA huge snore that nearly shook them off the sack was the only answer. By\nthat time the gods were desperate with hunger, and Thor, who had never\nbefore failed in a trial of strength, was bursting with rage. Dashing\ndown off the wallet, he took up his hammer and hurled it with terrific\nforce at the giant\u2019s forehead.\n\nSkrymir turned a little in his sleep. \u201cDid a leaf fall?\u201d he murmured\ndrowsily. \u201cI thought I felt something on my head.\u201d In another minute he\nwas snoring again more loudly than ever.\n\nThor shrank back, astounded. Never before had his hammer failed to\nkill. Trembling and exhausted, he lay down beside Loki and Thialfi on\nthe ground. But it was no more possible to sleep than it had been to\nget something to eat. The oak-tree rocked as in a wild hurricane; the\nleaves dashed together, and the ground quaked with the giant\u2019s snores. It\nsounded as if a hundred vast trumpets were blaring at once.\n\nBy midnight Thor could stand it no longer. He sprang up, determined to\nput an end to Skrymir once and for all. Tightening his magic belt three\ntimes, he swung his hammer about his head and dashed it straight and sure\ninto the giant\u2019s temple.\n\nSkrymir\u2019s eyelashes flickered. \u201cHow troublesome!\u201d he grumbled, raising\nhis head. \u201cThese acorns dropping on my face!\u201d\n\nThor held his breath. Minute after minute passed, and Skrymir did not\nbegin again to snore. Would he never go to sleep? Thor clenched his fist\ntill his fingernails bit deep into his hand. Somehow he must get one more\nchance with his hammer. It was maddening, unbelievable, that there was a\ngiant who could withstand it.\n\nFinally, just at dawn, Skrymir\u2019s wide bosom began to move up and down, up\nand down, like the high waves at sea. At the first snore Thor was ready.\nHe gripped his hammer with both his mighty hands, and hurled it with a\nforce to kill a hundred men. With a thundering crash it sank deep into\nthe giant\u2019s forehead.\n\nThor ran exultingly to drag it out. But Skrymir, brushing his hand\ndrowsily across his brow, swept it gently to the ground.\n\n[Illustration: A tremendous palace, all of ice]\n\n\u201cJust as I got to sleep!\u201d he growled. \u201cTo have a twig drop on me! There\nmust be birds building a nest in the branches above here. Are you awake,\nmy little gods? Well, Thor, you _are_ up early! What do you say to\nstarting on?\u201d\n\nAnd with that, Skrymir stretched his great arms and sprang up as if\nnothing had happened. As for his forehead, it was as sound and firm as\never.\n\nThor leaned back weakly against the oak. \u201cYes,\u201d he gasped, \u201clet us be\ngoing.\u201d\n\nSo Skrymir shouldered his great wallet again, and set off whistling\nacross the field, with the gods following limply after. At the meadow\u2019s\nedge Skrymir stopped and waited. Beyond a line of trees stretched a hard,\nbright road, gleaming like a sea of white marble in the sun.\n\nSkrymir pointed along it. \u201cThis road,\u201d said he kindly, \u201ctakes you to the\npalace of the giant king. My way lies over the hills so I must be saying\ngood-by. Many thanks for your pleasant company, my little friends. You\nwill be well received in Giantland. Only remember your size, and don\u2019t\nget to boasting, my tiny gods. Here\u2019s your wallet now; and good luck go\nwith you.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke, Skrymir took his great sack from his back and plucked it\nopen with one pull at the huge knot. Picking out the wallet of the gods,\nhe laid it on the ground; and flourishing his enormous cap about his\nhead, by way of good-by, he went leaping off toward the hills. The gods\nwatched him, speechless, till he was out of sight. One moment his huge\nform rose clear against the blue sky as he jumped over a mountain range;\nthe next, it was lost to view on the other side.\n\nLoki turned trembling to the other gods. \u201cLet us turn back,\u201d he cried. \u201cI\nam not going on to be laughed at in Giantland.\u201d Then his eye caught the\nwallet. Diving for it, he tore it open, and the starving gods fell to.\nThere was only a mouthful apiece, but it gave them new courage.\n\nThor brandished his hammer. \u201cGo back? Never!\u201d he cried. \u201cOn we travel to\nGiantland. They shall yet learn to know the great god Thor!\u201d\n\nThialfi sprinted ahead along the marvelous white road, and Loki, more\nravenous than ever, pelted after.\n\nSuddenly, the road turned sharply upward. The gods climbed, panting.\nThere in the distance, beyond the hill-top, gleamed a tremendous palace,\nall of ice. Immense icicles made its pillars, and its frosty pinnacles\nglittered above the clouds. In the sunlight it shone with a thousand\nrainbows.\n\nThialfi stopped. Straight before him flashed the palace gate, each great\nicicle-bar blazing back the sun. For a moment he paused, dazzled. Then he\nsaw that wide as the huge bars were, wider still were the spaces between\nthem. He walked through, arms outstretched, without touching on either\nside. Thor and Loki followed along the glittering ice-roadway to the\npalace.\n\nUp and down in front paced two giant sentinels, their heads erect and\ntheir great eyes peering out through the upper air. The tiny gods slipped\nunnoticed by their very feet, and into the great hall of the giant king.\n\nAround the sides sat giant nobles on benches as high as hills, and at the\nend the king himself on his towering throne. Blinding light flashed from\nthe floor, the ceiling, the walls. But the gods did not quail. Proud and\nstraight, they passed unremarked down the center of the hall.\n\nBefore the throne Thor stopped, and dashed his hammer on the floor. The\nvast hall resounded and the giants rose to look.\n\nThor drew himself up. \u201cI am the great god Thor,\u201d he cried, \u201cwhose hammer\ncleaves the clouds and shakes the sky. I come to demand the homage of the\ngiants.\u201d\n\nLike a burst from a hundred volcanoes at once, the giants\u2019 laughter came\nbooming down the hall.\n\nThe giant king smiled. \u201cThe giants welcome the gods,\u201d he said kindly,\n\u201cbut we can bow only before proofs of greater power than our own.\u201d\n\nAt that, Loki who was nearly starving, could stand it no longer. \u201cGreater\npower!\u201d he shouted. \u201cGreater power! Let any one here eat food faster than\nI!\u201d\n\nThe giants clapped their hands with a noise like waves smiting the beach.\n\u201cHear! Hear!\u201d they roared.\n\n\u201cHave my cook Logi bring a trough of meat,\u201d called the giant king.\n\nSetting the trough before the throne, Logi sat down at one end, and Loki\nat the other.\n\n\u201cReady!\u2014Start!\u201d cried the king.\n\nClick-clack! Loki\u2019s little jaws were at it before Logi got his great\nmouth open. Click-clack, click-clack, they kept on while Logi\u2019s great\ntongue swept down the trough. Squarely in the middle, their heads bumped,\nLoki\u2019s little head against Logi\u2019s big one.\n\n\u201cA tie!\u201d cried Thor. And so it seemed. But while Loki had eaten every\nmorsel of meat from the bones, Logi had devoured meat, bones, trough and\nall.\n\nThialfi stepped forward, flushing at Loki\u2019s defeat. \u201cWho will race with\nme?\u201d he cried.\n\n\u201cHugi! Hugi!\u201d shouted a dozen giant voices.\n\nHugi walked out, a slender young giant, and led Thialfi to a race-course\ncovered with marble-dust, just behind the palace.\n\nThe giant king gave the signal, and off they dashed. Thialfi smaller and\nquicker, was off first; but Hugi, with his long legs, covered an immense\ndistance at a single bound. Before the course was half finished, Thialfi\nwas running like a tiny hound at the heels of a deer. As they drew nearer\nthe goal, Hugi with a sudden urge, sped forward and crossed the line\nbefore Thialfi was three-quarters of the way around.\n\n[Illustration: The contest between Loki and Logi]\n\n\u201cBravo, Hugi! Well run, Thialfi!\u201d cried the giants kindly.\n\nBut Thor blazed with wrath from head to foot. His muscles quivered and\nhis throat was dry. \u201cBring out your largest drinking-horn,\u201d he thundered,\n\u201cand see how Thor will empty it.\u201d\n\nThe giants trooped back into the hall, and Logi brought a horn as deep as\na well, filled with mead.\n\n\u201cWith us, Thor,\u201d said the king, \u201ca giant is thought a good drinker if he\ncan empty the horn at a single draught; a moderate drinker does it in\ntwo, and any giant can do it in three.\u201d\n\nThor gave his magic belt a quick twist. Instantly his little form began\nto expand; and he stood before them, a god of majestic size, half as big\nas the giants themselves, and with muscles greater than their own. Taking\nthe horn in one of his mighty hands, he breathed with all his force and\ndrank till it seemed as if the vessel must have been emptied twice over.\nTriumphantly he raised his head and looked within. But the mead still\nbrimmed to the horn\u2019s edge.\n\nAstonished and angry, he bent his lips again and drank till he thought\nhe should burst. But again the horn seemed as full as when he had begun.\nWith a last desperate straining, he lifted it a third time and buried\nhis face in its vast depth. He stopped, breathless and choking. The mead\nhad sunk below the rim, but the horn was still more than half full.\n\nA great silence came over the hall. Loki and Thialfi cast down their\neyes. But Thor threw back his head, unbaffled. \u201cGive me any weight,\u201d he\ncried, \u201cand I will lift it. You shall yet see the matchless strength of\nThor.\u201d\n\nA gray cat larger than an elephant rubbed itself against the steps of the\nthrone. \u201cPerhaps then, Thor,\u201d said the giant king, \u201cyou will lift my cat\nfor me.\u201d\n\nSnorting with scorn, Thor took a swift step forward, and put one immense\narm around it. But the cat seemed bound to the floor with iron chains.\nThor tugged again. But the harder he pulled, the higher the cat arched\nits back; and the best he could do was to make it lift one paw from the\nfloor.\n\nThor roared with rage. \u201cLet me wrestle,\u201d he cried. \u201cI defy any giant of\nyou all to match his strength against mine. Let any one try to bring Thor\nlow, in fair and single combat!\u201d\n\n\u201cAsk my old nurse Elli to come in,\u201d ordered the giant king.\n\nThor\u2019s eyes flashed. \u201cDo not mock me,\u201d he thundered. \u201cAt your risk you\ntaunt the great god Thor.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo offense is offered you,\u201d said the giant king kindly. \u201cElli is no mean\nopponent. Many a bold champion before now she has brought to his knees.\u201d\n\nAs he spoke, there hobbled into the room a hag so bent, so wrinkled, so\ninfirm, that Thor drew back in anger and dismay.\n\n\u201cElli,\u201d said the giant king, \u201cwill you wrestle with the god Thor?\u201d\n\nThe old dame nodded her head, and tottering up to the god, cackled\ntauntingly in his face. \u201cThrow me!\u201d she quavered. \u201cThrow me!\u201d\n\nEnraged beyond endurance, Thor seized her about the waist, meaning to lay\nher gently upon the floor. But the harder he gripped her, the steadier\nshe stood. Bracing all his muscles Thor took a new hold, but the hag had\ngrasped him in her turn. Something in her slow embrace seemed to sink\ninto his very limbs. His arms loosened. His legs weakened. Before he knew\nit, he dropped kneeling before her.\n\n\u201cEnough, Elli!\u201d cried the giant king. \u201cLet Thor go. We must give him\nbetter entertainment. Come, minstrels. Come, cooks; deck out our board\nand feast our guests like gods.\u201d\n\nIn a twinkling a magnificent repast was spread, and giant jokes sped\nabout the hall. The minstrels played great, sounding tunes upon their\nmammoth harps, and the giants did their best to make their guests\nforget the outcome of all their boasting. But the gods, humbled and\ndowncast, took little part in the merrymaking. Even Thor, who had resumed\nhis natural size, had no more pride left in him. They sat silent and\ndejected, and went off early to bed.\n\n[Illustration: The cat was none other than the terrible serpent]\n\nNext morning they rose before daybreak, hoping to escape from the palace\nwithout seeing the giants again. But the giant king was up before them,\nand in the great hall a breakfast stood ready. After they had finished,\nthe king himself led them down the gleaming roadway, and out through the\ngreat ice gate, rosy with the light of dawn.\n\nThe giant king paused. \u201cBefore I leave you, my small friends,\u201d he said,\n\u201cI must in honesty tell you that the giants admire while they do not\nyield to the power of the gods. For had it not been for the magic we\nused, we, and not you, would have been humbled.\n\n\u201cI myself was that giant Skrymir in whose glove you slept. I tied up\nthe wallet with the enchanted rope. It was I whom Thor struck with his\nunconquerable hammer. Any one of the blows would have killed me had I not\neach time brought a mountain in between. There in the distance you can\nsee in the peak the three great clefts his hammer made.\n\n\u201cYesterday Loki could not win his eating wager. But it was because he was\nmatched against Logi who is none other than _Fire_ itself, which could\ndevour meat, bones, trough and all. Thialfi lost his race. But we giants\nmarveled at his speed, for he ran against Hugi who is _Thought_, the\nswiftest thing in the world.\n\n\u201cWhen Thor drank, then indeed we wondered; for his drinking-horn was\nconnected with the ocean, and his great draughts made the waters ebb from\nshore to shore. My cat which he tried to lift was none other than the\nterrible serpent which lies around the world with its tail in its mouth.\nWhen Thor tugged, he lifted it up till its back arched against the sky,\nand it seemed likely to slip altogether out of the sea.\n\n\u201cWhen he wrestled with my nurse Elli, we saw the greatest marvel of all.\nFor she is _Old Age_, whom no one has ever withstood.\n\n\u201cBut strong as you are, do not boast again, my tiny gods. For remember,\nthe giants\u2019 magic is as great as the giants themselves, and can never be\nconquered.\u201d\n\nOvercome with rage, Thor raised his hammer to shatter the giant and his\npalace forever. But a sudden mist blinded his eyes. When it cleared, he\nfound himself, with Loki and Thialfi, alone on a wide moor glowing in the\nsunrise.\n\n                                                     \u2014_From a Norse myth._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nThe Cunning of Fin\u2019s Wife\n\n    From the stories we have told,\n    One may learn what giants\u2019 lives are;\n    Here\u2019s a tale of giants bold\n    Which will show what giants\u2019 wives are:\n\n    How the doughty Fin M\u2019Coul\n    Fled Cucullin, who was stouter;\n    Sought his faithful wife; and who\u2019ll\n    Say he could have done without her?\n\n    How she put her spouse to bed,\n    Planning that Cucullin, maybe,\n    Would her husband learn to dread\n    If he took Fin for their baby:\n\n    If the babe be strong as this,\n    Thought Cucullin, I would rather\n    Hesitate to meet with his\n    Proud, perhaps pugnacious father.\n\n    So from out the house of Fin\n    See the hulking fellow hustle:\n    Thus a woman\u2019s wit may win\n    Over bulk and brawn and muscle.\n\n                  _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nIV\n\nThe Cunning of Fin\u2019s Wife\n\n\n[Illustration: The giants were building a causeway]\n\nThe giants were building a causeway from Ireland over to Scotland. A\ngreat bridge it was to be: thousands of piles sunk in the sea, and over\nthem such a road as would take ten giants abreast. All the giants in\nUlster were working to make it, and Fin M\u2019Coul was the head of them all.\nWhack, whack, whack! went their sledges pounding the piles; and roar,\nroar, roar! came Fin\u2019s big voice telling how to place them.\n\nUp came a little lad running. \u201cFin M\u2019Coul! Fin M\u2019Coul!\u201d cried he. \u201cThe\ngreat Scotch giant Cucullin\u2019s looking for you. He says he\u2019s come to beat\nyou; he says he\u2019s come to treat you as he\u2019s done every other giant in\nIreland!\u201d\n\nAt that there was not a giant but dropped his sledge. Some felt of their\nheads, some felt of their jaws, some felt of their backs, and some, of\ntheir ribs. Every one put his hand to the spot where Cucullin had touched\nhim last. For the truth of it was, Cucullin was a terror and there was\nnot a giant could stand before him. When he stamped his foot, he shook\nthe whole county. In his pocket he carried a thunderbolt which he had\nflattened to a pancake with one blow of his fist. Many were the times he\nhad come before, looking for Fin; but always it had happened that Fin was\naway, seeing after his affairs in some distant part of the country.\n\nBut Fin was the best fighter in Ireland and not the man to be frightened\nbefore his friends. So, though his knees set up a kind of swaying beneath\nhim, he called out to the little lad in a voice to shake the whole\ntownship.\n\n\u201cAnd what is the Scotchman waiting for?\u201d roared he. \u201cTell him here is\nFin, ready this long time to thrash him,\u2014although,\u201d he added easily, \u201cif\nit\u2019s not hurrying he is, he may not find me _here_. For the truth of it\nis, I was just about to be starting to see my wife Oonagh on the top of\nKnockmany Hill. And fight or no fight, it\u2019s there I must be going, for\nshe\u2019ll be ailing, poor woman, and low in her spirits, all for the want of\nher Fin.\u201d\n\nNow, Fin was not one to be slow in anything he had made up his mind\nto. So hardly were the words from his mouth when it was down with his\nsledge, up with his heels and off with him over the hills to Knockmany.\nAt first it was a long, swinging step he took, with a stout fir-tree as a\nwalking-stick. But the farther and farther from the Causeway he went, the\nfaster and faster his legs began to move, until after all he was going\nnot so much at a walk as a run.\n\nOf all the hills in Ireland, the chilliest and windiest was Knockmany\nwhere Fin lived. Day or night, winter or summer, it was never without a\nbreeze; and besides that, from top to bottom was never a drop of water.\nBut little did that trouble Fin. \u201cWhy,\u201d he would say, \u201cever since I was\nthe height of a round tower, I was fond of a good prospect of my own. And\nwhere should I find a better than the top of Knockmany Hill?\u201d\n\nThere were some who said though, that it was not so much the view itself\nthat Fin liked as it was to be able to see when Cucullin was coming to\nvisit him. For then he could be off in time on his distant travels across\nthe country.\n\nBe that as it may have been, there was no doubt now but Fin was glad to\nbe at home again. There was his darling Oonagh waiting for him at the\ntiptop of the hill; and the smack they gave each other made the waters of\nthe lake below curl with kindness and sympathy.\n\n\u201cBut what brought you home so soon?\u201d said Oonagh.\n\n\u201cAnd what should it have been,\u201d cried Fin, \u201cbut affection for yourself?\u201d\n\nBut Oonagh, who always had her wits about her, soon saw that something\nwas troubling her good man. For it was nothing but into the house and out\nagain, across the hill and back, looking and peering, looking and peering\nfor something he didn\u2019t seem altogether wishful to see.\n\nOonagh watched him for a while. Then, \u201cIs there some one you\u2019re\nexpecting, Fin?\u201d said she.\n\nNow, Fin knew very well that Oonagh would have it out of him sooner\nor later. So he lost no time. \u201cIt\u2019s that Cucullin,\u201d roared he, \u201cthat\nearthquaker, that thunderbolt-flattener! He\u2019ll be coming here to beat me;\nhe\u2019ll be coming here to treat me as\u2014\u201d\n\nA pause came on Fin. Not a word more did he say; but into his mouth went\nhis great thumb. It was a rare quality Fin\u2019s thumb had that when he stuck\nit between his teeth it could tell him of the future.\n\n\u201cThundering pancakes!\u201d howled Fin. \u201cHe\u2019s coming _now_! He\u2019s down below\nDungannon. My thumb tells me.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Oonagh, keeping on with some knitting she had, \u201cwhat if he\nis?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat if he is!\u201d echoed Fin. \u201cWhat if he is! So you\u2019d sit there, would\nyou, and never raise your eyes to see your good man made pulp before you!\nCucullin\u2019s coming, I tell you, that can knock a thunderbolt flat as a\npancake; and I can\u2019t be running away.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d said Oonagh, \u201cwe might be stopping him a bit.\u201d So she got\nup and turned toward Cullamore.\n\nNow, Cullamore was where her sister Granua lived,\u2014a hill, four miles\nacross the valley, the twin of Knockmany. Many a pleasant chat Oonagh\nand Granua had together of summer evenings, one sitting outside her door\non Knockmany, the other on Cullamore. For Granua was as ready-witted as\nOonagh herself, and something of a fairy as well.\n\n\u201cGranua,\u201d called Oonagh, \u201care you at home?\u201d\n\n\u201cNo,\u201d answered Granua, \u201cI\u2019m down in the valley picking bilberries.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, go up on top of Cullamore,\u201d said Oonagh, \u201cand tell me what you\nsee.\u201d\n\n\u201cNow I\u2019m up,\u201d said Granua; \u201cand down below Dungannon I see a giant, the\nbiggest I ever saw.\u201d\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what I was expecting,\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cThat\u2019s Cucullin on his way\nto Knockmany, coming up to beat Fin.\u201d\n\n\u201cWould you want me to be keeping him a while?\u201d asked Granua. \u201cI\u2019ll be\nhaving a party of giants and giantesses this evening, and we could give\nhim some entertainment maybe that would keep him over night, and quite\naway from your house till the morning.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf you would,\u201d said Oonagh, \u201cI\u2019d thank you kindly.\u201d\n\nSo Granua made a high smoke on her hill and whistled three times to show\nCucullin that he was invited to Cullamore. For it was in that way the\ngiants of old times told a traveler that he was welcome to come in and\neat with them.\n\nAs for Oonagh, when she turned around, there was Fin shivering and\nshaking behind her.\n\n\u201cThundering pancakes, Oonagh!\u201d said he. \u201cAnd what have you done but made\neverything ten times worse than it was before? If Cucullin is coming, I\u2019d\nwish it would be now while I have some heart left to fight him. What with\nthinking it over all day and dreaming it over all night, I\u2019ll have no\nmore courage by morning than a boiled rabbit.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cNo,\u201d said Granua, \u201cI\u2019m down in the valley, picking\nbilberries\u201d]\n\n\u201cIf I were you, Fin,\u201d said Oonagh, \u201cI\u2019d not be saying much about courage.\nThe best thing for you is to do as I tell you, and trust me to get you\nout of this scrape as I\u2019ve pulled you through many before.\u201d\n\nSo Fin said no word more, but sat down on the hill and pitched cliffs\ninto the valley to steady his quaking limbs.\n\nOonagh went about her plans. First she worked a charm by drawing nine\nthreads of nine different colors. For this she always did when she wanted\nto know how to succeed in anything important. Next she braided them in\nthree braids of three colors each. One she put around her right arm; one\naround her right ankle; and one around her heart, for then she knew that\nshe could not fail in anything she tried to do.\n\n\u201cNow, Fin,\u201d said she, \u201cwill you kindly go to the neighbors\u2019 for me and\nborrow one-and-twenty iron griddles, the largest and strongest you can\nget?\u201d\n\nFin was glad enough of something to do, and hardly were the words from\nher mouth when off he was, down the hill and over the valley.\n\nOonagh went into the house and began kneading a great mountain of\ndough. Into two-and-twenty parts she divided it, each a great round\ncake the size of a mill-wheel. Scarcely was she done when back came Fin\nagain, clattering and clanking loud enough to be heard ten miles beyond\nCullamore. Seven griddles he had in one hand, seven in the other, and\nseven strung about him in a noisy necklace.\n\nOonagh took them all, and each she kneaded into the heart of one of her\ngreat dough-cakes. Over the fire she baked them and set them all upon the\nshelf,\u2014two-and-twenty fine loaves of bread, one-and-twenty with griddles\ninside and one with no griddle at all.\n\nNext morning she was up before daylight; and so for that matter was Fin,\nfidgeting and fuming, and keeping a sharp lookout down the valley. As for\nOonagh, she went about smiling and humming to herself as if it were a May\nmorning.\n\nFirst she took a great pot of milk and made it into curds and whey.\n\u201cFin,\u201d said she, \u201cwhen Cucullin comes\u2014.\u201d And she told him what he must do\nwith the curds.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d she said, \u201chelp me while I pull out the old cradle.\u201d\n\nWith that she put her hand to a cradle the size of an ark, and taking\ntwo quilts an acre square began spreading them out and tucking them up\ninside.\n\n\u201cDon\u2019t be standing about, Fin,\u201d said she, \u201cbut go and dress yourself up\nlike a bit of a boy.\u201d\n\nBy that time Fin decided that she was daft entirely. But he did as she\nbid nevertheless, for the fact was he was at his wits\u2019 end, and thought\nthat since Cucullin was to make pulp of him at any rate, it did not much\nmatter how he was dressed.\n\nUp the valley came a roar like thunder. Fin\u2019s house on the top of\nKnockmany trembled and the cradle inside rocked to and fro.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019ll be Cucullin singing to himself on his way up from Granua\u2019s to\nbeat Fin,\u201d said Oonagh.\n\nAs for Fin, he turned as white as the childish clothes he was wearing,\nand trembled from top to toe.\n\n\u201cNot a minute to waste quaking and shaking!\u201d cried Oonagh. \u201cInto the\ncradle with you, Fin, and a stout heart inside you! Lie quiet now; never\nforget you\u2019re but a child; and not a word out of you till you see it\u2019s\nthe time.\u201d\n\nInto the cradle clambered Fin, stumbling and grumbling and barking his\nshins. Oonagh tucked him in.\n\n\u201cFold up your knees under your chin,\u201d cautioned she. \u201cNot a move now, or\nyou\u2019ll burst the cradle! Close up your eyes; put your thumb in your mouth\nlike an innocent babe fast asleep. Quiet now, and leave Cucullin to me.\u201d\n\nOonagh smoothed out her apron and patted her hair. Down on the doorstep\nshe sat and began to knit, as cool and airy as the dawn on Knockmany.\n\nUp the hill in three leaps came Cucullin. Such a giant Oonagh had never\nseen. Half again as tall as Fin he was, with muscles that stood out\nlike small hills. But Oonagh was not one to let herself be surprised.\nSo, while she saw all this beneath her eyelashes, she kept on with her\nknitting and pretended not to have noticed Cucullin at all.\n\n\u201cA fine morning!\u201d roared Cucullin. \u201cAnd might this be where Fin M\u2019Coul\nlives?\u201d\n\nOonagh looked up. \u201cIndeed it is, my good man,\u201d said she. \u201cWon\u2019t you be\nsitting?\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you kindly,\u201d said Cucullin. \u201cIs Fin at home?\u201d\n\n\u201cThe pity of it is, he\u2019s not,\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cThe fact is, he heard there\nwas a big Scotch giant named Cucullin down at the Causeway looking for\nhim; and nothing would do but off he must be over the hills to meet him.\nIndeed, for the poor giant\u2019s sake, I hope Fin won\u2019t find him. For with\nthe temper Fin\u2019s in, he\u2019d make paste of him in no time.\u201d\n\nAt that Cucullin threw back his great head as if it were some joke Oonagh\nhad made. \u201cHo, ho, ho!\u201d roared he. \u201cHo, ho, ho! Make paste of Cucullin,\nwould he? Make paste of Cucullin! Why, why, why, my good woman, _I\u2019m_\nCucullin!\u201d\n\nOonagh put down her knitting. \u201cCan it be?\u201d cried she. \u201c_You_, Cucullin!\u201d\nAnd with that she gave a clear laugh, as if he were but a wee bit of a\nman, hardly worth considering.\n\n\u201cHave you ever seen Fin?\u201d asked she, all at once sobering down.\n\n\u201cWhy, no,\u201d said Cucullin, \u201cthanks to all the trouble he\u2019s taken to keep\nhimself out of my way.\u201d\n\nOonagh shook her head. \u201cI thought as much,\u201d said she. \u201cI judged you could\nnever have seen him, to speak as you did. And if you\u2019re fond of your own\nskin, you\u2019ll pray you may never. Not but what you\u2019re a sturdy fellow of\nyour size, but Fin\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, well,\u201d cried Cucullin good-naturedly enough, \u201cthere\u2019s been never a\ngiant in Ireland could beat me yet. So, now I\u2019ll be off to the Causeway\nto give Fin his chance.\u201d And with that, up he got, laughing, and took one\nof his great strides down the hill.\n\nOonagh rose up too. \u201cBegging your pardon, sir,\u201d she said, \u201cmight I ask\none favor before you go? The wind\u2019s blowing in at the door, you see, and\nwould you mind turning the house around for me?\u201d\n\nCucullin stopped where he stood. \u201cTurn the house!\u201d cried he.\n\n\u201cWhy, yes,\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cTurn it about, you know, so the wind won\u2019t be\nblowing in at the door. It\u2019s always what Fin does when he\u2019s at home.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed!\u201d thought Cucullin to himself. \u201cThis Fin must be more of a lad\nthan they\u2019ve been telling me.\u201d But never a word more did he say. Instead\nhe pulled the middle finger of his right hand till it cracked three\ntimes. For it was from that finger all his strength came.\n\nUp the hill he stepped, and putting his great arms around the house,\ngave a tug and a twist,\u2014and there it was, faced about completely. Fin\u2019s\ncradle, inside, banged back and forth; Oonagh\u2019s great bread loaves\nbounced about; the dishes clattered. As for Fin himself, his breath left\nhim entirely, and there he lay, tight squeezed in the cradle, gasping and\nspluttering, and quite blue with terror.\n\nCucullin turned to go down the hill again as if he had done nothing\nunusual at all. But Oonagh curtsied before him.\n\n\u201cThank you kindly, sir,\u201d said she. \u201cAnd since you\u2019re so obliging, maybe\nyou\u2019d do another civil turn for me. You see it\u2019s a dry stretch of weather\nwe\u2019ve been having, and there\u2019s scarcely a drop of water from here\nto Cullamore. But under the rocks hereabout, Fin says there\u2019s a good\nspring-well; and he was just about to pull them apart to find it when\nalong came the news that you were at the Causeway, and off he dashed. So\nhere we are, still without water; and indeed if you\u2019d take a minute to\npull the rocks open for me, truly, I\u2019d feel it a kindness.\u201d\n\nSo, she led him to a place, all solid rock for a mile or so. \u201cNow, here\u2019s\nthe spot,\u201d said she.\n\nCucullin looked at it for a while without speaking. Then he cracked his\nmiddle finger nine times, and bending down, tore a cleft a quarter-mile\nlong and four hundred feet deep.\n\nWhen Oonagh saw that, her courage oozed down to the soles of her shoes.\nBut she was never one to give up anything she had once decided. So, after\na moment she said, \u201cI\u2019m much obliged to you, sir. And now, you\u2019ll be\ncoming back to the house with me to take a bite of such humble fare as I\ncan give you.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed,\u201d replied Cucullin, mopping his large red brow, \u201cthat\u2019s an\ninvitation I\u2019ll not be refusing. It\u2019s warm work tearing up landscapes and\nmoving houses, and I can\u2019t say that I\u2019m not hungry either.\u201d\n\nSo into the house they went; and down before him Oonagh set a side or\ntwo of bacon, a mountain of cabbage, and ten or twelve loaves of the\nbread she had baked the day before.\n\nCucullin fell to with a will. He finished the bacon and cabbage, picked\nup a loaf of the bread, and took a huge bite of it. Down came his teeth\non the griddle inside.\n\n\u201cThundering pancakes!\u201d roared he. \u201cWhat\u2019s this? Here are two of my best\nteeth out! You call that bread, do you? You call that bread!\u201d And he\nstamped about the room, howling with fury.\n\n\u201cIndeed, I\u2019m sorry, sir,\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cI should have told you. That\u2019s\nFin\u2019s bread that nobody else can manage but himself and the child in the\ncradle there. I\u2019d not have given it to you, but you seemed a stout little\nfellow; and indeed since you\u2019re bound to fight Fin, I thought you\u2019d be\nscorning anything but his own food, too. Here, try this loaf. Perhaps\nit\u2019ll be softer.\u201d\n\nCucullin was still hungry, and besides, he was a little touched in his\npride by Oonagh\u2019s remarks about Fin\u2019s bread. So he took the new loaf she\nhanded him, and jammed it into his mouth, meaning this time at any rate\nto get a good bite out of it. Down crashed his jaw on the iron again, and\nup he jumped roaring.\n\n\u201cTake it away! Take it away!\u201d he bellowed, twice as loud as before. \u201cI\u2019ll\nnot be losing my teeth for Fin\u2019s bread or any other. What kind of jaw\nhas Fin got to crack\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cHush! Hush!\u201d cried Oonagh. \u201cWhatever you do, don\u2019t be waking the child\nin the cradle there.... Oh, indeed, it\u2019s too bad! There he is awake now.\u201d\n\nAll this time Fin had been lying cramped up in the cradle. Never a move\ndid he make, except now and then a flicker of his eyelashes just to be\npeering out at Cucullin sitting and eating up his bacon at the table.\nA terrible sight it was too: Cucullin\u2019s great fingers as big as trees,\nreaching, reaching; Cucullin\u2019s great jaws as big as millstones, crushing,\ncrushing. Fin shut his eyes in a hurry, and his heart froze up inside\nhim to think of fighting a giant like that. But when he heard Cucullin\nhowling over Oonagh\u2019s griddle-bread, he couldn\u2019t, even for the terror\nin him, help a kind of smile creeping across his face. And so, when\nOonagh spoke of the baby\u2019s waking, he let out a yell almost as loud as\nCucullin\u2019s own.\n\nCucullin himself stopped his dancing, and turned to see what kind of\nchild it might be that could make a noise like that.\n\n\u201cBoohoo! Boohoo!\u201d howled Fin. \u201cI\u2019m hungry.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere, there!\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cQuiet now, my little man. Here\u2019s some bread\nfor you.\u201d\n\nAnd with that she handed him the one loaf that had no griddle in it. And\nFin, grasping it in both hands, ate it down greedily.\n\nCucullin stared and stared. He forgot his lost teeth entirely, for wonder\nthat such a youngster could devour bread he himself could not even bite.\n\u201cIf the son that\u2019s yet in the cradle can eat bread like that,\u201d thought\nhe, \u201cwhat must the father be? It\u2019s perhaps as well for me after all that\nFin\u2019s at the Causeway.\u201d\n\n\u201cI\u2019d like,\u201d said he to Oonagh, \u201cto have a glimpse of that lad in the\ncradle. A boy that can manage that bread must be something to look at,\ntoo.\u201d\n\n\u201cIndeed you may see him,\u201d said Oonagh. \u201cGet up, darling, and show this\ngood man something that\u2019ll be worthy of your father, Fin M\u2019Coul.\u201d\n\nAt that Fin, who was cramped and aching from lying so long bent double,\ngave a leap, and bounced out, nearly bursting his cradle. Up to Cucullin\nhe went, and seizing him by the hand, started out the door.\n\n\u201cAre you strong?\u201d bellowed he. \u201cAre you as strong as my daddy?\u201d\n\n\u201cThundering pancakes!\u201d exclaimed Cucullin. \u201cWhat a voice for a little\nchap!\u201d\n\nFin picked up a big white stone. \u201cAre you strong enough,\u201d said he, \u201cto\nsqueeze water out of this?\u201d\n\nCucullin clenched his hand over it. He squeezed and pressed, and pressed\nand squeezed till his face grew black and his eyes stood out. But never a\ndrop of water fell from the great white stone. He might rip up rocks and\nturn houses but to squeeze water from a stone was quite beyond him.\n\n\u201cWould you let me try?\u201d asked Fin.\n\nCucullin handed it to him. Turning a little, Fin exchanged it for the\ncurds Oonagh had made for him. Then holding them up, he squeezed till the\nwhey, as clear as water, showered down upon the ground.\n\nCucullin\u2019s face turned white. His knees were knocking; his hands were\nshaking. \u201cIf the son\u2019s like this, what must the father be! And suppose\nFin should be coming home!\u201d thought he.\n\nOver to Oonagh he went. \u201cIndeed, indeed, ma\u2019am,\u201d said he, \u201cI thank you\nkindly for your welcome. It\u2019s a fine, strong son you have. And it\u2019s sorry\nI am I can\u2019t be waiting to see Fin. But I\u2019ve out-stayed my time already,\nand it\u2019s back to Scotland I must be going before the tide rises in the\nChannel.\u201d\n\nAnd with never a good-by more, the terrible giant Cucullin turned and ran\nover hill, over dale, through wood, through wave. And never again did he\nshow his face in Ireland.\n\nAs for Fin and Oonagh, they never got over laughing in their little house\nturned wrongside foremost on the top of Knockmany Hill.\n\n                                               \u2014_From a Celtic Folk-tale._\n\n_Based on Wm. Carleton\u2019s \u201cTraits and Stories of the Irish Peasantry.\u201d_\n\n[Illustration: The terrible giant Cucullin turned and ran over hill, over\ndale]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nHow Jack Found the Giant Riverrath\n\n    Here\u2019s a tale of Genius Jack,\n    Light of foot and quick as whack!\u2014\n    Jack o\u2019 mountains, Jack o\u2019 plains,\n    Jack o\u2019 cuteness, Jack o\u2019 brains.\n\n                    _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nV\n\nHow Jack Found the Giant Riverrath\n\n\n[Illustration: The king of Ireland was troubled in his mind]\n\nThe king of Ireland was troubled in his mind. And that was something\nunusual. For he had as handsome a palace as you would wish to see, a\nqueen as good as she was beautiful, and a fine, strapping son named\nJack. The only thing that bothered him was that he could not drive to\ntown without getting his gilt coach wheels spattered.\n\n[Illustration: The horses would plunge spluttering in]\n\nDown below the palace, straight across the king\u2019s highway, ran a little\nriver. In the fall when it was almost dry, splashing through it was a\nnice adventure. The royal coach would roll down the hill with a splendid\nthud, and dash gurgling through the water. But in the spring it was\nquite another matter. Going down the hill the coachman would pull on\nhis gilt reins, the coachboys would tuck up their gilt boots, the king\nwould slam down the coach window, and the queen would be ready to faint\nwith excitement. (Only the footmen did not care, for they sat up so\nhigh behind, that the water could not reach them no matter how much it\nsplashed.)\n\nThen the horses would plunge spluttering in up to their gilt harnesses,\nthe coach would slip and reel, and the water would come pounding up\nagainst the gilt-edged window-panes. Worst of all, when they reached\nthe other side, there would be little black mud spots all over the gilt\nwheels, all over the gilt sides, all over the shiny door. And that was a\nsorry way for the king of Ireland to drive down among his subjects.\n\nThe king was sitting on his throne, turning it over in his mind when in\ncame his son Jack.\n\n\u201cGood morning, father,\u201d said Jack, bowing with all his might.\n\nBut the king was so melancholy and disturbed that he never said a word,\nbut just nodded his head to show that he knew Jack was there.\n\n\u201cIs something troubling you, father?\u201d asked Jack respectfully.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s that river again!\u201d cried the king, puckering his brow till his\ncrown slipped down over his left eye. \u201cWhat\u2019s the use of having the\nfinest coach in three kingdoms if every time you drive abroad it\u2019s\nbespotted and bespattered like a common gipsy wagon?\u201d\n\n\u201cCan nothing be done?\u201d asked Jack.\n\n\u201cThat\u2019s what I\u2019ve been trying to think,\u201d said the king.\n\nSo Jack sat down quietly on the steps of the throne and thought with his\nfather. Just as the clock struck ten, the king had an idea.\n\n\u201cWe might put something over the coach,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cWe might put something over the _river_!\u201d cried Jack. \u201cWhy couldn\u2019t we\nbuild a bridge?\u201d\n\n\u201cGilded Shamrocks!\u201d cried the king. \u201cThat\u2019s the very idea. We could ride\nacross as dry and fine as you please.\u201d\n\nSo he called the master mason. And that very hour all the masons from\nfar and near began stirring about in great troughs of mortar and lugging\nbuilding-stones as big as the coach wheels. By sunset there was as neat\nand stout a little bridge as you would wish to see. And the king and the\nqueen and Jack walked up and down before it, beaming to think how spick\nand span and shiny they\u2019d be next day, rumbling across it down to the\ntown.\n\n[Illustration: Lugging building stones]\n\nIn the morning before he got his crown on, the king called for his\ncoach; and the minute breakfast was done, around it drove to the palace\ndoor, glittering like a million gold-pieces. Then the queen stepped\nin, dressed in her shiniest gown, and the king in his best crown, and\nlast of all, Jack, with a fine green feather in his hat. The footmen\nclambered carefully up on top so as not to rub their bright gilt boots,\nthe coachman touched up the horses, and off they all whirled, as splendid\na sight as the sun ever shone on.\n\nDown the hill they rolled with a fine dash, when the horses reared and\nstopped.\n\n\u201cDear me! Dear me!\u201d fluttered the queen. \u201cI hope the harness hasn\u2019t\nbroken.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: As big as the coach wheels]\n\nThe king put his head out the window. \u201cWhat\u2019s the matter?\u201d he roared.\n\nThe two footmen climbed cautiously down, and stood at attention beside\nthe door.\n\n\u201cBegging your Majesty\u2019s pardon,\u201d said the first, \u201cthe bridge is down.\u201d\n\n\u201cThundering waterfalls!\u201d shouted the king. \u201cIt can\u2019t be.\u201d And he burst\nout of the coach, with Jack at his heels.\n\nSure enough, there was no bridge at all,\u2014just a line of gray stones\nheaped higgeldy-piggeldy from bank to bank, with the stream running\nsaucily over them as much as to say, \u201cYou can\u2019t bridge me! You can\u2019t\nbridge me!\u201d\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d cried the king, \u201cI\u2019ll be splashed!\u201d And he sent the two footmen\noff for the master mason as fast as their gilt legs could carry them.\n\nThe master mason scratched his head.\n\n\u201cYou see your work,\u201d said the king with a great sneer, \u201c\u2014a bridge so\nstrong it has taken the stream a whole night to wash it away!\u201d\n\nThe master mason flushed. \u201cAsking your Majesty\u2019s pardon,\u201d he said\nstolidly, \u201cit couldn\u2019t have been the river. The bridge I built should\nhave stood a hundred years, barring earthquakes.\u201d\n\n\u201cNonsense! Nonsense!\u201d cried the king irritably. \u201cBuild me a bridge that\nwill stand earthquakes, then, and be quick about it too.\u201d And he climbed\nback into the coach, and drove off home in a very bad humor indeed.\n\nThe master mason and his men worked till long past sunset. When they had\nfinished, there was a bridge twice as high, twice as wide, and twice as\nsolid as before.\n\nThe next morning the king was up at daybreak calling for his coach and\nhis crown; and before the dewdrops were off the grass, he was driving\noff with the queen and Jack down the hill toward town. But just as they\ngot to the river, back lunged the horses again, down clambered the gilt\nfootmen, and out burst the king all a-tremble.\n\nSure enough, the bridge the master mason had built so solid and so\nstrong was nothing but a jagged pile of stones, with the stream gushing\nimpudently between them as if it were the best joke in the world.\n\nThe king called for the master mason in a tone that made the gilt footmen\nscamper; and back they came with him as red and flustered as the king\nhimself.\n\n\u201cJust one more chance for you,\u201d raged the king, shaking his scepter, \u201cto\nbuild me a bridge that will last over night. If by to-morrow morning I\ndon\u2019t find as good a bridge here as ever was built in Ireland, I\u2019ll\u2014I\u2019ll\nhave you buried beneath your own stones and mortar.\u201d\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d cried the master mason tensely, \u201cit can\u2019t be done. There\nis some enchantment. The bridges I built here were the best in Ireland.\nThe river could never have washed them away. It can\u2019t be done, I say. It\ncan\u2019t\u2014\u201d\n\nBut the king had already slammed the coach door and driven violently\naway. So there was nothing for the master mason to do but to call his men\nand get to work harder than ever. All day long they drilled great holes\nin the bed of the stream and set huge rocks in them, one on top of the\nother. And over those piers from bank to bank they laid a bridge so bulky\nand so solid that the like of it was never seen before or since.\n\n[Illustration: The master mason and his men worked harder than ever]\n\nIt was full moonlight by the time the last stone was heaved into place,\nand the great bridge loomed like an elephant wading in a brook. The\nworkmen picked up their trowels and troughs, and plunged wearily along\nthe road toward home. The master mason stopped for a last look. \u201cLet any\nmagic throw that down!\u201d he cried defiantly, and shook his fist. Then he\ntrudged after the workmen down the road.\n\nThere was a creaking of branches beside the river, and a figure, dirk in\nhand, crawled to the bridge, paused, looked about, then settled itself,\nleaning back against the bulky stonework. The figure was lost in the\nshadow of the bank, but every now and again it raised its head into the\nclear moonlight. It was Jack!\n\nAll the time the bridges had been breaking and the king had been fuming\nand the master mason had been protesting, Jack had been thinking. For\nJack had a couple of eyes in his head, and he saw how small and weak\nthe river was, compared to the bridges. So he thought to himself that\nit would be no wonder after all if the master mason were right, and it\nwas not the river that kicked the bridges down, but some magic or other.\nAnyway it would do no harm to watch for a night and see what might happen.\n\nSo Jack sat there with the moon shining into his eyes, and not a sound\nanywhere to keep him company but the palace clock now and then counting\noff the hours into the quiet. But Jack did not mind, for the moonlight\nhad a kind of friendly feeling in it; and in spite of being alone it was\nmore drowsy he felt than frightened.\n\nHe might in fact have gone to sleep entirely if all of a sudden there\nhadn\u2019t come a strange, low gurgle, as if beyond the hills all the rivers\nwere brimming, brimming, brimming. Then it rose with a rush as if they\nhad burst over the hills and were racing, dashing, flooding down to Jack.\n\nThe moon went out as if a great black blot had fallen across the sky, and\nJack sprang up, all a-tremble, to see if he could make out what was going\non. Something swept by him in the dark, showering him with drops like a\nmoist whirlwind. There was a shaking and a shock, and the bridge which\nhad stood so solid and so firm, crumbled with a crash, stone after stone,\ninto the water.\n\nThe moon flashed out again into Jack\u2019s eyes, and black beside it against\nthe sky towered a tremendous giant figure. For a moment Jack caught his\nbreath; then suddenly he understood: It was the _giant_ who had made the\ndarkness by stepping in front of the moon; it was the _giant_ who had\nrushed splashing by him up the river; it was without a doubt the _giant_\nwho had pulled his father\u2019s bridges down! And there Jack stood in the\nmoonlight at the foot of the giant, gazing up at the top of him, never\ndaring to say a word.\n\nThe giant kicked the building stones with his toe, like so many pebbles.\nJack got up his courage.\n\n\u201cOh, giant,\u201d he shouted, \u201cgiant!\u201d But not a syllable more could he get\nout.\n\nThe giant stopped his kicking and scanned the ground with his great eyes.\nFinally he spied Jack.\n\n\u201cBursting bridges!\u201d he gurgled. \u201cWho are you?\u201d\n\nJack stood up as tall as he could. \u201cI\u2019m Jack, the king of Ireland\u2019s son,\u201d\nhe cried; \u201cand it\u2019s my father owns this bridge you\u2019ve broken and this\nriver you\u2019ve splashed up.\u201d\n\n\u201cRippledy-row!\u201d cried the giant, stepping a-straddle of the stream. \u201cSo\nhe owned this bridge, did he? But he never owned this river. No, indeed.\nThat\u2019s mine, you know. Always has been, always will be, and I won\u2019t have\nit bridged. Do you hear?\u201d\n\n\u201cBut you can\u2019t say that,\u201d shouted Jack, \u201cfor my father rules the whole of\nIreland.\u201d\n\n\u201cHe may rule Ireland,\u201d granted the giant pleasantly enough, \u201cbut he\ndoesn\u2019t rule the rivers. _They_ belong to me, and I won\u2019t have them\ncrossed. All day long I sit in my castle at the ends of the earth,\nwatching the rivers come and go; and every bridge or dam I see, I go at\nnight to tear it down, so that all my rivers can be free, free,\u2014free as I\nam!\u201d\n\n\u201cBut who are _you_?\u201d cried Jack.\n\n\u201cOho!\u201d bellowed the giant, \u201cif that\u2019s what you want to know, come here\nwhere I can tell you.\u201d And with that he scooped Jack up in one of his\nmighty fists and held him there just opposite his eyes.\n\n\u201cNow!\u201d he cried. \u201cListen:\n\n    He who frees the streams I am,\n    Bursting bridge and splint\u2019ring dam;\n    For the floods I plow the path,\u2014\n    Raging, roaring, Riverrath!\u201d\n\nAnd as he said that, the giant\u2019s voice grew deeper and fuller till it\nseemed to flood out and fill the air. Jack braced himself against it, but\nit swept and swirled around him till he drooped limp over Riverrath\u2019s\ngreat thumb. But he didn\u2019t lose his wits for all that, and every other\nminute he kept saying to himself, \u201cI mustn\u2019t let him down me, I mustn\u2019t\nlet him drown me.\u201d Only \u201cdown\u201d and \u201cdrown\u201d were somehow mixed up in his\nmind, and which it was he meant he couldn\u2019t himself be quite sure.\n\n\u201cBut, but, but,\u201d he gasped as soon as he was able to straighten up again,\n\u201cyou\u2019ve only said your name. You haven\u2019t told me where you come from,\nwhere you live, or anything.\u201d\n\nThe giant threw back his head with a roar. \u201cThat\u2019s just it!\u201d he gurgled.\n\u201cYou\u2019re to come and find out. Anybody else whose father had tried to\nbridge my river I\u2019d have felt it my duty to drown. But I like you, Jack.\nYou have a steady head on your shoulders. You\u2019re not afraid even of me.\nAnd I\u2019ll give you a year and a day to find my castle. It\u2019s a weary walk,\nbut if you get there you\u2019ll never want any good thing more,\u2014that I\u2019ll\npromise you. But if you don\u2019t,\u201d\u2014and here the giant\u2019s voice grew deep and\ntroubled,\u2014\u201cif you don\u2019t, why then\n\n    Your father\u2019s castle, coach, and crown,\n    Queen and country I will _drown_!\u201d\n\nThere was a sudden brightening in the sky, and Jack felt himself set down\nwith a bump upon the grassy bank. The next moment a chilly spray beat\nin his face and trickled down his neck. He looked up to see the giant\nRiverrath with his garments dripping and fluttering, dashing up the river\nand off toward the pale moon.\n\n\u201cWhich way is your castle?\u201d shouted Jack.\n\n\u201cAt the ends of the earth,\u201d called the giant. And Jack could hear his\nmighty laughter gurgling up among the hills.\n\n[Illustration: He drooped limp over Riverrath\u2019s great thumb]\n\nFor some minutes Jack sat gazing at the sunrise, thinking it all over.\nThen he picked himself up, and ran pell-mell to the palace. There was the\nking already up, standing before the mirror putting on his crown. And\nthere was the queen ready to go out with him in the coach.\n\n\u201cFather! Mother!\u201d cried Jack. \u201cI must go upon a journey.\u201d\n\n\u201cOf course, of course,\u201d said the king. \u201cYou\u2019re going to drive with us to\ntown.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, not that!\u201d cried Jack. \u201cI have to go to the ends of the earth to\nfind the giant Riverrath.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd who is he?\u201d asked the king.\n\n\u201cThe giant who pulls your bridges down,\u201d said Jack; and he told them all\nabout it.\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s nonsense,\u201d said the king decidedly. \u201cHere the palace has stood\nthree hundred years, and here it will stand for all your giants.\nHowever,\u201d he added a little nervously, \u201cif you\u2019re determined, Jack, I\nsuppose you may as well go to find him.\u201d\n\nAs for the queen, as soon as she saw how things were turning out, she ran\nto the pantry and set the four-and-twenty dairy maids to putting up a\nlunch for Jack. \u201cFor,\u201d said she, \u201che may be gone a year and a day, and I\ndon\u2019t want my son to go hungry.\u201d\n\nSo Jack chose a good stout staff for a walking stick, slung his lunch\nacross his back, and set off for the ends of the earth. His father and\nmother watched from the palace tower till his green feather was lost to\nsight behind the hills.\n\nAll day long Jack walked up hill and down, in and out, by field and farm,\nthrough market and town, past castle and cottage. And everywhere he\nstopped to ask his way. But the queer part was that though every one had\nheard of the ends of the earth, no one could tell him just where they\nlay. There was no scholar who had ever seen them on a map and no traveler\nwho had been so far.\n\n[Illustration: Jack set off for the ends of the earth]\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d people would say wisely and nod their heads, \u201cthe ends of the\nearth! Every one has heard of them, of course, but just where they are or\nhow you would go to get there, that I can\u2019t say.\u201d\n\nSo Jack kept on for a week and a month, knocking and knocking at all the\nhouse doors, without finding any one to tell him the way. And every day\nhis lunch grew smaller, his shoes grew thinner, and his feather which\nhad stood up so fine and straight, drooped more and more. But his heart\ninside him beat as happy and as high as on the morning he said good-by\nto his father and his mother. And he whistled so cheerily that the\nhousewives would smile as he passed, and say, \u201cThere\u2019s a brave lad coming\nhome from a journey.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Everywhere he stopped to ask his way]\n\nLate one afternoon Jack found himself on a wide, sandy plain that\nstretched as far as he could see. There were no house doors at which to\nknock and no travelers of whom to inquire the way. It was quite lonely\nand still. Ahead on the far horizon inky turrets appeared against the\nsetting sun. They belonged to a castle standing alone upon a high rock.\nBeyond it was only sky. The sand seemed to reach the cliff, and stop in a\nsudden firm line. The hope and joy in Jack almost choked him. What could\nthis be but the ends of the earth and the castle of the giant Riverrath?\n\n[Illustration: \u201cOh, yes,\u201d they said, \u201cthe ends of the earth!\u201d]\n\nThe dark began to come, and it was the last edge of twilight when Jack\nreached the great black cliff where the castle stood. He felt about, but\nthe rock was steep and jagged whichever way he turned. So he scrambled\nup on his hands and knees. At the end of an hour or so he found himself,\nscratched and breathless, under the huge wall of the castle. In the dim\nstarlight a few feet away he could make out an iron grating with bars as\nthick as tree trunks.\n\n[Illustration: Inky turrets]\n\n\u201cThat is the castle gate,\u201d thought Jack. So he beat upon it with his\nstaff. The massive iron resounded through the dark. But when the noise\ndied down, the castle loomed as silent as before. Jack whacked at the\nbars again, blow after blow, till he could hear the echoes go booming\ndown the hall inside. There was the loud, slow grating of a lock, the\nopening of a great door, and a light as big and bright as the moon came\nswinging down the corridor, far above Jack\u2019s head.\n\nAs soon as his eyes got through blinking, Jack looked up. The other side\nof the tall grating towered a man as high and wide as the palace at home;\nbut it was _not_ the giant Riverrath. This giant had black hair and black\nmustaches, and he looked down at Jack by the light of his huge lantern\nwithout saying a word.\n\n\u201cGood evening,\u201d said Jack politely, doffing his hat. \u201cCould you tell me\nthe way to the ends of the earth and the castle of giant Riverrath?\u201d\n\nAt that the giant\u2019s face broke into dimples as deep as teacups. He\nrattled the gate open with a noise like thunder, and cried out:\n\n    \u201cFlip-flap, flip-flap,\n    Here\u2019s a cheery, chary chap!\n    By the map I\u2019ll point the path\n    To the home of Riverrath.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, thank you, thank you,\u201d gasped Jack. But he didn\u2019t have breath left\nto say more, for the giant bent down and carried him off through the tall\ncorridor to a vast room all of iron. The ceiling and the walls were iron,\nand so were the chairs, the table, and the great spits over the fire.\nThe giant set Jack and his lantern both on the table.\n\n\u201cWell, Jack,\u201d he said, \u201cI\u2019m glad to see you, for I haven\u2019t seen a man\nbefore for three hundred years.\n\n\u201cAs for the ends of the earth,\u201d went on the giant, \u201cwherever they are,\nI\u2019m sure to find them for you. For I have a map of the whole world\nhanging on the wall. Only if I get that out, you\u2019ll have to stay all\nnight, for it will take me that long to look it over.\u201d\n\nJack said that he would like to. So the giant took four or five fine\nroast pigs from a spit and piled them up on a platter. He and Jack had\na very merry supper. After it was done, the giant put on his great\niron-bowed spectacles, and spread the map out on the table. Jack walked\naround on it, all over the pink countries and the yellow, across the blue\nseas, to the green spot that was Ireland. There he stopped, and showed\nthe giant where his father\u2019s palace was, and the stream where Riverrath\nhad pulled down the bridges. Then he went and lay down in the inglenook\nwhile the giant traced out all the names with his great finger.\n\nIn the morning when Jack woke up, the giant was just hanging the map up\nagain on the wall.\n\n\u201cOh, Jack,\u201d said he, \u201cto think that I should have to disappoint you after\nall! But I\u2019ve been over every word and every letter, and there\u2019s no\nmention of the ends of the earth on the map at all.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Jack walked to the green spot that was Ireland]\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand thank you kindly.\u201d But he couldn\u2019t help\nlooking a bit downhearted for all he spoke so bravely.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what,\u201d cried the giant, \u201cthere\u2019s still a chance some one\nmight know how to get there. And if any one does, it will be my brother,\nwho lives nine hundred miles from here. For he has a book with the\nhistory of the whole world written down in it.\u201d\n\nSo the giant took Jack down the steep precipice the other side of the\ncastle, that had seemed to him like the ends of the earth the night\nbefore. \u201cNow, Jack,\u201d said the giant, \u201cwhen I whistle, you start forward,\nand then you\u2019ll get there all the quicker.\u201d\n\nThe giant whistled loud enough to be heard nine hundred miles, and then\nat every step Jack took, he went the length of ten. And so in scarcely\na week\u2019s time, Jack found himself before a great bronze castle shining\nred in the sunset. He beat with his staff on the tall bronze gate; and a\ngiant, big and ruddy, with glowing hair, came to see who was there.\n\n\u201cGood afternoon,\u201d said Jack. \u201cCould you tell me the way to the ends of\nthe earth and the castle of giant Riverrath?\u201d\n\nThe giant beamed all over his great red face, and his eyes shone like\ncoals of fire. He swung open the gate with a glorious clang, and cried:\n\n    \u201cFlip-flap, flip-flap,\n    Here\u2019s a cheery, chary chap;\n    By the book I\u2019ll point the path\n    To the home of Riverrath!\u201d\n\nAnd with that the giant picked Jack up and carried him down a corridor\nechoing like deep chimes, into a vast room all of bronze. The ceiling,\nthe walls, the table, the chairs, flashed back the firelight like a\nhundred sunsets. The giant set Jack on the bronze table.\n\n\u201cI\u2019m glad to see you, Jack,\u201d he said, \u201cfor I haven\u2019t seen a man before\nfor three hundred years.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d cried Jack, \u201cthat\u2019s just what your brother said.\u201d And he told the\ngiant all about his visit to the great iron castle.\n\nWhen he had finished, the giant\u2019s good-natured face grew sober.\n\u201cStrange,\u201d he said, \u201cthat the ends of the earth weren\u2019t down on my\nbrother\u2019s map, when you hear of them every day or so. But I\u2019ll tell you\nwhat, Jack: if any one has ever been there, my book will say so, for that\nhas the whole history of the world written down in it. Only if I get that\nout, you\u2019ll have to stay all night, for it will take me that long to read\nit through.\u201d\n\nJack thanked him, and the giant took four or five fine brown pigs from a\nspit and piled them up on a platter. He and Jack had a merry supper. When\nthe giant talked, his voice echoed about the bronze room as if a hundred\ngreat bells were ringing; and when Jack answered, it was like a hundred\nlittle bells tinkling back again.\n\nAfter supper, the giant put on his big bronze-bowed spectacles, and\nopened his tremendous book at page one. For a while Jack stood on the\ntable beside him and tried to read too. But the lines were so long and\nso big that before he had finished the first one he had fallen fast\nasleep.\n\nIn the morning when Jack woke up, the giant was just putting the book\naway again on its shelf. \u201cJack,\u201d said he, \u201cI\u2019m afraid I\u2019m no more help to\nyou than my brother. For I\u2019ve read through every line and every word of\nthe whole book, and I can\u2019t find that anybody has ever been to the ends\nof the earth. There is plenty of talk about going, but no one seems ever\nto get there at all.\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d said Jack, \u201cand thank you kindly.\u201d But he couldn\u2019t help\nlooking a bit downhearted for all he spoke so bravely.\n\n\u201cI\u2019ll tell you what,\u201d cried the giant; \u201cthere\u2019s still a chance some one\nmight know how to get there. And if any one does, it will be my brother\nwho lives nine hundred miles from here. For he is master of all the birds\nof the air.\u201d\n\nSo the giant took Jack outside, and whistled loud enough to be heard nine\nhundred miles. And then at every step Jack took he went the length of\nten. So in scarcely a week\u2019s time Jack found himself at noonday before a\ngreat golden castle glittering in the sunshine. He knocked with his staff\non the high gate; and a giant with golden hair and eyes as blue and\ngleaming as the noonday sky, came to see who was there.\n\n\u201cGood day,\u201d said Jack politely. \u201cCould you tell me the way to the ends of\nthe earth and the castle of giant Riverrath?\u201d\n\nThe giant beamed all over his great happy face, till his eyes and his\ncheeks and his wide mouth were full of sunny smiles. He swung open the\ngate, and cried:\n\n    \u201cFlip-flap, flip-flap,\n    Here\u2019s a cheery, chary chap;\n    From the birds I\u2019ll ask the path\n    To the home of Riverrath!\u201d\n\nAnd with that he picked Jack up and carried him through a shining\ncorridor, up hundreds and hundreds of high golden stairs till they came\nout on a dazzling turret far up against the sky. The giant set Jack down\non the wide parapet. \u201cI\u2019m glad to see you, Jack,\u201d he said, \u201cfor I haven\u2019t\nseen a man before for three hundred years.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy,\u201d cried Jack, \u201cthat\u2019s just what your brothers said.\u201d And he told the\ngiant all about his visits to the iron castle and the bronze.\n\n\u201cNever mind,\u201d cried the giant cheerily, when Jack had finished. \u201cBirds\nfly farther than men ever go; and perhaps some of them will have been to\nthe ends of the earth. Anyway we shall soon find out, for I am master of\nall the birds of the air.\u201d\n\nJack thanked him, and the giant took from his pocket a great golden\nwhistle and blew it with the sweetest sound, that seemed to pierce the\nair in all directions. In just a minute the sky was full of flying\nbirds. The eagles and the hawks came first, the gulls and all the birds\nwith long, strong wings; then the swallows, the robins, the blue jays\nand the doves, and last the parrots and macaws and all the gay birds of\nthe jungle. They lit on the giant\u2019s shoulders, and Jack\u2019s, all over the\nturret and the castle towers, chattering and cheeping till Jack had to\nput his fingers in his ears.\n\nWhen the giant thought they were all there, he blew his whistle for\nsilence.\n\n\u201cWhich of you has been to the ends of the earth?\u201d he cried.\n\nBut all the birds kept still, for none of them had ever been so far.\n\nAnd if Jack had been downhearted before, now he was ten times more so,\nfor where to turn next he didn\u2019t know.\n\nAs for the giant, he said never a word, but began counting the birds, one\nby one. \u201cThere\u2019s one missing!\u201d he cried at last.\n\nAs he spoke there was a loud beating of wings, and Jack looked up to see\nan eagle ten times larger than any of the others, flying toward them.\n\n\u201cYou\u2019re late,\u201d called the giant sternly.\n\n\u201cAnd a good reason why,\u201d screamed the eagle. \u201cI\u2019ve had twenty times as\nfar to come as any other bird here.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhere have you been then?\u201d asked the giant.\n\n\u201cAt the ends of the earth,\u201d screeched the eagle, \u201cvisiting the giant\nRiverrath.\u201d\n\nWhen Jack heard that, he was ready to jump up and hug the eagle; but the\ngiant seemed to have forgotten about Jack\u2019s errand entirely.\n\n\u201cWell, eagle,\u201d he said, \u201cif you have come so far, you must be hungry.\nCome in and have some lunch.\u201d\n\nSo the giant and the eagle went into the castle, and left Jack with all\nthe other birds outside. One by one, they flew away, and Jack was there\nalone. After a while he heard the giant\u2019s steps again coming up the\nstairs.\n\n\u201cNow, Jack,\u201d said the giant, \u201cI\u2019ve found out from the eagle about the\nends of the earth, and they\u2019re farther than I thought. You never could\nget there by walking. The only way will be for the eagle to take you. But\nif he knows it\u2019s you he\u2019s carrying, I\u2019m afraid he might get hungry and\neat you. So here\u2019s a bag to put you in, so that he won\u2019t see you at all.\u201d\n\nThe giant took out of his pocket a great golden bag, big enough to hold\nJack twice over. Jack stepped in and sat down, and the giant drew up the\nstring. \u201cQuiet now,\u201d he said; \u201cdon\u2019t let the eagle hear you stirring.\u201d\n\nWhen the eagle had finished his lunch, he came up on the turret to say\ngood-by. \u201cOh, eagle,\u201d said the giant, \u201cI wonder if you\u2019d do me a bit\nof a favor. There\u2019s a bag over there I\u2019m anxious to get to the giant\nRiverrath; and since you know the way, I thought you\u2019d be good enough to\ntake it for me.\u201d\n\nThe eagle grumbled a little about its being so far. But he didn\u2019t dare\nrefuse the giant. So he took the bag in his beak, and flew with it up\ninto the sky.\n\nJack cut a little hole in the side to look out of. But the eagle flew so\nfast and so high he could hardly see the earth at all. So they flew for\na week or more before Jack felt the eagle going slower. He looked out\nof the hole again; and sure enough, straight ahead was a great crystal\ncastle with waterfalls tumbling over the walls. Wherever he looked he\ncould see rainbows gleaming through it in the morning sunshine. Beyond it\nthere was nothing at all. So Jack knew he was at the ends of the earth at\nthe castle of the giant Riverrath.\n\nThe eagle gave a hoarse scream, and Riverrath himself came out of the\ncastle door. \u201cHere\u2019s a bag for you,\u201d said the eagle shortly, setting it\ndown; and flew away again.\n\n[Illustration: So they flew for a week or more]\n\nJack ripped the bag open with his sword, and stepped out at Riverrath\u2019s\nfeet. \u201cGood morning,\u201d he said, and couldn\u2019t help smiling just to think\nthat he had gotten there at last.\n\n\u201cBursting bridges!\u201d roared Riverrath, \u201cif it isn\u2019t Jack!\u201d And he couldn\u2019t\nhelp smiling too, just to think that Jack had found the way. So he gave\na kind of yawn behind his hand that ended in a great gurgling laugh. \u201cI\nknew I liked you, Jack,\u201d said he, \u201cand you\u2019ll find that I\u2019ll keep my word\nwith you too. Now come and see the castle.\u201d\n\nSo he took Jack up into the highest tower where he could see the rivers\ncoming and going, and then down to the great middle court where was a\nfountain fed by all the rivers of the earth. And by that time Jack and\nthe giant were joking together like the best friends in the world.\n\nBut the thing Jack liked best in all the castle was not the high fountain\nnor the wide view but the little slip of a girl who was Riverrath\u2019s\ndaughter. For she was as small as Riverrath was big, and as calm as he\nwas boisterous. When Riverrath walked abroad, the rivers always rose\nup and roared to greet him; but before the girl, even the wildest and\nangriest of them would lie down quietly to let her pass over. And because\nshe was so placid and at the same time so joyous, they called her the\nDaughter of the Fountain.\n\nShe had pale pink cheeks and flying hair, and a silver gown with rainbow\nlights in the folds. And when it came to a race she could usually beat\nJack. For he would be so taken up with looking at her that he never could\nbear to get ahead. So all day long they played together, and at the end\nthey would climb up on Riverrath\u2019s high shoulders and make him take them\nfor a walk. And Jack thought he never in all his life had had so good a\ntime.\n\nBut one morning Riverrath came to him. \u201cJack,\u201d said he, quite soberly,\n\u201cdo you know what to-day is?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, no,\u201d answered Jack, not much caring.\n\n\u201cWell,\u201d said Riverrath, \u201cto-day your time is up. It\u2019s a year and a day\nsince you started out to find me, and now you must be going back to your\nfather and your mother.\u201d\n\nThen Jack looked sober too, for though he knew quite well that the giant\nwas right, he couldn\u2019t bear to think of going.\n\n\u201cCome, come, Jack,\u201d cried Riverrath kindly. \u201cDon\u2019t be downhearted. If you\nmust go, you must, and that\u2019s the end of it. Come down to the court in\njust an hour\u2019s time, and you\u2019ll find a boat waiting to take you home. And\nbecause I like you, Jack, I\u2019ll give you a guide besides.\u201d\n\nSo Jack went and said good-by to the Daughter of the Fountain, got his\nhat and his staff, and came down to the court just as the giant had told\nhim. Sure enough, there in the pool at the edge of the fountain, was a\nboat made of a great scallop shell, with a gossamer sail shining silver\nin the morning sunshine. But there was something silvery _in_ the boat\ntoo. Jack looked, but he couldn\u2019t believe his eyes, for there sat the\nDaughter of the Fountain, looking as roguish and contented as if she were\nthere to stay.\n\nRiverrath beamed all over his great joyous face. \u201cThere is your guide\nin the boat,\u201d said he. And he gathered Jack up with a hug of his big\nfingers, and put him down in the shell right beside the Daughter of the\nFountain.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Riverrath, feeling around in his huge pockets, \u201chere\nare three presents I want you to leave for me with the three giants who\nhelped you to find me.\u201d So he handed Jack three neat white parcels tied\nwith water-lilies.\n\n\u201cGood-by,\u201d he roared, \u201cgood-by. And don\u2019t forget the giant Riverrath.\nSometimes I\u2019ll come to visit you, and sometimes you\u2019ll come to visit me.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Inside was a tiny fountain.]\n\nAnd with that he blew against the sail, and the shell moved quietly\nout of the pool, through the green grottoes underneath the castle, and\nout down the rivers of the earth. When the rivers saw that it was the\nDaughter of the Fountain coming, they lay down and let the shell skim\nover them faster than any bird could fly.\n\nIn a little while Jack saw the great gold castle of the bird giant. He\nbeat with his staff on the gate, and the giant came out to meet them.\n\u201cHere is a present from the giant Riverrath,\u201d cried Jack.\n\nSo the giant untied the water-lilies, and there inside was a tiny\nfountain which grew and grew until it was a mile wide,\u2014big enough for all\nthe birds of the air to bathe in.\n\n\u201cThank you, thank you,\u201d called the bird giant. \u201cAnd good luck to you,\nJack!\u201d\n\nIn just a few minutes more the shell floated up to the bronze castle. And\nthere was the history giant outside, waiting for them. Jack gave him his\npresent from the giant Riverrath. As he untied it, a nice, wet spring\nbubbled out, and beside it was a card which read:\n\n               \u201cA spring\u2014to make history less dry reading.\u201d\n\nThe history giant beamed. \u201cThank you,\u201d he cried gratefully. \u201cAnd good\nluck to you, Jack!\u201d\n\nIn scarcely half an hour they came to the map giant sitting on one of the\ntowers of his iron castle. Jack handed Riverrath\u2019s present up to him.\nHardly had he begun to open it when the clearest stream Jack had ever\nseen trickled down over the castle wall. With it was a card which read:\n\n              \u201cA crystal brook,\u2014to make geography clearer.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you, thank you!\u201d cried the map giant. \u201cAnd all the school children\nwill thank you too.\u201d\n\nAfter that Jack and the Daughter of the Fountain skimmed down the rivers\nfor an hour or more before they saw the King of Ireland\u2019s palace. On the\nbank stood Jack\u2019s father and mother waiting to welcome them. Jack got\nout and kissed them both; then he gave his hand to the Daughter of the\nFountain.\n\nWhen the king and queen saw what a fine lady Jack\u2019s guide was, they\nthought they would like to have her for a daughter. \u201cHow would you like\nto marry Jack?\u201d asked the king.\n\nThe Daughter of the Fountain said she would not mind in the least. So\nthe king called for his gilt coach, and they all got in and drove toward\ntown. And when the river saw that the Daughter of the Fountain was in the\ncoach, it lay right down, and let them drive over as dry and fine as you\nplease.\n\nJack and the Daughter of the Fountain went into the church and were\nmarried. And all the people cried, \u201cWhat a fine bride Jack has!\u201d\n\nBut the king was so taken up with looking at his coach that he forgot the\nbride entirely. For on all the gilt wheels, on all the gilt sides, on\nboth the shiny doors was not a single spot of mud! And ever after when\nthe king of Ireland drove down among his subjects, his coach was just as\nbright and fine as the day it first was gilded.\n\n                                             \u2014_Based on Celtic folk-lore._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nThe Giants\u2019 Pot\n\n    Giants, just as oft as not,\n    Eat their porridge from a pot;\n    Which is proper and polite,\n    If the pot is clean and bright:\n    But the giants we shall mention\n    Failed to give their pot attention:\u2014\n    Oh, a daily little rub\u2019ll\n    Often save a sight of trouble.\n\n                      _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nVI\n\nThe Giants\u2019 Pot\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn the days when the world was jollier than it is now, there were three\ngiants in Germany. Their names were Grosskopf, Grossmund, and Grosshand,\nand they lived on the top of a mountain.\n\nNo more contented family could be imagined. Their home was airy; yet only\none giant-step below, there flowed the good water of the river Rhine.\nWhen it came to food, their wants were simple, for from one year\u2019s end\nto the other they ate nothing but oatmeal porridge. As for the work,\nthey had it so well arranged that each one did for the others what he\nbest could. Grosshand did the cooking; Grossmund did the talking; and\nGrosskopf did the thinking. What more could be desired? When they were\nhungry, there was Grosshand to stir up the porridge; when they were dull\nthere was Grossmund to tell stories and make them merry; when they were\nin a scrape, there was Grosskopf to find a way out.\n\n[Illustration: Pots with handles, pots with covers, pots with legs]\n\nEven the mountain did its share. For besides giving the giants a home, it\nkept up a fire that never went out over which they cooked their porridge.\nIt was at any rate a rather unusual mountain. Instead of being rough and\ncraggy and rising to a sharp, uncomfortable point, it was smooth and\ngreen, and the top was hollowed out in a wide, deep bowl. Right in the\nmiddle of the bowl was the spot, some forty feet across, that served as\nthe giants\u2019 stove. No matter how it snowed, no matter how it rained, no\nmatter how the wind blew, that spot was always red hot, glowing with the\ngreat fire shut up inside the mountain.\n\n[Illustration: Pots for boiling, pots for stewing]\n\nMany a cook might have envied Grosshand. All he had to do was to set the\nporridge on the stove and turn peacefully over to snore the night out. In\nthe morning, the minute the giants blinked their eyes open, there would\nbe their porridge steaming up into the sunlight ready to be eaten. After\nbreakfast his task was no harder. He had but to put on more porridge, and\nbe off with his brothers for the fun of the day. At night when they came\nwading wearily back, down the river Rhine, they would see, miles off, the\ngust of smoke against the sunset that meant a hot supper at home. And so\nthey were soon fed when they were hungry, and no one could ever complain\nthat the meals were late.\n\n[Illustration: Pots for frying]\n\nIn fact there would have been nothing at all to grumble about had it not\nbeen for the pots. Now, any one who had looked into the giants\u2019 cupboard\nwould have thought it well equipped indeed. There were big pots and\nlittle pots, deep pots and shallow pots, wide pots and narrow pots, iron\npots and brass pots, pots with handles, pots with covers, pots with legs,\npots for boiling, pots for frying, pots for stewing, and just plain pots.\n\nThe trouble was that all the pots, big and little, wide and narrow, deep\nand shallow, spread out on the stove together, held scarcely enough\nporridge for the giants\u2019 breakfast. Then too, the pots were getting old.\nThey had been handed down for generations in the giants\u2019 family, and as\nevery one of them had been used every day for more years than you could\ncount, they began gradually from sheer old age to wear out.\n\nGrosshand puttered and patched. He mended a hole here and added a handle\nthere. He stopped up cracks and soldered edges. But finally, in spite\nof all his care, two or three of the weaker ones dropped completely\nto pieces. Then matters were desperate indeed. Grosshand filled the\nremaining pots to overflowing; and the giants stuck in their spoons with\ngreat deliberation so that it should seem as if there were quite as much\nporridge as usual. Nevertheless, they were worried. It began to look as\nif they would soon be unable to cook all their porridge at once.\n\nEvery evening after supper they sat on their mountain top, around the\nrim of the wide bowl above their stove, and talked things over. That is,\nGrossmund talked; as for the others, they sat gravely by and listened.\nFor, since Grossmund was sure to say everything they could possibly have\nsaid themselves, there seemed no need of wearying their tongues. But,\nno matter how long or how late the talk went on, it seemed that they\nnever came to any conclusion. The pots were going, that was clear; and\nsomething must be done, that was still clearer. But what that something\nwas, no one of the giants, and least of all Grossmund, could say.\n\n[Illustration: Just plain pots]\n\nThe day the fourth pot gave out, the giants\u2019 faces were longer than ever.\nTo-morrow one of them would have to do without part of his porridge.\nGrossmund\u2019s words came slowly after supper. Grosskopf bent his head on\nhis hands, trying to think. Grosshand sprawled his long body down the\nmountain-side and absently snapped off the smaller trees with his thumb\nand forefinger.\n\n\u201cIf only we had something else to cook in!\u201d cried Grossmund for the\ntwentieth time.\n\n\u201cIf only we had something else to cook in!\u201d echoed Grosshand sleepily.\n\nGrosskopf said nothing whatever. He was enveloped in that remote and\naugust air he always assumed when using his mind. Finally he held up his\nhand for silence.\n\n\u201cLet me think,\u201d he said.\n\nGrossmund scrambled up and stretched his arms and his legs and his great\nmouth in one tremendous yawn. Grosshand clattered among his pots getting\nready the morning\u2019s porridge. But Grosskopf towered motionless into the\ntwilight.\n\nGrossmund and Grosshand settled themselves for the night. They sprawled\nflat on their backs down the mountain side, and began promptly and\nlustily to snore. The moon came up from the valley and glistened in the\ndewdrops that covered Grosskopf\u2019s hair. The stars blinked faintly.\nThere was not a sound but the slow rumbling of his brothers\u2019 snores. But\nGrosskopf did not move. He sat, cheek on hand, still thinking.\n\nThe moon went high and bright, and slowly pale and paler. The whole sky\nbecame light and the stars went out. Down in the farmyards the cocks\nbegan to stir. Then the sun looked up and shone red on the great tufts of\nGrosskopf\u2019s hair till it glowed like a forest-fire. But Grosskopf did not\nraise his eyes.\n\nIt was morning in good earnest. The porridge steamed up in a savory,\nwhite cloud straight to Grosskopf\u2019s nose. But he did not turn his head.\nHe gazed steadily through it down into the wide abyss that held the\nstove. It was still dark in there, and for steam and shadow not even\nGrosskopf\u2019s big eyes could make out the hundreds of pots marshaled at the\nbottom. It seemed as if the great bowl itself were one steaming pot of\nporridge.\n\nSuddenly, Grosskopf sprang up. With one leap he cleared the abyss, steam\nand all, and came down on the other side. He capered, he shouted, he\nshook his snoring brothers. He had an idea at last.\n\n\u201cGrosshand! Grossmund!\u201d he cried. \u201cI have it. We must have a big pot. No\nmore little pots. A big pot that will cover our stove!\u201d\n\nGrosshand rubbed his eyes and stared. But Grossmund was never at a loss,\nand could talk even in his sleep.\n\n\u201cWhy, yes,\u201d he said. \u201cA big pot. A pot to fit our stove. A pot to hold\nall our porridge.\u201d\n\n\u201cYes, yes,\u201d cried Grosskopf. \u201cWe must plan. We must measure. We must get\nsome one to make it.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut first,\u201d said Grossmund, \u201cwe must eat.\u201d\n\nGrosshand scrambled over to the stove and began to hand up the porridge.\nAnd as they ate, they talked so fast of the new pot that no one had time\nto notice that there was less porridge than usual.\n\n\u201cIt must be as wide as the stove,\u201d said Grosshand.\n\n\u201cIt must be as deep as the bowl,\u201d said Grosskopf.\n\n\u201cIt must be as big as our appetites,\u201d said Grossmund.\n\nAnd then after some consideration they came to the satisfactory\nconclusion that a pot as wide as the stove and as deep as the bowl would\nbe just the right size to a spoonful to satisfy their hunger.\n\nThe minute breakfast was over, the measuring began. Grosshand did the\nreaching around. Grossmund did the calling off. Grosskopf did the\nwriting down. There was not a tape-measure on the whole mountain, and so\nGrosshand used his belt instead. He clambered down into the bowl and laid\nhis belt once, twice, nearly three times along the edge of the stove.\n\n\u201cTwo and a half,\u201d called Grossmund, peering down.\n\nAnd Grosskopf, sitting crosslegged near by, scratched \u201ctwo and a half\u201d\nwith a sharpened tree trunk on his spoon.\n\nMeasuring as he came, Grosshand climbed the bowl. Grossmund counted,\nGrosskopf wrote, and the measuring was done.\n\n\u201cBut who will make the pot?\u201d asked Grossmund.\n\n\u201cA blacksmith,\u201d said Grosshand.\n\n\u201cHerr Klinkerklanker,\u201d said Grosskopf.\n\nGrosshand put on his belt; Grosskopf took his spoon; Grossmund cut a\nwalking-stick. And they stepped off gaily, arm in arm, across the river\nRhine.\n\nEisenburg, where Herr Klinkerklanker lived, was but a step from the\nriver, and when the giants got there, they walked carefully, single file.\nThey were kindly fellows at heart and went out of their way, through\nroads and over gardens, to avoid crushing the houses. Nevertheless when\nthe townsfolk saw the huge shapes making for their very dooryards, they\nscurried in alarm. Horses shied, drivers ran, dogs dodged, geese flapped,\nmothers called, doors slammed. Every chick and child scampered indoors as\nfast as its legs could run.\n\nIt was not that they had never seen the giants before. Every day the\ngreat figures went splashing by up the Rhine, and they hardly turned\nto look. And many an evening when more smoke than usual came from the\nmountain, the housewives would glance up from their knitting to remark\nthat the giants\u2019 porridge was burning. They were used to the giants and\nhad a kind of distant affection for them, as they had for the hills and\nthe river. But it is one thing to love a river when it is still, and\nquite another when it comes sweeping down over your house. And so when\nthe giants, colossal-limbed and thunder-voiced, came tramping through the\ntown, it was an entirely different matter. For years such a thing had not\noccurred. The oldest grandfather of all could not remember when they had\ncome before.\n\nAs for the giants themselves, they had not the least idea of the\ncommotion they were causing. They plodded along, talking and singing\nin their big bass voices, and took not the slightest notice of all\nthe screaming and scrambling going on about their feet. Grosskopf was\nahead, and when he came to the market-place, he stepped in and stopped.\nGrosshand stepped in too; but when it came Grossmund\u2019s turn, there was\nnot room enough left for him; so he had to stand a-straddle, one foot in\nand one foot out in the field behind the guild-hall.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Grossmund, \u201cwhich is Herr Klinkerklanker\u2019s house?\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The giants in the market-place]\n\nThe giants looked around. There were hundreds of roofs, but they were\nall just alike,\u2014some larger, to be sure, and some smaller, but all\nsteep, red-tiled, and peaked, with a great chimney-pot above. Herr\nKlinkerklanker\u2019s might be one, and it might be another. There was not the\nleast way of telling.\n\n\u201cWe must ask some one,\u201d said Grossmund.\n\nBut there was no one to ask. Every soul was safely locked indoors.\n\nSo the giants considered. They thought and thought, and looked and looked\nhere and there among the silent streets of the town. Suddenly Grosshand\npointed. Not a step away, a small bright flame shot up between two\nhouses. It seemed to come from an iron table. Grossmund was nearest. He\nbent down, picked up the iron with his thumb and forefinger and blew out\nthe fire.\n\nThen Grosskopf had a thought. \u201cHerr Klinkerklanker\u2019s forge!\u201d he said.\n\nGrossmund put the thing down. Then he bent over the red-roofed house\nbeside it. He put his lips to the chimney and whistled.\n\n\u201cHerr Klinkerklanker! Herr Klinkerklanker!\u201d he called as softly as he\nknew how.\n\nThe windows rattled and the door quivered; but there was no answer.\n\n\u201cHerr Klinkerklanker! Herr Klinkerklanker!\u201d he called again.\n\nThat time the door opened, and a little figure in a leather apron came\nslowly down the steps.\n\n\u201cAt your service, gentlemen,\u201d he said, and doffed his cap. But he\ntrembled very hard indeed.\n\nNow the giants had been brought up to be polite; and at that they bowed,\nall together, so low that their heads bumped.\n\n\u201cWe want you to make us a pot,\u201d said Grossmund, \u201ca pot to hold all our\nporridge.\u201d\n\nHerr Klinkerklanker stopped trembling. But he spoke not a word though he\nopened his mouth wide and wider.\n\nGrosshand held up his belt. \u201cThe pot must be as big around as this,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201ctwice and a half over.\u201d\n\nHerr Klinkerklanker considered. Then he turned toward the house and\nclapped his hands smartly together.\n\nOut of the door and down the steps, three at once, four at once, five at\nonce, dashed his apprentices, helter-skelter,\u2014some with hammers, some\nwith horseshoes, some with hoes, some with shovels, some with pots,\u2014with\neverything in all Eisenburg to be made or mended with iron. And so,\nclattering and stumbling, they came and stood, five-and-twenty strong,\nbefore Herr Klinkerklanker.\n\n\u201cMeasuring rods, quills, inkhorns,\u201d said he. \u201cAnd all to the\nmarket-place.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Three at once]\n\nHoes, hammers, horseshoes, shovels, pots, rattled down in one\nclanging pile. And the apprentices, two by two, fell in behind Herr\nKlinkerklanker. And so the giants, all in a hurry, stepped out of the\nmarket-place to let them in.\n\nThen there was a bustling indeed. Those who were good at measuring\nstarted in on Grosshand\u2019s belt. Those who were good at writing copied the\nnumbers on Grosskopf\u2019s spoon. Those who were good at figuring scribbled\nand scratched With all their might to find out how much two and a half\ntimes Grosshand\u2019s belt might be. As for the rest, Herr Klinkerklanker\nsent them to knock at all the house doors until they got every bit of\niron in town and a hundred lusty men to hammer it.\n\n[Illustration: Four at once]\n\nNot even the giants remained idle. Grosskopf and Grossmund tore wide,\nflat boulders out of the mountain and set them up for a forge and an\nanvil in the market-place. Grosshand came rattling back with all his pots\nswinging in his hands and strung clattering about his neck.\n\nAnd then giants, hammerers, apprentices, set up such a clinking and a\nclanking and a puffing and a blowing as never was heard in all Germany\nbefore. All day long the great forge flame swept skywards. All day\nlong the five-and-twenty apprentices swung their sledges while Herr\nKlinkerklanker shouted orders. All day long the hundred hammerers beat\nand pounded at the glowing iron that was to be the giants\u2019 pot.\n\nAll day long Grossmund puffed out his great cheeks and blew to keep up\nthe forge flame. All day long Grosshand lifted the pot from forge to\nanvil, and back again from anvil to forge. All day long Grosskopf stood\nquietly by ready to think in case of emergency.\n\n[Illustration: Five at once]\n\nAs for the housewives of Eisenburg, they were busy too, with every kettle\nin all the town a-steam and a-stew with porridge to feed the giants until\ntheir own pot should be done. But the children had the most fun, for\nthey had nothing whatever to do but dance about the market-place and\nwatch the hammers swinging and the sparks skyrocketing and the big, slow\ngiants lifting and blowing and thinking.\n\nWhat with heating and beating, and hammering inside and out, the great\niron mass grew gradually taller and taller and bulgier and bulgier,\nuntil one day in the middle of the square there stood a black, shiny\nmountain of a pot. Then there was a holiday, you may be sure. The hundred\nhammerers, the five-and-twenty apprentices, and even Herr Klinkerklanker\nhimself went dancing about the pot in a jubilant circle. And every man\nand woman and child in all Eisenburg climbed the high scaffolding and\nwalked round and round the top of the pot, peering down into the black,\nslippery abyss inside.\n\nNow, the giants were as generous as they were big; and standing in the\nstreets and gardens behind the square, they looked down benevolently at\nthe merrymaking. Then Grossmund called to Herr Klinkerklanker to hold out\nhis apron, and Grosshand who was a good shot, poured into it a continuous\nstream of gold-pieces,\u2014for the apprentices and the hammerers and all\nthe good housewives who had kept them in porridge. Then when the women\nhad curtsied and the men had bowed and the bells had clanged, and all\nthe people together had shouted, \u201cHuzza for the giants!\u201d Grosshand and\nGrosskopf picked up the big pot and went swinging off with it across the\nRhine, while Grossmund followed, calling good-bys to Eisenburg.\n\nThe very first thing the giants did when they got back to their\nmountain-top was to fill their new pot full of porridge and put it on the\nstove. Sure enough, it was just a fit! So, they sat around and watched\nthe porridge bubble and steam; and the minute it was done, they dipped\ntheir spoons in all at once, shut their eyes, opened their mouths, and\nswallowed very hard, all together. They ate and ate until they had to\nlet out their belts; and then when there was no more porridge left, they\nlicked their spoons and lay back and looked at the new pot.\n\n\u201cIt is as wide as the stove,\u201d cried Grosshand.\n\n\u201cIt is as deep as the bowl,\u201d said Grosskopf.\n\n\u201cIt is as big as our appetites!\u201d cried Grossmund, smacking his lips.\n\nSo, meal after meal went joyously by. The giants would put in their\nspoons, shut their eyes, open their mouths, and swallow all together till\nthe porridge was gone. Then they would lick their spoons, smack their\nlips, and remark for the hundredth time on the satisfactory size of the\npot.\n\n[Illustration: The apprentices scampered to the market-place.]\n\nBut one day, long before it came time to let out belts, the giants\u2019\nspoons brought up no more porridge. They felt here, and they felt there;\nbut _the porridge was all gone_.\n\n\u201cBut I\u2019m still hungry,\u201d cried Grosshand angrily.\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019m still hungry,\u201d cried Grosskopf, still angrier.\n\n\u201cAnd _I\u2019m_ still hungry,\u201d cried Grossmund, angriest of all.\n\nThe giants looked at one another. When they began, the pot had been full\nto overflowing, and now before they were half through, there was no more\nporridge.\n\nThen Grosskopf had an idea. \u201cLook for a hole,\u201d he said.\n\nGrosshand seized the pot and turned it over. He felt here and he felt\nthere. He twisted it this way and that. But the more he examined, the\nbetter he saw that the pot was as firm and sound as the day it was made.\n\nGrosskopf thought again. \u201cThe pot has shrunk,\u201d he said.\n\nThe giants looked.\n\n\u201cIt is as wide as the stove,\u201d said Grosshand.\n\n\u201cIt is as deep as the bowl,\u201d said Grosskopf.\n\n\u201cBut it\u2019s not as big as our appetites,\u201d wailed Grossmund.\n\nThe next day it was just the same. The pot looked as big as ever, and the\ngiants were no hungrier than usual, and yet there was not half enough\nporridge to go around.\n\nOn the third day Grosskopf came to a conclusion. \u201cThe thing is\nbewitched,\u201d he said.\n\n\u201cHerr Klinkerklanker! Herr Klinkerklanker!\u201d roared Grossmund. \u201cOur pot is\nbewitched.\u201d\n\nAnd with that Grosshand and Grosskopf seized it and went tearing down\nthe mountain, through the Rhine, and straight to Eisenburg. And all the\nhousewives, all the children, the hundred hammerers, the five-and-twenty\napprentices, and Herr Klinkerklanker himself heard Grossmund\u2019s\nroars, dropped their work and their playthings, and scampered to the\nmarket-place as fast as their legs could carry them.\n\nGrosshand laid the pot on its side in the very center of the square.\n\u201cHerr Klinkerklanker,\u201d he said, \u201cthe pot is still as wide as the stove\u2014\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd as deep as the bowl,\u201d put in Grosskopf.\n\n\u201cAnd yet we go hungry to bed,\u201d finished Grossmund.\n\nThe hundred hammerers shook, the five-and-twenty apprentices trembled;\nand all the people stood breathless while Herr Klinkerklanker walked\nslowly all the way around the pot, and then stepped inside. The giants\nwrinkled their great brows and waited.\n\nSuddenly something echoed and re\u00ebchoed inside the pot. The people\nlistened. It was a sound that chuckled and stopped and went on again, and\nsomehow reminded one for all the world\u2014of a _laugh_.\n\nThen Herr Klinkerklanker stepped to the mouth of the pot and clapped his\nhands. The apprentices ran to him.\n\n\u201cHoes!\u201d cried Herr Klinkerklanker.\n\nIn a twinkling the five-and-twenty apprentices with their five-and-twenty\nhoes were in the pot. Then there arose such a scratching and scraping,\nand a scraping and scratching as never was heard before; and suddenly out\nof the pot, into the square burst a whole snowstorm of dried porridge.\n\nHerr Klinkerklanker stepped out and bowed to the giants. \u201cFriends,\u201d he\nsaid, \u201cif you will wash your pot clean, it will always be the same size.\u201d\n\nAnd with that hammerers and housewives, apprentices and children broke\ninto a peal of laughter. As for the giants, they were so much relieved,\nand so good-natured at any rate, that they liked nothing better than a\njoke on themselves. Grosskopf capered, Grossmund shouted, and Grosshand\nlet fall such a shower of gold-pieces that the Eisenburgers were still\nscrambling for them a week later.\n\nEvery day after that, as soon as a meal was over, the giants gave their\npot such a swishing and a swashing in the river Rhine as made the boats\ntake good care to keep out of their way. And so the pot stayed the same\nsatisfactory size, inside as well as out. And the giants, having nothing\nto trouble them and plenty to eat, grew very fat and contented indeed.\n\nWhat finally became of Grosshand, Grossmund, and Grosskopf, I cannot\ntell. For a number of years the Eisenburgers have not seen them. Their\npot too seems to have vanished completely. Only the water of the Rhine\nhas never been quite so clear since the giants took to washing out their\npot there. And sometimes on a clear evening when the Eisenburgers look\nup at the mountain and see a trail of smoke against the sunset, they nod\nwisely, for they know that the faithful fire is still burning, waiting\nfor the giants to come back and cook their porridge.\n\n                                           \u2014_Adapted from a Rhine legend._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nThe Giant Who Rode on the Ark\n\n    The wiry wasp, the bumble bee,\n    The loon, the linnet and the lark,\n    The kangaroo and chimpanzee\n    Were shown a place within the Ark:\n\n    The gnawing gnu, the restive roe,\n    The armadillo none denied;\n    No one asked the giants, though,\n    And poor Hurtali rode outside.\n\n                    _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nVII\n\nThe Giant Who Rode on the Ark\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEver since the beginning of things there have been giants. But the first\nones of all we know little about. For, oddly enough, they were so big\nthat no one ever really saw them.\n\nBack in Adam and Eve\u2019s time, and even for many years after, there were\nvery few people; and instead of being all over the earth as people are\nnow, they lived quite close together in a very small country. Among them\nlived the giants, tremendous fellows, bigger than the highest mountains,\nand so tall that if you leaned back until your neck ached you could not\nsee to the top of one of them. Half the time, at any rate, their heads\nwere hidden above the clouds, so it would have done you but little good\nto look. It was almost never that you could see the whole of a giant at\nonce.\n\nBut even if one of Adam\u2019s grandchildren had seen all of a giant, it\nwould have caused him little surprise. For everything was new in those\ndays, and one thing seemed no stranger than another. As it was, people\nscrambled about over the giants\u2019 feet every day and thought only that\nthey were climbing some new kind of hill. As for the giants themselves,\ngoing about with their heads above the clouds, and their eyes fixed on\nthe stars and sun, they had not the slightest idea of the little people\ncrawling about at their feet. Even when unknowingly they stepped on a\nwhole house, they were none the wiser.\n\nAnd so it might have gone on, the people knowing nothing of the giants,\nand the giants knowing nothing of the people until this day, had it not\nbeen for the Flood.\n\nThe first giant, and the biggest of all, was called Chalbroth. Mountains\nwere but hummocks to him. When he was thirsty he stooped and drank from\nthe clouds. When he was hungry he caught a whale and held it up before\nthe sun to toast. And he strode about the world three thousand years\nwithout so much as dreaming of the tiny race of men. No more did his son\nor grandson. That was left for his great-grandson, Hurtali.\n\n[Illustration: People thought they were climbing some new kind of hill]\n\nHurtali was not so tall as his great-grandfather, but he was a fairly\ngood-sized giant, a mile or so high, and quite big enough to take care\nof himself. And that was fortunate, for Hurtali was an orphan, without\nbrothers or sisters. However, he did not mind that much, for there were\nplenty of good games he could play alone. In the morning, when he got\nup, he would take a little run across country, playing leapfrog with the\nsmaller mountains on the way. Then he would wade out into the middle\nof the ocean till he found a place deep enough for him, and swim a few\nthousand miles before breakfast. When he wanted a quicker bath, all he\nhad to do was to step into a thick cloud, and out into the dry sunlight\non the other side. There was endless fun to be had with the clouds,\nanyhow: blowing the little ones about, and cutting up the thin ones with\nhis fingers into all kinds of shapes,\u2014whales and mountains and trees and\ngiants. Then when he got tired of them, he would run and wave his arms\nand blow, and scatter the whole lot of them helter-skelter.\n\nThe nice part was, that no matter how thick the clouds got, Hurtali was\nalways able to climb a mountain and stick his head through into the\npleasant weather above. But every position has its disadvantages, and it\nmust be confessed that when a sizeable thunderstorm came snapping about\nhis ears, he was quite as glad to lie down in a valley and go to sleep.\nAs for the rain, he seldom felt it at all, although sometimes when it\ncame down in sheets it would seem to him that there was a heavy mist.\n\nAnd that was why, when the Flood came, it lasted for a week or so before\nHurtali took the slightest notice of it. It had rained for days and days.\nThe rivers rose and rose until finally in one great torrent they went\nsweeping over all the land, and drowned every man and woman and child and\nbird and beast in the whole world, except those that were lucky enough\nto be with Noah in his Ark. Even the eagles came dropping through the\nair last of all, beaten down by the rain, and fell like sparrows about\nHurtali\u2019s feet. But Hurtali regarded it not at all. He sat on a high\nmountain, head and shoulders in the bright sunlight above the clouds, and\nwhistled serenely.\n\nGoing across country, to be sure, it was a little sloppy. But Hurtali\nliked that, and ran splashing along with the greatest glee in the world.\nOne day, when he got to the place where the ocean used to begin, all the\nwater suddenly rolled up before him in a wave as high as he was, and cast\nitself back again with a roar and a rush that swept the land clear of\ntrees for miles and miles. Hurtali laughed aloud, and plunged into the\nfoam. He shouted, he dived, he turned somersaults. He swam and swam, and\nthen, quite tired out, turned to start for home.\n\nThen he looked about puzzled. _There was no land in sight._ Not an\nisland, not a hill,\u2014nothing but water as far as he could see. He swam\nharder. Finally a sharp point appeared on the horizon. He made for\nit, and as he drew nearer he saw it clearly. It was a single, jagged\nmountain-peak. He put one foot down and touched bottom. He could walk\nnow, although the water was above his waist. Uprooted forests tripped his\ntoes, and he slipped desperately over slimy hills onto scratchy cliffs.\n\nAll in all, it was not a pleasant walk, and when Hurtali finally settled\nhimself on his rather uncomfortable mountain and began to pick the crags\nout of his feet, he was in anything but a happy frame of mind. He was\ntired and hungry and he had not seen a whale all day. Worse still, how\nwas he going to sleep at night? There was not a plain in the whole world\nwhere he could lie down without drowning; and as for the mountain-top, it\nwas much too small.\n\nHurtali bent down, picked a handful of trees and ate them moodily. Then\nan ingenious idea struck him. If he could not lie flat why not go to\nsleep reclining? He could stretch himself along the mountain, with his\nhead at the top and his feet in the water below. He scrambled half way\ndown to try it, and leaned carelessly back. In an instant he was up\nagain, howling with pain. Hundreds of precipices had stuck into his back,\nand he had laid his head squarely on an ice-field.\n\nHurtali was infuriated. He was not so easily to be foiled. He plucked out\ncliff after cliff in his rage and hurled them splashing into the water.\nWith one of them he pounded madly on the glacier, sending ice-splinters\nin a bright fountain skywards. By nightfall he had cleared the mountain.\nHe lay back, propping himself with a cliff or two on either side to keep\nfrom rolling over into the water. Then wearily he opened his mouth and\nsnored to high heaven.\n\n[Illustration: There, stuck on the rocks, was a tremendous wooden box]\n\nAll of a sudden, Hurtali awoke. Somewhere there was a noise that\ndisturbed him. It was the queerest noise anyway. It seemed to be made up\nof a hundred small sounds. It was a twittering, a rustling, a chirping,\nand a tiny screaming all at once.\n\n\u201cJust my luck!\u201d thought Hurtali sleepily. \u201cI\u2019ve gone and laid my head in\na whole colony of eagles\u2019 nests.\u201d\n\nThen he rubbed his eyes open. It was morning, and what felt so cold\naround his neck was water. It had risen until it had covered him up in\nthe night.\n\nBut the noise kept on. It did not seem to have the slightest intention of\nstopping. The wider awake Hurtali grew, the louder it seemed to become.\nIt did not sound at all like eagles any more, and it seemed to come from\nsomewhere very near his left ear. Hurtali turned over on his side. There,\nstuck on the rocks he had piled up, was a tremendous wooden box, almost\nas long as he was himself. The ends floated in the water, but the middle\nwas wedged firmly on the rocky shelf. It was from that the noises came.\n\nHurtali raised himself on one elbow and put his ear against the box.\nInside, hundreds of little creatures seemed to be moving about. There\nwere steps and stampings, small roars and tiny shrieks, flutterings and\ncallings, barkings and bleatings innumerable. It was Noah\u2019s Ark waking\nup for the day, but of course Hurtali did not know that. He listened,\nfascinated.\n\nJust then a window in the side shot open, and four men with four poles,\nleaning out, began to push against the rock with all their strength.\nHurtali gasped. Never in all his life had he seen such tiny creatures.\nHe watched breathlessly as they braced themselves and struggled. But the\nharder they pushed, the firmer the Ark seemed to stick.\n\nNow, Hurtali was a kind-hearted giant, and while he could not but\nchuckle to see the little people struggling at a task so much too big\nfor them, his first thought was to help them out. So he put out both\nhis great hands and pushed against the side of the Ark. But the Ark was\nstuck too fast even for that, and instead of sliding off into the water\nwith Hurtali\u2019s shoves, it tossed first on one side and then on the other,\nand so rocked violently back and forth. And with that there arose such\na scrambling and scratching as never was heard before, as the animals\nrolled about inside. Elephants trumpeted, cows mooed, donkeys brayed,\neagles screamed, dogs barked, lions roared, pigs squealed, wolves howled,\norangoutangs chattered.\n\nAs for Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, who had been pushing, their eyes had\nbeen so fast fixed on their poles that they did not see the giant\u2019s arms\nat all, and thought the whole commotion due to their own efforts.\n\nBut when Hurtali saw that he could not budge the Ark that way, he\nscrambled up out of the water with splashes that set the craft seesawing.\nThen, throwing one leg across, he jumped on top, as a man mounts a\nhorse. And sitting there a-straddle, he pushed with his foot against the\ncliff,\u2014once, twice, three times. And with the third push the Ark sailed\noff suddenly, with Hurtali sitting atop.\n\nIt was a new experience for Hurtali, and he laughed with his whole\nvoice. In all his life he had never been on any kind of boat before, and\nthis one was so jolly. It went wabbling about over the waves with queer\nsplashes and gurgles. Hurtali swung his legs and roared out a giant-song.\nOnce in a while his toes would strike against a half drowned mountain,\nand then he would push with all his might to keep his big craft off the\nrocks.\n\nAll at once, Hurtali was conscious of a change. Inside the Ark everything\nwas strangely quiet. Not a roar, not a bark, not even a squeal disturbed\nthe stillness. Just in front of him on the roof was a chimney. He put his\near down. There was a sound, but it was faint and different. It rose and\nfell with contented regularity. It was a low, munching, crunching sound,\nas if the hundreds of little creatures were moving their jaws up and down\nall at once.\n\nA sympathetic twinge shot through Hurtali. He remembered suddenly and\ndefinitely that he had had no breakfast. He sat up and scanned the water\nfor whales. Just then a noise came up the chimney as if some of the\nlittle beings were gathered there shouting and stamping. Hurtali looked.\nAt the bottom stood the men he had seen before at the window. With them\nwas a curious four-legged beast with a long neck that stretched up the\nchimney to the very top. The men spoke to the creature. Slowly it bent\nits head, and one of the men clambered up on it. Then with infinite\ndeliberation it stretched its neck out again, carrying the man to the\nvery top of the chimney.\n\n[Illustration: The little man stood on the edge of the chimney.]\n\nHurtali straightened up in surprise. But the little man did not seem\nin the least alarmed or afraid. He grasped the edge of the chimney and\ncautiously climbed out on it. Then he turned toward Hurtali and bowed\nlow. He was an old man with a thin white beard that reached nearly to his\nfeet, and he wore a tremendous turban wound and re-wound about his head.\n\nNoah sharply clapped his hands. The giraffe\u2019s nose appeared again in the\nchimney, stacked up with bowls of food. One by one, Noah removed them and\nset them down, with a bow, on the roof before Hurtali. Then, with the\nsame slow gravity, he mounted himself again on the giraffe\u2019s head and\nstarted to descend as he had come.\n\nHurtali was dumb with surprise. But he had been brought up to be polite.\nSo, just as Noah disappeared through the chimney, he gasped out a \u201cThank\nyou,\u201d which was pretty weak for a giant, but which boomed through the\nArk, and set all the animals to squealing, nevertheless.\n\nThen he turned to the food. There were two sheep and a cow, with a bowl\nof pottage and a dish of honey for dessert. Hurtali disposed of them all\nin just three mouthfuls, and looked about for more.\n\nThen it occurred to him that the little people were not used to a giant\u2019s\nappetite; and, being a polite giant as we have said, he determined to get\nalong without telling them. He turned his eyes to the water again, and\nbefore dinner he caught twenty-five good-sized whales which he fastened\nup behind him on the roof where Noah could not see them.\n\nDays went by, and still the waters rose. There was not a dry\nmountain-peak on the whole earth. Hurtali could not even feel one with\nhis toes. Sometimes, when the water was clear, he could dimly see one,\nhundreds of feet below. Usually, however, the water was ruffled. The wind\nblew, and the waves dashed up over the Ark, often to Hurtali\u2019s waist.\nStreams of mist seemed to be trickling through his hair and down his\ncheeks, and for the first time in his life he got the idea that it was\nraining. His legs were cold and numb, and he felt uncommonly stiff in\nevery joint.\n\nBy day things were not so bad. For Hurtali could hear the little\ncreatures racing about inside the ark, screaming and scolding, jumping\nand playing, lowing and howling and squeaking. But at night when they\nwere all asleep, it was more than lonesome. It was black with a blackness\nHurtali had never known before; and the wind whistled through his hair\nand chilled his arms, and sometimes beat against him till he nearly fell\nover into the water. Somehow he managed to keep his seat, and the gray\nmorning comforted him. Three times every day the giraffe reached up food\nto him, and three times Hurtali would send back by it the dishes of the\nmeal before, and then reach cautiously behind him for a whale.\n\n[Illustration: Bears bounded]\n\nSo, time went on, until one day Hurtali noticed a brightness in the sky.\nThe mist no longer streamed over his face. The waters were still. Up\nin the brightest cloud, he could make out a round, shining disk. Then\nHurtali knew that it was clearing off, and he shouted down the chimney\nwith almost all his voice, \u201cThe sun! The sun!\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Mice scampered]\n\nA few days later he felt something hard and jagged with his foot. It\nwas a mountain, and he knew that the waters were going down. Soon peaks\nbegan to appear like sharp teeth all about them on the horizon; and one\nday, far off, Hurtali saw one that was soft and green. Then he put forth\nall his strength. He paddled with his feet like a duck and sent the Ark\nstraight and sure for that mountain. Hurtali put out his foot and touched\nthe land. Then, very gently, he set the Ark safe and dry upon the top of\nMount Ararat.\n\nHurtali stood up and stretched his tired, cramped limbs. He capered\nstiffly. He flung his arms about. He shouted with all his lungs.\n\nAnd still the waters fell. By night the whole mountain was dry, and\nHurtali lay back and slept as he had not since the Flood. The next day,\nNoah himself came out on the Ark roof to ask Hurtali if the Flood was\nover and if he might safely let his creatures free.\n\n[Illustration: Shem, Ham, and Japheth with their wives]\n\nHurtali stood upon the mountain-peak and overlooked the whole world. As\nfar as he could see were dry hills and green meadows, and the seas and\nrivers were back again in their beds.\n\nSo, Noah went back into the Ark; and Hurtali with one sweep of his mighty\nhand ripped off the whole roof from end to end. And from the Ark, in a\nbright flutter, went up all the birds of the air into the sunlight. Red,\ngreen, blue, white, and gold they glittered,\u2014parrots and eagles, robins\nand doves, hawks and geese, blue-jays and tanagers, crows and flamingoes,\nall together in one feathery swarm, out into the blue sky.\n\nThen Hurtali went to the end of the Ark, where all the animals were\ngathered about the door, bleating aloud to heaven. With one tug he\nsnatched away the door; and, scurrying, scuffling, scratching, burrowing\nunder, scrambling over, the beasts burst out. Bears bounded, squirrels\nfrisked, pigs bolted, hyenas leaped, horses galloped, mice scampered,\ncamels loped, cats whisked, all in one wild stampede out of the Ark into\nthe free air. After them rushed Shem and Ham and Japheth with their\nwives; and, last of all, Mr. and Mrs. Noah, who being quite old and\ngrown-up, tried to go as sedately as if they had been walking on dry land\nevery day.\n\n[Illustration: Last of all, Mr. and Mrs. Noah]\n\nFlinging up his arms to the high clouds, Hurtali went leaping across the\nfair earth, taking the valleys at a bound, and racing over the mountains\nas if they had not been.\u2014All at once, he paused! The sky seemed suddenly\nradiant with a soft brightness. Across a cloud, directly before him,\nglowed an arch of lovely colors. It was more beautiful than anything\nhe had ever seen, and it made him feel happy and elated without quite\nknowing why. Somehow it seemed to him that now his dear mountains and\nvalleys would always be safe and green as they had been before. And\nso, bending his head, Hurtali ran out across the world, underneath the\nRainbow.\n\n                                             \u2014_Based on an Oriental myth._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nThe Wigwam Giants\n\n    Children, by this story we\n    Learn how kind the red men be;\n    Though the things related of them\n    Made it difficult to love them,\n    Here we see that, as with white men,\n    Some are amiable, polite men;\n    No one wicked and defiant\n    _Could_ have been a wigwam giant.\n\n                       _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nVIII\n\nThe Wigwam Giants\n\n\n[Illustration: He had a wife and ten children]\n\nOnce upon a time, in the not-so-very-long-ago, an Indian had his wigwam\non the shore of a cold north sea. The Indian\u2019s name was Pulowech, and\nhe had a wife and ten children. But for all his big family, Pulowech\nmight have lived there as snugly and happily as you please, had it not\nbeen for the unkind fact that, in that north country, it is very hard to\nget enough to eat. Pulowech found it hard indeed, for no sooner was the\ntenth child fed, than the first one was hungry again; and the bigger and\nhungrier the children got, the less food there seemed to be.\n\nThis spring it was worse than ever. Not even a bear had shown its furry\nnose within sight of the wigwam. As for the crops, there was hardly a\ngreen shoot in all the field Pulowech\u2019s wife had planted. There was\nnothing left to do but to fish. And fish Pulowech did. Every morning long\nbefore sunrise, his canoe was a far gray spot on the horizon. But alas\nfor all his hard work! the more he set his nets, the fewer fish he seemed\nto catch; and he might trail his line in the water all day without so\nmuch as a nibble.\n\nFinally, in despair one day, Pulowech and his wife got into their canoe,\nand set out for the far fishing-grounds, beyond any part of the sea where\nthey had been before. They paddled and paddled until they could no longer\nsee their wigwam or any land at all. Time after time they stopped and\nlet down their lines, but that day again there seemed to be no fish in\nthe sea. The squaw\u2019s arm grew tired, but still they kept on, hoping to\nfind some magic spot where the fish would come crowding about the canoe,\neager to be caught.\n\nSuddenly, up from the sea and down from the sky and around them from\nevery side, swept clouds of fog. In long, quick puffs it came, as if the\nwhole world had begun very quietly to steam. The air was full of it, and\nas for the sea, it seemed to have vanished in an instant. Pulowech could\nsee the shine of the little waves as he dipped his paddle, but beyond was\nonly grayness. He began to paddle faster, first in one direction, then\nin another; but no matter which way he turned, the fog seemed to pursue\nthem. There was no end to it at all.\n\nBy this time, Pulowech was quite lost. He could not make the smallest\nguess where his wigwam lay or how to go to get back there. There was\nnothing to do but to paddle fiercely on, deeper and deeper into the fog.\nAs for Pulowech\u2019s poor, tired wife, she began to cry, which made things\nvery little better.\n\nAll at once she stopped paddling. \u201cListen!\u201d she cried. \u201cThunder!\u201d\n\nPulowech stopped too. Over the sea came long, continuous roars. There\nwas no pause in them, and they grew louder and louder, as if the thunder\nwere coming straight\u2014straight\u2014straight at them through the fog. There\nwas something very strange about it too. The nearer, the more deafening\nit became, the more _alive_ it seemed, the more it sounded as if it were\n_thundering in words_. There was another noise too, regular, but not so\nloud, as if a thousand paddles at once were cutting steadily through the\nwater.\n\nThe fog grew dark ahead. Right upon them loomed the thundering monster.\nPulowech and his wife shouted with all their voices. The great shape\nstopped. There above them in the fog towered a tremendous canoe as high\nas a cliff, and filled with men who seemed to touch the sky.\n\nThe giants looked at Pulowech and laughed,\u2014a roar that shook the waves\nand made the little canoe bob up and down as on a stormy sea. \u201cHo! Ho!\u201d\ncried one at last. \u201cAnd where are you going, my little brother?\u201d\n\nPulowech took his hands from his ears. \u201cI wish I knew,\u201d he answered\nbravely. \u201cWe are lost in the fog.\u201d\n\nAt that the giants laughed ten times harder than ever. \u201cLost in the fog!\u201d\nthey cried, and wiped their eyes, as if it were the best joke in the\nworld.\n\n\u201cWell, well, well!\u201d said the leader at last, \u201cif that is the case, why\ndon\u2019t you come home with us? You will be well treated. That I can promise\nyou, for my father is the chief. And in spite of your great size, my\nfriends, I warrant there will be plenty of room.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: A tremendous canoe as high as a cliff, and filled with men\nwho seemed to touch the sky]\n\nWith that, two of the giants put the ends of their paddles under the\nIndians\u2019 canoe and lifted it into their own, as easily as if it had\nbeen a chip. Then very carefully they handed it around from giant to\ngiant, as pleased over the little folk as boys would be who had found a\nflying-squirrel. As for Pulowech and his wife, if they shook with fear\nbefore, now they sat still and speechless at such gentleness from beings\nso immense.\n\nThe giants again took up their paddles as big as trees. With a single\nstroke, they sent the canoe a clean hundred yards through the water. As\nfor the fog, their eyes seemed to bore straight through it, as though it\nhad been so much air.\n\nThen swiftly, with a tremendous grating, the canoe stopped. They had\nbeached it upon a wide sandy shore. One of the giants jumped out, and,\ntaking Pulowech\u2019s canoe in his hand, ran shouting up the bank. There\nahead rose three wigwams as high as mountains. And from the largest came\nthe chief to meet them, a giant taller than all the rest.\n\n\u201cWell, well, my son!\u201d he cried, \u201cwhat have you there?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, Father, only see,\u201d called the young giant, in gasps that shook the\ntrees. \u201cSee\u2014a little brother!\u2014We found him\u2014on the water\u2014lost in the fog!\u201d\n\nAnd at this shouting came giants running from all sides, to see what the\nnoise might be about. They crowded about the chief\u2019s son and peered into\nthe small canoe until the poor Indians, finding themselves surrounded by\ngreat eyes like so many suns, sank down in terror.\n\n\u201c_Noo_, then,\u201d cried the chief in anger, \u201cyou have scared the little\npeople!\u201d And taking the Indians, canoe and all, he gently carried them to\nhis own wigwam.\n\nInside sat a pleasant-faced woman, no bigger than a good-sized hill.\n\u201cLook, wife,\u201d said the chief. \u201cSee what I have brought you!\u201d\n\nThe giantess was delighted. Very deftly she picked the Indians up with\nher thumb and forefinger without crushing out their breath. She laid them\nin the hollow of her hand as in a cradle, and rocked them to and fro,\nsoftly thundering a lullaby, while with the end of her little finger she\ntenderly stroked their hair.\n\nAs for the chief, he hung up the Indians\u2019 canoe where it could not\nbe stepped on. Then he bent down to the Indians and told them in a\nconfidential whisper that could hardly have been heard a hundred miles\naway, that he was their friend, and that his name was Oscoon.\n\n\u201cAnd now, wife,\u201d he cried, \u201cour little people must be hungry! Is there\nenough in the house for them to eat?\u201d\n\nThe good woman gave a housewifely chuckle, like the dry roar of a forest\nfire, and looked into a great steaming pot. In the bottom were a dozen or\nmore whales. But remembering the small size of her guests, she picked out\na little one about forty feet long, and put it before them in a wooden\nbowl. The poor Indians did their best, but by the time they had made a\nlittle hole in the whale\u2019s side, they were fast asleep from so much food.\n\nThen it was that the giants were troubled, for they had no place to put\nthe little people for the night. For there was no part of the wigwam\nwhere a giant might not step on them or roll over them in the dark.\nFinally the giantess had a happy idea. She took down the Indians\u2019 own\ncanoe and put some little skins in the bottom. Then very gently she laid\nPulowech in one end and his wife in the other, tucked them snugly in, and\nswung the canoe up again at the top of the wigwam.\n\nDays went by, and the giants delighted in nothing so much as in their\nlittle people. For hours at a time Oscoon would sit quite still while his\nsmall guests ran about his hand or explored the long gullies between his\nfingers. As for the giantess, she never left the wigwam without bringing\nthem great handfuls of apples, which were to her, to be sure, no bigger\nthan so many currants. But when the giants went hunting, then it was\nthat Pulowech and his wife feasted. For always they brought back two or\nthree moose swinging in their hands like rabbits, and two or three dozen\ncaribou hanging in their belts, as an Indian would carry a string of\nsquirrels.\n\nSo it happened that Pulowech and his wife lived among the giants as happy\nand as care-free as two children. From the first morning when they awoke,\nhigh in their canoe-cradle, they seemed to have forgotten everything; not\nonly the fog and terror of the day before, but all their past life as\nwell. They had no memory of their home nor even of their hungry children\nwaiting for them in the wigwam beside the sea. It seemed to them that\nthey had always lived in this warm, happy Giantland where deer swarmed in\nthe forests, and fish in the sea.\n\nEvery day they ate a little out of their whale, and every night they went\npeacefully to sleep in their high canoe. When they were neither eating\nnor sleeping, they romped about like children. They slid down the back of\nOscoon\u2019s hand as down a hillock; they played hide-and-seek in one of his\nmoccasins; and they ran about in the wigwam till the good giantess would\nhave to put them in one of her big baskets for fear they might be stepped\non.\n\nBut good times do not last forever, even in Giantland. One day, Oscoon\npicked up his Indians with a grave face. \u201cMy little people,\u201d said he,\n\u201cto-day the great Chenoo, the dreadful ice-giant of the North, is coming\nto fight us. It will be a hard battle, but, most of all, I fear for you.\nFor no one less than a giant could hear the Chenoo\u2019s war-scream and live.\nWe will wrap you up the best we can, and no matter what happens, you must\nnot uncover your ears until I come for you.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: Oscoon picked up his Indians with a grave face]\n\nThe Indians promised that they would do as he said, and entered into\nall the plans for the battle as gleefully as though it had been a new\ngame. They tore little pieces of fur from a rabbit-skin and stuffed them\nso tightly into their ears that they could scarcely hear Oscoon when\nhe whispered to them. Then the giantess bound up their heads with many\nstrips of deerskin, and, laying them in their canoe, fairly smothered\nthem with fold after fold of wrappings.\n\nWhen she had finished, Oscoon took them, canoe and all, and put them in\nthe bottom of a great stone pot. Beside them he laid a ton or so of deer\nmeat and nine or ten bushels of apples, so that they should have enough\nto eat in case the battle lasted over night. Then, over the pot he spread\na robe made of thousands of bearskins, which covered all the top.\n\nAfter that, though Oscoon shouted with all his voice, the Indians could\nnot hear a sound. It was dark in the pot, and, under all their coverings,\nrather warm. And so, since they could neither move nor hear each other if\nthey spoke, they sensibly fell asleep.\n\nAfter a very long time, Pulowech opened his eyes. Everywhere was\nblackness. For a moment, he thought that he must have gone blind. Then\nfaintly, far above somewhere, he made out a tiny crack of light, and\nhe remembered: they were in the stone pot, and the light was creeping\nin at the edge of the bearskin. He touched his wife. She stirred and\nrubbed her eyes. And there in the dark they shouted at each other,\u2014and\nthe stillness was unbroken. Pulowech started up, and sank suddenly back\nagain, pulled down by the weight of his coverings. Then angrily he tried\nto pull them off, and could not so much as lift one of them. For they\nwere made of hundreds of skins. There was nothing for it but to lie still.\n\nA slow, familiar pain seized Pulowech\u2019s insides. Greedily he remembered\nthe apples and the deer meat, and put out his hand. There they were,\nclose beside him. He clutched great handfuls of them, and ate eagerly. He\ntouched his wife and made her understand too. For some time, they forgot\nthe dark and even the silence. But gradually, as Pulowech began to care\nless and less about eating, his head seemed to feel extraordinarily hot\nand uncomfortable. His hands fumbled the wrappings and twitched at the\nknots. If only he could get one of them off, it might be more bearable.\n\nThen he remembered his promise to Oscoon. But surely, he thought, the\nbattle must be over by now. And even if it were not, what difference\nwould one deerskin, more or less, make to hearing the ice-giant\u2019s scream?\nOscoon was too careful.\n\nNevertheless the promise held him. He took down his hands and lay for\nsome time quite still. A dreadful terror came over him: suppose the\nbattle _was_ over, and Oscoon had forgotten them. Worse still, suppose\nOscoon should never come at all; suppose he had been killed! Then they\nmight die there, for even if they could get free of their coverings, they\ncould never climb up the steep walls of the stone pot.\n\nPulowech\u2019s wife moved. She began to pull fiercely at the bandages about\nher ears. It was too much for Pulowech. He put up his hands again and\ntore wildly at the deerskin strips. If Oscoon _was_ dead, he decided,\nthen they must talk together; they must plan some way of escape. They\nmust not be found there helpless by the dreadful Chenoo.\n\nSuddenly, something swifter, keener, shriller than the sharpest spear\nseemed to pierce through Pulowech. His hands dropped limp. His breath\nwent. His whole body seemed divided, and his ears shattered by the wild,\nhigh, cruel sound of it. It was the Chenoo\u2019s war-scream. Again it came,\nlower and less intense, shooting through Pulowech\u2019s numb body like pain\nlet loose; and then a third time, faint and far away, no longer cutting,\nbut chill as the wind from icebergs.\n\nWhen Pulowech came to himself, he was startled by the light all about\nhim. Then dimly he made out the great face of the giantess bending over\nhim. He was no longer in the pot. He was lying beside his wife in the\nhollow of the giantess\u2019s hand, and she was rubbing them vigorously with\nher little finger.\n\n\u201cThere, there, my little people,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re all safe, so you\nare. And the wicked Chenoo shall never scream again to hurt you. For he\nis dead, so he is. Killed, by my Oscoon and our sons. There, there, my\nlittle people, open your eyes.\u201d\n\nPulowech blinked, and looked around the wigwam. All about sat the giants,\nbinding up their cuts, and picking out the pine-trees that were stuck in\ntheir legs like splinters. For the fight had been in a forest, and the\npoor giants were bothered with the trees, as men would be with thistles.\n\nAll at once the door-flap moved, and Oscoon\u2019s youngest son fell down in\nthe doorway, quite dead. Now, in some families this would have caused a\ncommotion. But the giants went on talking of the battle as if nothing\nunusual had happened. Finally Oscoon, who was smoking his pipe in a\ncorner, looked over at his boy upon the ground.\n\n\u201cWell, my son,\u201d he said, \u201cwhy are you lying there?\u201d\n\n\u201cIt is because I am dead, Father,\u201d answered the young giant. \u201cThe Chenoo\nhas killed me.\u201d\n\n\u201cIf that is all,\u201d said Oscoon, quietly, \u201cget up at once. It is\nsupper-time.\u201d\n\nThe young giant opened his eyes and sat up. He did not seem to be any the\nworse for having been dead. And at supper, certainly, he ate none the\nless for it.\n\nSo the days passed as before. The giants never tired of petting their\nsmall guests. Every day the young giants would bring them new treasures,\nand every day Oscoon would contrive some new game for them. The youngest\ngiant, who was quick with his hands, caught some small live deer, which\nthe giantess kept for them in a basket, as a boy might keep pet mice.\n\nBut in spite of these new playthings, Pulowech\u2019s wife became less and\nless lively. She did not play as she used to, and she would sit quietly\nfor hours at a time as if she were trying to think out something that\ntroubled her. Finally a thoughtfulness settled over Pulowech as well.\nThey gave up hide-and-seek entirely. Instead, they talked and talked\ntogether, sometimes far into the night. Little by little they seemed to\nbe remembering something, and the more they remembered, the more worried\nthey grew.\n\nThe giantess became anxious. The little people got on more and more\nslowly with their whale, and as for the deer meat, they no longer seemed\nto care for it at all. The giantess racked her brains for some way to\ntempt them. So, with long patience she made for Oscoon a tiny net which\nwould catch the sharks that wriggled through his whale-net like minnows.\nAnd when he caught some, she broiled three fine ones for dinner. But the\nIndians, who had been so pleased with new dishes before, seemed hardly to\nnotice the change.\n\nAt last, one day when Oscoon had taken them to the beach, he spoke to\nthem. \u201cMy little people,\u201d he said, \u201cit worries me to see you so quiet and\nsad. Tell me what troubles you. For we will cheerfully do anything that\nwill make you happy again.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, dear Oscoon!\u201d cried Pulowech, \u201cwe could not be happier than in your\nwigwam. It is something we partly remember that makes us sad. Ever since\nwe heard the ice-giant\u2019s scream, it has seemed to us that we have not\nalways been in this Giantland. Once we seem to have lived in a different\ncountry, where we were cold, and often hungry. But there our wigwam was,\nand our children. It is they that worry us. For we do not know what they\ncan do without us. They must be hungry\u2014\u201d Pulowech caught his breath, and\nhis poor wife began to sob.\n\nNow, Oscoon was a good giant if there ever was one, and it grieved his\nbig heart through and through to see his small friends so unhappy.\n\n\u201cOh, my little people!\u201d he cried, heaving a little himself, \u201cI would\nrather give you anything than to have you leave us. But you must go back\nto your children\u2014_right away_.\u201d\n\nAnd with that he sneezed so violently that the rocks were jounced around\nin their places, and the Indians had to cling tight to his thumb for\nfear of falling off. Then they all laughed,\u2014which made them feel so much\nbetter that everybody\u2019s sobs got swallowed.\n\nAnd so, grasping his little people, Oscoon ran leaping back to the\nwigwam, calling the giantess at the top of his big lungs. \u201cOh, wife!\nwife!\u201d he bellowed, \u201cour little people have a voyage to take. We must\ngive them the little dog, and some food to take along with them.\u201d\n\nWhen the giantess heard about the children at home, she kissed her little\nIndians very hard indeed, and then she set all the young giants at work\npiling up furs and dried meat for them to take home to their wigwam. And\nso, as they all worked with a will, in about two minutes and a half there\nwere enough furs and meat stacked up to sink three or four hundred canoes\nthe size of Pulowech\u2019s.\n\nWhen Oscoon saw that, he took the Indians\u2019 canoe down from the top of the\nwigwam, and filled it as full as it could hold. Then he set Pulowech in\nthe stern, and his wife in the bow, and holding the canoe high over his\nhead, roared out to the whole camp that they were ready to start.\n\nSo they set out, Oscoon ahead, carrying his little people in their canoe\nin one hand, and in the other a tiny, sharp-nosed gray dog. All the\ngiants followed in a great procession, leaping up and down and singing,\nas though it were a very gala occasion indeed. When they came to the\nshore, Oscoon gently slipped the canoe into the water, and gave Pulowech\nthe little gray dog.\n\n\u201cPaddle,\u201d he said, \u201cjust as the little dog points. He will take you home.\u201d\n\nThe little dog ran to the middle of the canoe, and stood with his paws\nresting on the edge. He barked, and pointed with his nose straight out to\nsea. Pulowech dipped his paddle, but he could scarcely see to steer for\nthe tears in his eyes.\n\n\u201cGood-by!\u201d shouted the giants.\n\n\u201cGood-by!\u201d called the Indians.\n\nAnd Oscoon cried out, last of all: \u201cDo not forget us, little people!\nCome back to visit us, and send your children. Sometime we will send the\nlittle dog for you.\u201d\n\nThe Indians paddled, and the little dog pointed. They seemed to glide\nover the smooth sea at a wonderful rate. In a few minutes, they were out\nof sight of the giants, who stood on the beach, still waving and shouting\ngood-by. In no time at all, it seemed, they came straight to their own\nhome. There stood their wigwam just as it was the day they left it; and\nas the canoe grazed the shore, their own children came running to meet\nthem, rosy and well.\n\nThe little dog jumped out of the canoe, barking and wagging his tail. He\nran about on the sand, and licked the children\u2019s hands. Then he turned\nand trotted home again over the top of the sea, as if it had been made of\nhard ice. Pulowech caught up his two youngest children, and set them on\nhis shoulders. And so, carrying the giants\u2019 gifts, they came into their\nown wigwam.\n\nAfter that, whenever Pulowech set his nets, they came up bursting with\nfish. When he went hunting, his arrows brought down all the deer he could\npossibly need. As for the children, they grew so tall and hearty that\nthe old wigwam would not begin to hold them, and they had to build a new\none\u2014the biggest in all the country.\n\nSo Pulowech knew that the giants had not forgotten him. And his heart\nwas glad when, a year and a day after they had come home, the little dog\ncame again trotting over the water. The children ran to meet him, and he\nbounded up to them and licked their hands, just as he had done before.\n\nPulowech smiled to himself, for he knew quite well why the little dog\nwas there. Then he launched one of his canoes (for now he had many), and\ncalling his two oldest children, told them to get in. The little dog\njumped in too, and pointed with his nose the way they were to go. The\nchildren paddled safely over the smooth sea, and so they, too, went to\nGiantland.\n\nIn three months the little dog brought them back again, with their canoe\nfull of furs and meat enough to keep them all warm and happy for years to\ncome.\n\nSo every year the little dog came, barking and wagging his tail, and\nevery year two of Pulowech\u2019s family went to visit the giants. And none of\nthem were ever cold or hungry again,\u2014of that you may be sure.\n\n                                                  \u2014_From a Micmac legend._\n\n_Based on C. G. Leland\u2019s Algonquin Legends of New England._\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nThe Giant Who Became a Saint\n\nOffero\n\n    We have laughed at giants quaint,\n    Roaring rascals, bound to please us;\n    Hush! For now we have a saint,\n    One who served the infant Jesus.\n\n                       _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nIX\n\nThe Giant Who Became a Saint\n\n\n[Illustration: Sometimes he would hold them at arm\u2019s length]\n\nAmong the smooth, blue hills of an eastern country lived a simple-hearted\ngiant lad named Offero. And though he was four times as high and four\ntimes as wide as the other boys, that did not make him proud in the\nleast. He played with them as good-naturedly as if he had been no bigger\nthan they. Sometimes he would hold them at arm\u2019s length, one in each\ngreat hand. Sometimes he would toss them gently into the air. And when he\nwas particularly good-humored he would stand still for hours at a time\nwhile they clambered up on his high shoulders.\n\nOne evening, tired from these boisterous games, they all lay sprawled\nalong the hillside, watching the stars come out and talking about the\ngreat men they were going to be.\n\n\u201cI shall be a shepherd,\u201d cried one, \u201cand roam the hills all day.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I shall be a barber, like my father,\u201d shouted another.\n\n\u201cAs for me,\u201d cried a third, \u201cI shall be a wine merchant, and sit at my\nease.\u201d\n\nBut Offero said never a word.\n\n\u201cOffero! Offero!\u201d cried the boys, scrambling up and swarming over him.\n\u201cWhat are you going to be?\u201d And they tweaked his long hair.\n\nBut Offero held his peace. Then suddenly he sprang up, shaking them off\nlike so many puppies.\n\n\u201cI shall serve,\u201d he thundered. \u201cI shall serve the greatest king in the\nworld.\u201d\n\nThe boys stared. \u201cBut how will you find him?\u201d they cried.\n\n\u201cI shall walk till I find him,\u201d said Offero, \u201cand I shall know him\nbecause he will be afraid of no one.\u201d\n\nNext morning at daybreak, Offero set out across the hills to seek his\nking. For months he walked, from one proud palace to another, and past\nthe miles of poor men\u2019s houses in between. Many a fine, glittering\ncourt he saw, and many a king. But none of them was the one for whom he\nsearched. For no matter how broad their kingdoms might be, they were all\nafraid of some king beyond, who had more men or more ships than they.\n\nBut Offero kept on, undismayed. And after a year and a day he came to\nthe king whom the others feared. When Offero saw the mighty look of this\nking, his great heart thumped with joy. \u201cAt last,\u201d thought he, \u201cI have\nfound the greatest king of all!\u201d For when the courtiers spoke of war,\nthe king did not cringe as the others had, but raised his head more\nmajestically than before.\n\nSo Offero went towering down the hall, and bent his huge height before\nthe throne.\n\n\u201cOh, king,\u201d he cried, \u201cbehold your servant, Offero!\u201d\n\nThe king\u2019s eyes gleamed. For proud and powerful as he was, with a giant\nlike this his name would be more terrible still.\n\n\u201cRise, Offero,\u201d he said. \u201cThe king accepts your service. In battle you\nshall march at our army\u2019s head; and in peace you shall stand behind our\nthrone.\u201d\n\nBut when Offero marched before the king\u2019s army, wars ceased. For at sight\nof him the enemy turned and ran away as fast and far as their legs would\ngo. So there was little for him to do but stand behind the king\u2019s throne\nin the palace hall. And that was rather dull sometimes for a great,\nstrapping giant like Offero.\n\n[Illustration: When Offero marched, wars ceased]\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d he would remind himself, \u201cI am serving the greatest king of\nall,\u2014the only one who is unafraid.\u201d And then he would straighten his big,\nstiff shoulders, and look as proud and fierce as should the servant of\nsuch a king.\n\nOne stormy night as Offero stood behind the throne, a minstrel came\nto play his harp before the king. He sang of war, of dangers and\ntemptations; and Offero stood drinking in with all his heart the music\nand the story. But the king fidgeted in his great chair, and Offero could\nsee his gold crown tremble. One hand would grip the carved, gilt lion by\nhis side, while the other made a nervous sign upon his forehead.\n\nOffero watched, troubled. It was when the minstrel sang of Satan that the\nking shuddered. It was at that name he made the sign upon his forehead.\n\nWhen the minstrel had done, and the courtiers had taken their leave,\nOffero knelt before the throne. \u201cOh, king,\u201d he cried, \u201cwhy did you shake\nat Satan\u2019s name?\u2014you who are afraid of no one!\u201d\n\nThe king smiled sadly. \u201cAh, Offero,\u201d he said, \u201cthe mightiest monarch of\nthe earth must fear Satan. For he is more powerful than any king of us\nall; and only that sign of the cross can save us from him.\u201d\n\nOffero sprang up, his huge shadow darkening the throne.\n\n\u201cThen you are not the greatest king!\u201d he thundered. \u201cFarewell. I go to\nserve him whom you fear,\u2014King Satan!\u201d\n\nAnd like a cyclone Offero was gone through the palace gate.\n\nAll night he strode through the storm; and when day cleared, he found\nhimself on a wide, pleasant road thronged with people all going down a\nhill.\n\n\u201cHo, there!\u201d shouted Offero from his height. \u201cCan any of you tell me the\nway to King Satan?\u201d\n\n\u201cFollow us,\u201d cried the foremost; \u201cwe are bound that way.\u201d\n\nNow, the leaders, who went so fast ahead, looked mean and crafty; and\nthose who shuffled along behind were pale and wild, with restless eyes.\nBut Offero, towering so far above, could not see their faces. He was only\nglad in his great, honest heart to be with such a large, gay company.\n\n\u201cFor,\u201d he said to himself, \u201cdoes it not show that Satan is the greatest\nking of all when so many people willingly leave other kings, to serve\nhim?\u201d\n\nThe road went down steeper and steeper. And the faster it fell, the gayer\nand more reckless the travelers became. They shouted and danced along so\nriotously that even Offero\u2019s huge strides hardly kept up with them.\n\nSuddenly there was a shriek. In an instant all the gay cries were changed\nto rasping screams. Offero stopped in bewilderment. Directly before him\nthe road was swallowed up in a vast, smoking cavern. It was into that his\ncompanions had gone.\n\nThe shrieks grew fainter, and above them came a hoarse, sneering laugh.\n\n\u201cA cruel king, this Satan!\u201d thought Offero. \u201cBut I have vowed to serve\nthe greatest, and I must go on.\u201d\n\nHe stepped to the cavern\u2019s mouth. A blast of black smoke choked him; and\nas it cleared, he saw coming toward him, a haughty figure with a crown of\nflames.\n\nOffero bowed low.\n\n\u201cA handsome recruit!\u201d snarled Satan. \u201cWell, friends, a fellow like this\nwill be useful on our errand in the world up there.\u201d And without a word\nto the giant, Satan beckoned him to fall behind.\n\nOffero followed sadly while Satan and his train swept jeering up the\nhill. All along the way people cringed and shook at Satan\u2019s coming. Dukes\nand princes, ladies and laborers, all scurried at his glance. A whole\narmy marching to battle turned in terror at sight of him. Satan went on,\nhaughty and regardless.\n\nLittle by little, Offero began to forget his cruelty in admiration for\nhis boldness. \u201cAt last,\u201d thought the honest giant, \u201cI have found the\ngreatest king, who is afraid of no one.\u201d And he stepped along proudly to\nthink that his search was done.\n\nThe road gave a sudden turn. Over the heads of Satan and his train Offero\ncould see a rough cross of wood against the sky, and at its foot a child\nplacing a handful of wild flowers.\n\nThe giant\u2019s kind heart was troubled. \u201cSuch a baby!\u201d he muttered. \u201cIf only\nSatan would not frighten her!\u201d\n\nAs he spoke there was a snort of fear. But it was not the child who gave\nit. Satan, cowering, burst through his followers, and back along the\nroad. Offero\u2019s great form barred the way.\n\n\u201cLet me by!\u201d shrieked Satan. \u201cLet me by, I say!\u201d\n\nOffero\u2019s mighty hand tightened on his shoulder. \u201cTell me first,\u201d said the\ngiant calmly, \u201cof what you are afraid.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe cross!\u201d screamed Satan. \u201cThe cross! The cross of Christ, my enemy!\u201d\n\n\u201cThis Christ,\u201d said Offero, \u201cis a greater king than you, then, or you\nwould not fear his cross.\u201d\n\n\u201cLet me go!\u201d cried Satan, beating with his fists on Offero\u2019s massive arm.\n\u201cSave me!\u201d\n\nOffero loosened his grip. \u201cGo,\u201d he said scornfully, and stood aside while\nSatan and his train rushed by him down the hill.\n\nThe little girl stood wondering beneath the cross. \u201cGood day,\u201d said\nOffero. \u201cCan you tell me the way to the king called Christ?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou must ask the hermit,\u201d answered the child. \u201cHe knows the way. But the\npath to his hut is steep and jagged, up a high hill.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you,\u201d said Offero. \u201cThe path does not matter, if he can tell me\nhow to find the greatest king.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: \u201cGood day,\u201d said Offero. \u201cCan you tell me the way to the\nking called Christ?\u201d]\n\nSo the child pointed the way. All day long Offero climbed. The stones\nwere so big and sharp that they cut even his huge, hardy feet; and it was\nsunset before he came to the hut on the mountain top.\n\nThe hermit was beginning his evening meal. \u201cWelcome, friend,\u201d he cried.\n\u201cCome in and sup with me.\u201d\n\nAs they ate, Offero told the hermit of his errand. \u201cI would find this\nking called Christ,\u201d he said. \u201cFor I have vowed to serve the greatest\nking, who is afraid of no one. My arms are strong. I can fight for him\nand make him more powerful than before.\u201d\n\nThe hermit smiled. \u201cTo find Christ,\u201d he said, \u201cyou must first serve him.\nAnd to serve him you must not kill your fellowmen, but help them.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat can I do then?\u201d asked Offero ruefully. \u201cI am strong to fight. How\ncan I help?\u201d\n\nThe hermit looked at him. \u201cGood giant,\u201d he said, \u201cyour shoulders are\nbroad and sturdy. They should be able to carry great weights.\u201d\n\n\u201cThey can indeed,\u201d cried Offero happily. \u201cIt is from them I have my\nname,\u2014Offero,\u2014the carrier.\u201d\n\n\u201cThen, Offero,\u201d said the hermit quietly, \u201cwhy not use your shoulders to\nserve King Christ? There is a river not far from here, which runs deep\nand wild; and there are many people who come night and day to cross it\nover. The strongest and hardiest pass through safely, but the old and\nweak are often swept away by the flood.\u201d\n\nOffero\u2019s eyes flamed with sudden pride. \u201cI can carry them all safely\nacross!\u201d he cried. Then his face darkened. \u201cBut how shall I find King\nChrist?\u201d he asked.\n\nThe hermit\u2019s eyes looked far away. \u201cYou will not have to search,\u201d he said\ngently. \u201cIf you serve him well, he will come to you.\u201d\n\nNext morning Offero and the hermit set out for the river. But hardly were\nthey down the mountain when every traveler called out to them to turn\nback. \u201cThe river is in a fury,\u201d they cried. \u201cNo man could reach the other\nside alive.\u201d\n\nThe hermit shook his head. \u201cCome and see,\u201d he said. \u201cFor I have a trusty\nferryman here who can weather any flood.\u201d So Offero and the hermit kept\non; and the travelers followed, wondering.\n\nThe river beat against its banks, and the waves rushed white with foam.\nOffero pulled up a stout green tree to steady himself, and waded in till\nhe could feel the cruel whirlpools sweeping around his ankles. Then\nlifting the hermit to his broad, firm shoulder, he plunged fearlessly\ninto the raging stream. The water swirled and hissed about him. It rose\nto his great chest, and wet the edge of the hermit\u2019s robe. But it was of\nno avail against the giant. He towered through it as solid as a cliff,\nand set the hermit safely on the other side.\n\nA great \u201cbravo\u201d went up from the watching people; and when Offero came\nback, they gathered about him, clamoring to be carried. So Offero began\nhis service of the king whom he had never seen.\n\nDay and night he kept at it,\u2014in the spring when the river was high and\nsurly, in the winter when it was chilling and swift. To be within call\nalways, he built himself a hut on the bank; and there was no one who\nknocked, however haughty or humble, that Offero did not take upon his\nshoulder and carry safely through the river.\n\nSo every day Offero\u2019s great face grew more kindly and his shoulders more\npatient. But always in his heart there was a kind of longing wonder\nwhether the King would really seek him out, as the hermit had said; and\nwhether Christ was indeed the greatest king, afraid of no one. \u201cIf Christ\nwould only come!\u201d he thought; and sometimes in the depths of night he\nwould start up and unbar the door, thinking that he heard the knock of\nthe King. But it was only the wind, or now and again some belated pilgrim\nbegging to be carried across the river.\n\nOne black night when the rain lashed the hut, and the river ran high and\nwild, Offero awoke to a sound that was not the storm. \u201cA knock!\u201d said his\nlistening heart. \u201cA knock!\u201d Or was it after all a dream? No pilgrim, not\neven the fearless King would travel a night like this.\n\nNevertheless Offero sprang up, lit his great, rude lantern, and threw\nopen the door. A drenching blast blew away his breath, but there on the\nthreshold, in the gusty light was a pilgrim indeed,\u2014a little child with\nhis cloak running with rain.\n\n[Illustration: A little child, with his cloak running with rain]\n\nOffero caught him up with one grasp of his great arm. \u201cPoor little one!\u201d\nhe cried. \u201cCome in from the storm.\u201d\n\n\u201cNo, no, kind giant,\u201d pleaded the child. \u201cI cannot stay. I must cross\nthe river to-night. It runs deep and wild for my small strength, and I\ncome to ask if you will carry me through.\u201d\n\nSo Offero took his staff, and settling the child gently on his shoulder,\nplunged out into the pelting storm.\n\nAbove the wind they could hear the river roaring through the dark.\nOffero strode to the edge and stepped in. At the very bank the water was\nknee-deep, and the waves washed high on his great body. The child clung\ncloser to his neck, and Offero stopped and steadied himself. The bottom\nwas slippery at best; and to-night, with the waves rushing against him,\nit was harder than ever to stand upright.\n\nAt every step the river grew deeper and more savage. The rapids snarled\nabout his neck, and his eyes were blinded with foam. The child, who had\nbeen but a featherweight, seemed suddenly to become heavier than a man.\nOffero\u2019s mighty shoulder bent under the load. The waves plunged into\nhis face, choking him. And still the child pressed him down. The water\nwas smothering him, and he felt the current sweeping him off his feet.\nFirmly as he held to his staff, he could not go on. The child was like a\nmountain, bearing him down. His limbs were numb and cramped, and all his\nstrength seemed gone. A daze came over him, and the water surged in above\nhis head.\n\nWith one last struggle, he straightened himself, raising the child above\nthe foam. Offero gasped, staggered forward, and stopped, trembling and\nweak. But he had passed the channel and stepped into the shallower water\non the other side. No matter how heavily the child bore upon him now,\nhe could keep his head above the waves. So he stood, bowed and panting,\nbeaten by the river and the rain.\n\nThen slowly he felt his way through the blackness out of the torrent and\nup the solid bank. Gently he set the child down and stooped beside it.\n\u201cAre you quite safe and well, little one?\u201d asked he.\n\n\u201cQuite safe, good Offero,\u201d said the child, \u201cthanks to your kind care. For\nyou have served me bravely, carrying me and my great burden through the\nraging river.\u201d\n\n\u201cI saw no burden,\u201d said Offero, wondering; \u201cI only felt it.\u201d\n\nAnd as he spoke, the sky brightened, the storming of the wind and river\nceased, and the rain fell in gentle, shining drops.\n\n\u201cMy burden,\u201d said the child gravely, \u201cis the greatest any man has ever\nborne. For I have taken on my shoulders all the sins and sorrows of the\nworld.\u201d\n\nOffero fell back, dumb with wonder. For before him stood no longer the\nchild, but a stately figure, serene, triumphant, with a crowning light\nabout his head.\n\n\u201cFor I,\u201d said the kind, deep voice, \u201cam Christ, the king whom you have\nserved. And because you have borne me faithfully, you shall be called not\nOffero, the carrier, but Christoffero, the Christ-carrier. So all men\nshall know that you are my brave and loyal servant.\u201d\n\nThe giant dropped on his knees, but for wonder and joy he could not find\nhis voice. He could only gaze with grateful eyes. And as he looked, the\nKing turned, and walked majestically over the hills toward the sunrise.\n\nBut Christoffero knelt on, lost in ecstasy. For he knew that he had found\nthe greatest king, who was afraid of nothing, not even the sins and\nsorrows of the whole world.\n\nSo Offero, by serving, became the giant saint,\u2014Christopher.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nGargantua\n\n    The giant Grangousier, of feasters the first,\n    Hated that any should hunger or thirst;\n    To all at his table, the low or the high,\n    \u201cEat, eat,\u201d said Grangousier, \u201cand drink ere you\u2019re dry!\u201d\n\n    When the babe of this generous giant was yet\n    But a lusty young guzzler of all he could get,\n    He made his convivial father rejoice\n    By shouting \u201cDrink, drink!\u201d at the top of his voice.\n\n    Now, one would have thought that for eating, indeed,\n    The babe and his father had perished of greed;\n    But kindness as keen as his hunger was then\n    Made baby Gargantua greatest of men.\n\n                                       _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nX\n\nGargantua\n\n\nPart One: How Gargantua Learned His Latin\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOf all the giants that ever lived, the fattest and the jolliest was good\nold King Grangousier. From morning till night, and around again from\nnight till morning, there was nothing but one continual banquet at his\npalace. Whenever you might happen in, there were always pigs roasting,\npuddings steaming, spits turning, pies baking, chickens broiling, jellies\nhardening, cakes frying, cooks stirring, butlers pouring, and pages\nrunning to and fro with platters. There was always, in fact, such a cloud\nof savory odors streaming out of the palace that the people for miles\naround did nothing but eat the air.\n\nIn the midst of all the bustle sat King Grangousier at the head of his\ntable, singing and laughing, and letting out his belt at the end of each\ncourse. And the best of it was that there was no one so rich and no one\nso poor that he was not invited to sit down too and eat and drink and\nlaugh and sing as much as he was able. Prince and pauper, beggar and\nbaron, all flocked together about Grangousier\u2019s board.\n\n\u201cEat, eat, my good people,\u201d Grangousier would cry, beaming down at\nhis small guests. \u201cHere, boy, bring puddings, pheasants, capons,\u2014and\nchitterlings for the lady. Fill up the glasses. Fall to, comrades! Eat\nbefore you\u2019re hungry; drink before you\u2019re thirsty,\u2014that\u2019s the palace\nrule.\u201d\n\nAnd it must be said for Grangousier that he followed his own rule very\nwell. Every day he grew broader and rounder and bulgier; and as for his\nchins, some said there were nine, and some that there were ten, but\nanyway there was a cascade of them that fell down over the royal shirt\nfrills.\n\nAnd so, when one day the hearty old king was blessed with a son, no one\nwas in the least surprised that the youngster was the biggest, lustiest,\nthirstiest baby that ever was born. His baby carriage was a great wooden\ncart as big as a house, drawn by a hundred oxen. And it took seven\nthousand, nine hundred and thirteen cows to supply him with milk.\n\nThe very moment he was born, in fact, instead of crying, \u201cMie, mie, mie!\u201d\nlike other babies, he shouted out at the top of his lungs, \u201cDrink, drink,\ndrink!\u201d\n\nWhen father Grangousier heard _that_, his joy nearly choked him so that\nhe could just gasp out in his queer old French, \u201cQue grand tu as!\u201d\u2014by\nwhich he meant, \u201cWhat a big throat you have!\u201d\n\nAnd all the lords and neighbors who were feasting with him, clapped their\nflagons on the table and vowed that the baby could not have a better name.\n\n\u201cHere\u2019s to Prince Que-grand-tu-as!\u201d they cried.\n\nNow, the very oldest of the king\u2019s old neighbors, who I am afraid was a\nlittle tipsy, shouted the toast out after the others, and in his haste,\nslurred the four words together. So it happened that the young giant was\nnamed for all time: GARGANTUA.\n\nUp to the time he was five years old, Gargantua was educated much like\nthe other children of the kingdom, in\n\n    Drinking, eating, and sleeping;\n    Eating, sleeping, and drinking;\n    Sleeping, drinking, and eating.\n\nFrom dawn till dark he was continually full of frolic. He would roll\nabout in the mud; slide down the palace towers; run after hawks and\neagles with a net, as other children chase butterflies. When his\nplaymates ran about with their paper whirligigs, he would pick up a\nconvenient windmill and go charging down with it across the kingdom.\n\nBest of all he liked his horses. To make a good rider of him, his father\nhad built a great horse of wood as high as a church. Across its back\nGargantua would throw himself, and make it trot, jump, amble, gallop, or\npace just as he liked. Of a huge post he made himself a hunting-nag; and\nof a beam, a work-horse. Besides these he had ten or twelve poles that\ndid for race-horses, and seven great boards that were horses for his\ncoach. All of them he kept in his own room, tied securely to his bed.\n\n[Illustration: He would make it trot or gallop]\n\nOne day Lord Breadinbag, the Duke of Free-meal, and the Earl of\nDry-throat, with all their followers, came to visit King Grangousier.\nWith so many guests all at once, the palace was crowded, and in the\nstables for the visitors\u2019 horses there was not a stall to be had.\n\nLord Breadinbag\u2019s steward and his first gentleman-of-horse came on\nGargantua just as he was sliding down off the palace roof. \u201cAha!\u201d thought\nthey, \u201cwe can find out from _him_ where the king\u2019s own stables are.\u201d\n\n\u201cGood prince,\u201d said the steward, \u201ccan you show us where the giant horses\nare kept?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d cried Gargantua, \u201ccome with me.\u201d\n\nAnd taking them both by the hand, he dragged them after him up the great\nstaircase of the palace. Through a long hall he led them up into a tower.\n\n\u201cThis is some trick!\u201d gasped the gentleman-of-horse. \u201cThe stables are\nnever at the top of the house.\u201d\n\nAs for the poor steward, he was too breathless\nto reply. \u201cYou\u2014never\u2014can\u2014tell,\u201d he panted.\n\u201cThings\u2014so\u2014odd\u2014in\u2014these\u2014giants\u2019\u2014countries.\u201d\n\nBut Gargantua kept on dodging around corners and dashing up staircases,\nand there was nothing for it but to stumble after. Finally he flung open\nhis bedroom door.\n\n\u201cHere are my great horses!\u201d he cried. \u201cHere is my roan, here is my bay,\nhere is my race horse!\u201d And with that he gave a lash at the beams and\npoles.\n\nAs soon as the steward and the gentleman-of-horse got their breath, they\nlaughed indeed, and fairly tripped over each other in rushing downstairs\nto tell the joke in the banquet hall.\n\nWhen Grangousier heard it, he roared till his chins shook again. \u201cThe\nyoung rogue!\u201d he bellowed. \u201cThe rascal! If he is old enough to be up to\nmischief, he is old enough to go to SCHOOL!\u201d\n\nFrom that moment Gargantua\u2019s fate was sealed. The next day an old\nschoolmaster named Tubal Holofernes came to teach him his letters. Now,\nMaster Holofernes was a little, wizened man whom Gargantua could have\nlifted up in one of his big hands. Standing on the ground he had to\nshout through a trumpet to reach Gargantua\u2019s ears. So, in order to get\non faster with the teaching, Grangousier had him lifted up on one of the\nwooden horses, and ordered Gargantua to stand quietly alongside.\n\n\u201cA, B, C,\u201d Holofernes would shout into his pupil\u2019s tremendous ear. And\nGargantua, who thought the whole thing a fine new game, would roar the\nletters out gaily after him.\n\nSo well did he learn them, in fact, that by the time he was ten years\nold, he could say the whole alphabet by heart backwards, to the immense\ndelight of his father and all the banqueters.\n\n[Illustration: Master Holofernes]\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d cried Grangousier, fairly bursting with pride and pudding, \u201che\nmust be at his Latin.\u201d For the truth of it was Grangousier did not know a\nword of Latin himself, and so he was determined that his son should be a\ngreat scholar.\n\nGargantua did not mind in the least. It meant new playthings for him.\nFor, since there were no printed books in those days, Gargantua had first\nof all to learn to write books of his own. So Grangousier had made for\nhim a great blank book about an acre square, a pen-holder as long as the\npillar of Enay, and a horn that would hold a whole black lake of ink.\n\nMaster Holofernes would stand on the writing-desk and make his little,\ncorrect letters down in one corner of the book. Then Gargantua would\ntake his pen and splash and scrawl and scratch in great lines and arcs\nall over the huge pages. Each letter Gargantua made, in fact, was so\nbig that poor Holofernes had to look at it through a reducing glass to\nsee the whole of it at once. All this took some time of course, but\nGrangousier was hugely pleased when, in thirteen years, six months and\ntwo weeks after he began, Gargantua could make any letter in the alphabet.\n\nThen began the Latin. For thirty-four years Master Holofernes read to\nhim out of the most learned books, and Gargantua was supposed to write\ndown, in his own, every word that he heard. But by this time, I am sorry\nto say, Gargantua was a little tired of study, and though he scribbled\nbusily enough, instead of writing Latin words, he drew pictures of\nelephants and camels and lions and tigers. And old Master Holofernes, who\ndid not look over the work with the glass till long after, was none the\nwiser. As for King Grangousier and his friends, Gargantua had one Latin\npiece that he could recite either backwards or forwards for them, and\nthey all vowed that his learning was wonderful.\n\nEverything was going happily enough when one day there came a guest to\nGrangousier\u2019s table who knew something about Latin. When he saw how much\nGargantua had learned in all his years of study, his eyes twinkled.\n\n\u201cHow would it be,\u201d said he to Grangousier, \u201cif to-night I should bring\nEudemon, a young neighbor of mine, to talk Latin with Gargantua?\u201d\n\nGrangousier laid down his fork and vowed that it was the very best plan\nhe ever had heard.\n\nSo, that evening Eudemon came,\u2014an ordinary-sized boy about twelve years\nold. Pulling off his cap and bowing politely to all the company, he began\nimmediately in the best Latin to thank Grangousier for allowing him to\ncome to the palace, and then to tell Gargantua how glad he was to have\nthe chance of talking with him.\n\nWhen Gargantua heard that torrent of Latin of which he could not\nunderstand a single word, he grew so red that he had to hide his face in\nhis cap, and stood there as dumb as a cow. As for Master Holofernes, he\nsneaked quietly out of the back door of the palace, and ran away as fast\nand as far as his legs would carry him.\n\nFor the first time in his life Grangousier was angry.\n\n\u201c_What!_\u201d he bellowed, glaring at Gargantua and trembling in all his\nchins. \u201cNot a word to say for yourself! Well then, well then, _well\nthen_, not a minute longer do you stay here! Off to Paris with you, and\nget some sense put into your great, stupid head!\u201d\n\nThe very next day Gargantua, with Eudemon and several other boys of\nthe neighborhood, set out for Paris in charge of a new tutor named\nPonocrates. Now, Ponocrates was not so very big, but somehow or other\nGargantua knew by looking at him that it would not be wise to be drawing\nlions and tigers while _he_ was reading Latin.\n\nAnd partly because Ponocrates was that kind of man, and partly because\nGargantua was thoroughly ashamed of himself, he went to his new master as\nsoon as they got to Paris. \u201cHow do you wish me to begin?\u201d he asked quite\nhumbly.\n\nWise old Ponocrates looked at him kindly. \u201cSuppose, at first,\u201d he said,\n\u201cyou do just as you used to at home.\u201d\n\nNothing could have pleased Gargantua better. The next morning he began\nas usual, by getting up about nine o\u2019clock. He never bothered much about\ndressing, for his one idea was to get to breakfast as soon as possible.\nSo, he scrambled into a shabby old suit lined with fox skins which was\neasy to put on, and smoothed his hair with a \u201cGerman comb,\u201d\u2014which meant,\nthat he ran his fingers through his great, tousled locks. Then yawning\nand stretching his arms, he jumped down over a whole staircase in his\neagerness to get to breakfast.\n\nOnce there, he made short work of seven or eight hams, a dozen rashers\nof bacon, a huge bowl of chopped meat, and an acre of bread and gravy.\nAfter that he was ready for a walk through Paris to get up an appetite\nfor dinner. Coming home a little early, he sat down for half an hour to\nstudy, to satisfy his conscience. But, while his eyes were on his book,\nhis mind was down in the kitchen, peeping into the great steaming pots.\n\nEven at that, he was at the table playing tunes on the glasses with his\nknife and fork long before dinner was served. When it did begin, four of\nhis servants took their places on the table in front of him. And while\nGargantua ate his usual number of steaks, hams, roasts, tongues, and\nsausages, they shoveled mustard down his great throat.\n\nWhen every platter was clean, Gargantua leaned back in his chair and\ncried, \u201cSpread the carpet!\u201d\n\nDown climbed the four servants from the table. Three of them unrolled\na huge rug, while the other brought in trays piled high with checkers,\nchessmen, cards, and dice. Then the fun began. Gargantua and his friends\nstarted in on the two hundred and fifteen games they liked best. That\nafternoon they played:\n\n    Flaying the Fox,\n    Charming the Hare,\n    Trudge, Pig,\n    Pinch without Laughing,\n    Riding the Wild Mare,\n    The Whirligig,\n    Rogue and Ruffian,\n    I Take you Napping,\n    The Hobgoblin,\n    Climb the Ladder, Billy,\n    and\n    Gunshot Crack.\n\nBy that time Gargantua\u2019s great head was nodding, and before the cards\nwere shuffled again, he was stretched out on the floor fast asleep. About\nfive o\u2019clock he rubbed his great eyes open, and calling his friends,\ndashed out, mounted his horse and rode away to see a rabbit-catching just\noutside of Paris.\n\nBy supper-time, Gargantua had forgotten entirely about his Latin, his new\ntutor, and the reason why he had been sent to Paris. His mind was on the\ngood supper and all the games they could play before midnight. His great\nfork flew from plate to mouth, and back again from mouth to plate. And\nbetween gulps he roared out his favorite song, while all his friends beat\ntime on the table with their knives:\n\n    \u201cOne, two, three, four!\n    Much to eat and maybe more:\n    Five, six, seven, eight!\n    Polish platter, polish plate:\u2014\u201d\n\nJust an instant Gargantua paused for breath, when suddenly a new voice,\nbrisk and decisive, took up the refrain:\n\n    \u201cNine, ten!\u2014Finish then!\n    Now for knowledge, gentlemen.\u201d\n\nGargantua stopped, mouth agape, with a whole pudding poised on his fork.\nThat was a new ending to the song, and there just inside the opened\ndoor, stood the singer,\u2014Master Ponocrates!\n\nBut Ponocrates did not hesitate. He poured out a black liquid from a\nbottle into a great spoon, and striding up the table to Gargantua, dashed\nit into his open mouth.\n\nFor all the time Gargantua had been eating and playing, Ponocrates had\nbeen looking on. And when he saw what Gargantua\u2019s habits were, he knew\nthat it would take more than a new course of study to change them. So he\nhad gone to Doctor Theodore, a famous physician of Paris, and got from\nhim a medicine which should make Gargantua forget his old ways entirely.\n\nSo well did it work, that hardly had Gargantua swallowed it when he laid\ndown his fork and looked wonderingly at the table as if he were trying to\nmake out what all the puddings and pastries were there for.\n\n\u201cAnd now,\u201d said Ponocrates, \u201cyou will oblige me, young gentlemen, by\nstarting off to bed. I want clear heads for to-morrow\u2019s study.\u201d\n\nGargantua was the first one up from the table; and before eight o\u2019clock\nhad struck, he was asleep for the first time in his life without dreaming\nof banquets.\n\nEarly next morning a new kind of life began for him. For Ponocrates had\nlaid out such a course of study that he should not lose a single hour\nof the day. At four o\u2019clock he was called; and while he was being rubbed\ndown after his bath, a page read the Latin lesson aloud to him. As he\ndressed, Ponocrates would come in to explain the hard points; and after\na day or two Gargantua himself could repeat the lessons off by heart.\nAnd all the time he would be carefully parting his hair with a real comb\ninstead of a German one, and never thinking of breakfast at all. Indeed\nafter a few more doses of the black medicine, Ponocrates had to remind\nhim that it was time to be eating or he would rush off to the schoolroom\nas soon as he was dressed.\n\n[Illustration: Even when he swam down the river Seine]\n\nAfter breakfast Ponocrates talked for three hours in Latin, and then,\nas the boys began to look a trifle sleepy, sent them out for a game of\ntennis till dinner-time. After dinner they would sing for a while, and\nthen get at their Latin books again for three hours more. And after six\nmonths of _that_, Eudemon himself could not outdo Gargantua in talking\nLatin. He thought in it, dreamed in it, and was as anxious to be at his\nbook as he was before to be at his dinner.\n\nEven when he swam, of an afternoon, down the river Seine, he took a book\nin one hand, and holding it up dry out of the water, read aloud from it,\nall the way, in a voice to split your ear-drums. Coming out of the water,\nhe laid the book on the bank and dried himself off by leaping over trees\nand houses, and vaulting over churches, pricking his hand on the steeples.\n\nBut that was not the end of his day. For then came his lessons with\nSquire Gymnast, who taught him to leap nimbly from one great galloping\nhorse to another; to shatter a thick stone tower with one thrust of his\nhuge lance; and to hold two lead weights each weighing eight hundred and\nseventy thousand pounds above his head for three-quarters of an hour.\nLast of all he would stand with his arms folded, in an open field, and\ndare the whole French army to move him with crowbars.\n\nBut one day as the soldiers ranged themselves, ten to a bar, ready to\npry at Gargantua\u2019s great boots, there came a pelting of hoofs across the\nturf. Another moment, and a rider, shouting and spurring, burst in among\nthem to Gargantua\u2019s very feet.\n\n\u201cYour Royal Highness,\u201d he cried, \u201cyour father, King Grangousier, sends\nfor you!\u201d\n\nThat was enough for Gargantua. The French crowbars rattled to the ground\nlike toothpicks, as he sprang leaping over the army to saddle his great\nmare.\n\n\nPart Two: How The Bakers Wished They Hadn\u2019t\n\nNow, the reason Grangousier sent for Gargantua so hastily was because he\nhad had the ill luck to get mixed up in a war. And all because he praised\na cake!\n\nNext to Grangousier\u2019s kingdom was the country of Lern\u00e9, famous far and\nnear for its delicious little cakes. Twice a week, for years and years,\nthe proud cake-bakers of Lern\u00e9 had driven in along the king\u2019s highway\nwith ten cartloads of cakes,\u2014five for the palace, and five to sell in\ntown. From the hilltops beside the road Grangousier\u2019s shepherds watched\nfor them to come, and rushed down to buy a few cakes to go with their\nmidday meal.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow, it happened one day that King Grangousier in his usual kindly mood\npraised especially one of the little cakes from Lern\u00e9, which was made by\na man named Marquet. At that, Marquet, who was already the proudest of\nthe proud cake-bakers, marked all his cakes with a huge \u201cM\u201d and a little\ncrown above, to show that he was baker to the King. And the next time he\ndrove into Grangousier\u2019s kingdom he held his nose higher than ever. Down\nthe hill as usual came the shepherds for their cakes, but Marquet drove\nstraight along.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cHey, hey, hey,\u201d cried the shepherds good-naturedly, \u201cwhere are our cakes\nto-day?\u201d\n\nMarquet gave them one scornful glance. \u201cI\u2019m not selling to country\nfolk,\u201d said he. \u201c_My_ cakes are for the King.\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cCome, come, Marquet,\u201d said one of the shepherds named Forgier, taking\nthe horse\u2019s bridle. \u201cWe\u2019ve bought your cakes too many years to be treated\nthis way. Here\u2019s your money; now give us our cakes.\u201d\n\nMarquet rose up insolently. \u201c_Take_ your cakes!\u201d he cried. \u201c_Take_ your\ncakes!\u201d And with that he gave Forgier two great lashes across the face.\n\nOut came Forgier\u2019s stout oak cudgel. One blow, and Marquet reeled back\nsenseless.\n\nBy that time the other bakers had driven up, and seeing Marquet fall,\nthey set on the shepherds with their whips.\n\n\u201cBumpkins! Boobies!\u201d they shouted. \u201cWe\u2019ll teach you to strike a\ncake-baker!\u201d\n\nBut the shepherds replied so sturdily with their crooks and cudgels that\nit was not long before the bakers were glad to jump into their carts\nagain, and drive as fast as they could back toward Lern\u00e9.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\u201cStop, stop, stop,\u201d cried the hungry shepherds, \u201cwe want our cakes.\u201d And\ngiving chase, they seized four or five dozen of the cakes, throwing their\nmoney into the carts, in payment.\n\nThen they bound up Forgier\u2019s bleeding face; and made merry over their\nmeal, laughing at the proud cake-bakers who had lost a day\u2019s trade by\ntheir insolence.\n\nAs for the bakers, they drove furiously, straight to the palace of their\nking, Picrochole, and dashed, disheveled and breathless, into the throne\nroom.\n\n\u201cYour Majesty,\u201d they cried, \u201cwe have been set upon by the shepherds of\nold King Grangousier,\u2014our heads broken, our coats torn, our cakes stolen,\nour trade ruined, and Marquet nearly killed.\u201d And with that, two of them\nbrought in Marquet himself, groaning horribly.\n\nNow, Picrochole was as proud and passionate as any cake-baker of them all.\n\n\u201cWhat!\u201d he roared, turning purple in the face. \u201cKilling our subjects!\nSpoiling our trade! Well, we\u2019ll teach them to eat our cakes indeed!\nMarshals, sound the call to arms. Get out the cannon, double cannon,\nserpentines. Every vassal, rich and poor, noble and peasant, to arms! And\nall in the square by the hour of noon. For to-day we teach Grangousier\u2019s\nscoundrels to eat our cakes!\u201d\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen there was a bustle indeed. By noon the great square was swarming\nwith soldiers,\u2014glittering officers, solid infantry, dashing cavalry,\nbold cannoneers, all gathered under the royal standard. Around the edges\nwere the common people, without uniforms, but armed with pikes and\nbroadswords and eager to be at the fighting. In the center of things\nwas Marquet, fully recovered, and the cake-bakers around him, all very\nimportant-looking and armed up to their eyes. The cannon shone in the\nsun; the royal standard waved; the officers dashed to and fro; and all\nthe people cheered.\n\nFinally King Picrochole called his captains about him. \u201cThe army is to\nmarch in two divisions,\u201d he said. \u201cHalf go east with me to Rock Clermond;\nhalf go west under Earl Swashbuckler to the Ford of Vede.\u201d\n\nThen detailing the captains, he commanded the army to advance\nimmediately. So, all in disorder, the soldiers poured out of the square\nin two great streams, half by the east gate under Picrochole, half by the\nwest gate under Earl Swashbuckler.\n\nBut no matter which way they went, as soon as they got to Grangousier\u2019s\ncountry, they took to the fields, trampling crops, tearing hedges,\nshaking fruit trees, picking grapes, beating down nuts. Before them, in\nan uproar of fright, they drove cows, oxen, sheep, lambs, goats, pigs,\nhens, chickens and geese. Grangousier\u2019s poor shepherds and farmers,\nhearing the bleats and the bellowings mingled with the songs and shouts\nof the soldiers, took to the woods; but many were captured nevertheless.\n\n\u201cAlas!\u201d they cried, \u201cwe have always been good neighbors to you. We are\nunarmed and at peace, and you come on us like this! Spare us! Spare us!\u201d\n\n\u201cHumph!\u201d said Picrochole\u2019s men grimly. \u201cYou are learning to eat our\ncakes.\u201d\n\nSo that night, just as he had planned, Picrochole surprised and took the\ntown of Rock Clermond, and Earl Swashbuckler quartered his army in the\ncastle at the Ford of Vede.\n\nMeanwhile the shepherd Forgier was posting with all speed to tell\nGrangousier. He arrived at a pause in the banquet, when the chestnuts\nwere roasting over the fire. And Grangousier, with his chair turned\nabout, was drawing pictures with a burnt stick in the ashes of the hearth\nand telling stories of the old times.\n\n\u201cBravo! Bravo!\u201d cried all the guests, smacking their lips over the hot\nchestnuts.\n\nAs for Queen Gargamelle on the other side of the fireplace, she smiled\nacross at Grangousier, and thought that however good the old times might\nhave been, they did not compare with the cozy present, with a warm blaze\nand the chestnuts roasting on the hearth.\n\nJust then Forgier came, breathless, pulling off his cap. \u201cYour Majesty,\u201d\nhe cried, \u201cKing Picrochole\u2019s men swarm through the country. They trample\nthe crops. They take our cattle and our sheep. Earl Swashbuckler plunders\nthe Ford of Vede, and King Picrochole himself holds Rock Clermond.\u201d\n\n\u201cWhat! What!\u201d gasped Grangousier, turning from his story, all a-tremble.\n\u201cPicrochole, you say!\u2014Our old neighbor, with whom we have lived so many\nyears in kindness and peace! What is it starts him against us? Is he mad,\nto turn so on his old friend, Grangousier?\u201d\n\nForgier told the story of the cakes; and as he spoke, the good giant\u2019s\nface which had been so troubled, became as bland and beaming as before.\n\n\u201cIf it is only a matter of a few cakes,\u201d he cried joyously, \u201cwe shall\nsoon satisfy them. For Grangousier\u2019s cooks can make cakes too. And this\nweek the bakers of Lern\u00e9 need not send cakes to the King; but the King\nhimself will send cakes to the bakers of Lern\u00e9. And Marquet shall have a\nspecial cartload, all marked with my crown and scepter, to make up for\nthose he lost. Hey, hey, hey, cooks and bakers! Grangousier calls.\u201d\n\nSo all the cooks and bakers of the palace scurried up from the kitchen,\nspoons in hand and caps askew, and stood bowing before Grangousier\u2019s\nchair.\n\n\u201cGood cooks,\u201d said Grangousier kindly, \u201ccan we make here in our kitchen\nas fine cakes as those of Lern\u00e9?\u201d\n\n\u201cYes! Yes! Yes!\u201d roared the cooks, bowing as low as they could.\n\n\u201cWell, then,\u201d cried Grangousier, \u201ctake all the butter, all the sugar,\nall the spice in the palace. Spare nothing; but bake me cakes hot and\nfresh and fragrant enough to make friends again of the proud cake-bakers\nof Lern\u00e9. Five cartloads I would send them by dawn to-morrow, to comfort\nthem for the five dozen the shepherds took.\u201d\n\nThe cooks and bakers scuttled out again to be at their mixing and their\nstirring. And Grangousier rubbed his great hands in glee.\n\n\u201cNothing like good cakes to end a war!\u201d he chuckled.\n\nBut Forgier stood there, waiting and unhappy. \u201cYour Majesty,\u201d he burst\nout, \u201cyou do not know this Picrochole and his bakers. Once get them\naroused, and there will have to be fighting before it is done. Picrochole\nwill not give up Rock Clermond for all the cakes in the kingdom.\u201d\n\nGrangousier\u2019s great face, which had been as jolly and round as a dinner\nplate, grew as solemn and long as a platter. \u201cCan it be?\u201d he asked sadly.\n\u201cCan it be?\u201d and sank into patient gloom.\n\nQueen Gargamelle rustled anxiously in her chair. \u201cWhy not send for\nGargantua?\u201d she suggested timidly.\n\nGrangousier beamed again. \u201cThe very thing!\u201d he cried. \u201cWith all the\nreading and the fighting he\u2019s been taught in Paris he\u2019ll know in a minute\nwhat\u2019s best to be done. Forgier, mount the fastest little horse in our\nstables. Post to Paris, and say to Gargantua that his old father needs\nhim.\u201d\n\nForgier dashed out of the banquet hall; and Grangousier, turning his\nchair again, sat all night, marking with his stick among the ashes and\nquite forgetting about his chestnuts.\n\nAt the very first gleam of dawn he raised his head, and his great\nnostrils puffed out like balloons. Up from the kitchen came wave on wave\nof warm, delicious baking. \u201cThe clever rascals!\u201d muttered Grangousier.\n\u201cThe cakes are done!\u201d\n\nThe oldest and trustiest cook of all rushed respectfully in. \u201cYour\nMajesty,\u201d he said, \u201cthe cakes are being piled on the carts. Who shall go\nwith them to Rock Clermond?\u201d\n\n\u201cYou, Ulrich Gallet!\u201d cried Grangousier happily. \u201cDrive, yourself, the\ncart of cakes for Marquet; and say to him that he shall have not only the\ncakes, but these seven hundred thousand gold crowns besides, and one of\nour best apple orchards for him and his family forever.\n\n\u201cSay to Picrochole that we are full of grief at this trouble between his\nsubjects and ours; give him the cakes, and tell him that we will make any\nother return he wishes. Only ask him to leave our town in peace. And to\nshow him that you come as a friend, deck your carts with willow boughs.\u201d\n\nTrusty Ulrich bowed, and after he had gone, Grangousier himself lumbered\nout to the terrace to watch the carts with their nodding branches creep\nslowly over the hill.\n\nThe captain of Picrochole\u2019s guard on the ramparts of Rock Clermond\nsnuffed the morning air. \u201cA good breakfast somewhere!\u201d he muttered, and\npaced greedily around the wall, sniffing down the chimneys. But the\nsavory odor did not come from any house of them all.\n\nThe captain turned, and gazed about the desolate country beyond the\ntown. Suddenly his astonished eye caught four or five carts waving with\nwillows, drawing up to the great gate.\n\n\u201cHo, there!\u201d he cried sharply. \u201cWho comes to Rock Clermond?\u201d\n\nHonest Ulrich started. \u201cIt is I,\u2014Ulrich Gallet,\u2014\u201d he shouted, \u201con an\nerrand of peace from King Grangousier to King Picrochole and to Marquet.\u201d\n\nJust then the captain spied the cakes. It was those, then, that made the\nair so appetizing. He gave a long, loud whistle, and sprang down the\nembankment into the town. In another instant he burst out the gate, with\nthe soldiers of the guard at his heels. Without a word they clambered\nover the carts and began seizing the cakes.\n\n\u201cHold! Hold!\u201d cried Ulrich stoutly, raising his whip. \u201cThe cakes are\nmeant for you at any rate. Only let me give them with my message to King\nPicrochole and Marquet. Wait! Wait!\u201d\n\nThe captain laughed insolently. \u201cWe will give your message,\u2014never fear,\u201d\nhe shouted; and with a sudden grasp pulled the bag of gold-pieces for\nMarquet from Ulrich\u2019s clenched hand.\n\n\u201cWe ourselves,\u201d he taunted, \u201cwill drive the carts to King Picrochole.\u201d\nAnd with that two of the soldiers, climbing up treacherously from behind,\nthrew Ulrich down into the dust. The next moment the poor cook heard the\ncarts rumbling off through the gate. He scrambled up and shouted as loud\nas he could, but for reply there were only the sneering jibes of the\ncaptain and his men, as they closed the gates behind them.\n\nSo Ulrich turned sadly, and limped back down the road to the palace. It\nwas twilight when he got there, but Grangousier was still watching from\nthe terrace. Ulrich snatched off his cap with its dusty willow twig, and\ntold his story. As he went on, all the jolly curves and dimples in the\ngood giant\u2019s face changed to stern, straight lines.\n\n\u201cThe curs!\u201d he cried. \u201cPerhaps they will understand our cannon better\nthan our cakes.\u201d And he peered anxiously down the road toward Paris. \u201cIf\nonly Gargantua would come!\u201d he sighed.\n\nMeanwhile Gargantua had left Paris, listening to Forgier\u2019s story on the\nroad. \u201cMy good old father!\u201d he cried hotly. \u201cTo think that they should\ndare abuse his peaceful country! Well, Forgier, we pass the Ford of Vede,\nand we may as well look in on Earl Swashbuckler on our way.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: The young giant spurred ahead]\n\nAnd with that the young giant spurred ahead so furiously that the ground\nfor miles around rocked with the hoof beats of his great mare. Straight\nahead over hill and dale lay the castle at the Ford of Vede. Gargantua\ncleared the distance like a cyclone till he could see the castle towers.\nThen reining in his steed, he measured their height and breadth with\nhis practised eye. Turning to the roadside, he pulled up a pine tree\nas sturdy and as straight as a bar of iron, and held it upright like a\nlance.\n\n\u201cHail, cake-bakers of Lern\u00e9!\u201d he cried grimly, and rode on to the castle.\n\nBut there was not a man to be seen. For at the jar of Gargantua\u2019s coming,\nevery plunderer of them all had hidden himself safely inside.\n\n\u201cHo, there, bakers!\u201d called Gargantua. \u201cCome out, as you value your\nmiserable lives.\u201d\n\nThere was no reply, only a furious burst of cannon balls from the towers.\nUp into Gargantua\u2019s eyes they flew,\u2014over his head and shoulders in a\nvicious shower. But they struck the giant as harmlessly as so many grape\nseeds.\n\n\u201cStop your pesky shot-guns!\u201d cried Gargantua, annoyed. \u201cListen to me.\u201d\n\nBut the cannon balls came faster and thicker than ever. Gargantua brushed\nthem from his eyes, raised his great tree in a fury, and rode full tilt\nagainst the castle.\n\nThere was a shock and a crash. The towers shuddered and splashed, stone\nafter stone, into the water beyond. As for Earl Swashbuckler and his\nbakers, there was not one of them left for Gargantua\u2019s great eyes to spy\nout.\n\nThe young giant turned with a sorry shrug of his shoulders, and rode\ntoward his father\u2019s palace. It was nearly midnight when he got there,\nbut Grangousier was still on the terrace, watching through the shadows\nfor his big son to come looming up against the moon.\n\n\u201cMy boy!\u201d cried Grangousier gladly, and went lumbering down to meet him.\n\n\u201cFather!\u201d shouted Gargantua. But when he heard how Ulrich Gallet had\nfared, his big eyes blazed. \u201cThey shall soon learn,\u201d he cried, \u201chow to\ntreat your servants, sire. Call out the army. Send them post haste along\nthe road to Rock Clermond, and leave the rest to me!\u201d And Gargantua\nsprang again to his horse\u2019s back.\n\n\u201cNot so fast! Not so fast, my son!\u201d said Grangousier. \u201cGet your sword.\nGet your lance. Refresh yourself with supper. Even then you will soon\novertake the army.\u201d\n\nGargantua yielded. He himself sounded the war alarm, and watched the\nsoldiers scramble, musket in hand, to their ranks.\n\n\u201cMarch on to Rock Clermond,\u201d he said to the general. \u201cFight fearlessly,\nfor I shall come behind to help you.\u201d\n\nSo the army set out along the dark road, and Gargantua sped to his room.\nHe took out his great sword and lance shining like flashes of lightning.\nThen with his huge comb, each tooth of which was an elephant\u2019s tusk, he\nbegan smoothing his tousled hair. As he did so, there was a bump on the\nfloor,\u2014another, another and another.\n\nA servant knocked upon the door. \u201cPrince Gargantua,\u201d he cried, \u201csounds\nlike thunder come from your room. The ceiling below trembles. Is\nsomething amiss?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, no,\u201d laughed Gargantua, \u201cI am but combing some small shot out of my\nhair.\u201d\n\nThe servant gaped, with round eyes. \u201cThey are cannon balls, your\nHighness!\u201d he cried in alarm.\n\n\u201cSo they fired their cannon at me at the Ford of Vede,\u201d muttered\nGargantua in surprise.\n\nThen taking up his arms, he went down for a bite of supper with his\nfather; and just at dawn galloped off down the road.\n\nMeanwhile the army drew near Rock Clermond. Picrochole\u2019s captain of the\nguard saw them coming, and dashed to tell his king.\n\nPicrochole roused up angrily. \u201cIs Grangousier with them?\u201d he snapped.\n\n\u201cNo, sire, I saw no giants,\u201d said the captain of the guard.\n\nPicrochole reflected. \u201cOf course not, of course not,\u201d he cried testily.\n\u201cGrangousier is too old after all; and that son of his is off at school\nin Paris. A mere handful of shepherds coming to surprise us, no doubt!\nWell, then, sound the charge; and follow me, every mother\u2019s son. We shall\nteach these blockheads once again to eat the cakes of Lern\u00e9.\u201d\n\nSo, in a vain fury of boldness, Picrochole led his men helter-skelter\nthrough the gate and down the hill upon Grangousier\u2019s army. He drew\nhis sword to charge, when suddenly against the morning sky, he saw\nGargantua\u2019s great figure looking down.\n\nPicrochole staggered; then turned and scurried like a rabbit across the\ndewy grass. \u201cThe giant!\u201d he shrieked. \u201cThe giant!\u201d And his men scampered\nbreathlessly after.\n\nGargantua stooped, and scooped up four or five of them in each of his\ngreat hands. As for the rest, his army chased them so hard that every\nbaker of them was caught. Only Picrochole got away; but perhaps it was\njust as well, for the kingdom was rid of him, as he was never seen or\nheard of afterward.\n\nWhen every captive was brought back, Gargantua called them all about\nhim. \u201cCake-bakers of Lern\u00e9,\u201d he boomed, \u201cmy father, Grangousier, is the\nmildest king in all the world, and the first friend of cooks.\u201d\n\n\u201cAye, aye,\u201d cried all the bakers, waving their caps.\n\n\u201cAnd because you have served him with good cakes these many years,\u201d\nwent on Gargantua, \u201che will not throw you into prison as you deserve,\nbut he will let you all go free and forgiven to your homes _on one\ncondition_,\u201d\u2014and here the giant\u2019s voice grew stern,\u2014\u201cthat you and your\nfamilies forever give his shepherds as many good cakes as they wish to\nbuy. As for Marquet and the captain of the guard, Grangousier orders them\nto his palace kitchen. There they shall bake every day six cakes for\nevery one he sent by Ulrich Gallet.\u201d\n\n\u201cLong live good King Grangousier, and his son Gargantua!\u201d cried the\ncake-bakers.\n\nGargantua turned his horse, and pranced joyously toward home, with\nhis army streaming after. Last of all came Marquet and the captain of\nPicrochole\u2019s guard, very humble and crestfallen, marched between four\nstrong soldiers.\n\nGrangousier saw them coming. \u201cCooks, cooks, cooks!\u201d he cried. \u201cFire\nup your ovens, and spread the finest banquet since the days of King\nAhasuerus!\u201d\n\nAnd the cooks did. That day Gargantua feasted with his father, and\nPonocrates, Gymnast, and Eudemon (who arrived just in time), and all the\nvictorious army. And this is what they ate, according to Ulrich Gallet\u2019s\nlist:\n\n    Sixteen roasted beeves,\n    Thirty-two calves,\n    Sixty-three kids,\n    Ninety-five sheep,\n    Two hundred and twenty partridges,\n    Four hundred capons,\n    Seven hundred snipe,\n    Twelve thousand pullets and pigeons,\n    Fourteen hundred hares,\n    One hundred and forty pheasants;\n\nand deer, turkeys, ducks, geese, and vegetables without number. And after\nthey had finished _that_, there was served up a whole ton of the hottest,\nmost fragrant little cakes in all the world, baked by Marquet and the\ncaptain of Picrochole\u2019s guard.\n\n\u201cA fine feast!\u201d cried Gargantua.\n\n\u201cA fine son!\u201d beamed Grangousier, happy as only a giant can be.\n\n\u201cA fine father!\u201d called Gargantua.\n\n\u201cAnd fine cakes!\u201d said Queen Gargamelle.\n\n                                    \u2014_Adapted from Rabelais\u2019 \u201cGargantua.\u201d_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nThe Man Who Went to the Giants\u2019 Country\n\n    You who scoff at tales of giants,\n    Only sure of what you\u2019ve seen,\n    Listen to this man of science\n    Who had long with giants been:\n\n    Then when doubting folk confront you,\n    Flout your faith or mock your fear,\n    Tell them of this wise man, won\u2019t you?\n    Read them what\u2019s recorded here.\n\n                         _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nXI\n\nThe Man Who Went to the Giants\u2019 Country\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\n    As the world grew older and ways became stiffer, there came a\n    dreadfully dull time when nothing ever happened by magic, and\n    everything could be explained by a Reason. Worn out by this\n    heavy atmosphere, the gods left the earth for the clouds, and\n    the fairies vanished into moonlight and mist.\n\n    As for the giants, who had been so neighborly, they disappeared\n    altogether. No frightened herdboy following a cry through the\n    moonlit forest, came upon their towering figures. No Indian\n    pushing out over the misty sea was hailed by a giant canoe.\n\n    People became quite superior and scornful. There was hardly a\n    person who would discuss giants seriously. The grown-ups would\n    only sniff; and even the children, who were young enough to\n    know better, would cry, \u201cPooh! There never were any _giants_.\u201d\n\n    Oddly enough, it happened, as those things sometimes do, that\n    one of the most matter-of-fact persons of all, an Englishman\n    and a scientist, came suddenly upon the giants\u2019 country. After\n    that, you may be sure, the people who had been the first to\n    scoff whenever giants were mentioned, became quite silent\n    and respectful. Here is the Englishman\u2019s own story of the\n    adventure, almost as he wrote it in his stiff, honest, grown-up\n    way:\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn June, 1702, I, Lemuel Gulliver, ship\u2019s surgeon, went on board the\nmerchant-vessel _Adventure_ bound for Surat. Rounding the Cape of Good\nHope, we had a good voyage through the Straits of Madagascar. But just\nsouth of the equator a violent gale sprang up, and continuing for twenty\ndays, drove us before it a little to the east of the Spice Islands.\n\nSuddenly, the wind dropped and there was a perfect calm. I was delighted,\nbut the captain, who knew those seas, bade us all prepare for a storm.\nThe next day, just as he had said, a wind called the Southern monsoon set\nin. We reefed the best we could, but it was a very fierce storm, and the\nwaves broke strange and dangerous. We let our topmast stand, and the ship\nscudded before the sea.\n\nThus we were carried about five hundred leagues to the east, so that the\noldest sailor aboard could not tell in what part of the world we were.\nOur provisions held out well, our ship was stanch, and our crew all in\ngood health, but we were in great distress for lack of water.\n\nThe wind moderated, and the next day a boy on the topmast discovered\nland. Soon, we were in full view of an island or continent, on the south\nside of which was a neck of land jutting out into the sea, and a creek\ntoo shallow to hold our ship. We cast anchor about a league away, and\nour captain sent a dozen of his men well armed, in the long-boat, with\nbuckets for water. I asked his leave to go with them, to see the country\nand make what discoveries I could.\n\nWhen we came to land, we saw no river or spring, nor any sign of\ninhabitants. Our men wandered on the shore, hoping to find some fresh\nwater near the sea, and I walked alone on the other side where the\ncountry was all barren and rocky. Beginning to be tired, I started back\ntoward the shore, only to see our men already in the boat rowing for dear\nlife to the ship.\n\nI was going to holloa to them when I saw a huge creature walking\nafter them in the sea. The water was hardly to his knees, and he took\nprodigious strides. But our men had the start of him by half a league,\nand as the sea thereabout is full of sharp-pointed rocks, the monster was\nnot able to overtake the boat. This I was told afterward, for I dared not\nstay to see, but ran as fast as I could the way I first went, and climbed\nup a steep hill which gave me a view of the country. I found it fully\ncultivated; but what first surprised me was the length of the grass,\nwhich in the hay-fields was about twenty feet high.\n\nI came upon a high road, for so I took it to be, though it served the\ninhabitants only as a footpath through a field of barley. Here I walked\nfor an hour but could see little, for the grain rose forty feet into the\nair on either side. Coming at last to the end of the field, I found it\nfenced in with a hedge over one hundred feet high, and a stile impossible\nfor me to climb.\n\nI was trying to find a gap in the hedge when I saw a man as tall as a\nchurch-steeple approaching the stile. Hiding myself in the grain, I heard\nhim call, but the noise was so high in the air that at first I thought it\nwas thunder. Immediately seven monsters, each with a reaping-hook as big\nas six scythes, came to reap the grain in the field where I was.\n\nI kept as far from them as I could, but I could move only with great\ndifficulty, for the barley-stalks were sometimes less than a foot apart\nso that I could hardly squeeze between them. However, I struggled on till\nI came to a part of the field where the grain had been beaten down by the\nrain and wind. Here it was impossible to advance a step, for the stalks\nwere so interwoven that I could not creep between, and the beards of the\nbarley were so strong and pointed that they pierced through my clothes.\nAt the same time, hearing the reapers close behind me, I threw myself\ndown between two ridges, overcome with despair.\n\nThe next moment I saw an immense foot not ten yards away and the blinding\ngleam of a great reaping-hook above my head. I screamed as loud as fear\ncould make me. The huge reaper stopped short, and looking about on the\nground for some time, finally spied me. He considered a while as if he\nwere planning how he could pick up a small, dangerous animal so that it\ncould neither bite nor scratch him. At last he ventured to take me up by\nthe middle, between his forefinger and thumb, and held me within three\nyards of his eyes.\n\nGood fortune gave me so much presence of mind that I resolved not to\nstruggle as he held me in the air, about sixty feet from the ground,\nalthough he grievously pinched my sides. Instead, I raised my eyes and\nclasped my hands, speaking some words in a humble tone and groaning to\nlet him know how cruelly I was hurt by the pressure of his thumb and\nfinger. He seemed to understand, for putting me gently into his pocket,\nhe ran along with me to his master, the farmer I had first seen.\n\nThe farmer blew my hair aside to get a better view of my face, and then\nplaced me softly on the ground on all-fours. But I got immediately up,\nand walked slowly backward and forward. Pulling off my hat, I made a low\nbow to the farmer. I fell on my knees, and spoke several words as loud as\nI could. I took a purse of gold out of my pocket and humbly presented it\nto him. He received it on the palm of his hand, and turned it with the\npoint of a pin, but could make nothing of it.\n\n[Illustration: A cat three times as big as an ox]\n\nHe spoke to me, but the sound of his voice pierced my ears like that of\na water-mill. I answered as loud as I could in several languages, and\nhe laid his ear within two yards of me, but all in vain. We could not\nunderstand each other.\n\nHe then sent his servant to work, and taking out his handkerchief, spread\nit on his left hand, which he placed flat on the ground with the palm\nupwards. He beckoned to me to step up on it, which I could easily do, as\nit was not more than a foot thick. Wrapping me up in the handkerchief,\nhe carried me home to his house. There he showed me to his wife; but she\nscreamed and ran back as if I had been a spider. However, when she had\nseen how gentle I was, and how well I obeyed the signs her husband made,\nshe became extremely tender to me.\n\nIt was dinner-time, and the servant brought in a dish of meat about\ntwenty-four feet across. At the table were the farmer, his wife, and\nthree children. The farmer placed me at some distance from him on the\ntable, which was thirty feet high from the floor. I was in a terrible\nfright, and kept as far as I could from the edge, for fear of falling.\nThe wife minced a bit of meat and crumbled some bread, placing it before\nme on a plate. I made her a low bow, took out my knife and fork, and\nbegan to eat, which gave them much delight.\n\n[Illustration: The baby seized me by the middle]\n\nThen the master beckoned me to come to his plate; but as I walked on the\ntable, I stumbled against a crust and fell flat on my face. I got up\nimmediately, and finding the good people greatly concerned, I waved my\nhat over my head, giving three _huzzas_ to show that I had received no\nhurt. Just then I heard a noise like that of a dozen stocking-weavers\nat work, and turning my head, found it to be the purring of a cat three\ntimes as big as an ox. The fierce look of this creature, which had\njumped into the mistress\u2019s lap, altogether discomposed me, although I\nstood at the further end of the table, fifty feet away. I was less afraid\nof the dogs, one of which was a mastiff as big as four elephants.\n\nBut my chief danger came from another quarter. When dinner was almost\nover, a nurse came in with a child a year old in her arms, who\nimmediately spied me and began a squall that you might have heard across\nLondon, to get me for a plaything. The mother put me towards the baby,\nwho suddenly seized me by the middle, and put my head into his mouth,\nwhere I roared so loud that he was frightened and let me drop. And I\nshould certainly have broken my neck if the nurse had not held her apron\nunder me. To quiet the baby, the nurse shook a rattle filled with rocks\nas big as cobblestones, which was fastened by a cable to the child\u2019s\nwaist.\n\nBut the one of all the family whom I liked the best was a little girl\nnine years old, who became from the first my chief protector. It was she\nwho fixed up a bed for me in her doll\u2019s cradle, and it was she who taught\nme the language. When I pointed out anything, she told me the name of\nit in the giants\u2019 tongue, so that in a few days I was able to call for\nwhatever I wished. She was very good-natured, and not above forty feet\nhigh, being small for her age. She gave me the name of Grildrig, meaning\nmannikin. I called her my Glumdalclitch, or little nurse.\n\n[Illustration: She was not above forty feet high]\n\nIt soon began to be known in the neighborhood that my master had found\nin the field a tiny animal shaped exactly like a human creature, which\nseemed to speak in a little language of its own, had already learned\nseveral words of theirs, walked erect on two legs, was tame and gentle,\nand would come when it was called. Another farmer, who lived near by,\ncame on a visit on purpose to find out the truth of this story. Being old\nand dim-sighted, he put on his spectacles to see me better, at which I\ncould not help laughing, for his eyes looked like the full moon shining\ninto a room at two windows. This man was thought to be a great miser, and\nto my way of thinking, he well deserved it, for the first thing he did\nafter seeing me was to advise my master to show me as a sight in the next\ntown.\n\nAccordingly, the next market-day, my master mounted his daughter, my\nlittle nurse, on a pillion behind him, and rode with me to town. I\nwas carried in a wooden box, closed on every side, with a little door\nto let me in and out, and a few gimlet holes to give me air. Although\nGlumdalclitch had put her doll\u2019s quilt in the box for me to lie down on,\nI was nevertheless terribly shaken up by this journey of only half an\nhour. The horse went about forty feet at every step, and trotted so high\nthat the motion was like the rising and falling of a ship in a great\nstorm.\n\nMy master alighted at an inn; and having hired the crier to give notice\nof me through the town, placed me on a table in the largest room of the\ninn, which was about three hundred feet square. My little nurse stood on\na low stool close by, to take care of me and direct what I should do. To\nprevent danger, my master would allow but thirty people at a time to see\nme, and set benches round the table so as to put me out of everybody\u2019s\nreach.\n\nI walked about on the table as Glumdalclitch commanded; she asked me\nquestions, and I answered them as loud as I could. I paid my humble\nrespects to the audience, and said they were welcome. I took up a thimble\nfilled with wine, and drank their health. I flourished my sword, and\nexercised with part of a straw as a pike. That day I was shown to twelve\nsets of people, and as often forced to go through the same antics till I\nwas half-dead with weariness and vexation. For those who had seen me made\nsuch wonderful reports that the people were ready to break down the doors\nto come in.\n\n[Illustration: I took up a thimble]\n\nFinding how profitable I was, my master decided to take me to the\nmetropolis. And so, having made my box more comfortable for a longer\njourney, he and Glumdalclitch set out with me for Lorbrulgrud, or the\nPride of the Universe, three thousand miles away. Arriving there, my\nmaster hired a large room on the principal street of the city, not far\nfrom the royal palace, and showed me ten times a day. The fame of me\nspread far and wide, for during the journey I had learned to speak the\nlanguage fairly well, and understood every word I heard. Indeed, we had\nnot been long in the city when a gentleman usher came from the palace,\ncommanding my master to take me there immediately for the diversion of\nthe Queen and her Ladies.\n\nHer Majesty was beyond measure delighted with me. I fell on my knees,\nand begged the honor of kissing her imperial foot. But she ordered me\nto be set on a table, and held out her little finger toward me, which I\nembraced in both my arms, putting the tip of it with the utmost respect\nto my lips. She asked whether I would be content to live at Court. I\nbowed down to the table, and answered that I should be proud to devote\nmy life to her Majesty\u2019s service. She then asked the farmer if he were\nwilling to sell me at a good price. He said he would part with me for a\nthousand pieces of gold, which were ordered for him on the spot.\n\nOne request only I made of the Queen: that Glumdalclitch, who had always\ntended me with so much kindness, might continue to be my nurse and\ninstructor. Her Majesty agreed, and easily got the farmer\u2019s consent, who\nwas glad enough to have his daughter preferred at Court. As for the poor\ngirl herself, she was not able to hide her joy.\n\nThe Queen commanded her own cabinet-maker to make a box that might serve\nme as a bedroom, after the model that Glumdalclitch and I should agree\nupon. This man, who was most ingenious, in three weeks finished for me a\nwooden room, sixteen feet square and twelve high, with windows, a door,\nand two closets. The board that made the ceiling lifted up on hinges so\nthat Glumdalclitch could take out my bed every day to air, and let it\ndown at night, locking up the roof over me. A skilful workman, who was\nfamous for little curiosities, made me two tables and two chairs of a\nsubstance not unlike ivory. The room was quilted on all sides, as well\nas the floor and the ceiling, so that no harm might come to me if my box\nwere carelessly carried, or jolted about in a coach.\n\nThe Queen likewise ordered the thinnest silks that could be gotten to\nmake me new clothes. But even these were thicker than blankets, and very\nmuch in my way till I was used to them.\n\nSo fond of my company did the Queen become that she could not dine\nwithout me. I had a table placed on that at which she ate, just at her\nleft elbow. Glumdalclitch stood on a stool nearby, to assist and take\ncare of me. I had an entire set of silver dishes, which in proportion to\nthe Queen\u2019s were not much bigger than those of a doll\u2019s house. For her\nMajesty\u2019s knives were twice as long as a scythe, set straight upon the\nhandle, and her spoons, forks, and plates were all on the same scale. I\nremember the first time I ever saw a dinner-party at Court, when a dozen\nof these enormous knives and forks were being plied at once, I thought I\nhad never seen so terrible a sight.\n\nBut after living among the giants several months, my first horror at\ntheir huge size so far wore off that I could not help smiling at myself\nwhen the Queen used to place me on her hand before a mirror in which both\nour figures were reflected together. The contrast was so ridiculous that\nI really began to think I must have dwindled far below my usual size.\n\nBut nothing mortified me so much as the Queen\u2019s dwarf, who was the\nsmallest ever known in the country, being hardly thirty feet high. Seeing\nat last a creature so far beneath him, he became insolent, and never\nfailed to make some smart remark about my littleness. My only revenge\nwas to call him brother and challenge him to wrestle, which made him not\na little angry. One day, at dinner, he became so nettled that raising\nhimself up on the frame of the Queen\u2019s chair, he picked me up by the\nmiddle and let me drop into a large silver bowl of cream, and then ran\naway as fast as he could. I fell in over my head, and if I had not been a\ngood swimmer, I believe I should have been drowned. For Glumdalclitch was\nat the other end of the room, and the Queen was too frightened to help\nme. However, my little nurse ran to my relief, and took me out, after I\nhad swallowed more than a quart of cream. I was put to bed, but I was not\nhurt, except for my clothes, which were ruined.\n\n[Illustration: She could not dine without me]\n\nIndeed, I should have lived happily enough in Brobdingnag (for that\nis the name of the giants\u2019 country), if my littleness had not made me\ncontinually the victim of the most absurd accidents. I remember one\nmorning Glumdalclitch set me in my box on a window-sill to give me the\nair. I opened my windows and sat down at my table to eat a piece of\nsweet-cake for breakfast, when twenty wasps as big as partridges came\nflying into the room, droning louder than so many bag-pipes. Some of\nthem seized my cake and carried it piecemeal away. Others flew about my\nhead, deafening me with their noise, until I was afraid I should be stung\nto death. However, I had the courage to draw my sword, and attack them\nin the air. Four of them I killed, but the rest got away, and I shut my\nwindows in a hurry.\n\nAnother day Glumdalclitch let me walk about by myself on a smooth\ngrass-plot in the garden, when there suddenly fell such a violent\nshower of hail that I was struck to the ground. And when I was down, the\nhail-stones, which were as big as tennis-balls, gave me such cruel bangs\nthat I could scarcely creep to the shelter of a primrose. As it was, I\nwas so bruised from head to foot that I could not go out for ten days.\n\nBut a more dangerous accident happened to me in the same garden when my\nlittle nurse had left me for a few minutes alone. While she was away,\na small white spaniel belonging to one of the gardeners, ranged by the\nplace where I lay. The dog, following the scent, came directly up, and\ntook me in his mouth. Wagging his tail, he ran straight to his master,\nand set me gently on the ground. Luckily, he had been so well taught,\nthat I was carried between his teeth without the least hurt. But the\npoor gardener, who knew me well, was in a terrible fright. He took me\nup tenderly in both his hands, and asked me how I did; but I was so\namazed and out of breath that I could not speak a word. In a few minutes,\nhowever, I came to myself, and he carried me safely to my little nurse.\n\nThe longer I stayed in Brobdingnag the fewer accidents I had, as I\ngradually adapted myself to the huge size of everything about me. After a\nwhile, in fact, I even contrived a way so that I could read the giants\u2019\nbooks, although they were several times as big as I was. The book I\nwished to read was opened and put leaning against the wall, and in front\nof it, a kind of step-ladder, which the Queen\u2019s carpenter had made for\nme, twenty-five feet high, and fifty wide. Mounting to the upper step\nof the ladder, I began reading at the top of the page, walking along to\nthe right till I got to the end of the line. So I went, back and forth,\ntill I had got a little below the level of my eyes. Then I descended\ngradually, going on in the same way to the bottom; after which I mounted\nagain, and began the other page in the same manner. As for turning the\nleaf, that I could easily do with both hands, for it was as thick and\nstiff as pasteboard, and even in the largest books not more than twenty\nfeet long.\n\nBut the Queen, who was always thinking up ways to amuse me, gave me the\nbest pastime of all. She asked me one day whether I knew how to sail or\nrow. I told her that I understood both very well, but I did not see how\nI could do either in her country, where the smallest rowboat is as big\nas a man-of-war among us. For even if I had a boat small enough for me\nto manage, it could never live in any of the giants\u2019 rivers. But the\nQueen only smiled and said that if her carpenter could make me a boat,\nshe would provide a place for me to sail in. So, in ten days I had a\npleasure boat, complete with all its tackling, big enough to hold eight\nEnglishmen. And in an outer room of the palace the Queen had ordered\nbuilt along the wall a wooden trough, three hundred feet long, and eight\ndeep, which two servants could fill with water in half-an-hour.\n\nHere I often used to row for my own pleasure, as well as that of the\nQueen and her ladies. Sometimes I would put up my sail, and then I had\nonly to steer while the ladies gave me a breeze with their fans. And when\nthey were tired, some of the pages would blow my sail forward, while I\nshowed my skill by steering starboard or larboard as I pleased. When I\nwas through, Glumdalclitch always carried my boat back into her closet\nand hung it on a nail to dry.\n\nOne day a servant who was filling my trough, let a huge frog slip out\nof his pail. The beast lay concealed till I was put into my boat, when,\nseeing a resting-place, he climbed up and made it lean so much on one\nside, that I was forced to balance it with all my weight on the other to\nkeep it from overturning. When the frog had got in, he hopped at once\nhalf the length of the boat, and then over my head, rubbing against me\nwith his slimy body. The hugeness of his features made him seem the most\ndeformed animal imaginable. However, I asked Glumdalclitch to let me\ndeal with him alone. I banged him awhile with one of my oars, and finally\nforced him to leap out of the boat.\n\nBut even though I was the favorite of a great Queen and the delight of a\nwhole Court, I could not help sometimes wishing to be in a country where\nI need not live in fear of being stepped on like a toad or a young puppy.\nBut my escape came sooner than I expected, and in a most curious way.\n\nBesides the large box in which I was usually carried, the Queen had a\nsmaller one made for me, about twelve feet square, for convenience in\ntraveling. On top was a great ring, by which one of the giants could\ncarry the box in his hand. And on one side were two iron loops, through\nwhich a person carrying me on horseback could run a leather belt and\nbuckle it around his waist. The other sides had windows, latticed with\niron wire to prevent accidents. Inside, I had a hammock swung from the\nceiling, and a small hole cut in the roof just above it to give me air in\nhot weather. There were, besides, two chairs screwed to the floor so that\nthey could not be tossed about by the motion of the horse or coach.\n\nIt was in this traveling-box that I made my last trip in the giants\u2019\ncountry. One spring I was carried in it to spend a few days at the\nseashore along with the Queen and Glumdalclitch. My poor little nurse and\nI were tired by the journey. I had only a little cold, but Glumdalclitch\nwas sick in bed. I longed to see the ocean, and asked leave to have one\nof the pages carry me along beside the sea. I shall never forget how\nunwillingly Glumdalclitch consented, bursting into a flood of tears, as\nif she had a foreboding of what was to happen.\n\nThe page took me out in my box, and walked with me on the rocks along\nthe shore. Feeling slightly ill, I ordered him to set me down so that I\ncould take a nap in my hammock. I got in, and the boy shut the window to\nkeep out the cold. For some time I lay and watched him out the window, as\nhe searched about among the rocks for birds\u2019 eggs. But after a while he\nwent out of my sight altogether, and feeling more and more drowsy, I fell\nasleep.\n\nThere was a sudden, violent pull on the ring of my box, and I awoke with\na start. I felt my room raised high in the air, and then carried forward\nat a terrific speed. The first jolt almost shook me out of my hammock,\nbut afterward the motion was easy enough. I called out several times as\nloud as I could, but all in vain. I looked out my windows, but could see\nnothing but clouds and sky. I listened, and made out a noise over my\nhead like the flapping of wings. Then for the first time I realized what\nhad happened. Some eagle had got the ring of my box in his beak. Soon, no\ndoubt, he meant to let it fall on a rock like a turtle in a shell, and\npick out my body to devour it.\n\nSuddenly, the great wings above me began to beat faster, and my box was\ntossed up and down like a swinging sign on a windy day. I heard several\nbangs, as I thought, given to the eagle, and then felt myself falling\nstraight down for more than a minute, but so swiftly that I almost lost\nmy breath. My fall was stopped by a terrible squash that sounded louder\nto my ears than Niagara Falls; after which, I was in the dark for another\nminute. Then my box began to rise so high that I could see light from the\ntops of the windows. I now saw that my box had fallen into the sea, and\nwith the weight of my body, the furniture, and the broad plates of iron\non the bottom, floated about five feet deep in water.\n\nI did then, and do still, suppose that the eagle which flew away with my\nbox, was chased by two or three others who wanted a share in the prey.\nIn defending himself he was forced to let me drop, but the iron plates\non the bottom kept the box from breaking when it struck the water. Every\njoint was snugly fitted, and the door shut down, like a window, which\nkept my room so tight that very little water came in. Nevertheless,\nI expected every minute to see my box dashed to pieces, or at least\noverturned by a wave. A break in a single pane of glass would mean\nimmediate death, and indeed nothing could have saved the windows but the\niron lattices the giants had put on the outside. I could not lift up my\nroof, or I should certainly have climbed out and sat on top, where I\nwould at least have had a chance of living a few hours longer than by\nbeing shut up inside. But even if I escaped drowning for a day or two,\nwhat could I expect but a miserable death from cold and hunger?\n\n[Illustration: A voice calling in English]\n\nAfter four hours of these wretched imaginings, I thought I heard a kind\nof grating noise on the side of my box where the iron loops were fixed.\nAnd soon after, I began to fancy that the box was being towed along in\nthe sea, for now and then I felt a sort of tugging, which made the waves\nrise near the tops of my windows, leaving me almost in the dark. This\nsomehow gave me a hope of escape, although I could not imagine how it\ncould be brought about. I unscrewed one of my chairs from the floor, and\nhaving managed to screw it down again directly under the air hole in\nthe ceiling, I mounted on it and called for help in all the languages I\nknew. Then, fastening my handkerchief to my walking stick, I thrust it up\nthrough the hole, and waved it several times in the air, so that if any\nship were near, the sailors might see that there was some one shut up in\nthe box.\n\nThere was no reply to my signals, although I saw plainly that my box\nwas moving along; and in an hour or so the side where the iron loops\nwere, struck against something hard. I feared that it was a rock, for I\nwas being tossed about more than ever. Suddenly, I heard a noise on the\nroof, like the grating of a cable passing through the ring, and I felt\nmyself being hoisted up at least three feet higher than I was before.\nAt that, I waved my stick and handkerchief again, and called for help\ntill I was hoarse. In return I heard a great shout repeated three times.\nThere was a trampling over my head, and a voice calling in English to\nask if there was anybody below. I answered that I was an Englishman, and\nbegged to be rescued from the prison I was in. The voice replied that I\nwas safe, for my box was fastened to their ship, and the carpenter would\ncome immediately to saw a hole in the roof large enough to pull me out.\nI said that was needless, for one of the crew had only to put his finger\nin the ring and take the box out of the sea into the ship. On hearing me\ntalk so wildly some of the crew thought I was crazy, and others laughed,\nfor indeed it never occurred to me that now I was among people of my own\nheight and strength. The carpenter came, and in a few minutes sawed an\nopening about four feet square, then let down a small ladder, which I\nmounted, and from there took me to the ship.\n\nThe sailors crowded about me, asking me a thousand questions, but I was\nall in a daze at the sight of so many pigmies. For my eyes had been\nso long accustomed to the giants that I could not believe these were\nordinary-sized Englishmen. However, the captain, seeing that I was about\nto faint from weariness and amazement, took me into his own cabin, and\nput me upon his own bed, advising me to take a little rest.\n\nI slept some hours, and when I woke up, felt much better. It was then\nabout eight o\u2019clock at night, and the captain entertained me most kindly\nat dinner. He said, that about twelve o\u2019clock at noon, as he was looking\nthrough his glass, he spied my chest at a distance, and thought it was\na sail. As his ship\u2019s biscuit had begun to run short, he made for it,\nhoping to buy some. On coming nearer and finding a huge chest instead of\na ship, he sent out his long-boat to find out what it was. His men came\nback in a terrible fright, swearing that they had seen a swimming house.\n\nLaughing at their folly, he went himself in the boat, ordering his men to\ntake a strong cable along with them. He rowed around me several times,\nsaw my windows, and the great iron loops upon the other side. To one of\nthese loops he ordered his men to fasten a cable and tow the chest along\ntoward the ship. When it was there he told them to fasten another cable\nto the ring in the cover, and raise the chest up with pulleys. But all\nthe sailors tugging together were able to lift it only three feet. It was\nthen that they saw my stick and handkerchief waving through the hole, and\ndecided that some unlucky man was shut up inside.\n\nHe asked me, how it was that I had come there, and I told him my\nstory from beginning to end. And as truth always forces its way into\nreasonable minds, so this honest gentleman was not slow in believing me.\nHe said he wondered at one thing very much, which was to hear me speak so\nloudly, and he asked whether either the King or Queen of the giants was\ndeaf. But I explained to him, how for the two years I had lived among the\ngiants I had been like a man on the street talking to people in a steeple\nfar above. I told him, too, how the sailors on the ship had seemed to me\nthe tiniest little creatures I had ever seen, and how I almost laughed\nwhen I saw his table set for dinner, with plates the size of a penny, a\nleg of pork hardly a mouthful, and cups not so big as nutshells.\n\nThe captain laughed heartily, and during the whole voyage we were the\nbest of friends. With a favorable breeze all the way, we rounded the Cape\nof Good Hope, and so sailed safely home to the tiny shores of England.\n\n                _Adapted from Jonathan Swift\u2019s \u201cA Voyage to Brobdingnag.\u201d_\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nThe Giant Who Came Back\n\n    Stepping so carefully, up foot and down,\n    Big Benevaldo is walking the town,\n    Now to the left of him, now to the right;\n    Some one will ride with a giant to-night:\n\n    Tall as the houses and wide as the ways,\n    Big Benevaldo is stopping to gaze;\n    See, through the window he\u2019s looking at you;\u2014\n    Little Luigi, your dream has come true!\n\n                               _Seymour Barnard._\n\n\n\n\nXII\n\nThe Giant who Came Back\n\n\n[Illustration: An hour\u2019s chat]\n\n    For several years after the giants moved into a country of\n    their own, they came back sometimes to walk among the tiny\n    towns of men. For they still had a few old acquaintances there\n    to take up in their big hands for an hour\u2019s chat. But as time\n    went on, the old friends, one by one, went away, until there\n    was nobody to give the giants a genial hail, or so much as\n    notice them when they passed. For every man and woman and\n    child was so busy looking after his own little affairs near\n    the ground that they did not even see the giants at all.\n\n    So the giants, feeling quite lonesome and neglected, stayed in\n    their own country. And so it happened that the young giants\n    grew up without ever seeing the tiny creatures called men.\n\nIt was a warm spring for frosty Giantland. As early as May crocuses as\nbig as lilac bushes came pushing up at the edge of the snow. Benevaldo,\ncoming down to breakfast, leaped three stairs at a time.\n\n\u201cFather! Mother!\u201d he called, bursting in on them, \u201cI\u2019m going on a\njourney.\u201d\n\nHis mother took a second helping of walruses. \u201cI was just saying to your\nfather,\u201d she remarked in her big, placid way, \u201cthat it was time we were\nstarting north for the summer.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut,\u201d said Benevaldo, beaming all over his wide, eager face, \u201cI\u2019m going\n_south_!\u201d\n\n\u201cSouth!\u201d cried his mother. \u201cAt this time of year!\u201d\n\n\u201cGo if you like,\u201d said his father, \u201cbut I warn you, you won\u2019t enjoy it.\nThe first thing you know, you\u2019ll be stumbling into the men\u2019s country. And\nthen you\u2019ll be glad enough to come back again. Why, the last time I was\nthere, you could hardly step in some places without stubbing your toe\nagainst one of their houses.\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd I\u2019ve heard,\u201d put in his mother, \u201cthat it\u2019s getting more crowded all\nthe time.\u201d\n\n\u201cThere\u2019s nothing so annoying,\u201d went on his father, \u201cas to be there with\nall those little creatures scampering about at your feet, and not one of\nthem speaking to you or so much as seeing you.\u201d\n\n\u201cBut why can\u2019t they see us?\u201d cried Benevaldo. \u201cWe\u2019re big enough, I hope.\u201d\n\nHis father did not answer. A hurt look came into his great eyes, and he\nbent soberly over his walruses.\n\n\u201cHush, Benny!\u201d chided his mother. \u201cDon\u2019t you know they can\u2019t see us\nbecause they don\u2019t believe in us any more?\u201d\n\n\u201cNever mind!\u201d cried Benevaldo cheerfully. \u201cI think _I\u2019d_ like to see\n_them_!\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, Benny,\u201d said his mother in despair, \u201cwhatever put that into your\nhead?\u201d\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d smiled Benevaldo. \u201cThe spring, I guess.\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, there!\u201d said his mother, complacent again. \u201cGo if you want to, and\nsee what there is to see.\u201d And she began slicing up muffins the size of\nsmall haystacks to make sandwiches for his journey.\n\nSo Benevaldo started south to see the men\u2019s country. At every step the\nground grew greener, the sun grew warmer, the sky grew bluer. And it\nwas all fun for Benevaldo. He swung along over mountains and plains,\nwhistling like the wind; and sprang over rivers as carelessly as if they\nwere brooks.\n\nLittle by little, the look of the land changed. There were no more long\nforests to kick his way through. There were no more wide, bare plains.\nThe whole country was marked off into small green and brown squares like\na plaid; and across it went tiny paths, this way and that.\n\nAhead on one of the paths something moved. It was a little creature\ncoming toward him, stepping along on its two tiny legs as he did on his\nbig ones. Benevaldo gasped with the surprise of it. \u201cA man!\u201d he said to\nhimself. \u201cA man!\u201d And he stood motionless, astride the path, to let the\npigmy pass. \u201cIf I move, I shall frighten him,\u201d thought he.\n\nBut the man walked under him without a quiver or so much as a glance. It\nwas quite plain that he had not seen Benevaldo at all.\n\nThe young giant went on, whistling a little ruefully. Another man passed\nhim, and another,\u2014two or three driving in a tiny cart behind a little\nanimal. Presently they came so thick and fast that Benevaldo had to keep\nskipping aside to avoid stepping on them. The whole country was dotted\nwith their absurd houses; and he saw now that the green and brown squares\nmust be their fields, and the tiny paths their highways.\n\nThere was a quick snort down near his feet. A hot, hissing monster like\na black, jointed snake swept by his toes. As he started back, dazed with\nthe rush of it, another came whizzing after. Something gleamed in their\nwake. Benevaldo knelt down and felt of it. The creatures\u2019 shining path\nwas a cold, two-ridged track.\n\nHe walked more carefully than before, stepping over the roads and looking\nout for the slippery tracks. The houses came in clusters now. The small\nclusters he could jump over, but the big ones he had to go around, or\nrisk wedging his feet in the narrow streets. There was no longer any fun\nin walking. No sooner had he taken half a dozen good free steps than he\ncame tripping against one of these towns. Even in the bare spots the\nroads were buzzing with tiny wagons, darting about by themselves like\novergrown beetles.\n\nBenevaldo, looking down from his height on all the confusion, grew quite\ngiddy. It was sunset time, and he had been walking all day without\nstopping. He pulled out a sandwich from his lunch bag, but he had to eat\nit standing up. For he could not sit down without crushing a house or\nblocking a road.\n\n\u201cHeigh-ho!\u201d yawned Benevaldo, stretching his long arms. \u201cHere I\u2019ve been\ndodging and dancing about all the afternoon in a country much too small\nfor me, with nobody to speak to, or to look at me, for that matter. It\u2019s\ntime I went home where there is room to walk and some one to talk to.\u201d\n\nBut when he came to start on again, he did not turn around after all. He\nkept on walking south, south, south, as fast as he could for the roads\nand the towns. A feeling he could not explain drew him on. In spite of\nthe cramps in his legs and the scratches on his feet, he could not give\nup his uncomfortable adventure.\n\nIt grew dark; and the houses seemed to become closer and closer. He\ncould not put his foot down without feeling them pressing against it on\nall sides. He hardly dared to step at any rate, for every open space\nseemed swarming with people and the little buzzing, beetle-like wagons.\nA thousand small lights seemed to burst out in that world around his\nankles. They dazzled him until he could see less than ever where he was\ngoing.\n\nHis leg came against something cold and hard. He drew back cautiously,\nstepped over and stopped. His eyes got over their blinking, and he stood\nstill, looking about. He was knee-deep in brick walls. As far as he could\nsee were rows on rows of other brick walls, some higher, some lower,\nall honeycombed with lights. He bent down over those in front of him,\nlistening. They seemed full of bustle and tiny voices.\n\n[Illustration: Benevaldo had almost reached the shining towers]\n\nBenevaldo straightened up in surprise. Were there people, then, inside?\nThese walls were like no houses he ever had seen in his life. Were they\nprisons perhaps, or traps?\n\nHe looked ahead for a new foothold. But there was nowhere for him to\nstep. Between the rows of walls were nothing but streets lined with\nlights, seething with small vehicles and people. The whole vast extent of\ntwinkling walls seemed shaken with the rumble, rumble, rumble of moving.\n\nBenevaldo sighed, and peered about for some way to go on. He could not\nturn back now. An idea struck him. Over at his right, the lights suddenly\nstopped. He edged cautiously that way, and then he saw. The walls\nstopped as well as the lights, before a wide, dark river.\n\nWith one mighty spring, Benevaldo cleared the distance in between and\nlanded splashing in midstream. The water soothed his aching feet, and\nhe felt as fresh and adventurous as in the early morning. The lines of\nglittering walls on the shore challenged him. Far ahead he could make\nout lighted towers, as tall perhaps as he was. Leaping and eager, he ran\ntoward them down the river.\n\nThe bright ferry boats crawling across the stream rocked in his wake.\nEven the dark ocean liners, tied up at their docks, trembled. \u201cIt must be\nblowing up a cyclone,\u201d said the pilot on a tug, beating up and down on\nthe waves. But when he looked out, the stars were shining clearer than\never, and there was not a cloud in the sky.\n\nBenevaldo had almost reached the shining towers. Beyond them he could\nsee the dark stretches of the ocean broken only by a few twinkling\nislands. Out there he could have a cool swim and land perhaps on another,\nless crowded shore to race back again, through new, wide countries to\nGiantland.\n\nBut instead he turned and waded deliberately to the walls on the river\nbank. Cautiously he settled his foot in one of the narrow, bright\nstreets. They were less crowded now. There should be more chance to step.\nBut the walls on each side pinched his toes and barked his shins.\n\n\u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s the matter with me,\u201d thought Benevaldo, with a giant\nlaugh at his own folly. \u201cBut I\u2019ve just got to see this queer place. It\nmust be the springtime that is leading me on.\u201d\n\nBut it was not the spring. It was only the wish in a little boy\u2019s heart.\n\nThe little boy lived high up in one of those lines of tenement houses\nBenevaldo had taken for walls. His name was Luigi, and he had an ache in\nhis back but a smile on his face. All day and all night for months he had\nlain beside a window, trying to get well. And besides that, he had made\ncloth flowers for ladies\u2019 hats to help his mother and Rosa.\n\nSometimes when Rosa was not too tired, she would tell him stories as they\nworked. And once in a very long while, when they could get no work to do,\nshe would bring home a library book and read him about fairies and giants.\n\nOne night when the reading was done, Rosa looked over at him wistfully.\n\u201cOh, Luigi,\u201d she said, \u201cI wish there were giants now, so that one could\ncome and carry you in his great hands right out into the country!\u201d\n\nLuigi smiled more happily than ever. \u201cWhat a fine idea!\u201d he cried.\n\u201cPerhaps one _will_ come, Rosa.\u201d\n\nBut Rosa shook her head. \u201cOh, no, Luigi,\u201d she said sadly. \u201cDon\u2019t be a\nbaby. There aren\u2019t any giants any more, you know.\u201d\n\nLuigi was not convinced. \u201cWhy, Rosa,\u201d he argued, \u201cthere must still be\ngiants _somewhere_.\u201d And that night he went to sleep and dreamed about\ngiants so plainly that the next morning he was surer of them than ever.\n\nBut usually at night Luigi lay awake and thought. \u201cSuppose a giant should\ncome,\u201d he would say to himself breathlessly; and he would listen through\nthe hot darkness for giant footsteps in the streets.\n\nSomehow it did not seem as if the giant could come to-night. It was\nso still that the rattle of the few carts, the rumble of the elevated\ntrains,\u2014all the sounds Luigi knew so well,\u2014were plainer than ever. It was\nhard to imagine any he did not really hear. Luigi\u2019s ears grew tired of\nlistening, and his eyes half closed.\n\nThere _was_ another sound though. Luigi\u2019s ears woke up to it all of a\nsudden. It was a kind of clambering and crashing,\u2014for all the world as if\na giant were stumbling around among the houses. \u201cBut of course it can\u2019t\nbe that,\u201d said Luigi firmly, downing his hope.\n\n[Illustration: A pair of giant eyes peered in]\n\nLuigi\u2019s own house trembled; and he opened his eyes with a start. There\nwas something\u2014somebody outside his window. He raised himself up and\nstrained to see. Through the twilight of the city night, a great pair of\ngiant eyes peered in upon him.\n\n\u201cIs there some one in there who can see me?\u201d boomed a kindly giant voice.\n\n\u201cWhy, yes,\u201d gasped Luigi, \u201cI can see you.\u201d\n\n\u201cHooray!\u201d shouted the giant, capering up and down till the whole block\nshook again. \u201cHooray! A boy who can see me! A boy who can see me! What\nwill father say now?\u201d\n\nRosa sighed in her sleep.\n\n\u201cHush! Hush, good giant!\u201d cried Luigi anxiously. \u201cYou will wake the\nothers.\u201d\n\nBenevaldo stood still again. \u201cDo they believe in giants too?\u201d he asked\neagerly.\n\n\u201cWell,\u2014Rosa _almost_ does,\u201d said Luigi loyally.\n\n\u201cBut if she doesn\u2019t quite believe,\u201d explained the giant, \u201cshe can\u2019t see\nme or hear me any more than the rest of them.\u201d\n\nLuigi was puzzled. \u201cBut can\u2019t everybody see you?\u201d he asked.\n\nThe giant shook his great head solemnly. \u201cPeople don\u2019t seem to believe in\nus any more,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve walked all the way from Giantland to-day,\nand passed thousands and thousands of them on the way, and you\u2019re the\nfirst one who has seen me at all. And I\u2019ll tell you what, little boy,\u201d he\nwent on, \u201cI\u2019m so happy,\u2014so grateful to you, that I\u2019ll give you anything\nyou wish for, if I have to squeeze through all these walls to do it.\u201d\n\nLuigi\u2019s eyes shone. He sat up in bed. \u201cOh, giant,\u201d he cried, \u201cgiant,\nwould you take me for a little walk out in the world?\u201d\n\nBenevaldo beamed. \u201c_Will_ I?\u201d he boomed. Then he twisted his limp lunch\nbag around in front of him. \u201cWould you mind riding in this?\u201d he asked.\n\n\u201cOh, no!\u201d cried Luigi.\n\nThe giant considered. \u201cI am afraid I can\u2019t squeeze my hand through your\nwindow,\u201d he said.\n\nLuigi leaned over the sill, and the giant managed it with three fingers.\nHe tucked Luigi safely into the bag, buttoned the bottom firmly inside\nhis blouse, and drew up the strings close around Luigi\u2019s neck.\n\n\u201cNow you\u2019re quite safe and steady, little boy,\u201d he said. \u201cDon\u2019t be\nafraid, but lean back against me, and look about.\u201d And with that he took\na high step over a whole block of houses into an open square beyond.\n\nFor a moment Luigi was dizzy, looking from his height on the jumbled\nroofs so far below. But as the giant stopped in the little park he got\nhis balance again. He looked down without fear on the house-tops and the\nlighted streets that wound between.\n\n\u201cWhere shall we go?\u201d asked the giant good-naturedly.\n\nLuigi hesitated. \u201cCould we,\u201d he asked, \u201ccould we go up the Avenue,\u2014the\nwide, bare one over there, with the bright lights?\u201d\n\nSo Benevaldo pranced over the long blocks in between and set his foot\nin the smooth street. From sidewalk to sidewalk it just fitted; and he\nwalked, one foot ahead of the other, up by the little silent houses to a\ntiny park.\n\n\u201cLook here!\u201d cried Benevaldo excitedly. \u201cSee the clock!\u201d And he pointed\nto a great lighted face in the top of a tower as high as he was.\n\n\u201cOh, yes,\u201d said Luigi, \u201cthat is the biggest clock in all the city. It\ntakes up story after story of that office building.\u201d\n\n\u201cIt\u2019s a little fast,\u201d said the giant, holding his watch up beside it. And\nwith a gentle shove of his forefinger he set the hands back.\n\nLuigi gasped. But the giant turned calmly, and started, foot after foot,\nup the Avenue again. \u201cDid you say,\u201d he asked thoughtfully, \u201cthat that\ntower was an office building?\u201d\n\n\u201cWhy, yes,\u201d said Luigi, \u201cwhat should it be?\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd what was it I took you out of?\u201d asked the giant.\n\n\u201cWhy, a house,\u201d said Luigi, wondering,\u2014\u201ca regular house.\u201d\n\nThe giant chuckled. \u201cYou know,\u201d he said, \u201cI had an idea that all these\nwalls full of little lighted holes, were sort of prisons, or traps. I\nthought you had all got caught inside and couldn\u2019t get out!\u201d\n\nLuigi laughed. \u201cOh, no,\u201d he said, \u201cthey\u2019re the houses we live in. But\nlook,\u201d he cried, \u201cwe\u2019re coming to the Park!\u201d\n\nBenevaldo looked. Sure enough, down beside them was a whole patch of\ntrees. He drew a long breath. \u201cIf you\u2019re going to live in these traps,\u201d\nhe said, \u201cwhy don\u2019t you come up here in some of these white ones near the\ntrees?\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, these are quite different,\u201d cried Luigi, proud that he could\nexplain. \u201cThese up here are rich people\u2019s houses, and down where I live,\nwe\u2019re all quite poor.\u201d\n\nThe giant shook his head. He could not see what difference that made.\n\nLuigi saw that it was no use to argue. \u201cAren\u2019t the trees nice?\u201d he\nventured.\n\nBenevaldo snorted. \u201cNice enough, what there are of them!\u201d he said. \u201cBut\nnow I am going to take you where there are thousands and thousands of\nthem,\u2014all you can see.\u201d\n\nWith that he gave three great springs right over the houses till he\nlanded, splash again, in the deep river. Then he let himself go, leaping\nand running till Luigi laughed aloud with the dazzle and rush of it.\n\nIn a few minutes they had left the twinkling city far behind and were\nracing over the dusky hills. The trees brushed them as they passed; and\nabove them millions of big, bright stars that Luigi had never seen in the\ncity, seemed to swirl and dance. Luigi drew deep breaths, and nestled\nhappily on the giant\u2019s breast.\n\nBenevaldo stopped and put his great watch up close to his eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s\ngetting late, or rather, early,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll have to take you back\nagain before the people get to swarming in the streets so that I can\u2019t\nstep.\u201d\n\nSo he turned and dashed back through the cool night. There was the city\nagain, glimmering beneath the pale sky. Beside it was a river, too, but\nnot the one they had rushed through before. For this one was crossed by\nshining bridges from shore to shore. Luigi had once seen those bridges\nfrom below, and they had seemed to him to tower through the clouds. But\nnow they came hardly to the giant\u2019s waist.\n\nBenevaldo paused. \u201cDo you mind if I jump?\u201d he asked. \u201cYou see,\u201d he added\napologetically, \u201cit\u2019s rather awkward, crawling under.\u201d\n\n\u201cOh, no,\u201d cried Luigi joyously. \u201cLet\u2019s jump them!\u201d\n\nSo Benevaldo went hurdling down the river, taking the bridges one by one,\nand dashing the city with spray.\n\n[Illustration: The trees brushed them]\n\nLuigi laughed with delight. \u201cI\u2019m sorry to get back,\u201d he said, as he\npointed the way among the city houses.\n\nBenevaldo took him gently out of the bag, and slipped him through the\nwindow safely upon his own bed.\n\n\u201cGood-by,\u201d boomed the giant, giving the house an affectionate pat.\n\u201cGood-by, little boy. Don\u2019t forget Benevaldo, for I shall come again to\nsee you. Watch for me from your window; and if it is too crowded for me\nto come among the houses, I will run along the river so that you can see\nmy shadow sweeping over the roof tops.\u201d\n\n\u201cThank you, thank you,\u201d cried Luigi. \u201cBut can\u2019t I ever see you yourself\nagain, good giant?\u201d\n\nBenevaldo thought. \u201cIf you ever go to the country,\u201d he said, \u201clook for me\nthere. For I shall come to meet you.\u201d\n\nThe early wagons began to jangle through the streets, and Benevaldo\nsprang hastily over the house-tops to his free river. Luigi listened\nuntil his great splashing steps were gone.\n\nRosa yawned and bounced sleepily out of bed. It was to be a great day for\nher. For a rich lady was to take her with all the neighborhood children\non a picnic up the river. She sang as she got ready, but her face fell\nwhen she called Luigi to breakfast.\n\n\u201cOh, brother,\u201d she said, \u201cI wish you were going on the picnic too!\u201d\n\nLuigi smiled bravely. \u201cI wish I _could_ go,\u201d he said.\n\nRosa gazed at him. \u201cWhy, Luigi,\u201d she cried, \u201chow well you look, and how\nfast you walk!\u201d\n\nLuigi beamed. \u201cThe ache is all out of my back,\u201d he explained happily.\n\n\u201cMother! Mother!\u201d cried Rosa. \u201cJust look at Luigi. The ache is out of his\nback; and see how well he walks! Can\u2019t he go on the picnic too? I will\ntake good care of him.\u201d\n\nSo Luigi went with the other children up the river, where Benevaldo had\nwaded with him the night before. All day long he sat quietly on the\nsteamer, gazing eagerly over the green hills.\n\nAll at once he jumped up and waved his cap. For there against the sun was\nthe great figure of his faithful giant, flourishing his friendly arms.\n\n\u201cRosa! Rosa!\u201d called Luigi. \u201cThere he is. See him,\u2014my giant!\u201d\n\nThe other children crowded around. \u201cWhere? Where?\u201d they cried. But at\nthat moment Benevaldo was lost to view, and there was only his long\nshadow, scudding across the hills.\n\nBut the shadow Luigi and Rosa saw often and often all their lives. And\nyou can see it sometimes too if you will look.\n\n[Illustration: If you will look]\n\n    When this book you close for aye,\n    Childish fancies to efface,\n    Bid these friendly giants hie\n    Down the years with you a pace:\n\n    Faith! Companions such as they,\n    Only charm\u00e9d folk may know;\n    Those who walked the giants\u2019 way\n    Some time in the long ago:\n\n    Children with the world a-face,\n    As the waiting years unfold,\n    With this friendly giant race\n    Fare ye till the tale is told.\n\n                 _Seymour Barnard._","title":"The book of friendly giants","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":55628}