ight make to him. The preparations were
only just completed, when the giant arrived, and, striding into the house,
demanded to see Fuenvicouil. Oonagh received him politely; said she could
not tell _any more than the child in the cradle_, where her husband then
was; but requested the giant to sit down and rest, till Fuenvicouil came
in. She then placed bread and whey before him till some better refreshments
could be got ready, taking care to give him the cake with the griddle in
it, and serving the whey in a vessel that held two or three gallons. The
giant was a little surprised at the _quantity_ of the lunch set before him,
and proceeded to break a piece off the cake but in vain; he then tried to
bite it, with as little success: and as to swallowing the ocean of whey set
before him, it was out of the question; so he said he was not hungry, and
would wait. He then asked Oonagh what was the favourite feat of strength
her husband prided himself upon. She could not indeed particularise any
one, but said that sometimes Fuenvicouil amused himself with squeezing
water out of that stone there, pointing to a rock lying near the door. The
giant immediately took it up; and squeezed it till the blood started from
his fingers, but made no impression on the rock. Oonagh laughed at his
discomfiture, and said a child could do that, handing at the same time the
lump of curds to "the baby." Fuenvicouil, who had been attentively
listening to all that was going on, gave the curd a squeeze, and some drops
of whey fell from it. Oonagh, in apparently great delight, kissed and
hugged her "dear baby;" and breaking a bit off one of the cakes she had
prepared, began to coax the "child" to eat a little bit and get strong. The
giant amazed, asked, could that child eat such hard bread? And Oonagh
persuaded him to put his finger into the child's mouth, "just to feel his
teeth;" and as soon as Fuenvicouil got the giant's finger in his mouth, he
bit it off. This was more than the giant could stand; and seeing that a
child in the cradle was so strong, he was convinced that the sooner he
decamped before Fuenvicouil's return the better; so he hastened from the
house, while Oonagh in vain pressed him to remain; and never stopped till
he returned to his own place, very happy at having escaped a meeting with
Fuenvicouil.

FRANCES ROBERT DAVIES.

* * * * *

{617}

FOLK LORE MISCELLANIES.

_Yorkshire Tradition._--The follow